Brianna Wu, known to Gamergate as Literally Wu, is a game developer who made that notorious game, Revolution 60, a game that's been panned by practically every user that's come across it (unless they were game journalists). Before Gamergate, she was a trust fund baby who never earned a thing in her life, never struggled, had everything handed to her on a silver platter (example: given 200 thousand dollars to start an animation company that went nowhere). She's the type of person any hard worker, that anyone who has ever had to work two shifts to pay for college, work the weekends to pay off a car loan, etc, would absolutely loathe. Before Gamergate, she was nobody.
When Gamergate began, Brianna immediately began making claims that she was being harassed by the Pro side. She infamously claimed that she had to leave her own house for her safety, a claim many have rightly doubted, and to my knowledge, has been debunked. She kept on repeating this narrative, that she was being "harassed" (to be fair to her, I've no doubt she received some authentic harassment from the troll shills), and the Antis ate it all up. For a while, Briana Wu was one of the "diverse" faces of the Anti side of Gamergate.
Brianna was the third, and to my knowledge the last, person to be given the moniker "Literally Who" by the Pro side. For those not in the know, the term "Literally Who" is given to any individual who it's felt distracts from the overall goal of Gamergate (ethics in games journalism). The other two Literally Whos are Zoe Quinn, game developer whose sexual liaisons with prominent game journalists served as ONE of the immediate precedents of Gamergate; and Anita Sarkeesian, prominent feminist pop culture critic who began a 12 part Youtube series discussing women's role in video games, a series that's so far been delayed considerably and is not even halfway done. Why is Briana a Literally Who? Because in the grand scheme of Gamergate, her role is laughably minuscule, even when compared to the other Literally Whos.
Like Zoe, Briana is a game developer, and like Anita, she's a very loud voice. But that's all she is, a very loud voice who often says little more than "look at me!" and "Buy my game!". That's all she ever was to Gamergate, all things considered; she wasn't one of the game journalists who constantly spat at us (metaphorically, of course) like Ben Kuchera or Leigh Alexander, nor was she a big name celebrity who decided to insult a good chunk of their core audience by likening them to the Ku Klux Klan, like Joss Whedon. She wasn't a geek culture icon who turned her nose up to us and assumed a holier than thou attitude, like Will Wheaton or Felicia Day. She wasn't even some small name online blogger-critic who opted to liken Gamergaters to rapists, like Moviebob. Brianna Wu is literally nobody important.
There is one thing that all Gamergaters, and indeed any neutral observer would also, agree on: Brianna is not a nice person. She discriminates against people who suffer autism, she's vain, she's hubristic, she's quick to insult, slow to apologize. Allow me to present some evidence:
The people who just a day earlier were supporting Brianna Wu, made Steam accounts just to upvote her game, and generally defended her from ANY criticism no matter how valid, were today turning on her, calling her slurs, accusing her of betrayal. Over a coffee and a chat. These people, who pat themselves on the back for being "warriors for social justice", for "defending women in gaming", for "supporting racial and sexual minorities", were throwing Brianna Wu to the dogs, over a coffee and a chat. A coffee and a chat. Brianna Wu did nothing more than have a coffee with a game developer and a friendly chat about video games. She did what people in her profession do ALL THE TIME. That's how you network with people. And the Antis...
This isn't the first time the Anti Gamergate group has demonstrated their hypocrisy. I have one name to share: Cytherea. FORMER adult film actress, her home was invaded, and she was raped, by three hooligans. She was so traumatized she wouldn't even leave her home. Her friend, Mercedes Carrera, began a charity drive to help her out. When Mercedes asked Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist who has spoken extensively on rape culture, toxic masculinity, and male privilige, for some help, she received nothing but radio silence. Not a tweet to show support, not a dime, nothing. Why the radio silence? Because Mercedes Carrera supports Gamergate. A RAPE VICTIM was denied support because of politics.
A comic was drawn to satirize this situation: http://kukuruyoart.deviantart.com/art/Gamergate-cooties-515721421
The Anti side of Gamergate has demonstrated, beyond a shadow of a doubt, their hypocrisy. The side that claims to be pro woman has shown to only be pro women that agree with them. That's the REAL misogyny, the hatred of women who deviate from what they deem acceptable behavior. If you're not a feminist, you're scum to them. If you support Gamergate, you're scum. Your worth as a woman, and by extension as a human being, is based on you doing what they want you to do. This isn't what the suffragists fought for back in 1923. This isn't what the feminists of old wanted for anyone, man or woman. How did it get like this? All those people who fought for gays to be accepted as human beings, for women to be accepted as equals, for transsexuals to be recognized, only to see their hard work disregarded by the ignorant animals that DARE to call themselves the upholders of these struggles!
I don't know what else to say, what else can be said, except maybe this: it doesn't matter what you label yourself as, what you call yourself, which beliefs you tout and parrot; what matters is what you do. One action speaks louder than the loudest voice; one action says more about you than a million word essay can ever hope to. And you can call yourself whatever you want, you can say a billion times over that you believe in equal rights, in respecting women, in supporting minorities. Go ahead, because no one cares what you say, they care about what you do. Make sure your actions don't contradict your words, otherwise, you'll find that no one will take stock into what you say.
When Gamergate began, Brianna immediately began making claims that she was being harassed by the Pro side. She infamously claimed that she had to leave her own house for her safety, a claim many have rightly doubted, and to my knowledge, has been debunked. She kept on repeating this narrative, that she was being "harassed" (to be fair to her, I've no doubt she received some authentic harassment from the troll shills), and the Antis ate it all up. For a while, Briana Wu was one of the "diverse" faces of the Anti side of Gamergate.
Brianna was the third, and to my knowledge the last, person to be given the moniker "Literally Who" by the Pro side. For those not in the know, the term "Literally Who" is given to any individual who it's felt distracts from the overall goal of Gamergate (ethics in games journalism). The other two Literally Whos are Zoe Quinn, game developer whose sexual liaisons with prominent game journalists served as ONE of the immediate precedents of Gamergate; and Anita Sarkeesian, prominent feminist pop culture critic who began a 12 part Youtube series discussing women's role in video games, a series that's so far been delayed considerably and is not even halfway done. Why is Briana a Literally Who? Because in the grand scheme of Gamergate, her role is laughably minuscule, even when compared to the other Literally Whos.
Like Zoe, Briana is a game developer, and like Anita, she's a very loud voice. But that's all she is, a very loud voice who often says little more than "look at me!" and "Buy my game!". That's all she ever was to Gamergate, all things considered; she wasn't one of the game journalists who constantly spat at us (metaphorically, of course) like Ben Kuchera or Leigh Alexander, nor was she a big name celebrity who decided to insult a good chunk of their core audience by likening them to the Ku Klux Klan, like Joss Whedon. She wasn't a geek culture icon who turned her nose up to us and assumed a holier than thou attitude, like Will Wheaton or Felicia Day. She wasn't even some small name online blogger-critic who opted to liken Gamergaters to rapists, like Moviebob. Brianna Wu is literally nobody important.
There is one thing that all Gamergaters, and indeed any neutral observer would also, agree on: Brianna is not a nice person. She discriminates against people who suffer autism, she's vain, she's hubristic, she's quick to insult, slow to apologize. Allow me to present some evidence:
In all honesty, had this been everything there were to Brianna Wu, there'd be no blog entry about her. And in all honesty, had a certain recent event not happened, I would have been content just letting Literally Wu here just fall off into obscurity, to be forgotten by every gamer and ignored by every non gamer in the world. But something happened.
Brianna Wu, in an unfathomable act of maturity, had herself a coffee and a chat with a developer and Gamergate supporter named Brad Wardell. You might know him as the EP of a game called Sins of a Solar Empire. Anyway, what should have been but a small step to bridge the gap between Pro and Anti Gamergate instead turned into one hell of a storm for Brianna Wu.
The Anti Gamergates turned on her. They called her a traitor, they told her how they never liked her or her game. Had THAT been all, it'd have been Karma giving Brianna everything it owed her, a slice of humble pie for someone who never had any right to be prideful, someone with nothing to be proud about, someone whose achievements have been mediocre at best. But it didn't end there.
They called her "tranny". a slur for transsexuals. They called her a fake woman. Look at this:
This isn't the first time the Anti Gamergate group has demonstrated their hypocrisy. I have one name to share: Cytherea. FORMER adult film actress, her home was invaded, and she was raped, by three hooligans. She was so traumatized she wouldn't even leave her home. Her friend, Mercedes Carrera, began a charity drive to help her out. When Mercedes asked Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist who has spoken extensively on rape culture, toxic masculinity, and male privilige, for some help, she received nothing but radio silence. Not a tweet to show support, not a dime, nothing. Why the radio silence? Because Mercedes Carrera supports Gamergate. A RAPE VICTIM was denied support because of politics.
A comic was drawn to satirize this situation: http://kukuruyoart.deviantart.com/art/Gamergate-cooties-515721421
The Anti side of Gamergate has demonstrated, beyond a shadow of a doubt, their hypocrisy. The side that claims to be pro woman has shown to only be pro women that agree with them. That's the REAL misogyny, the hatred of women who deviate from what they deem acceptable behavior. If you're not a feminist, you're scum to them. If you support Gamergate, you're scum. Your worth as a woman, and by extension as a human being, is based on you doing what they want you to do. This isn't what the suffragists fought for back in 1923. This isn't what the feminists of old wanted for anyone, man or woman. How did it get like this? All those people who fought for gays to be accepted as human beings, for women to be accepted as equals, for transsexuals to be recognized, only to see their hard work disregarded by the ignorant animals that DARE to call themselves the upholders of these struggles!
I don't know what else to say, what else can be said, except maybe this: it doesn't matter what you label yourself as, what you call yourself, which beliefs you tout and parrot; what matters is what you do. One action speaks louder than the loudest voice; one action says more about you than a million word essay can ever hope to. And you can call yourself whatever you want, you can say a billion times over that you believe in equal rights, in respecting women, in supporting minorities. Go ahead, because no one cares what you say, they care about what you do. Make sure your actions don't contradict your words, otherwise, you'll find that no one will take stock into what you say.
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