I just came out of reading a Dr Nerdlove blog, titled "What we talk about when we talk about Gamergate", yet another piece from the Anti Gamergate propaganda machine set out to convince anyone willing to lend an ear that Gamergate is not about ethics, it's not about consumer dissatisfaction, and it's not about the feeling of betrayal that millions of gamers feel when they are told by the people that they had given their support that their identity is irrelevant, that they don't matter as consumers, that they are misogynists, and well, you know the rest. The Anti Gamergate side keeps repeating the same lies over and over again and again: that this is about Zoe Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian, and an attempt by the "gatekeepers of gaming culture to evict women from their club house", quoted from Dr Nerdlove. His blog entry is propaganda. But what is propaganda?
The purpose of propaganda is to influence your way of thinking and push forward an agenda, simple as that. These days, the words have a very, very negative connotation, and with very good reason: people don't like being told what to think. No one likes being lied to, no one likes being told what to think, what to feel, what to say, what to do. THAT'S one of the lesser reasons many gamers dislike Anita Sarkeesian: because her videos are, in a sense, feminist propaganda.
Now, in spite of the fact that propaganda has a negative connotation, the term itself does not need to be a negative. Propaganda, after all, is an inevitable element of every political movement. Gamergate itself is no different, as we too have our propaganda. Hell, I've turned my blog into pro Gamergate propaganda for the last two months! Of nine (counting this entry) blog entries I've made between September and October, a measly two blogs have had nothing to do with Gamergate.
I'd like to apologize to you, my reader, for churning out so much propaganda at you. And I would love to say that I don't want to influence your point of view or your way of thinking, but the truth is that I actually do. I actually want you to see my point of view, I want you to know what it is I think, how I see this event. I'm not impartial, I've never been. I've been pro Gamergate a while now, since August in fact. I am not unbiased, I've never been. And in that sense, I am no different than Dr Nerdlove, Leigh Alexander, or Anita Sarkeesian.
I, like them, have written what can only be called unbiased articles on the Internet. And like the 4Chan janitors that deleted every Gamergate thread on /v/, I did it for free.
But I didn't lie to you. Whatever I wrote, I wrote based on what I had seen, what I had read. What I shared with you was the reality I saw and how I saw it. If I misinformed you, it's because I myself was misinformed. But I do my research, and I do it as thoroughly as I can. Is it perfect? No, and I admit it. I'll admit my mistake when you point it out to me.
The propaganda I give you is one based on the facts I've recollected. I'll give you my evidence, and I'll tell you what conclusions I've drawn from them. But guys like Dr Nerdlove?
He'll tell you the Zoe Post was first published in 4Chan, when it was in fact published on Wordpress. He'll ignore #Notyourshield and actively paint gaming as anti woman, anti gay, anti trans, and so forth. He'll bring up the fact that the alleged "positive review" Zoe Quinn got for her game in exchange for sexual favors doesn't exist, while ignoring the fact that this doesn't disprove the notion that Zoe Quinn, a game developer, had sexual affairs with influential people in gaming media. He'll also fail to mention MundaneMatt's video on Quinnspiracy being DMCA'd by Quinn herself, an indisputable act of censorship. He'll link to sites where Quinn herself shares her side of the story (and to be fair, she deserves to be heard just as much as she deserves to be scrutinized) as well as to Felicia Day's Tumblr where she admits to being anti Gamergate due to fear of being doxxed (which to be fair is a very legitimate fear. There are assholes on our side and we need to deal with them). Dr Nerdlove also conveniently "forgets" to so much as address the GameJournoPros mail group, where gaming journalists apparently mail to each other, deciding which stories to cover and which to ignore. I bring this up because this mail group helps explain how, on August 28 of 2014, several sites all "coincidentally" published several allegedly independent articles all with the same central idea: gaming as an identity is dead.
Let me tell you something I've learned a long time ago: if an idea can be destroyed with facts, it deserves to be destroyed. You'll be fed propaganda your whole life, and if you want to believe it, that's your call. But if I leave you with any one message, it's this: check the sources, check the facts. There are people out there willing to bend the truth, to withhold information from you, to outright lie to you, just to influence you and further their agenda.
Propaganda is not lies, but lies can be used as propaganda, and it is up to you, dear reader, to seek truth at all times. Look up whatever sources are cited. If no sources are cited, be suspicious. If it sounds biased when you know it shouldn't be, take whatever is said with a grain of salt. Be wary of buzzwords. If an article has a title that sounds "click bait", don't be so quick to trust whatever it says. And as I'm sure you've been told millions of times before, don't believe everything you hear.
A last piece of advice to you, dear reader: if you find that a blogger, vlogger, or even an entire website has willfully spread misinformation, don't be afraid to unfollow them. Don't be afraid to stand up to lies, because nobody deserves to be lied to. People who are willing to lie to you to further their agenda don't respect you, and that's the simple truth.
The purpose of propaganda is to influence your way of thinking and push forward an agenda, simple as that. These days, the words have a very, very negative connotation, and with very good reason: people don't like being told what to think. No one likes being lied to, no one likes being told what to think, what to feel, what to say, what to do. THAT'S one of the lesser reasons many gamers dislike Anita Sarkeesian: because her videos are, in a sense, feminist propaganda.
Now, in spite of the fact that propaganda has a negative connotation, the term itself does not need to be a negative. Propaganda, after all, is an inevitable element of every political movement. Gamergate itself is no different, as we too have our propaganda. Hell, I've turned my blog into pro Gamergate propaganda for the last two months! Of nine (counting this entry) blog entries I've made between September and October, a measly two blogs have had nothing to do with Gamergate.
I'd like to apologize to you, my reader, for churning out so much propaganda at you. And I would love to say that I don't want to influence your point of view or your way of thinking, but the truth is that I actually do. I actually want you to see my point of view, I want you to know what it is I think, how I see this event. I'm not impartial, I've never been. I've been pro Gamergate a while now, since August in fact. I am not unbiased, I've never been. And in that sense, I am no different than Dr Nerdlove, Leigh Alexander, or Anita Sarkeesian.
I, like them, have written what can only be called unbiased articles on the Internet. And like the 4Chan janitors that deleted every Gamergate thread on /v/, I did it for free.
But I didn't lie to you. Whatever I wrote, I wrote based on what I had seen, what I had read. What I shared with you was the reality I saw and how I saw it. If I misinformed you, it's because I myself was misinformed. But I do my research, and I do it as thoroughly as I can. Is it perfect? No, and I admit it. I'll admit my mistake when you point it out to me.
The propaganda I give you is one based on the facts I've recollected. I'll give you my evidence, and I'll tell you what conclusions I've drawn from them. But guys like Dr Nerdlove?
He'll tell you the Zoe Post was first published in 4Chan, when it was in fact published on Wordpress. He'll ignore #Notyourshield and actively paint gaming as anti woman, anti gay, anti trans, and so forth. He'll bring up the fact that the alleged "positive review" Zoe Quinn got for her game in exchange for sexual favors doesn't exist, while ignoring the fact that this doesn't disprove the notion that Zoe Quinn, a game developer, had sexual affairs with influential people in gaming media. He'll also fail to mention MundaneMatt's video on Quinnspiracy being DMCA'd by Quinn herself, an indisputable act of censorship. He'll link to sites where Quinn herself shares her side of the story (and to be fair, she deserves to be heard just as much as she deserves to be scrutinized) as well as to Felicia Day's Tumblr where she admits to being anti Gamergate due to fear of being doxxed (which to be fair is a very legitimate fear. There are assholes on our side and we need to deal with them). Dr Nerdlove also conveniently "forgets" to so much as address the GameJournoPros mail group, where gaming journalists apparently mail to each other, deciding which stories to cover and which to ignore. I bring this up because this mail group helps explain how, on August 28 of 2014, several sites all "coincidentally" published several allegedly independent articles all with the same central idea: gaming as an identity is dead.
Let me tell you something I've learned a long time ago: if an idea can be destroyed with facts, it deserves to be destroyed. You'll be fed propaganda your whole life, and if you want to believe it, that's your call. But if I leave you with any one message, it's this: check the sources, check the facts. There are people out there willing to bend the truth, to withhold information from you, to outright lie to you, just to influence you and further their agenda.
Propaganda is not lies, but lies can be used as propaganda, and it is up to you, dear reader, to seek truth at all times. Look up whatever sources are cited. If no sources are cited, be suspicious. If it sounds biased when you know it shouldn't be, take whatever is said with a grain of salt. Be wary of buzzwords. If an article has a title that sounds "click bait", don't be so quick to trust whatever it says. And as I'm sure you've been told millions of times before, don't believe everything you hear.
A last piece of advice to you, dear reader: if you find that a blogger, vlogger, or even an entire website has willfully spread misinformation, don't be afraid to unfollow them. Don't be afraid to stand up to lies, because nobody deserves to be lied to. People who are willing to lie to you to further their agenda don't respect you, and that's the simple truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment