« Home | A tweet and retweet by Kurt Busiek about health is... » | Vox distorts the history of the original Ms. Marvel » | What kind of female cast does Five Thirty Eight ex... » | A followup to the first Civil War will accompany t... » | Mark Waid won't admit he's part of the effort to w... » | Even Marvel doesn't think we've seen the last of L... » | Forbes thinks Civil War is a "logical" choice for ... » | Yes, comics can be better than movies, but contrib... » | Manga magazines decline as online sites take over » | Another Secret Wars crossover planned for 2015 » 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014 

Some tweets by comic writers about the GamerGate issue

I haven't paid as much notice as I could've to the GamerGate topic of the past month or so, probably because video games today are not something I really care for any longer outside of Tetris, though I did read a few items by a blogger called Cranky T-Rex, who's probably one of the better on this along with a British guy named Milo Yiannopoulos. But, upon seeing a couple comics writers weigh in with rather predictable wording on Twitter about this issue, I decided I'd have a go at it. First, here's another screenshot of a retweet by Kurt Busiek of one by a former writer for Comics Alliance:
I went to research deeper into the news they talk about, and Utah State Today said:
“USU police, in conjunction with several teams of state and federal law enforcement experts, determined that there was no threat to students, staff or the speaker, so no alert was issued… Throughout the day, USU police worked to assess the level of threat with other local, state and federal agencies, including the Utah Statewide Information and Analysis Center, the FBI Cyber Terrorism Task Force, and the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. After a careful assessment of the threat, law enforcement officials determined that it was similar to other threats that Sarkeesian received in the past.”
If what they're saying is correct, then it sounds like some kind of fakery was at work here. I have no doubt there are cases of misogyny in the game industry, but if this is correct, it sounds like she let selfish agendas get the better of her, under the confidence the leftarded press wouldn't give a clear picture on anything. Actor Adam Baldwin also found these claims disputable. And the Inqusitr's noted the Gamergate movement also happens to include minorities who've also come under attack:
The Gamergate movement has largely been described as being while males. While no one knows the exact demographics for certain, Gamergate supporters say there is a good percentage of fellow members who are female, non-white, and LGBT. The oddest accusation of all is that one of the Twitter handles run by the ISIS terrorist group even started tweeting in opposition of Gamergate. In addition, it’s claimed that at least 30 individuals have been harassed in various ways, and Gamergate supporters accuse the media of ignoring their plight.

For example, a transgender person named Alexander Wuori was outed publicly and called over the phone. Wuori describes the experience, saying, "I was pretty much shaking in my boots at this point." Then a specific threat was made by the unknown caller.
Read more at the link. I'm not surprised there could be blacks, Latinos and Asians involved in the movement; they play plenty of games too. Besides, so many games are designed in Japan, it only figures they'd make up a sizable portion of players. Here's a woman writing for Maryland's Diamonback who additionally notes it's not a male-only movement. As for Sarkeesian, here's something else bizarre:
She was on campus to speak against the way women are depicted "as damsels in distress or background decoration in many video games."
What?!? Is this serious? As someone who grew up in the Pac-Man era, I may not be as big on video games as I used to, but I am well aware they've evolved a long way since Ms. Pac-Man became one of the first female video game protagonists. Since then, they gradually expanded to add more to the action, like with Ninja Princess, Flashgal, Athena, Psycho Soldier, Devil World, Gate of Doom, Wizard Fire, a game based on GI Joe, another based on Sailor Moon, Tomb Raider, and the list goes on. Even comic book games count. It's been anything but a window dressing issue for over a quarter century now. I've got a feeling even Sarkeesian doesn't believe a word she's saying. Just like everybody into video games knows Pac-Man, they also know all about Ms. Pac-Man. And if Sarkeesian's got a problem with hot women in games, I think it's time to quote Yiannopoulos:
There's an assumption in these feminist critiques that this is somehow a cause for shame or outrage. It is not. There's nothing unnatural about male gamers enjoying attractive female characters. What's unnatural is trying to police it. Feminist campaigners such as Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian won't like this comparison, but what their mission represents is a new kind of sexually dysfunctional authority clamping down on the sexuality of the great unwashed, like politicians and some churches throughout history.
And not all women have a problem with that either. In fact, that wasn't really the problem with some of the worst comics from the 1990s. It was that they had very weak storytelling, like Scott Lobdell's worst work on X-Men. One woman who clearly doesn't have a problem with T&A is Gail Simone, interestingly enough: she just told how she's fond of the Dead or Alive series from Tecmo-Koei (and movie). I wonder what her male counterparts who're opposing GamerGate must think of her now. Boy, it must soooo embarrassing one of their fellow leftists won't side with their cause here. But it does prove there's more than enough leftists out there who play the very same games rightists do, and aren't happy when nutcases come along and make petty arguments about all the wrong things. Indeed, this is hardly a political divide issue at all.

On that note, here's some items by a few others, like Ron Marz:

As noted above, it wasn't.

Hey, maybe it wasn't a great idea to start telling all about her, but she did cause a development group a lot of aggravation, and that was bad.

Somebody else needs to grow up as well.

So he doesn't think J. Jonah Jameson and Bethany Snow were about journalistic ethics? What was the point of reading Spider-Man and New Teen Titans then?

And I linked above to a college reporter who pretty much did the same by noting there's women who've supported Gamergate too.

And I suppose that means he sides with the positions espoused by J. Jonah Jameson and Bethany Snow in the Marvel and DC worlds years ago? Again, not sure why he'd read Spider-Man and New Teen Titans years before if they portrayed journalism so negatively.

What Marz needs is to just let the subject go. Besides, isn't he writing a comic based on Skylanders now?

And then we have Dan Slott:

As the info I provided tells, it's uncertain there ever was any credible evidence to back that up. Now I know why I can't find much of anything Slott says very credible either.


If Slott really cares, then does he find this a concern?

The language seen in that screencap by a dissenter with Gamergate is very horrific. Has he by any chance seen that before? What business does a guy who wrote a story where Dr. Octopus commits sexploitation of Mary Jane Watson have commenting on this issue? Even women who don't support Gamergate could feel disturbed when they realize what Slott spent the past year writing in Spider-Man. Here's more tweets he wrote:

It's long past mirror time for a man who's got causes of his own, and not good ones at that. Next up:

Look who's talking! The same man who gave free ad space to Brad Meltzer. I don't think most women would be very happy if they knew he was supporting a "novelist" whose credits include a misogynist screed. As for Raw Story, oh, are they ever a great source to consult about "ethics".



Well does he also think it's ludicrous and harmful to stuff political agendas into one's reviews of video games and falsify accusations, if any such thing was done? And most innocent people who own guns usually carry them for personal and family protection. All that aside, I think Sturges, a guy with questionable work in his portfolio, might want to consider whether he's qualified for commenting on this. Jazz Shaw at Hot Air addresses the subject a lot better than I could.

Whatever point she's trying to make is dampened when she parrots the same lines Sarkeesian used, saying "The sometimes blunt misogyny of video games—a fantasy realm where female characters have often been pigeonholed as prostitutes, helpless princesses or pinups" without acknowledging any of the kind of games I cited, not even how Simone is writing a comic based on one of them for Dark Horse. Asselin featured a screenshot of some threats that were made against one of the developers, but there's something strange: the user's name reads as "chatterwhiteman". It seems rather odd whomever committed obscenities would use that kind of a name, since misogynists would surely be capable of committing racism too and using name handles to that effect. Do I sense some kind of deliberateness took place? Good question.

Also, a note about Hudson. I just remembered that 3 years ago, after Frank Miller condemned the Occupy movement, she wrote the following item that's pretty vicious:
...let’s get real: the problem here is Miller and the things he has said and done, not the fact that other people have failed to protect him from the consequences of his very public and deliberate actions. Millar’s defense confuses the symptom with the disease, and the sadness of seeing a very gifted creator’s reputation dragged through the mud with the even sadder truth: that he did it to himself, and that it has made many people realize he is not the man they thought he was.
Not only is it crude, what's really puzzling is why somebody who's siding with the anti-Gamergate bunch turned her back on victims of serious crimes at the time. So Miller's the problem, but not the Occupy thugs who caused only so much pain and aggravation for everyone? What would she say if they drove people away from her favorite restaurant and it had to close down? It's a shame, because I recall Hudson rightly panned Identity Crisis at least 4 years ago, and now, she's unfortunately letting her leftism get the better of her again. Too bad.

I'm sure there is hostility to women in gaming, but if anything in this affair was trumped, that does not help women's causes one bit. And being a journalist doesn't make you a saint. I don't care much for video games now, but I do care about honesty in the journalistic profession that isn't based upon politics, and any so-called reporter who twists things up like pretzels doesn't help their industry either. Also, as Noah Dulis says, supporting Gamergate doesn't make one a bully. I think most of the people involved would do better to take a look at the comics medium, because it's a lot easier for misogyny to find its way into an overlooked industry where nobody has any clue how to research the effects. Just don't expect any knee-jerk comics writers to avail in asking for better journalistic integrity for comicdom.

Labels: , , , ,

Marz and Slott are WAY beyond parody now. They've contradicted themselves so many times even they don't know where the f*** they stand on various issues anymore.

Traditional comics are dying. And they're a big reason for it.

For reference, investigative reporter James O'Keefe posted a Colorado Dem suborning voter fraud and received public death threats from 4 different leftist Twitter identities. On one post. Within an hour.

Some guy from Brazil that the FBI investigates and says is no threat to AS in Utah? Sort of pales in comparison, doesn't it?

But, hey. Agenda trumps reality with leftists.

Post a Comment

About me

  • I'm Avi Green
  • From Jerusalem, Israel
  • I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.
My profile

Archives

Links

  • avigreen2002@yahoo.com
  • Fansites I Created

  • Hawkfan
  • The Greatest Thing on Earth!
  • The Outer Observatory
  • Earth's Mightiest Heroines
  • The Co-Stars Primer
  • Realtime Website Traffic

    Comic book websites (open menu)

    Comic book weblogs (open menu)

    Writers and Artists (open menu)

    Video commentators (open menu)

    Miscellanous links (open menu)

  • W3 Counter stats
  • Bio Link page
  • blog directory Bloggeries Blog Directory View My Stats Blog Directory & Search engine eXTReMe Tracker Locations of visitors to this page  
    Flag Counter

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

    make money online blogger templates

Older Posts Newer Posts

The Four Color Media Monitor is powered by Blogspot and Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
Join the Google Adsense program and learn how to make money online.