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At this point, I'm almost completely convinced that if I were to attend a major video game
event, literally any event... whether it be E3, PAX, CES, or even their relevance-challenged
brethren the Tokyo Game Show... that by simply walking into a group of random nerds... and
loudly shouting the name 'Sarkeesian'... I could instantaneously spawn a riot that would
make Rodney King reflexively *** his pants. 5 years ago, this chick wouldn't have taken
up space in the comments section of a gaming news article, let alone the body text, and
yet in 2014, thanks to sites like Kotaku lending this woman appalling quantities of unwarranted
relevance... she's inexplicably become the cause celebre of entirely too many gamers
and self-appointed social activists. I don't even think this rant needs to be about
feminism. So it won't be. Because the issue isn't feminism any longer. And that's perhaps
Anita Sarkeesian's greatest sin: So abhorrently slipshod has been her research... so unfathomably
inarticulate has been her 'message'... that the question is no longer even 'are video
games sexist?' Which for the record, I believe is a topic that warrants exploration and analysis.
But no. The question now is 'how is this being remotely construed as journalism'?
And let's not gloss over that sin. It's major. There are people - most of whom with which
I vehemently disagree, for the record - but good people... who have devoted their entire
adult lives to the principle of advancing the feminist cause through the delicate waltz
of activism, and debate informed by a deeply-held personal conviction. Which is why, when a
half-wit slattern sock-puppet like Anita Sarkeesian jetés across the dance floor, break-dancing
to ***' Chopin, everyone gets up in arms. Often without expressly knowing why.
And let's not be obtuse, here. The simple fact is: In the same way that a broken clock
is right twice per day, the woman occasionally has a valid *** point. Was, for example,
Lara Croft founded on an idea of objectifying a completely one-note female protagonist long
enough to sell 13-year-old boys on a by-the-numbers 3D adventure game? No. She wasn't. That's
why Crystal Dynamics invested hundreds of thousands of dollars rounding off jaggy, PS1
polygons in an effort to make Lara's *** MORE ROUND in Tomb Raider 3! Of course there's
sexism in video games. Of course it exploitative. It just isn't everywhere in video games. And
this only deepens Anita Sarkeesian's earth-rending ignorance. Equipped with only the most superficial
pseudo-facts, and the most cursory understanding of the subject in question, the woman fumbles
her way through a poorly-worded, mal-researched parody of journalism... her incompetence ultimately
serving only to swell the size of her eternally growing chorus of detractors, and supporters,
each one more informed by knee-jerk prejudice than the last. And as both grow, so too does
the chiclet-brained feedback loop of her own undeserved importance.
And yes. It's absolutely true that elements of the woman's detractorship comprise something
a hivemind. Actually, it isn't true, because the word 'hivemind' implies that many of these
pants-*** imbecilia on 4chan actually possess a *** mind. But for every one
of the witless mob that dons their pitchfork / torch / bib-overalls ensemble at the merest
utterance of the surname 'Sarkeesian'... there's an equally knee-jerk cavalry of self-styled
white-knights leaping to the defense of a damsel in distress... who has nothing but
contempt for the very concept... of a 'damsel in distress'. The result is a cavernous divide
the size and scope of which we haven't seen since... Jonah Hill last publicly yawned.
The imperative, from my perspective, is simple: That everyone - supporters and opponents of
feminism alike - must come to understand that regardless of where we may individually fall
on a given issue... Anita Sarkeesian... must go the *** away. At her absolute best, she's
a hapless and inarticulate spokeswoman of ideas much larger than her narrow field of
both intellect and expertise will allow. If you want to argue that the woman is unwittingly
calling attention to larger issues, I can readily concede that fact... but I'd add that
every time she stumbles through yet another half-wit harangue on Feminist Frequency...
she also mischaracterizes and misrepresents your entire movement. Feminists should want
Anita Sarkeesian to take the red-eye out of this debate for the same reason Universal
Healthcare advocates should oppose Obamacare. Because it's such a chest-slapping, hamfisted
perversion of the concept's original intent... being marketed and sold by a spokesperson
with ***' hamstrings of clay... that allowing it to persist within the debate will
only do further damage to the very people who put it forward to begin with.
I'm RazörFist. Godspeed!