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The #AreYouBlocked Test: Gamers, Lesbian Feminists, the Pope and Me

Posted on | April 10, 2015 | 136 Comments

If you’re wondering what the #AreYouBlocked hashtag is about, click here to see the League of Gamers “Blocklist Checker” site.

What has happened? It’s simple: Crazy people do crazy things.

One thing crazy people do is to accuse others of “harassment.”

Randi Harper (@Freebsdgirl) decided to make herself the Social Justice Warrior (SJW) queen by creating a “blockbot” so that Twitter users could automatically block #GamerGate activists. Other SJWs have created a blockbot “that identifies Twitter’s ‘anti-feminist obsessives’ (they’re nominated for inclusion by a group of trusted, preapproved users), sorts them into categories of offensiveness ranging ‘tedious and obnoxious’ to ‘abusive bigot,’ and allows users to pick the level of vitriol they’d like to excise from their Twitter feeds.” (That Slate article was written by @AmandaHess who, of course, has me blocked on Twitter.)

Like many other feminists, Randi Harper suffers from mental illness and has discussed her prescriptions for Ativan (Lorzepam) and Trazodone, powerful drugs used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. The fact that someone under psychiatric care has appointed herself an arbiter of Twitter “harassment” should be a flashing yellow caution light about her project, for which she is using Patreon.com to raise money.

“Let’s give money to a crazy woman! What could possibly go wrong?”

Keep in mind that I have been harassed by some of the worst trolls in Internet history, including Neal Rauhauser and Bill Schmalfeldt. Unlike feminists, however, I am not an emotionally fragile basket case and, also unlike feminists, I don’t qualify as “marginalized”:

[O]nline harassment is a social problem (one that disproportionately affects the same folks who are marginalized offline, like minority groups, LGBT people, and women), and making the Internet a safe and equitable place to communicate requires a social solution.

Again, I’m quoting Amanda Hess, who has me blocked on Twitter, because I’m such a dangerous menace, you know.

Ken White describes blockbots thus:

Various cultural and political conflicts online have led some users to develop blockbots, which are lists to which you can subscribe (to oversimplify the process) to mass-block everyone on the list. Some lists are created by methodology (like automatically blocking people who follow certain Twitter users affiliated with “GamerGate”) and some, like BlockBot, are curated by individuals who choose who goes on the list and why.
Some folks don’t like how they are characterized by these lists. BlockBot targets complain of being characterized by mostly anonymous and unaccountable strangers as “racists” or “transphobes” or “rape apologists.”

Ken White says blockbots are not defamation, and I agree. However, we must consider the original dispute that gave rise to #GamerGate, i.e., the suspicion that undisclosed conflicts of interest were influencing journalism about the videogame industry.

The #GamerGate controversy subsequently involved a lot of other things, but originally it was about concerns that this multibillion-dollar industry was being corrupted by unethical practices. As I understand it, the basic allegation was that some writers were engaged in the videogame equivalent of “insider trading,” which had the effect of providing favorable publicity for certain game developers while stigmatizing other game developers. Biased journalism about politics is one thing, but biased journalism about an extremely lucrative industry? That’s something else, and potentially an illegal something else.

So, hypothetically: What if shady practitioners were using blockbots to prevent exposure of their shady practices? Wouldn’t this amount to aiding and abetting a potentially illegal activity? One might argue that it would and, while I don’t want people to become afraid of tweeting whatever they want to tweet and blocking whomever they want to block, maybe you wouldn’t want to assist a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.)

So you have a controversy involving claims of corruption in a lucrative industry and — deus ex machina — here comes an emotionally disturbed person raising money for a project that aims to silence (as “online abuse”) the people who say they are trying to expose the aforesaid corruption. Am I the only person who sees a basic problem with this?

@adambaldwin is on the ggAutoblocker’s blocklist.

@adambaldwin is on The Block Bot’s blocklist (Level 2).

When actor Adam Baldwin called attention to the #GamerGate controversy, he became Public Enemy Number One for the SJW crowd, thus earning his spot on Randi Harper’s ggAutoblocker list.

@lizzyf620 is on the ggAutoblocker’s blocklist.

@lizzyf620 is on The Block Bot’s blocklist (Level 2).

Wait a minute: What has videogame journalist Lizzy Finnegan done to deserve her inclusion on these lists? What does this mean?

@rsmccain is on The Block Bot’s blocklist (Level 1).

Yeah, so what? This doesn’t bother me at all. It’s an honor.

@VABVOX is on The Block Bot’s blocklist (Level 1).

Wait a minute: They’re blocking lesbian feminist Victoria Brownworth? Can you imagine what a weird worldview must be involved here, for both Brownworth and I to qualify as “Level 1” offenders? At one point, I’m told, the SJWs blocked Pope Francis for his alleged “transphobia.”

Elizabeth Nolan Brown at Reason magazine discusses the blockbot mentality. And, at Breitbart.com, Allum Bokhair explains:

The Block Bot . . . rose to prominence during the online trolling panic of 2013. It claims to be a one-stop shop for blocking trolls and abusers. In practice, the people added to its lists tended to be activists, academics, bloggers, and ordinary Twitter users who fell on the wrong side of political schisms within Atheism. Richard Dawkins, for example, was added to the list as a ‘rapeapologist’ and a ‘transphobe’, despite being neither of those things. Some have accused the Block Bot of engaging in defamation.
The GG Autoblocker is arguably even worse than the blockbot. Whereas the Block Bot decides who to block based on individual reports, GG Autoblocker uses guilt by association. The autoblocker maintains a list of several blacklisted users, including Breitbart London associate editor Milo Yiannopoulos, and at one point, the feminist academic Christina Hoff Sommers. If other Twitter users follow too many of these individuals, they will be automatically added to the autoblocker. You don’t have to do anything or even say anything to become a target. If you follow the wrong people, you’ll be blocked.
Twitter users targeted by the two blocklists have had enough, and are taking to the #AreYouBlocked hashtag in large numbers to demand that the company takes action. Urged on by academic Christina Hoff Sommers and game developer Mark Kern, both popular targets for autoblockers, users have caused the #AreYouBlocked hashtag to trend globally. Using the League for Gamers’ blockchecker as well as the Block Bot’s own search function, they have also uncovered an astonishing range of accounts targeted by the blocklists.

Whether or not this is illegal, we certainly see what feeble minds and cowardly souls must be behind this. SJWs are totalitarians who think they can “win” a debate by preventing debate.

Please thank @League4Gamers, and support freedom!





 

Category: Feminism

Comments

136 Responses to “The #AreYouBlocked Test: Gamers, Lesbian Feminists, the Pope and Me”

  1. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:02 pm

    I’m sure that she is “making a statement” with that dye job.
    (We just hear her statement as “look everybody, I’m a circus clown “.

  2. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:03 pm

    Her who?

  3. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:08 pm

    Its like when we were kids throwing rocks at wasp’s nests. We wanted the wasps to get mad and chase us.
    It’s no fun throwing rocks at an empty nest.

  4. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:13 pm

    If you don’t step up your game….let’s just say we’ll be watching you.

  5. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:21 pm

    I suggested it one not top long ago.
    My version of a two state solution:

    Give them an independent state consisting of all of northern California above the San Mateo Bridge, all of Oregon and Washington west of the Cascades.

    Build a wall along the border and control any border crossings in the same way Israel does with Gaza.

  6. Chunkdog1
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:24 pm

    That’s the one.

  7. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:24 pm

    And presumably referring to us as kulaks?

  8. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:26 pm

    Oh and look down thread, he’s here!

  9. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:27 pm

    Ahem…

  10. Jeanette Victoria
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:33 pm

    More proof that there is a HUGE stalking, bullying, harassment defamation problem on twitter, and Twitter is complicit. #GamerGate, #StopRush, and in my little corner of Twitter two years of harassment form the #FreekKate pro statutory rape freaks.

    What do they all have in common? They are all angry progressive degenerates

  11. Matthew W
    April 11th, 2015 @ 5:50 pm

    Twitter abuse:

    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/04/02/twitter-support-is-not-playing-be-their-own-rules-in-the-unfair-suspension-of-climate-skeptic-tom-nelson/

  12. Jerry
    April 11th, 2015 @ 6:12 pm

    No. And he pulled that idea out of his ass cuz he’s crazy.

  13. Jeanette Victoria
    April 11th, 2015 @ 6:41 pm

    Yes I know I’ve gave Brian Glicklich some good research

  14. theoldsargesays
    April 11th, 2015 @ 7:07 pm

    I’ll disagree with the crazy part because I myself wouldn’t put it past some of the extremely progressive elements in this country to invoke such a term and because, now knowing what a kulak is I might throw it out there myself, purely as a form of mockery toward those same wackos.
    (Present company excluded)
    Peace.

  15. Rob Crawford
    April 11th, 2015 @ 8:00 pm

    That’s placing an awful lot of trust in Windows.

  16. Ross
    April 11th, 2015 @ 10:28 pm

    I joined in the #gamergate discussions as a non gamer after I saw SJW shitting up my online Atheist spaces. What had been for more of a place for deep and meaningful ideas disbursed with light fun, got contaminated by entitled ideological zealots wanting to force THEIR dogma on us.

    It was not enough for them to believe in X or Y, we had to believe it too or we were the enemy and not human.

    I was unprepared for it. When I saw the exactly thing, (which is apparently the same modus operandi used in comic book spaces and in sci-fi spaces – and Hollywood if I understand right), gaming, I jumped in with both feet.

    Recently they have tried (monumentally unsuccessfully) to send the FBI after #Gamergate supporters. Senator Katherine Clark has tried to place more pressure on this. I have set up a hashtag to help expose some terrible behaviours for the FBI (so they do not have to go through 7 million+ tweets) #getemhereFBI but there are other resources like http://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2iwf40/compilation_of_harassmentinsultsdoxxing_from/ and https://jennofhardwire.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/gamers-discussing-gamergate-scandal-are-being-harassed-wheres-the-coverage-this-article-will-be-regularly-updated-with-documented-harassment-of-gamers/

    If the FBI ever really seriously investigated (and they won’t) then the other side will fall rather dramatically. They believe in no bad tactics only bad targets. They have embracing passive aggressiveness o an art form. They ARE the kids that hits you in the playground when the teacher’s back is turned, only to scream just before you hit back so the teacher sees. It doesn’t stand up to investigation very well

  17. Finrod Felagund
    April 11th, 2015 @ 10:48 pm

    The FBI will have a new President in 2017, so things may change then.

  18. OccupyDisqus
    April 11th, 2015 @ 11:55 pm

    Jazz Hands!

  19. Steve Skubinna
    April 12th, 2015 @ 12:23 am

    Growing up in a single parent household can do that.

  20. Steve Skubinna
    April 12th, 2015 @ 12:26 am

    If that happens I’m remaining in Western WA as a stay behind.

  21. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 12th, 2015 @ 2:28 am

  22. theoldsargesays
    April 12th, 2015 @ 9:16 am

    You do understand that they’ll have a dossier on you and if captured there’ll be no reeducation camp in your future?
    They will send you straight to the wall for association with subversive elements…like us.

  23. Steve Skubinna
    April 12th, 2015 @ 10:40 am

    I’m on the list already. Whenever I’m home on leave I look online for a decent deal on bulk ammo. If I find 5.56 M855 at less than four hundred a thousand I get a can.

    So last summer I was stacking cans under the stairs and wondered “How much 5.56 do I have anyway?” A quick count later and… over 14,000 rounds.

    Oh jeez. Okay, one, I don’t need to buy any more of that for a while, and two, sure as hell I’m on some DHS watch list. If I wasn’t already for being a veteran.

    And that doesn’t count the .30-06, .30 Carbine, 7.5 Swiss, .45 ACP, and .45/70.

    So if they do catch me, there might not be enough to put against the wall. And if I use up my ammo, there might not be enough of them left to form a firing squad.

  24. Chelsea Clinton: ELLE: Rule 5 | Regular Right Guy
    April 12th, 2015 @ 2:26 pm

    […] The #AreYouBlocked Test: Gamers, Lesbian Feminists, the Pope and Me […]

  25. K-Bob
    April 12th, 2015 @ 3:21 pm

    Why give them good land? There’s perfectly good desert going to waste.

  26. K-Bob
    April 12th, 2015 @ 3:53 pm

    I’ve never seen a form of current events that requires so damn much research just to understand what it is, who’s who, and where it is now.

    When Wombat brought this to our attention, what, last year? I had to dive through link after link to finally get a report on the origins of the whole thing. Now it’s transmogrified.

    You could be an inner city kid in St. Louis and learn all there is to know about cricket faster and easier than trying to follow this mess. (And I spent plenty of time playing video games, from their beginning, through the days when my kids were little, and have hung out with the F&SF crowd my whole life.)

  27. Ken
    April 12th, 2015 @ 5:01 pm

    Look, fuckstick. You can rave about how people who use anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds are suspect, and you can cite me approvingly. But you shouldn’t do both. Because I take a SHITLOAD of anti-depressants, and occasionally anti-anxiety meds. And I’m still far closer to normal than you’ll ever be, you meth-mouthed, failed-racist, demi-literate piece of shit.

  28. theoldsargesays
    April 12th, 2015 @ 5:03 pm

    It can but it’s nowhere near a foregone conclusion.
    It’s more dependent on who that single parent is as a person. The problem is that certain segments of society, white,black, feminist, gay, whatever thrive on “being a victim of an unfair world” and have convinced themselves of this falsehood out of convenience,utter ignorance or just plain laziness.
    Whichever it is, it is just so much easier to be angry, collect a subsidy and not make any effort to get along with society while trying to better yourself and your children’s lives.

    There are obviously an overabundance of these sorts of people who are happy enough to go along with the rest of the loser’s and blame the world instead of taking personal responsibility for their own lives.

  29. theoldsargesays
    April 12th, 2015 @ 5:05 pm

    ???????????????????????????……????
    ???????

  30. theoldsargesays
    April 12th, 2015 @ 5:20 pm

    A) I’m talking about an attempt at a peaceful solution, not a purge therefore…
    B) They’d never willingly take the desert as their homeland and besides…
    C) There always the possibility that the “big one” will finally hit and drop most of them off into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

    Now if the peaceful solution fails, we’ll resort to Plan B. (Your idea)
    🙂

  31. theoldsargesays
    April 12th, 2015 @ 5:53 pm

    Jeez man, DHS may want you to sell them some ammo.
    🙂

  32. Daniel Freeman
    April 12th, 2015 @ 6:03 pm

    Hi Ken! I think that you have misconstrued his point. I’ve taken an anti-anxiety/anti-depressant before, and I plan on going back on it to help me quit smoking again. I don’t take this personally, because it isn’t about me.

    Many people with issues are able to deal with them and lead relatively normal lives. However, through his research, our kind host has been establishing a pattern of an unusual incidence among feminist authors and activists.

    When normal people avoid a movement, that is a signal of a problem. When its cultural influence exacerbates people’s issues instead of helping them cope, it becomes everyone’s problem.

    I hope that helps put things in perspective.

  33. K-Bob
    April 12th, 2015 @ 11:10 pm

    That’s good strategy!

  34. Angrytomato
    April 13th, 2015 @ 12:39 am

    LOL.

  35. Steve Skubinna
    April 13th, 2015 @ 2:50 am

    One afternoon in the early eighties I watched a cricket match in Singapore, and thought I gained a basic understanding of the game. A year or two later I made the mistake of asking an Australian about the game.

    When he finished his explanation I knew less about it than before.

  36. K-Bob
    April 13th, 2015 @ 2:51 am

    Heh. When you get to the description of the Silly Mid Off or whatever the position is called, you just have to stop them and have them take it from the top.