So today I was in Tumblr, just minding my own business, when I come across a blog with this screen capture:
Stay classy
Samantha Allen is an online writer who specializes in feminist topics and media, kind of like Anita Sarkeesian, except without a Kickstarter that gained 150K bucks for a 12 part video series that has only released four videos thus far. I took to her website, read a few of her articles, and to be honest, I was not impressed. Her writing style is to the point, but a good look at how she titles her articles makes it clear that she's not here to open up our minds to new ideas so much as she aims to shove her ideas into our heads. That, however, is merely my opinion and impression, and because I believe in letting other people make up their own minds, I offer this link which contains links to several of her writings: http://samanthaleighallen.wordpress.com/games-writing/
So on June 30th, Samantha Allen wrote a tweet expressing disappointment in Giant Bomb hiring yet another white guy as a writer. Giant Bomb is an online gaming site that hosts game reviews, editorials, and such. Let's take a good look at that picture above: a feminist is expressing disappointment in a video game website hiring someone she does not approve of due to the color of his skin, and we have someone else asking her an honest question: what if the white guy was the most qualified?
Samantha Allen's response was immature, unprofessional, and uncalled for. This is the kind of response you expect from a 15 year old kid, from a drunk 19 year old college student, and from an 11 year old child trying to act edgy in front of his friends. It is NOT the response that a professional would give out, ESPECIALLY to someone who asked a legitimate question that challenged her position.
But then what happened? Well, as should be expected, people got angrier than they should have. Samantha Allen received threats, harassment, and slurs thrown at her. One bad tweet, and suddenly Samantha Allen becomes the next online pariah. Ladies and gentlemen, this isn't OK.
This is not the first time this has happened. Need I remind everyone the harassment Anita Sarkeesian faced when she announced her Kickstarter for Tropes vs Women in Games? Remember the death threats, the rape threats she received? And anyone remember Phil Fish, the creator of Fez? Anyone remember the harassment he received, the death threats? What about the harassment Doug Walker got from Demo Reel and ending Nostalgia Critic? Or the Dickwolves kerfluffle from Penny Arcade? Why is it we do this?
Why is it when someone does something we don't like online, we quickly take to the ad Hominem, the threats of bodily harm, and the insult? Why is it that a person can't post something online without having to face harassment?
I read this article, and honestly I feel it says a lot of what needs to be said:
http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/swimming-in-a-sea-of-shit-the-internets-war-against-creatives.
You know what? This isn't limited to the online community. Go read a fashion magazine or a tabloid newspaper, and count the many articles that demean celebrities. Count the many times a woman's stomach is criticized for not being flat enough, or the many times a man is made fun of for losing hair. Count how many cellulite is pointed out. The count how many times any of their achievements are praised.
There is a HUGE difference between critique and harassment. If I say that Samantha Allen's writing is sub par due to the fact that she prefers to focus on gaming from a feminist point of view, that's my opinion. If I say that I find her writing to be poorly analyzed, that's critique. That doesn't make me a terrible human being. But if I say that Samantha Allen deserves to be raped (Heaven forbid such a thing ever happen) because she dared to write a piece criticizing Giant Bomb's hiring policies, that DOES, in fact, make me a terrible human being. No, it makes me TRASH.
I know what some of you may be thinking: What if she's making it up? What if she's just crying wolf to get attention? My answer is this: past events present considerable evidence for the possibility that this is real. This has happened before, as I've already said. Maybe not to her, but to many, many others as well. And yes, people always, always, ALWAYS look up cheap excuses: Maybe it's the fact that Phil Fish told someone to kill themselves, or that Anita Sarkeesian applauded a fan fic where she mutilates Randy Pritchford. Yes people often do shit that needs to be pointed out and criticized, things that need to be called out. But harassment is NOT the way to do this!
Online harassment is indefensible. It is cruel, it is inhuman. And I know what some of you are saying: if you don't want to face online harassment, get off the internet. My response is thus: Online harassment is more than just words, it is intent, and whether we like it or not, too many people send unwarranted hate to those they don't agree with.
If you still think it's OK to send someone death threats, whether online or off, I have but two words: fuck you. Fuck you for thinking you're so above normal decency that you think it's OK to wish the worst harm possible to another human being. Fuck you for inflicting some of the worst emotional harm to someone you've most likely have never met, nor would you ever meet. Fuck you for giving EVERY SINGLE NETIZEN a bad name. Fuck you for being the reason no one can have a civil discussion on the Internet. Fuck you for indulging in the absolute worst qualities humanity can possess. FUCK YOU!
I feel like there's absolutely nothing else I can say about this matter, and it's not just because others have said what needs to be said, and said it better. I truly feel as if the Internet shows us the true face of humanity, and it is the ugliest thing the world has ever seen. We are truly savage, monstrous, cruel, evil. Is there no hope? Is all there is a great darkness? How I'd like to believe we can be better than that. How I'd like to believe we can surpass ourselves, that the future is Star Trek and not Blade Runner or Ready Player One. Oh, I'd love that. But all I can do is try to be better than that. To show a little kindness here or there, to show some respect. In the grand scheme of things, maybe it means nothing. In the end, we all suck.
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