Old, rich, kinda-white dude tells Women not to ask for a raise, but to trust in the system, those that don't ask for a raise will eventually get one because of karma. Oh he also happens to be the CEO of Microsoft speaking at a Women in tech conference.
It's especially telling that he suggested 'karma' will sort it all out. In the US Karma is talked about in a positive light but in India karma is generally used as an excuse to ignore corrupt systems and blame the lower class for their problems instead of the broken system being against them. By suggesting Karma will give you a raise he's also suggesting women deserve to be paid less in general.
(Thx Microsoft for replacing your philanthropist CEO with a douche, it's much easier to keep hating you now.)
Indeed, that's why I said 'kinda' in the photos I saw it seemed like he could pass for white which often matters more than actual origins in 'post racial' America. Although there is always the possibility that the photos have been whitened as is commonly done.
in India karma is generally used as an excuse to ignore corrupt systems and blame the lower class for their problems instead of the broken system being against them.
Well, he finally owned up to it more directly, after the bullshit Tweet about being "inarticulate". Some handler or another told him what was needed I guess.
Quote:
Toward the end of the interview, Maria asked me what advice I would offer women who are not comfortable asking for pay raises. I answered that question completely wrong. Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.
Oh he also happens to be the CEO of Microsoft speaking at a Women in tech conference.
Isn't that where Ensign Steve is? The Women in Tech conference, not MS.
Indeed I am!
The first day they said we should come early on the second day for a "surprise speaker" and I guessed it was Megan Smith and I was totally right cuz I'm fucking smart as hell. I had skipped breakfast and coffee to get there on time, so after she spoke I checked the program to see if the scheduled speaker was someone I could take a pass on and go take care of my empty tummy and impending caffeine withdrawal. I saw it was some dude from Microsoft and I was like peace out. OMG MISANDRY!
I went and got a bagel with pumpkin shmear and it was divine.
Later in the morning I was reading the live twitter streams of my colleagues at the conference, and yeah, nobody was impressed with MS dude. I was very happy with my pumpkiny choice. Also Megan Smith is a fucking rock star.
Indeed, that's why I said 'kinda' in the photos I saw it seemed like he could pass for white which often matters more than actual origins in 'post racial' America. Although there is always the possibility that the photos have been whitened as is commonly done.
But he grew up in India. He has, at least, a foreign accent even if it is not immediately obvious that it is Indian. And he has an obviously Indian first name (his last name could plausibly be Spanish or Italian, but his accent does not sound Romance) such that most educated people who know him would realize he's Indian.
I'm not sure how ignorant people assuming he's white has much relevance to his comments. Even if he is granted white privilege by random people out and about who don't even know his name or don't realize it's an Indian name, and some percentage of strangers treat him like he's white, I don't see how this in any way explains his sexist attitudes, especially given that the justification he gave makes reference to a Hindu concept and the not-so-stellar gender attitudes prevalent in his country of origin. So I don't see how he would be any less likely to say those things if he were darker skinned or had a more obvious Indian accent.
I mean, such tenuous connections might as well let me claim that I'm the victim of anti-Hispanic prejudice on the basis that after Italian-Americans, my first name is most popular with Hispanics (and black people), and very occasionally people have thought that I might be Hispanic (people who don't know my last name or aren't familiar enough with Italian vs. Spanish to recognize how very Italian my name is).
(Short: Huffington Post invited Zoe Quinn to an interview to talk about the violent threats that have been made against her and didn't mention that it was actually some kind of 'debate' with her stalkers and harassers.)
Earlier today I saw someone say that Sarkeesian cancelling her talk meant that the terrorists had literally won. Can't really dispute that.
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
I think both she and the school did the best they could. Sort of. The school is hiding behind the 2nd amendment so I give them a stink eye on the side. If the terrorists had only threatened Anita, I think she could handle it - or make other arrangements. But they threatened not just the audience but also anyone on campus in case they couldn't make it to where she was speaking.
Which is why it's extra pathetic the school is hiding behind the 2nd amendment, it wasn't just a speaker who was threatened but their students and their response is "meh, nothing we can do." I'm sure the students feel extra safe now!
I was thinking about that whole thing about how this stuff is coopting gamer culture or identity or whatever, and as usual, I thought, "What would Jello Biafra do?*"
It seems like there comes a point where, when a culture that is important to you starts being overrun with assholes, you have to either root them out and make them fuck off or just accept that you are now part of an asshole culture.
I don't care because I think that all vidja games should be illegal and punishable by hammer-death, but whatever, you know?
Here's another really good take on the toll online misogyny is taking. I'm pleased to say it was brought to my attention by two men I follow on Twitter, and sad to think that is worthy of comment.
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
(Short: Huffington Post invited Zoe Quinn to an interview to talk about the violent threats that have been made against her and didn't mention that it was actually some kind of 'debate' with her stalkers and harassers.)
Apparently there's going to be an article on the front page of the NYT about it tomorrow.
So, uh... victory for #gamergate?
Random aside, I tried arguing with some people on YouTube (I need to find something better to do), and it was predictably stupid. In the one case, it ended with the guy ending messages by calling me a dumb fag and when I pointed out that he was demonstrating my point for me he responded by saying I shouldn't paint all gamergate people with the same brush. "Sure, I might be a homophobe, but don't accuse gamergate of being bigoted, stupid fag!"
__________________
Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
I'm pretty glad it's getting attention. I suspect (or at least hope) that a couple things are going to come out of this: Maybe a couple or few people will go to jail, and the attention will raise awareness of just how over the top and aggressive this particular subculture has become.
No kidding, there are actual adult humans who are behind a lot of this, but there are also a lot of dumb impressionable kids involved as well. And at least some of their parents are probably aware that they're all worked up about some boring video game related thing, but either aren't paying any attention at all or are assuming that there's some legitimate gripe behind it. Raising public awareness of what this is actually about--very simply, women existing and doing normal things--is not going to be a good thing for their 'cause' at all. I imagine (or again, hope) that a lot of kids are going to get grounded and have their toys taken away from them, and maybe their parents and teachers and others will address this as what it is--dumb, spoiled children being recruited by domestic terrorists--and use whatever tools necessary to deprogram them and help them learn to be actual, productive, useful humans.
As to the adults involved, their friends, family, employers, etc., will maybe become more aware of just how unhinged they are and start treating them accordingly.
I went and looked for it on New York Times webpage, and for being front page news, it was 7 stories down on the page (8 if you count the NYT app ad that was 4 times the size of any story), so I had to scroll like hell to find it. The headline was "Feminist Critics of Video Games Facing Threats in 'GamerGate' Campaign" and not anything like "Hate Group Member Threatens Mass School Shooting in Utah" so, no, unfortunately it still isn't getting the kind of attention it needs.
Gaming journalism has been corrupt for years. Satsu and I mentioned probably the most infamous example of it: dorito gate
There's a large perception that reviewers are either bought out by big companies, they are playing games outside of their genres, or are just no good at actual gaming. This is why there is such a big love for independent games "journalism" like Angry Joe, etc.
I always figured that this was just common knowledge. I know very few people that like gaming journalism. They trust it like they trust congress, we all roll our eyes at it, but accept it because it's always been there. The fact that this started with Kotaku of all places is hilarious because most Kotaku has always been known as click bait and no one would die on their sword to uphold and honor their journalistic integrity. Gamers has known this for years but only recently did the shit storm achieve massive amounts of movement.
The sad thing is, the journalistic controversy isn't about the above, the really incestuous relationship between big business and journalists, the ones that get games early and free, some journalists getting free PS4s, flown in for conferences, ads for their games being displayed all over their reviews. Nah, it's about how everyone is talking about feminism all the time!!1
I do believe there's very much a wave social justice people have been riding, but it's nowhere extensive as people think it is. You could literally just scroll down past it if you want to, but people have been fighting it tooth and nail everytime it pops up. Gone Home is a great example, in fact I think the person that really kick started gamergate, mundanematt, talked about Gone Home.
It's an indie environmental exploration game, and that's all it is. There are no huge amounts of game mechanics, you are put in a setting, and you've got to figure out what's going on. It got fantastic reviews with people saying that it was emotionally impactful, and people been shitting their pants about how it's "not really a game" and how "they only like it because the reveal is social justicy"
it turns out that the sister you've been learning about was struggling with coming out as a lesbian, then left her house because of the lack of support
. Sorry, I see "not a game" and immediately think of the way people say games are "not art." Elitist snobbery.
IMO the latter. The initial outrage of gamergate was overwhelming and almost terrifying. The fact that it was initially called "Five Guys" and people were a lot more interested in Zoe Quinn than Nathan Grayson said a lot. Because it was less about journalism, and more about the amount of social justice in the discussion.
Sanity and discussion came much, much later, but by then the damage was done. It's a shame too because the people who coopted it for ethics really are good people, some of them women and various minorities. It's one of the reasons I will not call it a hate movement, because there's a genuine strand of people, but pretty much the core of it is rotten.
Gamergate is not oppressed, hell the people against gamergate isn't even a movement, or a group with a core ideology behind it. It's just people who are tired of watching this thing fling shit everywhere and saying please stop. They see people who don't agree with their cause or speak out against gamergate as part of the corruption rather than a natural reaction to seeing things melt down.
I think what annoys me most about this isn't even Anita or Zoe. I played about five minutes of the free version of Depression Quest and was bored, and Anita Sarkesian is on the meh stance of videos. That means nothing to me, I've been bored in plenty of games and I habitually find people I don't thing argue well. You can find hundreds of them.
But how blanketed the misfiring is. Some of my favorite game commentators have been "blacklisted" and presented as "part of the problem" for even backing Anita Sarkesian. Jimquisition is one of them, and he refuses to go to certain game conferences because of the sever nepotism, and habitually calls out all kinds of companies, and even indie game developers. Are you kidding me? Moviebob is another, and he consistently brings out interesting content that's well thought out, Angry Joe once brought Anita Sarkesian up once in his videos and got a flood of hate for it, people harassed Extra Credits on an ask page because he refused to believe ridiculous Anita Sarkesian conspiracy theories...
There's a topic of conversation here that could be debated interestingly, but it's buried in shit and rage. The fact that people are wary of Gamergate isn't a symptom of the socialjustice "disease," it's a reaction to gamergate's raging fury for so long. I'm not going to pretend to entertain gamergate while trying to ignore the furious pounding of incoherent, misfired crap that deafens pretty much everything else.
I'm happy to talk about these kinds of topics. We have touched on these topics in this forum, and it was always calm and rational for the most part. But gamergate is a whole other beast. Sorry to those who are truly in it for the justice.
__________________
Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Re: Springtime for Geek Girls?
system 
allies
Linear Mode
