[Aesaar]

One of the things that annoys me most about this is that **** like this make it really difficult to criticize her work.  A lot of her stuff is really dishonest, but it doesn't matter because she's the victim of a lot of harassment.  The legitimate critics either go unheard, or they're demonized and lumped in with the morons.

[Phantom Hoover]

if people really wanted you dead, they would do something less passive aggressive to threaten you, like sticking a puppy's head in your mailbox. this person is probibly not even in the same zip code let alone the same state/country. you dont like it, then pack heat. this is murica people!

Yes. Which means that a professional hit squad is just one 911 call with a spoofed area code away.

OK but if you're going down that rabbit hole, of all the demographics to be hit by a malicious SWAT raid 'white woman' is probably one of the safest.

[Nuke]

i think we ought to change that. women of the white variety get away with a lot of things they shouldnt. im not going to say what, that would be sexist.

One of the things that annoys me most about this is that **** like this make it really difficult to criticize her work.  A lot of her stuff is really dishonest, but it doesn't matter because she's the victim of a lot of harassment.  The legitimate critics either go unheard, or they're demonized and lumped in with the morons.

if you say stupid/deceitful/insulting/whatever things and someone gives you **** for it. do you not deserve it?

[Aesaar]

One of the things that annoys me most about this is that **** like this make it really difficult to criticize her work.  A lot of her stuff is really dishonest, but it doesn't matter because she's the victim of a lot of harassment.  The legitimate critics either go unheard, or they're demonized and lumped in with the morons.

if you say stupid things and someone gives you **** for it. do you not deserve it?

You deserve to have your arguments challenged and destroyed by reasonable discussion.  You don't deserve childish insults and physical threats.  This sort of **** doesn't make her look bad, it makes people think "she's persecuted, so what she's saying must be true".

[Nuke]

childish threats are just that, childish. hardly worth my attention. when you try to carry out the threats and trip one of the wires and set off the attached warhead, well then, didnt you deserve it?

[Aesaar]

Childish threats may not be particularly noteworthy, but if you get enough, it tends to make it really easy to paint any criticism, no matter how reasonable, as childish insults (or, in her case, misogyny).

And physical threats like this are definitely worthy of concern.  No one should have to be in fear for their life because of what they say, no matter how stupid it is.  Freedom of speech matters.  You're dangerously close to saying that people who get lynched deserve it.

[Nuke]

concern yes, censure no. its actually very useful to know who doesn't like you. when it comes right down to it we are all at the mercy of the other humans. if you fail to be civil, rights be damned. after all they are like locks, purely psychological, and quite easy to break. it just takes one crazy bastard who doesn't play by the rules to break them. now you have nothing to protect you but cops with horrible response times and/or your own whits/firearms. isnt human interaction fun!

[Aesaar]

Crime is always going to happen.  Doesn't mean it needs to be tolerated.

[Nuke]

your right, lets nuke all the things and call it a day. all humans are criminals in my book.

[The E]

One of the things that annoys me most about this is that **** like this make it really difficult to criticize her work.  A lot of her stuff is really dishonest, but it doesn't matter because she's the victim of a lot of harassment.  The legitimate critics either go unheard, or they're demonized and lumped in with the morons.

I've seen accusations of dishonesty flung about freely regarding the TvW videos, but I've never seen a sane person come up with sane explanations. It's all "Game <x> was misrepresented!" or "This scene was taken out of context!", which to me sounds more like people desperate to justify their particular tastes than good, factual critique.
I've also not seen a good refutation of the overall point Sarkeesian makes (that being that representation of women in games is deeply problematic due to it falling in a narrow range of stereotypes).

I would like to see both of those things though; After all, any hypothesis is only as strong as the criticism it can withstand.

EDIT: I mean, if this is the supposed poster boy for reasoned critique of Sarkeesian's work, said critique isn't all that well-reasoned, I imagine:

[Flipside]

With regards to her work, the only real issue I have with Sarkeesian is that sometimes I think she confuses Stereotype with Cliche. She's bang-on about the tendency to habitually define the female roles in games to be demanding something of the male ones, but I do think sometimes when it gets to games that do have female protagonists, she does seem to forget that computer games are, well, computer games, and are played as such, not 'people simulators'.

@The E

Thunderf00t has been relying more and more on these single sound-bites lately, which don't stand up too well to analysis, I preferred it when he was less accusatory and angry about it all.

[Nuke]

its clearly in jest. oddly amusing too. but not worth attention. the internet is overflowing with this type of post. they likely suffer from some kind of personality disorder.

[Mr. Vega]

I do not want to discuss this guy again. Pretty clear what he's about.

[Flipside]

The problem is that the Gaming Community is its own great big cyclic cluster-**** that has become its own worst enemy.

For example, this person attacks Sarkeesian, she, rather than informing the authorities that there's someone with obvious mental issues stalking her instead decides to show the post to the world as a 'poster' for the worst that the gaming community has to offer. Now, that image will eventually percolate, but the message that 'this represents the worst of the Gaming community' will blur into 'this represents the Gaming community' by the time it reaches mainstream.

Like all Media communities, we love to make a Drama out of a situation, maybe that's part of what attracts us to computer games in the first place.

[Mr. Vega]

The problem is that the Gaming Community is its own great big cyclic cluster-**** that has becomes its own worst enemy.

For example, this person attacks Sarkeesian, she, rather than informing the authorities that there's someone with obvious mental issues stalking her instead decides to show the post to the world as a 'poster' for the worst that the gaming community has to offer. Now, that image will eventually percolate, but the message that 'this represents the worst of the Gaming community' will blur into 'this represents the Gaming community' by the time it reaches mainstream.

Like all Media communities, we love to make a Drama out of a situation, maybe that's part of what attracts us to computer games in the first place.

The effort to downplay what's going on is reaching new levels of rediculousness and attempts at redirection.

[Flipside]

No, you misunderstand, the effort to overplay what is going on and turn it into a 'Rome is burning' situation is in full swing. Your post is an excellent example of it in fact.

Just because someone says that the gaming community tends to over-dramatize things and make a 'show' of it is not a statement on what is going on at all, it's a statement on the reaction on it, but any statement that could possibly be taken as detracting from your viewpoint must be a belittlement of what happened in your eyes.

Ask yourself, what does showing it to the Internet actually achieve compared to reporting it to the authorities? Beyond a great deal of drama, very little. Pointing that out is not attacking Sarkeesian, not at all, we all do it, it's the nature of the Gaming Community itself I'm afraid.

As I said before, Drama from a Crisis.

[Mr. Vega]

No, you misunderstand, the effort to overplay what is going on and turn it into a 'Rome is burning' situation is in full swing. Your post is an excellent example of it in fact.

Just because someone says that the gaming community tends to over-dramatize things and make a 'show' of it is not a statement on what is going on at all, it's a statement on the reaction on it, but any statement that could possibly be taken as detracting from your viewpoint must be a belittlement of what happened in your eyes.

Ask yourself, what does showing it to the Internet actually achieve compared to reporting it to the authorities? Beyond a great deal of drama, very little. Pointing that out is not attacking Sarkeesian, not at all, we all do it, it's the nature of the Gaming Community itself I'm afraid.

As I said before, Drama from a Crisis.

If your opinion is that she's the problem, I have no interest in your opinion.

[Flipside]

Thank you for explaining the entire problem with the gaming community in one sentence.

[Hobbie]

The whole GamerGate topic is intriguing, so I've done a bit of investigating and, as is tradition, I've found something a little odd.

Rumour has it that these threats on Anita Sarkeesian are fake. Source is /v/, and even though they've got some interesting findings up on the Quinnspiracy KnowYourMeme page, I want to do a bit more research before I say one way or another.

Will provide more info as I find it. There may be a wait, since it's my bedtime (hah).

[Mr. Vega]

I don't have to take an opinion contemptuous of victims of scary death threats seriously.