So yesterday there was a school shooting in Seattle. A very sad occurrence, to be sure. When these things happen, the best thing for those who lived very far away is to send our sympathies to the victims of the shooting and their families. In times like these, what we need to do is to demonstrate our humanity and compassion, to make ourselves available to the people whose lives have been destroyed by the actions of a madman.
I know this has nothing to do with gaming, and I'd like to apologize to you, my readers, for going so off topic, especially considering that, during the past two months, I've talked about nothing but Gamergate. But I feel like this is something I need to talk about, so if I could have your patience, I'd appreciate it.
Two kids died, including the shooter. Two KIDS. They had their lives ahead of them, and they just ended yesterday. Why? We don't know yet. We may never know. I feel, however, that it is much, much too early for conjecture, especially conjecture as baseless as the one Ms Sarkeesian is offering here.
Anita Sarkeesian is not a forensic scientist. She is not a psychologist, she is not a criminal investigator, she is not a detective, she's not even a cop. She's an online pop culture critic, no better qualified to talk about school shootings and criminal behavior than any god damn Internet personality on the planet. So what the hell? Who the FUCK does Sarkeesian think she is, using a tragedy to push her feminist agenda a mere HOURS after it happened!? Who the hell does this!? Is there no respect for the dead, for the people who lost loved ones, for the people that now have to live the rest of their lives with the horrid thought that they were so close to death, to the people that will have to live with the undeserved guilt that perhaps they could have avoided this shooting if they saw it coming? Is there no sympathy for them from Sarkeesian! Is all she going to do is offer just her agenda!?
Let me tell you something: I'm struggling right now to become a teacher, and my biggest nightmare scenario is what I'll do if there's ever a school shooting. How will I really react? What will I be able to do to protect my students? How many of them will I be able to save? How many parents will I have to look in the eye as I tell them, with the tears I am absolutely sure I'll have, that I couldn't save their child? This is a nightmare to every educator that takes their job seriously.
And what's Anita offering? Not condolences, not sympathy, not even a shred of decency. She's offering her worthless, unsolicited, unwelcome "analysis" of what happened. I put analysis in quotation marks because you can't really call it an analysis if you don't even bother to look at the god damn evidence! Masculinity, what the hell does that have to do with TWO dead kids in Seattle!? What the hell does it have to do with the hundreds of school kids that now have to live with the fact that they went through a school shooting, with the parents who held their breaths praying to whatever gods they worshiped for their kids to be OK?
This isn't about anti feminism, OK? This isn't about feminism being bad, or being good, relevant or irrelevant to modern times. It's about people, about two people that died, and hundreds of people whose lives will never again be the same, thanks to the absolute worst decision a 14 year old boy had ever made. So, why make it about feminism? Why make it about Patriarchy, about "toxic" masculinity?
I am reminded of two things. The first is a Chick Tract called "Oops!" In this comic, a young man named Bobby had overdosed on Speed and he was being carted away by an ambulance as several teenagers wept for the loss of their friend, and an old preacher took THAT opportunity to preach about Hell. Any unbiased reader can see this as a very disrespectful move. This is exactly what Sarkeesian had done just yesterday, it is no different.
Remember Elliot Rodger? Dumb boy who thought he was so superior to everyone that he went out on a shooting spree, killed three guys, two girls, and himself? Remember how several feminists made his crime to be all about misogyny, rape culture, and all that jazz? We're seeing it again. It was disgusting then, it's disgusting now.
It is inevitable that tragedies get politicized by those with an agenda. When Columbine happened, moral guardians turned it into a platform to soap box about how video games and rock music were "poisoning" the youth, and specifically targeting games like Doom and artists like Marilyn Manson as indirectly responsible for the shootings. Remember that? I do.
To politicize a tragedy is one of the scummiest things one can do, because it turns the victims into nothing but props for people, who most likely didn't even bother to learn the names of those who died, to be used as a platform to further their agendas. This is beyond disgusting: it's deplorable, despicable.
In times like these, I'll repeat myself, what we need to show is compassion, humanity, kindness, empathy. We need to be there for the people that need us, that need a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on to. In the words of a wise man: "The first question asked in the Bible is 'am I my brother's keeper?' The rest of the Bible answers: yeah, you are."
Anita Sarkeesian utterly failed to demonstrate even the basest amount of sympathy for the victims of this shooting. THIS is the woman who was given 150 thousand dollars after she was harassed online for trying to make a video series offering feminist critique of gaming. THIS woman, who often speaks out against online bullying of feminist women, couldn't even summon the decency to hold her tongue at least a week after the shooting happened. Here she is, ladies and gentlemen, the woman held in such high esteem by third wave feminists, by gaming journalism, and parts of the gaming industry, here she is uncensored. Here she is, in her own words, written by her. A gift from the sewers of mankind.
I fear I've nothing else to say, but this: may the victims of this recent tragedy find peace, may their families be given justice, and if there is a God, may He have mercy on the boy who pulled the trigger. Please stay safe, dear readers.
...
I know this has nothing to do with gaming, and I'd like to apologize to you, my readers, for going so off topic, especially considering that, during the past two months, I've talked about nothing but Gamergate. But I feel like this is something I need to talk about, so if I could have your patience, I'd appreciate it.
Two kids died, including the shooter. Two KIDS. They had their lives ahead of them, and they just ended yesterday. Why? We don't know yet. We may never know. I feel, however, that it is much, much too early for conjecture, especially conjecture as baseless as the one Ms Sarkeesian is offering here.
Anita Sarkeesian is not a forensic scientist. She is not a psychologist, she is not a criminal investigator, she is not a detective, she's not even a cop. She's an online pop culture critic, no better qualified to talk about school shootings and criminal behavior than any god damn Internet personality on the planet. So what the hell? Who the FUCK does Sarkeesian think she is, using a tragedy to push her feminist agenda a mere HOURS after it happened!? Who the hell does this!? Is there no respect for the dead, for the people who lost loved ones, for the people that now have to live the rest of their lives with the horrid thought that they were so close to death, to the people that will have to live with the undeserved guilt that perhaps they could have avoided this shooting if they saw it coming? Is there no sympathy for them from Sarkeesian! Is all she going to do is offer just her agenda!?
Let me tell you something: I'm struggling right now to become a teacher, and my biggest nightmare scenario is what I'll do if there's ever a school shooting. How will I really react? What will I be able to do to protect my students? How many of them will I be able to save? How many parents will I have to look in the eye as I tell them, with the tears I am absolutely sure I'll have, that I couldn't save their child? This is a nightmare to every educator that takes their job seriously.
And what's Anita offering? Not condolences, not sympathy, not even a shred of decency. She's offering her worthless, unsolicited, unwelcome "analysis" of what happened. I put analysis in quotation marks because you can't really call it an analysis if you don't even bother to look at the god damn evidence! Masculinity, what the hell does that have to do with TWO dead kids in Seattle!? What the hell does it have to do with the hundreds of school kids that now have to live with the fact that they went through a school shooting, with the parents who held their breaths praying to whatever gods they worshiped for their kids to be OK?
This isn't about anti feminism, OK? This isn't about feminism being bad, or being good, relevant or irrelevant to modern times. It's about people, about two people that died, and hundreds of people whose lives will never again be the same, thanks to the absolute worst decision a 14 year old boy had ever made. So, why make it about feminism? Why make it about Patriarchy, about "toxic" masculinity?
I am reminded of two things. The first is a Chick Tract called "Oops!" In this comic, a young man named Bobby had overdosed on Speed and he was being carted away by an ambulance as several teenagers wept for the loss of their friend, and an old preacher took THAT opportunity to preach about Hell. Any unbiased reader can see this as a very disrespectful move. This is exactly what Sarkeesian had done just yesterday, it is no different.
Remember Elliot Rodger? Dumb boy who thought he was so superior to everyone that he went out on a shooting spree, killed three guys, two girls, and himself? Remember how several feminists made his crime to be all about misogyny, rape culture, and all that jazz? We're seeing it again. It was disgusting then, it's disgusting now.
It is inevitable that tragedies get politicized by those with an agenda. When Columbine happened, moral guardians turned it into a platform to soap box about how video games and rock music were "poisoning" the youth, and specifically targeting games like Doom and artists like Marilyn Manson as indirectly responsible for the shootings. Remember that? I do.
To politicize a tragedy is one of the scummiest things one can do, because it turns the victims into nothing but props for people, who most likely didn't even bother to learn the names of those who died, to be used as a platform to further their agendas. This is beyond disgusting: it's deplorable, despicable.
In times like these, I'll repeat myself, what we need to show is compassion, humanity, kindness, empathy. We need to be there for the people that need us, that need a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on to. In the words of a wise man: "The first question asked in the Bible is 'am I my brother's keeper?' The rest of the Bible answers: yeah, you are."
Anita Sarkeesian utterly failed to demonstrate even the basest amount of sympathy for the victims of this shooting. THIS is the woman who was given 150 thousand dollars after she was harassed online for trying to make a video series offering feminist critique of gaming. THIS woman, who often speaks out against online bullying of feminist women, couldn't even summon the decency to hold her tongue at least a week after the shooting happened. Here she is, ladies and gentlemen, the woman held in such high esteem by third wave feminists, by gaming journalism, and parts of the gaming industry, here she is uncensored. Here she is, in her own words, written by her. A gift from the sewers of mankind.
I fear I've nothing else to say, but this: may the victims of this recent tragedy find peace, may their families be given justice, and if there is a God, may He have mercy on the boy who pulled the trigger. Please stay safe, dear readers.
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