Aram Zucker-Scharff

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How do you condemn a mob without drawing attention to that same mob? For many of our staff, myself included, GamerGate presented enough of a perceived danger that we were scared for ourselves and our families. (Notable fact I remind myself of often: There are 14 children among the Polygon staff, including two under the age of 1).

If you consider yourself a GamerGate moderate, and are genuinely concerned with ethics in journalism, then I have some perhaps surprising news for you — you’d be hard-pressed to find a more interested party than the games press itself.

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– Polygon: On Gamergate, A Letter from the Editor.

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“The main target of GamerGate is not a journalist. She’s a video game developer. […]

“If what you don’t like about gaming journalism is that it’s too cozy with the industry and therefore the writers are afraid to be critical, then your f*cking hero should be Anita Sarkeesian. She funded herself with Kickstarter and not industry money.

“One of the most important ideas when it comes to ethical journalism is that there’s a wall between advertising and editorial. Publications are not supposed to let the demands of advertisers dictate content. “

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– “GamerGate is an attack on ethical journalism.”

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Co-opting the language and posture of grievance is how members of a privileged class express their belief that the way they live shouldn’t have to change, that their opponents are hypocrites and perhaps even the real oppressors. This is how you get St. Louisans sincerely explaining that Ferguson protestors are the real racists, and how you end up with an organized group of precisely the same video game enthusiasts to whom an entire industry is catering honestly believing that they’re an oppressed minority. From this kind of ideological fortification, you can stage absolutely whatever campaigns you deem necessary. […]

The demands for journalistic integrity coming from Gamergate have nothing at all to do with the systemic corruption of the gaming media. They’ve centered instead on journalists purportedly pursuing social-justice agendas and on ridiculous claims that the press sees gamers as vectors of social contagion. Some of the complaints, like the idea that outlets ought to reconsider their editorial positions if enough readers disagree with them, even stand in direct opposition to traditional journalistic ethics.

All of this makes sense, though, if you think about Gamergate as a mutant variant of the traditional American grievance movement, a rearguard action marching under the banner of high-minded media critique.

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– The future of the culture wars is here and it is GamerGate.

“

Co-opting the language and posture of grievance is how members of a privileged class express their belief that the way they live shouldn’t have to change, that their opponents are hypocrites and perhaps even the real oppressors. This is how you get St. Louisans sincerely explaining that Ferguson protestors are the real racists, and how you end up with an organized group of precisely the same video game enthusiasts to whom an entire industry is catering honestly believing that they’re an oppressed minority. From this kind of ideological fortification, you can stage absolutely whatever campaigns you deem necessary. […]

The demands for journalistic integrity coming from Gamergate have nothing at all to do with the systemic corruption of the gaming media. They’ve centered instead on journalists purportedly pursuing social-justice agendas and on ridiculous claims that the press sees gamers as vectors of social contagion. Some of the complaints, like the idea that outlets ought to reconsider their editorial positions if enough readers disagree with them, even stand in direct opposition to traditional journalistic ethics.

All of this makes sense, though, if you think about Gamergate as a mutant variant of the traditional American grievance movement, a rearguard action marching under the banner of high-minded media critique.

”

– The future of the culture wars is here and it is GamerGate.