SPJ AirPlay and Koretzky
SPJ AirPlay was a success for conveying GamerGate's intent and story, but still had issues. Most notably was host Michael Koretzky's seeming unwillingness to not listen to the wider story which builds an understanding of GamerGate. Instead, Koretzky wanted a simple, linear story that describes why GamerGate is important and why non-gamers should care. By pruning off the vital branches of cronyism, dogmatic narratives, activist journalists, and censorship, GamerGate is left as only a stump of itself. Will do my best to speak on two things here: AirPlay and GamerGate's complex nature attempting to be explained as well as freedom of speech and GamerGate as an example of it.
What is GamerGate? Well, if you let me finish...
"We're not here to talk about feminism", Koretzky was caught saying several times during the afternoon panel. Well, in a sense, we are not; the focus ought to be on GamerGate and how to journalism should approach online controversies like it. GamerGate is unique in this way as it can be the precedent setting case--if it isn't already--for large online movements and poor media portrayal. Alas, the approach to understanding GamerGate goes further back than the Zoe Post and Gamers are Dead articles. While either of those events can be considered to be flashpoints, we must assume there had to be conditions in place which would have allowed the spark of the Zoe Post to start the inferno which followed.
Most obvious was the corruption and cronyism, both of which were at least suspected, if not known, prior to the Zoe Post. Gamers are Dead articles came out 11 days after the Zoe Post, which, at a minimum, had a curious timing. A major bombshell revelation came when Brietbart journalist Milo Yiannopolous released the GameJournoPros email list, a connected group of gaming journalists who communicated with each other. Inherently, this is not bad to be connected to other reporters or journalists from other news agencies. The issues arises when this interconnected clique is used to bully and blacklist journalists who fail to tow the line. House Whips for major legislative voting are comparable to the influence of the GameJournoPros list.
Suspicions confirmed, those who have been asking questions about the games journalism industry for years had their voices amplified. For many of those prominent voices, they were soon silenced on all major platforms of discussion on the topic of GamerGate: Reddit, The Escapist, and even 4chan banned large discussion threads in the name of "preventing harassment". The drive to censor the discourse on corruption is where my focus has been for the past year, both around GamerGate and in other topics.
It is not easy to summarize GamerGate quickly. As I mentioned, it covers corruption, cronyism, dogmatism, censorship, and activist journalism. Those elements culminated in the gaming universe into the singularity we now simply call GamerGate. Teasing apart any specific thread is nearly impossible without fraying the whole story. The most we can do is give examples to describe the issues we see, but it remains that even an single example still exists within the whole tapestry.
To a concrete example, consider the reaction by the journalists in the Gamers are Dead articles: claims that game developers are inherently misogynistic in their game crafting and claiming the desire to play such games is to express a shared misogynistic view point. This is a mix of activist journalism, dogmatism to the feminist/social justice philosophy, and cronyism. Teasing these apart is possible: activist journalism is to ignore objectivity in reporting on an issue or to willfully misinform the target audience with falsities, cherry picked facts, or information without context. By doing so, the slant of the activist-journalist can be concocted with seemingly overwhelming evidence; but how can someone be an activist-journalist? Simply by adhering dogmatically to a specific philosophy and possess a drive to maintain that philosophy. This, of course, is not unique to the gaming world, and can be seen on (almost) every major news outlet.
The dogmatism exists prior to the writing of these articles, which drives the activist-journalist to contort stories in such a way as to not break from the faith. Any precept works here, whether it is insane conspiracy theories on the moon landing fakery, religious claims of Satanic possession and ritual sacrifice, or, as with the gaming journalism issues, feminist social justice doctrine. The dogmatic share one thing in common here: ends can justify the means. The means being the willingness to slander and shame their own audiences to 'raise consciousness', 'bring awareness', or purge the hobby of the scum may be allowed as long as it follows the dogmatically held beliefs.
Keeping these people in line, however, requires more than the self-discipline of the faithful. Cronyism, and by extension collusion, are wonderfully helpful tools to prevent dissent within the larger group. GameJournoPros was such a tool, used to black list those who disagreed with the demeaning of the gamer identity or failing to push the social justice narrative. Alister Pinsof was a victim of this tactic; labeled a "problem child", Pinsof was black listed from the major gaming journalism industry. Those who ask too many questions in the inner sanctum are deemed heretics and must be dealt with accordingly, often through purging and character execution.
I hope the above example of the interconnectedness of the core points of GamerGate shows how GamerGate cannot simply be about a single topic like ethics. Now to attempt to summarize GamerGate in less than a minute...
The ethical violations which took place in gaming journalism were not simply because of unethical actors, but because of a larger culture of systematic corruption, collusion, and cronyism, all of which were predicated on the basis of a dogmatic adherence to the social justice ideals which are mirrored in modern feminism. Censorship of discussion surrounding the topics of GamerGate only served to bring greater interest. Without wide spread censorship at the problem sites' forums, all of which was justified under the guise of 'harassment prevention', which, in of itself, comes from the social justice doctrine, and enforced through collusion and cronyism, many people would not have had their interests piqued.
Let's focus on the censorship: why censor? What is gained by preventing people to speak? A favourite meme for GamerGate involves Game of Thrones' character Tyrion Lannister, regarding silencing those who you do not agree with: "When you tear out of a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say." Shrouding the censorship under the cloak of "harassment", using language such as traitor, racist or misogynist, indicates all speech to be censored comes from shameful people. Simplifying all opposition to your world view to boring, flat labels only serves to harm the discourse, which both explains why it is done and the situation which was born out of the flashpoints to GamerGate.
GamerGate is a shining example of free speech
Censorship, in this manner, is cowardly. A blatant tactic to avoid the debate on the actions taken by the would be censor is, without argument, fearful of the truth. The flight from the debate and desire to save face is what can be concluded when we see the censorial acts of labeling the opposition with emotionally loaded terms. Of interest to me is the response to censorial acts: first, for the most part, people enjoy fair and respectful spaces. I could guess most people are comfortable with discussion rules which involve restrictions such as not sharing personal information or not being unnecessarily profane (to avoid ad hominums). Few people would want debates where it is nothing by shit-slinging; second, playing off of most people's desire to have civil discussions on all topics, enforcing ambiguous and subjective community standards to prevent some people in the discussion from speaking only ever serves one side--even when there are multiple view points at the table.
In all of this, there is a recognition of people being aware of the value of free expression. Denying free expression results in a visceral reaction, which can often serve the censors' needs in continuing to silence further discourse. Why do we have such a reaction to being prevented to speak? Why is censorship so roundly thought to be harmful? For me, it seems simple, even if it requires a complex explanation: free expression is objectively moral. It serves to allow all people to express themselves as they wish without the threat of being denied who they are. Any infringement on being allowed to express who you are is immoral, and includes the policing of language, expression, and even thoughts. Someone who is unable to express themselves will become discontent. The expression of self where it may contradict with the beliefs or ideas of others is not harmful, despite the censors' justifications.
When I disagree with an idea, I am not disagreeing with who or what the holder of that idea is. The person with the idea is only sharing the idea, even if he or she wholly believes in it as core and central to their being. There is no logical link between disagreeing with an idea and being opposed to the individual as a whole. This is where the objectively moral nature of free expression can be seen with greater clarity: disagreeing with an idea is an expression of the individual. The possessor of the idea is not harmed or censored by the disagreement. If the individual is prevented from disagreeing, which is simply expressing an idea which is contrary to another idea, then the individual is harmed, a act which in immoral in this context. We do not need equally footing here to make judgements, either; a politician can hold an opinion which I disagree with, but that politician having a national platform to share his or her view does not harm me as compared to me having the reach of only the few people around me. In other words, as long as one is not being prevented from speaking--even if they cannot be heard in the moment--then there is no violation of that individual's expression.
A second layer to the morality of free expression is found in the opposition to a censor. Accepting censorship means one's willingness to accept into their minds a judge other than themselves. A second mind which knows what is and is not offensive to the them. When an enthusiast website shuts down a discussion and deletes posts to prevent harassment, those who agree with the actions accept those moderators as judges into their minds; those actors prevent you from seeing what they--not you--have deemed to be inappropriate. I could not imagine allowing someone to tell me what I will find offensive or hateful. This insult is only made worse by being prevented entirely from experiencing it. It is up to me what I will see, not others to censor information coming my way.
It has been argued before that freedom of speech is like freedom of movement: it is permissible right up until your fist meets my face. That is to say there are words out there which exist within the realm of free speech which are violent by their nature. Take the fuck, derived from the Germanic fuk meaning "to strike". This word describes an action, but when uttered as "fuck you" some people take that state as a willingness to inflict harm. The words-as-violence argument is incredibly fragile, however, and has yet to survive any debate. If someone where to speak a phrase in another language foreign to you, would you know the impact of that language? Considering you do not speak that language, I would guess not. It does not matter if the phrase used was hostile or complimentary (or both, when it comes to cat-calling, apparently). Where is the violence if you do not understand the words? Better yet, where is the violence if you do not understand the context from which known words are coming from?
We are only as tough as we allow ourselves to be. There are stoic men who remain calm and controlled when dealing with profound loss or suffering, but who express deep emotions when listing to music or watching a film. There is a choice we can make when confronted with challenging language; in fact, it is a choice we must make. We must choose to not be so easily offended and to ask questions of the speakers. Why do you hold that view? is far more disarming than the actions of any censor.
Freedom of speech is an important right for us all. It is the underpinning of most every other right we have. Core to the human experience, free speech allows us to express ourselves through our actions, passions, and words. Allowing a censors to operate is an abdication of our responsibilities and of our integrity. GamerGate found the censorial actions of journalists, editors in chief, and the sites which they operate at as suspect and harmful. It controlled the speech and created a vacuum of information, which resulted in the uncritical claims of gamers being misogynistic, sexist, harassers, and a litany of equally socially negative titles in both games media and mainstream media. SPJ's AirPlay and Michael Koretzky did a great service to GamerGate and the future of how to cover online activism. The platform for free speech provided killed the falsehood of gamers being harassers of women and replaced it with a group of iconoclastic hobbyists looking for better representation.
SPJ AirPlay was a victory for GamerGate, it was a victory for free speech, and it was a victory for ethics. GamerGate is not done, though, as there are many things that still need correcting. Hopefully with the success of AirPlay, more GamerGate's goals will be made clear to the general public and the harmful stereotype of the sexist and violent gamer can be put down for good.
A final note: I would like to personally thank Koretzky for his work in setting up AirPlay. I wrote on the event prior to it taking place, laying out my hopes for it. Koretzky did a great service to all gamers and to journalism by hosting this event, despite the many attempts to shut it down, including several bomb threats which eventually stopped the event.
Thank you Koretzky. Thank you SPJ. Thank you Milo, Ms. Young, Ms. Sommers, Mr. Ceb, Ms. Schow, Mr. Bokhari, Mr. Smart, Ms. Walsh, and Mr. LaForme. Also, and I will write something separate on this matter, a special thanks to Oliver Campbell for his leadership.
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