[quote=@Tulpa]

First of all, my post wasn't even about you. I already told you that. Secondly, it could not have been directly towards [i]anyone.[/i] You have to be a [i]very specific[/i] type of person in order for my post to apply to you. The fact that you feel to personally about it speaks volumes to me about your personality, and I'm honestly not surprised.[/quote]


It doesn't apply to me. Not in the manner you think it does, anyway. I feel about it the same way I feel about anything else. Ambivalent. 


[quote]You care enough to write out this essay to me, so I feel obligated to form some sort of response to you. The thing is, my emotions from my past posts have already passed and now I'm in the burn-out phase of it all. I'm burned out of this world, of everything. I'm young, but I'm already tired of fighting this fight. Because when you do, it often feels like it's you against the world. That everything is established against you. People may not speak their hatred for you in public, but the thing is - is that they will go out of their way to make sure that you never succeed at life. It worked.[/quote]

What fight are you fighting here? I'm genuinely curious. Because it's coming off as a tad bit overdramatic. 



[quote]So rape and death threats are "nothing" to you?[/quote] 

Yes, when they are not actual threats at all and just posturing. I'm not going to take a death threat on Twitter of all places as a legitimate threat.



~~~

[quote]*Phew!* Did I get them all? Probably not.[/quote]

So you're just not interested in having any sort of discussion. That's really all you had to do instead of being all dismissive of everything. Way to prove the point.

[quote]You somehow wrote nine paragraphs without saying anything, really.[/quote]

I said that both sides of this current culture war, and I use that term with a lot of finger quotes, are in the wrong and complete each other. 

[quote]I'm not even sure what your point is supposed to be, other than validating and propagating GamerGate as something other than what it is.[/quote]

GamerGate is a boogeyman now. It wasn't. But it is now. It was never supposed to be this anti-women thing. The trolls on both sides turned it into that and now it's a boogeyman. GamerGate before it became twisted was stupid to begin with and only became more and more idiotic as it became a catch-all for 'people that hurt my feefees'. 

[quote]Do you not like my mouth words? You can try and be the Switzerland if you want, but it doesn't really work like that. Especially with something as notorious and well-known as this, and already impossible coming from a biased source.[/quote]

I'm pretty Switzerland in the sense that I think both sides, let's say pro and anti GG since we're on the topic, are wrong. Initially I sided with GG because yeah, sure, journalistic integrity is something you want if you want to be taken seriously as a journalist and also because games 'journalists' acted like babies towards their target audience. But when I saw it start to be full of people using it to sling shit at people - and not just angry gamers towards women, but the supposed professionals towards their readers - I stepped away because no good would come of it. 

Once the culture war of 'sjw' and...fuckin I dunno what the other side calls themselves so let's just say 'mras' started I didn't pick a side because one side was full of whiny self-entitled cunts and the others were going about the social justice thing completely the wrong way. As a queer woman of color I hated that people felt like they needed to speak for me and stick up for me, but I also couldn't stand the other side just using this whole thing to stroke their beards and flex their 'moral superiority' while making fun of certain people. One side isn't inherently better than the other and both sides are just constantly fueling the other's fire. 

So yeah, I stayed out of it because I'm god damn near thirty and I don't have the patience for a bunch of young adults shouting at each other. This isn't the way to get people talking. 

[quote]I actually think this is a personal issue to you. You already told me that you were a member of GamerGate. So you must feel targeted, and want to make something look less shitty than it is.[/quote]

I only ever feel targeted when I'm actually targeted. Which doesn't really happen like...ever. I supported the idea of GamerGate at first, yes. I'll admit to that. But I stopped when it became obvious that 'ethics in video game journalism' was no longer the point. Video game journalism is a stupid hill to plant a flag on when most video game writers are just bloggers and video games are a hobby, not a fucking moral crusade. 

[quote]I sense guilt in your post.[/quote]

Guilt over getting involved in this perhaps, but in for a penny in for a pound. That's on me and my nature.

[quote]I sense some semblance of empathy, also. I can feel the connections being made, but not quite. I think a large part of it is wanting to point the fingers outward, rather than inwards and blaming others for the problems.[/quote]

Well I'm certainly not gonna blame me for the 'culture war'. It doesn't and hasn't affected me. I'm not in a position where it WOULD affect me in any way. I'm not on Twitter or social media. I don't work in a field that uses either of those things and I have a rather private home life. I support the rights of my fellow humans, I support equality, I think a lot of people get hung up on inconsequential things which winds up hurting their cause in the long run. But when I discuss these things with people, I do it without getting emotionally involved because I'm NOT emotionally invested. Because it hasn't affected me and there are more important issues in my life.

[quote]You try to be the Switzerland in the situation, but in reality it's victim blaming. That may sound like harsh wording, but that's essentially what it is. Despite trying to place the blame on both parties (which is already in presumptious position to take,) special emphasis is placed on [i]others.[/i] [i]Us vs. them,[/i] and the special emphasis you place on the other side of the fence shows which side you are on.[/quote]

Victim blaming? I'm not blaming anyone, other than the people that make their entire identity and personality about being oppressed or in shouting down the 'feminazis'. The blame IS on both parties. No one on either side is blameless. Which side do you think I'm on? Because I don't stand with the side that gets off on laughing at people with identity issues and I sure don't stand with the side that thinks the best way to bring women up is by bringing others down. 

[quote]I can understand that position. I think know where you are coming from, and why you felt the need to write that out. I gained some understanding of you as a person. I don't look down on you as much as you think I do.[/quote]

I don't think you look down on me? But you honestly should, I'm a terrible person. 

[quote]Regardless, your post had a whole lot of words yet very little to say. You obviously know the shitty things that GamerGate has done, and want to distance yourself from that movement. I think there is little I need to repeat to expose the already exposed when it comes to the harassment and the breach of people's human rights. I think you know.[/quote] 

I know shitty things the other side has done as well. Hence my point about both sides being made for each other. 

[quote]I know you are female. You can be a woman and also a misogynist. You must realize what you defending. There is no need for me to say it.[/quote]

I'm not a misogynist. I'm not defending GamerGate as it existed or currently exists. I'm not defending the SJWs or the anti-SJWs. I hate the acronym 'SJW' even and only use it here for lack of a better way to describe them. I believe in equality. I don't believe that policing language is the right way to go about it. I don't believe mocking people and being self important fucks is helping anybody other than the individual. One side is a bunch of sharks just waiting for the fish to fuck up so they can pounce and make response videos pointing out how stupid the sjws are. The other side likes to play the victim card first and double down on it even when called out on things. This is a generalization, yes. At some point all screaming and yelling does is make people invest in earplugs. 

[quote]I say 'Black Lives Matter.' You are the type of person who says 'ALL lives matter!'[/quote]

I am fucking not. I don't support BLM. All Lives Matter is for assholes that miss the point. 

[quote]That person is still a racist, no matter how many "black friends/cousins" they have. That in itself shows that you are an illogical person that would be nigh impossible to get through - let alone through the internet.[/quote]

I actually don't have many black friends. My best friend growing up was white. I had black friends, though, but half of them are dead now and the other half wouldn't recognize me anymore anyway. They'd probably hate me because I sold out. Got out.  Cousins, yes. But I don't see them often. I'm not a racist, either. I'm actually quite easy to get through to. All it takes is actual discussion or some quality shitposting. Coming at me with accusations and shit isn't the way to do it. 

[quote]I pretty much have to explain the entirety of feminist theory to you, history of women, etc, etc. I can't do that - not here. What I suggest is go to your bookstore and go to the women's section. Just pick up a book about feminist theory and women's issues. Read, read, read. Besides, aren't bookstores nice places to visit? They are always comfy and they feel nice.[/quote]

Or I could just go down to a community college and enroll in a female studies course and get the same experience only with more eye rolling. 

[quote]If you expect me to meet you in the middle, it's not going to happen. I cannot agree with the concept that women's issues don't even exist, especially faced with such weak and emotionally manipulated non-arguments presented to me here.[/quote]

Women's issues do exist. As do men's issues. As do trans issues. Human issues exist. I never said that they didn't exist. Just that women don't have it as bad as some people let on. 

[quote]But thanks for you honesty. I can appreciate that, how you opened up a bit here. I'm not totally unreasonable, but there's needs to be [i]some[/i] semblance of reason in the first place.
[/quote]

I think I'm being more than reasonable when I say that 'equality is important' and 'this current cultural war is fucking bonkers' and 'women aren't in a terrible position in the modern first world' and 'GamerGate is and was dumb' and I thought I was being more than reasonable when I said "It's good that you care about these issues."