Gamergate was the very early warning sign of wokeness creeping into entertainment, before it crept into tv,tv ads & films. Gamers were all of a sudden being accused of being toxic,sexist etc even though they were the people they'd always been just doing the pasttime they'd always done.
What a decent and humble bloke you are. We can all feel the tides are changing. All your lovey mates are trying to deny the oncoming floods. You will be on the right side of history. (Hate that phrase)
Unfortunately games take awhile to make so we aren't going to see any real improvements or return to normalcy until 2030s and maybe the late 2020s. Triple AAA gaming studios and industry will most likely be a shadow of their former glory by the time goes back to normal and indie games and double AA games will be more successful
Is it decent and humble for someone to get kicked out of the evil mean person club and then after he's been kicked out against his will he decides to stop being an evil mean person? That he, once he realises he has no chance of getting back in, suddenly agrees with all the people he was evil and mean to that it's not good to be evil and mean to people? Now that he is the target of the E&M club he's very vocal about how their tactics and behaviour is immoral just like he never did before he was kicked out of said club against his will? Is it really?
@@fenrifegads5571 Unfortunately, most people don't learn that lesson until it happens to them. After that, most don't admit it, much less apologize. It's HOW people learn decency and humility, more often than not. Make allowances.
@@a.g.phillbin9287 Many people learn that lesson with ease before having to do it themselves or have it happen to them. It's common as dirt. Most people figure it out as children.
I did the same thing, staunchly defending something I had no idea about, purely because people were using buzzwords that triggered me. Even when JKR first started saying trans women aren't women, I joined the side that disagreed with her because I was told "she's transphobic". It's only when someone asked me "well, what do you think a woman is?" - THAT'S when I started thinking for myself. Because I know what a woman is, it's an adult human female, not a feeling that you can identify into. Women are women and trans women are trans women. It's not transphobic, I was being lied to. We're all being lied to, and it's up to us to think for ourselves before jumping on hateful bandwagons.
For one or two past issues I did the same. When I started actually looking into other stuff I found out my past opinions were wrong and I should have kept my mouth shut
@@RenegadeContexthave you tried to prove the H-event from WW2 yet? That's always a big eye-opener. It's easy to say "yes it happened, obviously!" But if you try and actually prove it you start... Well... It changes you. If you haven't I would warn against it. Once you swallow that pill you can't ever go back. "Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses" -Plato.
There's a brilliant video by Warren Smith (a professor who was fired for teaching critical thinking) where he teaches a student to think critically about JKR being accused to transphobia. That student went through the exact same thing as you. He thought JKR was transphobic simply because others said she was. The easiest way to learn critical thinking is to pull the breaks as soon as you see something you either agree with or disagree with and ask "is this true?" then research it properly. Our impulse is always to kneejerk.
GG was the canary in the coalmine, flapping its wings and squawking and pooping its cage. Too many people told the canary that it was tiny yellow liar. Of late, there's been a massive surge in rejecting identity politics in games. A lot of people would be happy to talk to you about this, I'm sure. Many huge players are crumbling (Ubisoft, especially) and the biggest developers are actively distancing themselves from DEI. Times they are a-changing.
At this point it's still probably going to lead to a collapse in triple AAA game market and collapse plenty of studios. Even if the gaming industry did change in direction today it going to be 3 to 5 years for it to happen but giving the current culture it probably going to be a extra few years of activist grifters doing everything possible to keep their grip on their soapbox so it probably going to take a extra few years for them to lose their grip on controling the industry. I expect a progressive activist backlash against trump again so they going to release more woke games and double down in the Short term and remember games take longer to make so we will be still dealing with wokeness for a few years no matter how unpopular it is
@@shaneriggs6678 Yeah, the cycle is slow, but at least the future looks a little brighter. There will always be 'woke' games and, to be fair, I don't want them to be censored. I just want them to be marketed properly. The Battlefield/Yasuke approach of rewriting history seems to have been the last straw for many. Revisionism is fine, creatively speaking, but not when it's marketed as fact. Anyway, all we can do is celebrate (and buy) games that remember to be games.
ubisoft are crumbling because they keep making terrible financial decisions and you are going to have to deal with women in your video games for the rest of your life
@@mogsor No one complained about lara croft. For 20 years. We loved her. Jog on. Your preprogrammed responses are not appropriate to the discussion at hand.
As an OG #GamerGate person, of my many, many disappointments in terms of people whose work I'd previously enjoyed, who decided to round on us either by believing misinformation, or simply attacking us in order to demonstrate their progressive credentials, Graham was always resolutely at the top of that unfortunate list - and there was some stiff competition. It was hard to take the writer of some of the best comedy that I'd ever enjoyed routinely calling people like me 'worse than the KKK', which as someone on Twitter who searched his timeline once demonstrated, was among his very favourite insults for GG people. I will confess to a certain amount of schadenfreude when Graham himself was unpersoned by the same people that he was once allied with after he went off-script on the trans issue, but even he got way more than he ever deserved as a result of that. It would also be somewhat insincere to continue to crow about it, given that I think that he's absolutely right on that particular issue. It's a shame that people seemingly often need to have a taste of their own medicine in order to get them to review their own behaviour and everything that they were once sure of. Even then though, it's surprising how many seemingly learn nothing from the experience, and attempt to continue on largely as they were before. I'm pleased to see that Graham is not one of these people, and his reassessment of not just his attitude to #GamerGate, but many other issues that he once stridently pontificated on has been rather refreshing, not least his personal apologies to people that he believes he has wronged. Such a reappraisal of one's beliefs are incredibly rare, especially in the public glare of the Internet, where any admission of being wrong or changing one's mind is usually avoided at all costs. I can only speak for myself of course, but for what's it's worth, I appreciate Graham being able to admit that he might have been misled about #GamerGate, and would very much like to see him get back to comedy writing full-time, once this living nightmare of an era that we're all suffering through is finally done with.
Is it really a reappraisal of his beliefs or has he just been kicked out of the club he was devoted to and now is desperately trying to salvage the remnants of his career by pandering to the people he went out of his way to mock and belittle before he was kicked out of the club against his will? Sure, sometimes someone tries to off a homicider, and the homicider realises that homicide isn't nice. But does that really count?
@@j.t.1086 Gaming journos spent years mocking and belittling gamers, growing increasingly bold with it. They were actively pushing what I consider to be non-games as they viewed good games to be too "dude bro" or "COD kiddy" stuff. This culiminated in Zoe Quinn's (a gaming journo media darling who made crap games but got endless praise and coverage) ex releasing the fact that she sleeps with gaming journos for coverage. Gamers were unhappy, and began to talk about it. Discussion of this was banned on every gaming forum under the sun. All gaming magazines and websites release, on the same day at the same time "gamers are dead" articles trying to convince game devs and publishers to abandon the gamer audience and instead focus on making games for non-gamers. This led to the discovery of multiple back-channel groups, email lists, and discord servers where gaming jourous would coordinate coverage. Deciding which games would succed and fail, and which stories would be forced onto the gaming public, mostly based on ideological grounds that they do not hold in common with gamers in general nor the wider public.
@@fenrifegads5571 I understand after everything he did why people would be reluctant to forgive and forget, but he really doesn't have anything to gain by admitting that he was wrong, so I think that his change of heart probably is genuine. But as I've said, I do hate that someone being unpersoned themselves is usually what it takes for them to see their error of their ways. It seems to be an unfortunate fact of human nature that people tend to dig in to their chosen ideology and resist more reasonable attempts to challenge their beliefs.
@@fenrifegads5571 @j.t.1086 This is a pretty good summation of the basic facts about #GameGate so I won't bother writing my own, but I will just add that in essence, #GamerGate was the first major battle in what we now call the Culture War. The same ideological capture that we see in every single industry and institution now was first pushed back against in a significant way by a bunch of gamers on the Internet. They were demonised and lied about for daring to do so, but I think more people are realising how the game works now after seeing the same playbook rolled out time and time again against anyone who dares to challenge the progressive Establishment.
@@BlookbugIVdon’t say that, he was corrupted by a crybaby cult. I bet that same cult would’ve had even more victims if they allowed themselves to. He didn’t deserve it just like nobody else deserves this
I was lurker on 4chan (which was ground zero) during the whole GG thing and it was absolutely wild watching in real time as people lied about what it was actually about, and seeing people swallow those lies hook, line and sinker.
@@mogsor Zoe Quinn wont ever sleep with you, my man. Depression quest was a crap game anyway. You can go on motherless and see all her noods if you want though. Maybe that will calm you down and stop all this hysteria?
Journalists got caught lying, then some other journalists lied to cover it up, then some activists lied and provided a new story for the journalists to lie about. ALL OF IT was a lie... and ten years later wikipedia still supports the lie
Hi Graham -- I've done considerable research on the causes of Gamergate and while there are many contributing and deep causes, one of the most consequential was a government and industry sponsored social engineering project led by feminists in academia to transform gaming culture as a whole. Quinn, Sarkeesian and other notorious female gamergate figures were members of this group. From a social and industrial policy standpoint, the main problem this group was trying to solve was the decreasing technological engagement and technological literacy of women and girls since the 80s; videogames were thought as a way to get women and girls into technology and technological fields such as computer science, in which female participation rates were abysmal. They thought they could socially engineer their way to this outcome, but all they succeeded in doing was starting a massive flame war. I've done this research because I'm currently working on a documentary / video essay on the subject, but it won't be released until next spring. If you want to take a look, I'm happy to share the script with you via email - it's quite in depth and should satisfy some of your curiosity about the subject.
As I said in another comment, I spent little time examining the Gamergate controversy at the time, as I wasn't a gamer. However, what you said about the government/industry/academia nexus rings so true in the current political moment. While there are multiple factors involved in anything as complex as a presidential election, I think that this kind of "social engineering" in the form of DEI and trans "rights" left a bad taste in a lot of voters' mouths. The result was not a flame war, but President Donald Trump.
@@fenrifegads5571 Which "tribe" would that be? Does said "tribe" contain no opponents of these things, or funders of their opposition? Did that "tribe's" members act alone, or did they have collaborators from other "tribes," perhaps even yours (whichever that is)? Do you know? Do you even care?
@@a.g.phillbin9287 The spuriously self-identified "chosen tribe." I have to refer to them rather obliquely because they don't control the media, social media, or any other such communication platforms. If they have opponents they are very few in number and besides the point. Yes they corrupt members of other ethnicites. That is part of the problem with them. Do you know why they were kicked out of 109 individual countries across 2000+ seperate instances? No reason? No reason at all? Right? Yes. I care immensely.
Hey Graham, I was around 15 at the time #GamerGate started kicking off. The fella who, arguably, lit the fire under this movement was a gent named Internet Aristocrat. He’s gone by a few names since, (mainly MisterMetokur) but he dropped a video that started with Zoe Quinn’s DMCA takedown requests on another UA-camr - that’s all it was to begin with. Internet Aristocrat continued dropping new videos as the movement grew, snowballed, and attracted all sorts from both sides. As it very clearly began to veer away from Journalism and Ethics, and became the first real battleground in the coming culture war. Men like Steve Bannon were entering Skype calls with these UA-camrs, and a bunch of grifters started to co-opt the movement. Finally, after growing disillusioned with what he had started, Internet Aristocrat deleted everything and disappeared for a while. All his videos from his channel were deleted, his channel itself was deleted - but the compiled series of GamerGate videos are mirrored and available to watch still under the name “The Quinnspiracy Theory.” You mentioned here that you want objective, pure reporting without any bias or sensationalism: that video is at-the-time reporting as it happened. There’s no spin, no glamour, just a straight-shot from the only person to - in my opinion - leave GamerGate with some shred of his dignity intact. He’s dying now, and pops up a few times a year to do a stream for the purpose of funding his medical care and building a nest egg for his wife. Definitely, if you’re going to watch anything about the whole Debacle, Graham: make it Quinnspiracy Theory.
I remember seeing your apology video to Dank on his live Roast a couple of years ago. He was genuinely surprised and I think was pretty cool about it. Good on you Graham.
Thanks Graham. Look up the article GamerGate: How Gamers Were the First to Stand Up Against Grievance Social Justice. It's a lengthy, detailed essay written by a GamerGate supporter that tries to clear up misconceptions and attempts to untangle the nuances of the culture war that GG supporters found themselves as the canary in the coalmine of.
Rory Stewart faces the ridicule, not because of his liberal values (to which he is completely entitled) but for being a political pundit/analyst/expert completely out of touch with the American zeitgeist (and probably the U.K's too). Hopefully this will be a wake up call for him and he takes your advice to expand his sources of information so that he can draw better informed and ultimately more accurate conclusions next time.
To change your mind and apologise is an admirable thing! Think of all the people who will owe you apologies in a few years’ time… The ones who have the courage to do so will have it on record their superior character over the many who will sweep it under the rug and pretend they did nothing wrong
Really happy to hear you're going to do this Graham. You are in a unique position to look back with contrition and wisdom and help other people understand how the mistakes of the past led to today.
Also don't forget the collusion between the gaming media editors where they had/have a chat forum where they coordinated their responses to gamer gate in general
Graham was one of the first, others are following like Ana Kasparian. They are waking up to the fact that, what they saw as the opposition aren’t evil, but may actually have some valid points. It’s just a huge shame that they have to suffer hate and cancellation before they realised that there are maybe valid viewpoint on the “other side”. Not to crap on Graham, it seems like he was in a place where he didn’t think about things past the established narrative, and maybe acted out of emotion. Always loved Grahams’s work.
@@patheticpear2897 @metagen77 These two guys get it. Had Graham not been kicked out of the woke club for being impure would he have ever questioned this? Or would he continued to try and ruin peoples lives for wrongthink? Would he have tried to censor people for holding different views. Would he continued to refuse to engage with anyone different than him? I highly doubt it. I doubt it very much. So once he's been kicked out what does he do? They will never take him back. I think he realises this now. All the above now apply to him. There's no path that way. So he must turn to non-woke people. He needs us. So he agrees with us now. I aint buying it.
@@metagen77 This is the problem with people who think in tribal terms: if you are a member of the enemy tribe, you always will be, and if you change your mind, it's just because you're scared of the currently winning tribe. That logically means that you can never win someone over to your point of view, so why try.
@@a.g.phillbin9287 I welcome anyone who means it. That being said, do not expect me to be quiet about someone kicking me for 10 years and just comes around to say sorry when their power wanes. These are professional entertainers, you believe a word they say, I feel sorry for you.
You are such a decent guy. Whilst walking my dog I am watching all the episodes of The IT Crowd. It is so deliciously funny. Is there no way you can go back into comedy? Please please please can you.
Rory Stewart recently mentioned he was listening to the Witch Trials of JK Rowling, and was interviewed on triggernometry. He's generally quite self reflective and willing to change his mind so I still think there's hope for him
I know the feeling Graham. I was never a progressive but I grew up left leaning, because my view of the world was that generally everyone was trying to make it a better place. I would ignore stories like Rotherham because my brain refused to allow me to believe it could be true. But once one of these topics breaks through and you accept what is actually happening, its like a dam bursting.
Graham, you may be unaware that many of the left-wingers who were pro GamerGate had previous experience with the tactics you're talking about. Before GG there was Atheism+, if you look into that you will see how this mind virus incubated and spread. Hit it's peak around 2012, I think. BTW I'm one of the left-wingers that hoped to get through to you during GG and you blocked me, no hard feelings tho :)
The thing about Gamergate was that it wasn't just one thing. The mass of support wasn't actually in any way political, it was mainly about the perceived overly cosy relationship between games publishing and the enthusiast press. This was a wholly separate thing to the whole tawdry Zoe Post situation, but was kinda conflated with it due to its critical stance against gaming journalism/outlets. In the years preceding this all blowing up, a trend had arisen of so-called "preview events". Basically junkets where journo's were flown out to some sort of fancy location, and shmoozed while they got "exclusive" access to whatever big product was being pushed. A practice that naturally raised questions about the impartiality of opinions generated at such events. Its an interesting phenomenon that during GG, this practice stopped dead. Never to reappear. Several outlets were forced to make statements regarding where their previews took place, whether transport and accommodation was at the publisher's expense, what goodie-bags were handed out and so on, in an attempt to bolster their legitimacy. The general impression I got was that this didn't go down terribly well with a lot of journo's, who'd suddenly found major perks of their job gone, overnight. Something that I've long suspected increased their militancy in attacking anyone and anything connected with Gamergate.
A lot of the support wasn't even about gaming. It was about free discourse on the internet. That's certainly what got me interested. I was uninterested in "gaming media" or game jams, journalists etc. But when I saw that these particular allegations were being censored and banned on reddit and 4chan of all places, it caught my attention and ire. The fact that GGers were right about the accusations was secondary to me. I wanted them to be able to discuss it freely and prior to GG, by and large, you could say whatever you wanted online most places but ESPECIALLY 4chan and reddit. This was around the time the reddit founders distanced themselves from the statements they themselves had made about trying to be a "bastion of free speech" and began filling the ranks of their mods with ideologically lockstep snakes and worms.
The Internet Aristocrat was making very comprehensive videos about it as it was happening. He was very full on, in that American way, but his videos always rang true to me. The other thing to remember was that at this point Anita Sarkeesian was the mainstream media's darling and she muddied the waters too, implicating herself into the situation for victim points.
Your capacity to revisit earlier stances and own up to being wrong makes you an incredibly rare individual. At this stage it is so common for me to be disappointed in the progressive posturing of people I previously admired within comedy for their insight and intelligence, that having you actually showing reason and humility is a breath of fresh air. Thank you for being human and thank you for your comedy shows over the years.
Is it that rare though? *Shoots arrows at people* "I love shooting people with arrows" "Mr Lineham, that hurts, I've done nothing to you, don't shoot me with arrows, please!" "no. I love it and you deserve it. You are bad and wrong and I can tell because other people have shot you with arrows. That's all I need!" *gets show with an arrow, has his bow and arrow taken away* "OMFG I HATE BEING SHOT WITH ARROWS THIS IS AWFUL WHO WOULD DO SUCH A THING?!" That seems fairly common. Not rare at all. Toddlers do this as a routine matter of course.
Yep, just label them racists / bigots / misogynists / white supremacists to shut them down. Ignore the core concerns like "why can't I afford groceries" then wonder why Kamala lost, or "why are games hitting me over the head with lectures" and now every game Sweet Baby Inc touches now tanks. I'm glad you're atleast willing to listen to the other side
The quintessential gamergate vids I remember are a couple by Internet Aristocrat/MisterMetokur, and maybe one or two by LeoPirate. Easily found a mirror of Internet Aristocrat - Quinnspiracy Theory, but I think Leo took down a bunch of his GG stuff for some reason (it was great stuff, and less slanted, I think, than Jim's)
glinner's take on Dankula and Gamergate made me somewhat pleased when his own side turned on him and he started getting a taste of his own medicine. He won me over though, with his staunch support of women vs. men who like to dress as women. Today? He deserves a knighthood for service above and beyond the cause of duty.
It's not THAT hard to figure out you are wrong when you are kicked out of the "ruin peoples lives club" and they try and ruin your life. If anything I would refer to that as "just desserts" or "poetic justice."
I appreciate your "Redemption Arc" - I joined twitter at the Heat of Gamergate and I was puzzled at the Drama. Graham, you were possibly one of the more loathed figures in the debate. (I always knew who you were re Father Ted) All the drama with Count Dankula made me think worse of you. However, the apologies and the change of Heart regarding Censorship and your personal struggles have made me listen more to you, and your Opinions. There's no "Left Wing" and "Right Wing" any more. Let's argue with each other and try to work it out, in a Non Censored way
As an OG Gamergate participant, all I can say is: "Welcome, glad to have met you!". I hold no grudges. Personally, I've always liked the saying: "If I never changed my mind about things, I'd be as ignorant as I was years ago.". If we aren't growing and learning, we aren't living. One important point I want to mention is the whole "relationship for reviews" narrative you referenced at one point in this video. Interestingly, while that was indeed a hyperbolic claim from a few gamers in the early days of the controversy, it never went any further. That particular mischaracterization of GG's claims was pushed incessantly afterward by Kotaku and other media sites. However, GG never actually believed that was what happened. It became quickly clear to objective-minded gamers that there was no evidence for "review harvesting" in the initial ex-boyfriend scandal, or indeed in any of the other rumours that popped up later. The gaming sites deliberately chose to focus on that easily-discredited claim ad nauseum to distract from the actual criticisms of unethical journalist behaviour from gamers. I'm sure you're more than familiar with that kind of media tactic of smearing an opponent by assuming the worst about them, and then mischaracterizing their genuine, reasonable concerns around an issue. I wrote a medium-length summary to explain Gamergate to someone on Reddit just a few weeks ago, and the comment got a fair bit of praise as a readable and honest summary of the movement, coming from someone who was there first-hand, so let me know if you want to read it (I can't really share the link in a UA-cam comment unfortunately). It's not a completely unbiased perspective, I will admit, but I do always try to be objective as I look back on it now. We are over ten years removed from all the drama, so it's become easier to see the "wild customer revolt in gaming" for what it was, warts and all.
Wow... I'm stunned. In a good way. I would have never expected this. I feel like I have so much to say, but maybe it's better if I keep it short. I don't think we ever interacted directly. You didn't directly say anything bad towards me specifically, but I was part of the crowed that ended up being called sexist, racist, etc. by the anti-Gamergate side, of which you were a part of. I don't particularly need or want an apology from you. Frankly, I don't think I will be able to fully forgive the people involved with all of that, and I'm sure there are others that feel the same. But I am willing to just live and let live. And since it sounds like you also have concerns regarding the current trans ideology, I am happy to consider you an ally in this battle to make society sane again. As for your attempts to dig into Gamergate, and try to understand it, I'm sure others might steer your towards Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) or PSA Sitch (which now co-hosts the Sitch & Adam Show here on UA-cam), or some might mention the early work The Ralph Retort did (I strongly recommend AGAINST talking to him now. Let's just say he spiraled down hard after GG, and he's basically a drunkard now. Only bad things can come out of talking to him, in my opinion). Instead I heavily recommend you search up Tachyon Blue (@TachyonBlu on Twitter). He has a small channel, but he still researches Gamergate to this day. He even wrote a book on the topic. He is likely the absolute best person to have a direct talk with and to steer you through everything there was. I can't think of anyone better that still has most, if not all, of the information fresh in his mind. Again, this was such a surprise. I feel like congratulating you for coming to this revelation, but it kinda feels weird to say. But I do wish you good luck in finding the information you're searching for, and I hope it helps you learn more about the things that are going on in the world today.
You would be the perfect person to create a show about the madness of all this. The times they are a-changing, and all of your shows are timeless, it's time for a new one
There's no excuse for Rory Stewart - it's his JOB to know about this stuff, as an ex politician and political commentator. He should bin his Westminster bubble podcast and go and stack shelves.
This apology is long overdue, but very welcome. I doubt many gamers will ever see it, and the people whose lives and careers were damaged and/or ended by the hate group you were part of may never be able to forgive you. But kudos to you for making the effort. Hopefully, most of us who do see it, will appreciate it. For info, as Gamergate wound down, some of the chief culprits behind Gamergate moved on to destroy the American comics industry in what became known as Comicsgate. With that industry now a mere shadow of what it was, they have redoubled their efforts in the gaming sphere, and the backlash against games like the one you mentioned (Dragon Age: The Veilguard) has been dubbed Gamergate 2. A number of high profile "AAA" games have failed already this year because of the "woke" messaging, and of course the corrupt gaming news sites are again smearing ordinary gamers as homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic or racist - regardless of their sex, race or orientation. I am genuinely sorry that you had to be on the wrong end of a hate group yourself before you were able to see the truth of Gamergate, but pleased that you are finally able to see it for what it was, acknowledge your own part in it, and make a sincere apology. On behalf of all those gamers who may never see this video, thank you.
Most women are not into gaming and the ones that are have always been welcome, If we the gamers spot a bad apple we will call it out and not lie for ideological reasons, We are the most honest people out there.
Your video is encouraging to me. I have many friends that are possessed by social justice they are beyond reason. Your story gives me hope that they can change. I have been praying for them for years and it is such a burden to see them in such a state. They are in a constant panic about everything seeing the world as a threat. Thank you again. There is hope
You don't need to apologise mate. I'm just happy you've finally seen the truth of it all. Keep using this platform of yours to advocate for what you believe in.
You and I had it out a bit on Twitter a couple of years ago, mostly because I thought you were a brainwasher rather than one of the brainwashed. Seeing you slowly wake up as the years go by isn't something I would've thought possible. Oddly enough, you're not the only one I've seen this shift in. Warms the heart.
I just hope this is a sign that others deep in the programming can also find their way out. I know your path has been painful and you've found out certain people were never your friends, but you've proven to have become a far better man for it.
It used to be ethics in video games journalism put into question, but nowadays it seems like we didn't realise that journalism in general was pretty shady. I think we got a big problem where engagement is too rewarding which promotes dishonesty and division.
We need more of this, Graham. It's hard to admit when we're wrong but taking accountability and correcting course is the right thing to do. I have made some whopping mistakes, often with good intentions, and all I can do is admit I was wrong and do better.
Thank God you came around. I knew you had to be better than that. I can never understand when smart people are somehow getting the wrong info and rolling with it. Danks a great bloke and so are you. We all have to keep fighting against the communist lunacy.
@@fenrifegads5571 He was never a "communist," and neither was the club - they were just a bunch of academia addled radical liberals who have contempt for people who make under $100,000/year. Everything on the "left" isn't "communist," even if that is the prevailing political shorthand. Nor is everything on the "right" "fascist," even if every "left" of "center" person says so.
I knew you needed to work this one out, a few more people being self reflective is what everyone needs. It would be nice if you could keep thinking about some of your other foundational assumptions.
Thank you for saying all that, this has been a subject that has been bugging me as well, since then, and after seeing how it evolved. I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling this way.
Don't worry man, when you're a genius comedic writer, actor, producer, director, you're bound to miss some stuff. You're putting it right and that's what matters. PS the way the thing on the mouth escalated, i was fully expecting it to end with taking a machete to the face 😂
Im a HUGE fan of your work, Graham. Im an American, and ive been loving your stuff since the 90's. Just discovered your channel here on YT. And I have to say, that youre hitting the nail on the head. The entertainment industry, and especially the gaming industry are rife with these con artists, and its infected the brains of so many people who have good hearts, but only a passing interest. So they dont understand what is really happening. P.S. When I say im a huge fan of your work, I mean youre one of the greatest minds in entertainment and comedic writing to exist in the modern era. There, thats the last compliment youll have from me.
I was quite angry with you back then. I appreciate this and well, as you pointed out, the side you were supporting won. And what did they win? Well, Dragon Age: The Veilguard but a lot of other games too. Like Fable and Saints Row, well a long list. They took over Sony which was their biggest coup. Now when I play a game I get to choose "Body Type A" and "Body Type B" and I'm lucky if Body Type B actually looks like a woman, and not a man in female clothing.
It's so weird seeing someone coming around and understanding what others have seen happening for years. I welcome it and hope you are able to get through to others.
I was there since the beginning of #GamerGate, and I appreciate the acknowledgement. Alas, the media will continue to lie about what happened, exaggerating the worst things the GGs did while minimizing (if not outright ignoring) the worst things the Anti-GGs did, but at least some people are waking up. Hopefully, in another decade, Rory Stewart will come to a similar realization.
I always thought that the "Down with sort of thing" protest sign in Father Ted captured this type of situation best. That episode really covers human nature in these type of situations, from attempts to keep the public uninformed, calls to morality to shame those that have different views and finally the corrupt nature of the people who use these tactics.
Graham, I hope you can get in touch with Sargon of Akkad, aka Carl Benjamin of the Lotus Eaters and sort something out with them. Not that I'm a fan, but he was right in the middle of Gamergate 1 as it happened and how I discovered what was going on at the time. He was also a friend of Dankula. I do agree though, that the tactics used against gamers then are the same as now - in crying out in pain as they beat you. Hopefully recent events (Kotaku firings today and the poor sales of infested games) and involvement from good people like yourself will mean we can soon turn a corner on having this stuff escalated upon us.
Meeting Sargon and talking to him about this would be massive for Graham, and almost certainly welcomed by Sargon, who seems to have grown up alot from the gg days.
@@fenrifegads5571 Especially if you are temperamentally incapable of realizing that people can grow and learn, something I suspect you must have great difficulty with as well.
This is what I respect. People who have made mistakes in the past and make an honest apology to those they wronged. Too many just move on and pretend nothing happened.
Are there no Messes upcoming? I got banned from twitter last month and I'm doing my best to not make another account, because to be honest the peace is lovely! But I am completely out of the loop, I didn't even know it was the US election until the results were in! It is honestly great, but there are a lot of people I miss, you, Helen and Arty being among them.
“Thought terminating cliché” to stop people from thinking. I wish others had your humility and genuine intellectual curiosity to find out what is really going on in the world. Thank you.
It was not about game REVIEWS, there were no reviews of Zoe's Game. It was about a lot of favorable press which enabled her to gather clout in the indie scene without really adding anything to it.
I always disagreed with your old views on GG while supporting you for your courageous fight against trans radical activists. I got into a few arguments with friends defending your misguided denial of the legitimacy of the GamerGate "movement". Today I was very happy for you when you posted a letter about how you influenced Albertan law and culture for the better. Then I see this video in my UA-cam feed of you FINALLY realizing your mistake on the GamerGate front and I am both happy for you and proud of you. Thank you for your courage and your ability to humble yourself while standing defiantly on the public square. Cheers mate, thank you for being yourself.
If you get the chance to read this Graham I would just like to say thank you so much for Father Ted ..its my faviroute sitcom ever and got me through some really tough times in my life ..I still watch it quite regularly ( it makes me sad when I think that Dermot and Frank are gone now ) ....it was made at a time where if someone was "offended " by what they were seeing all they had to do was switch off ...ive been watching your channel for a while now and i was disgusted when I heard what had happened in your life in recent years ....the western world went "woke" crazy 6 or 7 years ago but It feels as though the tide is changing and we seem to be (hopefully ) coming out the other side .. I think most folk have just had enough and that couldn't be made any clearer by the outcome of the American presidential election just the other day ...all the best
It is never too late to atone for past transgressions, especially in situations like this. Unlike those on the Left, people in the rational center and even on the right are very forgiving of those who has been misled or manipulated.If you want to learn more about the issue, SideScrollers here on UA-cam have broken down the entire GG situation from the start to where it is now when it comes to video games in general.
You should reject all forms of racism. But reject workers rights, universal healthcare, organised education? No thanks. Obviously you mean something different in your head when you use the term "leftism", but that's because you- like Graham- still need to do more reading.
We all reach that point where our suspension of disbelief gets crushed. For me it was stumbling on Karen Straughans UA-cam videos in 2012, so I was already primed to join the Gamergaters, since I had already seen the exact same treatment aimed at the Men's Rights Movement when two years later it was aimed at Gamergate, then two more years later it was aimed at Trump and Brexit.
For a good in-depth explanation of Gamergate from someone on the left, I can recommend the Sidescrollers podcast episode where ShortFatOtaku explains the link between Sweet Baby Inc. and Gamergate. While his slight Trump Derangement Syndrome does make him a bit of a so-called lolcow nowadays, to his credit his record keeping on Gamergate is quite excellent. I can definitely relate to your newfound fascination with these things. After I watched that first Karen Straughan video I spent over a month binging 10-12 video essays per day, like I had been wandering through a desert my whole life and finally found an oasis that wasn't just another mirage and couldn't stop gorging myself on water.
It is good to see you re-evaluate our position. However, you have still internalized some of the narratives, which is quite funny. You should read the Zoepost. Eron Gjono was not the "jilted ex-lover" he was made out to be by the gaming press. They were in a committed relationship, she cheated on him habitually, and he broke up with her. He released the zoepost after having gone through hos experienced and realizing how manipultive she was, and that she was still doing the same stuff to people he knew. Among other things, when he confronted her about the cheating, she threatened to kill herself if he pressed it This and other such manipulation tactics happened frequently in their relationship, and he brought receipts. It is allthemore tragic that he was slandered by the entire gaming press for years, and that she managed to put a court gag order on him so he could not defend himself. GamerGate was about journalism, but frankly had it been about Quinn, that would not have been unwarranted. Her, long before Gamergate fabricating "harassment" as a publicity stunt to promote her game, framing WizardChan, a board for suicidal adult virgins, who received loads of hate in the process. Her long before GG dabotaging a game jam (the one Jontron was involved it) to a few days later accept funds to her own PayPal for her own game jam, which never materialized. Her sabotaging a charity game jam project (TheFineYoungCapitalists), likely just to make some publicity for herself. Her supposedly "having to flee from her home" due to "fear for her life", but in reality just taking a planned vacation to Japan. Her starting a crowdfunder for a videogame project (ChuckTingle), which never materialized, the funds disappearing once again. Her starting the Crash Override Network (CON :D), the funds disappearing. Her provenly making false r*pe accusations against Alec Holowka, leading to his entire social circle including family cutting him off, and him committing suicide. (Some of his money going to his sister, who had disowned him because of the accusations, and who likely used the funds to found SweetBabyInc together with Quinn's former PR manager, who was likely one of the people Quinn cheated on Gjoni with). Her lies and manipulations have gone on and on for more than ten years, and have repercussions until today and on, because she knew how to make hood people believe her and do her bidding.
I still find the response at that time to Anita Sarkesian’s “women in games” series of videos (or whatever it was called) pretty ridiculous, & I find it hard to believe the hate she received was something she was fabricating because I remember reading the pages and pages of comments that had a very particular tone and used certain language that made it undeniable why that series was making so many men angry. Buuuut ultimately when I stand back and look at what flowed from the id pol that Anita’s series originates out of, I just see rot and poison everywhere it touches. So while I feel the series was almost bland and banal in the obvious truths it points out about the depiction of women (similar thing was happening in comics at the time as well) - on balance when women “get what they want”, it came with a whole raft of hideous other things. What to make of that? I am still not sure.
Well played for the apology, Graham. Those guys (and many more) have been on the frontline against the woke game/movie industry for a long time now, which as you know is absolutely huge and responsible for pushing so much of those hideous ideologies.
Gamergate was the very early warning sign of wokeness creeping into entertainment, before it crept into tv,tv ads & films. Gamers were all of a sudden being accused of being toxic,sexist etc even though they were the people they'd always been just doing the pasttime they'd always done.
Exactly
What a decent and humble bloke you are. We can all feel the tides are changing. All your lovey mates are trying to deny the oncoming floods. You will be on the right side of history. (Hate that phrase)
He is such a good bloke honestly.
Hubris is OK if we are open to it and examine ourselves and be decent to as many as we can manage
Unfortunately games take awhile to make so we aren't going to see any real improvements or return to normalcy until 2030s and maybe the late 2020s. Triple AAA gaming studios and industry will most likely be a shadow of their former glory by the time goes back to normal and indie games and double AA games will be more successful
Is it decent and humble for someone to get kicked out of the evil mean person club and then after he's been kicked out against his will he decides to stop being an evil mean person? That he, once he realises he has no chance of getting back in, suddenly agrees with all the people he was evil and mean to that it's not good to be evil and mean to people? Now that he is the target of the E&M club he's very vocal about how their tactics and behaviour is immoral just like he never did before he was kicked out of said club against his will?
Is it really?
@@fenrifegads5571 Unfortunately, most people don't learn that lesson until it happens to them. After that, most don't admit it, much less apologize. It's HOW people learn decency and humility, more often than not. Make allowances.
@@a.g.phillbin9287 Many people learn that lesson with ease before having to do it themselves or have it happen to them.
It's common as dirt. Most people figure it out as children.
I did the same thing, staunchly defending something I had no idea about, purely because people were using buzzwords that triggered me. Even when JKR first started saying trans women aren't women, I joined the side that disagreed with her because I was told "she's transphobic". It's only when someone asked me "well, what do you think a woman is?" - THAT'S when I started thinking for myself. Because I know what a woman is, it's an adult human female, not a feeling that you can identify into. Women are women and trans women are trans women. It's not transphobic, I was being lied to. We're all being lied to, and it's up to us to think for ourselves before jumping on hateful bandwagons.
For one or two past issues I did the same. When I started actually looking into other stuff I found out my past opinions were wrong and I should have kept my mouth shut
@@RenegadeContexthave you tried to prove the H-event from WW2 yet? That's always a big eye-opener. It's easy to say "yes it happened, obviously!" But if you try and actually prove it you start... Well... It changes you.
If you haven't I would warn against it. Once you swallow that pill you can't ever go back.
"Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses" -Plato.
There's a brilliant video by Warren Smith (a professor who was fired for teaching critical thinking) where he teaches a student to think critically about JKR being accused to transphobia. That student went through the exact same thing as you. He thought JKR was transphobic simply because others said she was.
The easiest way to learn critical thinking is to pull the breaks as soon as you see something you either agree with or disagree with and ask "is this true?" then research it properly. Our impulse is always to kneejerk.
Well done. Only a few steps more… they are men.
GG was the canary in the coalmine, flapping its wings and squawking and pooping its cage. Too many people told the canary that it was tiny yellow liar. Of late, there's been a massive surge in rejecting identity politics in games. A lot of people would be happy to talk to you about this, I'm sure. Many huge players are crumbling (Ubisoft, especially) and the biggest developers are actively distancing themselves from DEI. Times they are a-changing.
At this point it's still probably going to lead to a collapse in triple AAA game market and collapse plenty of studios. Even if the gaming industry did change in direction today it going to be 3 to 5 years for it to happen but giving the current culture it probably going to be a extra few years of activist grifters doing everything possible to keep their grip on their soapbox so it probably going to take a extra few years for them to lose their grip on controling the industry. I expect a progressive activist backlash against trump again so they going to release more woke games and double down in the Short term and remember games take longer to make so we will be still dealing with wokeness for a few years no matter how unpopular it is
@@shaneriggs6678 Yeah, the cycle is slow, but at least the future looks a little brighter. There will always be 'woke' games and, to be fair, I don't want them to be censored. I just want them to be marketed properly. The Battlefield/Yasuke approach of rewriting history seems to have been the last straw for many. Revisionism is fine, creatively speaking, but not when it's marketed as fact. Anyway, all we can do is celebrate (and buy) games that remember to be games.
ubisoft are crumbling because they keep making terrible financial decisions and you are going to have to deal with women in your video games for the rest of your life
@mogsor no one here mentioned women in games, that's you
@@mogsor No one complained about lara croft. For 20 years. We loved her.
Jog on. Your preprogrammed responses are not appropriate to the discussion at hand.
Don't be too hard on yourself, you were in the grip of a cult, well done on ya Graham for getting out!
Humility and Forgiveness. Got to love them. Bloody hard sometimes though.
As an OG #GamerGate person, of my many, many disappointments in terms of people whose work I'd previously enjoyed, who decided to round on us either by believing misinformation, or simply attacking us in order to demonstrate their progressive credentials, Graham was always resolutely at the top of that unfortunate list - and there was some stiff competition.
It was hard to take the writer of some of the best comedy that I'd ever enjoyed routinely calling people like me 'worse than the KKK', which as someone on Twitter who searched his timeline once demonstrated, was among his very favourite insults for GG people.
I will confess to a certain amount of schadenfreude when Graham himself was unpersoned by the same people that he was once allied with after he went off-script on the trans issue, but even he got way more than he ever deserved as a result of that. It would also be somewhat insincere to continue to crow about it, given that I think that he's absolutely right on that particular issue.
It's a shame that people seemingly often need to have a taste of their own medicine in order to get them to review their own behaviour and everything that they were once sure of. Even then though, it's surprising how many seemingly learn nothing from the experience, and attempt to continue on largely as they were before.
I'm pleased to see that Graham is not one of these people, and his reassessment of not just his attitude to #GamerGate, but many other issues that he once stridently pontificated on has been rather refreshing, not least his personal apologies to people that he believes he has wronged.
Such a reappraisal of one's beliefs are incredibly rare, especially in the public glare of the Internet, where any admission of being wrong or changing one's mind is usually avoided at all costs.
I can only speak for myself of course, but for what's it's worth, I appreciate Graham being able to admit that he might have been misled about #GamerGate, and would very much like to see him get back to comedy writing full-time, once this living nightmare of an era that we're all suffering through is finally done with.
How would you summarize Gamergate? You seem like a good person to ask.
Is it really a reappraisal of his beliefs or has he just been kicked out of the club he was devoted to and now is desperately trying to salvage the remnants of his career by pandering to the people he went out of his way to mock and belittle before he was kicked out of the club against his will?
Sure, sometimes someone tries to off a homicider, and the homicider realises that homicide isn't nice.
But does that really count?
@@j.t.1086 Gaming journos spent years mocking and belittling gamers, growing increasingly bold with it. They were actively pushing what I consider to be non-games as they viewed good games to be too "dude bro" or "COD kiddy" stuff. This culiminated in Zoe Quinn's (a gaming journo media darling who made crap games but got endless praise and coverage) ex releasing the fact that she sleeps with gaming journos for coverage.
Gamers were unhappy, and began to talk about it. Discussion of this was banned on every gaming forum under the sun. All gaming magazines and websites release, on the same day at the same time "gamers are dead" articles trying to convince game devs and publishers to abandon the gamer audience and instead focus on making games for non-gamers. This led to the discovery of multiple back-channel groups, email lists, and discord servers where gaming jourous would coordinate coverage. Deciding which games would succed and fail, and which stories would be forced onto the gaming public, mostly based on ideological grounds that they do not hold in common with gamers in general nor the wider public.
@@fenrifegads5571
I understand after everything he did why people would be reluctant to forgive and forget, but he really doesn't have anything to gain by admitting that he was wrong, so I think that his change of heart probably is genuine.
But as I've said, I do hate that someone being unpersoned themselves is usually what it takes for them to see their error of their ways. It seems to be an unfortunate fact of human nature that people tend to dig in to their chosen ideology and resist more reasonable attempts to challenge their beliefs.
@@fenrifegads5571 @j.t.1086
This is a pretty good summation of the basic facts about #GameGate so I won't bother writing my own, but I will just add that in essence, #GamerGate was the first major battle in what we now call the Culture War.
The same ideological capture that we see in every single industry and institution now was first pushed back against in a significant way by a bunch of gamers on the Internet.
They were demonised and lied about for daring to do so, but I think more people are realising how the game works now after seeing the same playbook rolled out time and time again against anyone who dares to challenge the progressive Establishment.
Thanks for standing up against some of those who try to force their dogma on us.
haven't heard about GG in years, but always remember that poor guy that killed himself. Alec Holowka RIP
Holowka was an anti-GG far-left woke extremist. That’s why he did what he did, his tribe turned on him. Save your tears.
@@BlookbugIVdon’t say that, he was corrupted by a crybaby cult. I bet that same cult would’ve had even more victims if they allowed themselves to.
He didn’t deserve it just like nobody else deserves this
I was lurker on 4chan (which was ground zero) during the whole GG thing and it was absolutely wild watching in real time as people lied about what it was actually about, and seeing people swallow those lies hook, line and sinker.
if you were actually there at ground zero you'd know it was the 4channers doing that
@@mogsor Zoe Quinn wont ever sleep with you, my man. Depression quest was a crap game anyway.
You can go on motherless and see all her noods if you want though. Maybe that will calm you down and stop all this hysteria?
@@mogsor Lol. No.
Journalists got caught lying, then some other journalists lied to cover it up, then some activists lied and provided a new story for the journalists to lie about. ALL OF IT was a lie... and ten years later wikipedia still supports the lie
@@mogsor 4chan is not one guy, bro.
I’m glad to see this. Gamergate was such a wake up call, and I remember you being fully on the insane woke side, which was crazy.
Hi Graham -- I've done considerable research on the causes of Gamergate and while there are many contributing and deep causes, one of the most consequential was a government and industry sponsored social engineering project led by feminists in academia to transform gaming culture as a whole. Quinn, Sarkeesian and other notorious female gamergate figures were members of this group.
From a social and industrial policy standpoint, the main problem this group was trying to solve was the decreasing technological engagement and technological literacy of women and girls since the 80s; videogames were thought as a way to get women and girls into technology and technological fields such as computer science, in which female participation rates were abysmal. They thought they could socially engineer their way to this outcome, but all they succeeded in doing was starting a massive flame war.
I've done this research because I'm currently working on a documentary / video essay on the subject, but it won't be released until next spring. If you want to take a look, I'm happy to share the script with you via email - it's quite in depth and should satisfy some of your curiosity about the subject.
Yes (((industry))) sponsored.
Never look any further than that. It's just industry and government. Pushing weimar on us. 110th time.
As I said in another comment, I spent little time examining the Gamergate controversy at the time, as I wasn't a gamer. However, what you said about the government/industry/academia nexus rings so true in the current political moment. While there are multiple factors involved in anything as complex as a presidential election, I think that this kind of "social engineering" in the form of DEI and trans "rights" left a bad taste in a lot of voters' mouths. The result was not a flame war, but President Donald Trump.
@@a.g.phillbin9287 Which is odd, because Trump has pledged his undying allegience to the tribe who created and funds all those things.
@@fenrifegads5571 Which "tribe" would that be? Does said "tribe" contain no opponents of these things, or funders of their opposition? Did that "tribe's" members act alone, or did they have collaborators from other "tribes," perhaps even yours (whichever that is)? Do you know? Do you even care?
@@a.g.phillbin9287 The spuriously self-identified "chosen tribe." I have to refer to them rather obliquely because they don't control the media, social media, or any other such communication platforms.
If they have opponents they are very few in number and besides the point. Yes they corrupt members of other ethnicites. That is part of the problem with them.
Do you know why they were kicked out of 109 individual countries across 2000+ seperate instances?
No reason? No reason at all? Right?
Yes. I care immensely.
Hey Graham,
I was around 15 at the time #GamerGate started kicking off. The fella who, arguably, lit the fire under this movement was a gent named Internet Aristocrat. He’s gone by a few names since, (mainly MisterMetokur) but he dropped a video that started with Zoe Quinn’s DMCA takedown requests on another UA-camr - that’s all it was to begin with.
Internet Aristocrat continued dropping new videos as the movement grew, snowballed, and attracted all sorts from both sides. As it very clearly began to veer away from Journalism and Ethics, and became the first real battleground in the coming culture war. Men like Steve Bannon were entering Skype calls with these UA-camrs, and a bunch of grifters started to co-opt the movement.
Finally, after growing disillusioned with what he had started, Internet Aristocrat deleted everything and disappeared for a while. All his videos from his channel were deleted, his channel itself was deleted - but the compiled series of GamerGate videos are mirrored and available to watch still under the name “The Quinnspiracy Theory.”
You mentioned here that you want objective, pure reporting without any bias or sensationalism: that video is at-the-time reporting as it happened. There’s no spin, no glamour, just a straight-shot from the only person to - in my opinion - leave GamerGate with some shred of his dignity intact.
He’s dying now, and pops up a few times a year to do a stream for the purpose of funding his medical care and building a nest egg for his wife. Definitely, if you’re going to watch anything about the whole Debacle, Graham: make it Quinnspiracy Theory.
I remember seeing your apology video to Dank on his live Roast a couple of years ago. He was genuinely surprised and I think was pretty cool about it. Good on you Graham.
Yes.
I saw that vid and after it I liked you even more.
That gave me a good felling about him..
Thanks Graham. Look up the article GamerGate: How Gamers Were the First to Stand Up Against Grievance Social Justice. It's a lengthy, detailed essay written by a GamerGate supporter that tries to clear up misconceptions and attempts to untangle the nuances of the culture war that GG supporters found themselves as the canary in the coalmine of.
Rory Stewart faces the ridicule, not because of his liberal values (to which he is completely entitled) but for being a political pundit/analyst/expert completely out of touch with the American zeitgeist (and probably the U.K's too). Hopefully this will be a wake up call for him and he takes your advice to expand his sources of information so that he can draw better informed and ultimately more accurate conclusions next time.
To change your mind and apologise is an admirable thing! Think of all the people who will owe you apologies in a few years’ time… The ones who have the courage to do so will have it on record their superior character over the many who will sweep it under the rug and pretend they did nothing wrong
Each one of us that goes through this should outline how and why we went wrong. Thank you.
Really happy to hear you're going to do this Graham. You are in a unique position to look back with contrition and wisdom and help other people understand how the mistakes of the past led to today.
Thank you, most people I know would refuse to admit a mistake and just double or triple down. I wish you the best.
This is how the world heals, step by step. Thank you.
Absolutely 💯
Also don't forget the collusion between the gaming media editors where they had/have a chat forum where they coordinated their responses to gamer gate in general
GameJournosPros, run by Ben Kuchera of Polygon.
Graham was one of the first, others are following like Ana Kasparian.
They are waking up to the fact that, what they saw as the opposition aren’t evil, but may actually have some valid points.
It’s just a huge shame that they have to suffer hate and cancellation before they realised that there are maybe valid viewpoint on the “other side”.
Not to crap on Graham, it seems like he was in a place where he didn’t think about things past the established narrative, and maybe acted out of emotion.
Always loved Grahams’s work.
No, they see the tide turning and jump ship so the pendulum will not crush them on its way back
Either that or they are grifters and are trying to make more money on the new popular thing.
@@patheticpear2897 @metagen77 These two guys get it.
Had Graham not been kicked out of the woke club for being impure would he have ever questioned this?
Or would he continued to try and ruin peoples lives for wrongthink? Would he have tried to censor people for holding different views. Would he continued to refuse to engage with anyone different than him?
I highly doubt it. I doubt it very much.
So once he's been kicked out what does he do? They will never take him back. I think he realises this now. All the above now apply to him. There's no path that way. So he must turn to non-woke people. He needs us. So he agrees with us now.
I aint buying it.
@@metagen77 This is the problem with people who think in tribal terms: if you are a member of the enemy tribe, you always will be, and if you change your mind, it's just because you're scared of the currently winning tribe. That logically means that you can never win someone over to your point of view, so why try.
@@a.g.phillbin9287 I welcome anyone who means it. That being said, do not expect me to be quiet about someone kicking me for 10 years and just comes around to say sorry when their power wanes. These are professional entertainers, you believe a word they say, I feel sorry for you.
Takes a real man to realize when hes wrong and apologize, well done Graham
You are such a decent guy. Whilst walking my dog I am watching all the episodes of The IT Crowd. It is so deliciously funny. Is there no way you can go back into comedy? Please please please can you.
Rory Stewart recently mentioned he was listening to the Witch Trials of JK Rowling, and was interviewed on triggernometry. He's generally quite self reflective and willing to change his mind so I still think there's hope for him
Perhaps you read this somewhere else years ago : ''You don't join Gamergate. You get thrown in the pit with the rest of us.''
It's similar to "you don't become an anti-semite. You try and prove to someone the H-event from WW2 happened and it follows naturally."
Sargon / dave cullen / dank ... we just wanted to play our games.
And now we have to save western civilisation!
I know the feeling Graham. I was never a progressive but I grew up left leaning, because my view of the world was that generally everyone was trying to make it a better place. I would ignore stories like Rotherham because my brain refused to allow me to believe it could be true. But once one of these topics breaks through and you accept what is actually happening, its like a dam bursting.
Graham, you may be unaware that many of the left-wingers who were pro GamerGate had previous experience with the tactics you're talking about. Before GG there was Atheism+, if you look into that you will see how this mind virus incubated and spread. Hit it's peak around 2012, I think.
BTW I'm one of the left-wingers that hoped to get through to you during GG and you blocked me, no hard feelings tho :)
Never forget total biscuit and the harasment his widow got online after his death. All he did was defend his passion.
Happy for you, brother.
Ten years later gaming """journalism""" is worse than ever.
The thing about Gamergate was that it wasn't just one thing. The mass of support wasn't actually in any way political, it was mainly about the perceived overly cosy relationship between games publishing and the enthusiast press. This was a wholly separate thing to the whole tawdry Zoe Post situation, but was kinda conflated with it due to its critical stance against gaming journalism/outlets.
In the years preceding this all blowing up, a trend had arisen of so-called "preview events". Basically junkets where journo's were flown out to some sort of fancy location, and shmoozed while they got "exclusive" access to whatever big product was being pushed. A practice that naturally raised questions about the impartiality of opinions generated at such events.
Its an interesting phenomenon that during GG, this practice stopped dead. Never to reappear.
Several outlets were forced to make statements regarding where their previews took place, whether transport and accommodation was at the publisher's expense, what goodie-bags were handed out and so on, in an attempt to bolster their legitimacy.
The general impression I got was that this didn't go down terribly well with a lot of journo's, who'd suddenly found major perks of their job gone, overnight. Something that I've long suspected increased their militancy in attacking anyone and anything connected with Gamergate.
A lot of the support wasn't even about gaming. It was about free discourse on the internet. That's certainly what got me interested. I was uninterested in "gaming media" or game jams, journalists etc. But when I saw that these particular allegations were being censored and banned on reddit and 4chan of all places, it caught my attention and ire. The fact that GGers were right about the accusations was secondary to me. I wanted them to be able to discuss it freely and prior to GG, by and large, you could say whatever you wanted online most places but ESPECIALLY 4chan and reddit.
This was around the time the reddit founders distanced themselves from the statements they themselves had made about trying to be a "bastion of free speech" and began filling the ranks of their mods with ideologically lockstep snakes and worms.
I remember you back during the GamerGate days. Glad to see you coming around to the right side.
The Internet Aristocrat was making very comprehensive videos about it as it was happening. He was very full on, in that American way, but his videos always rang true to me. The other thing to remember was that at this point Anita Sarkeesian was the mainstream media's darling and she muddied the waters too, implicating herself into the situation for victim points.
Graham is going "would you like to know how I got these scars? It was about Gamergate..."
Good on you.
Reality hits us at different times and different ways, but it will hit us.
Your capacity to revisit earlier stances and own up to being wrong makes you an incredibly rare individual. At this stage it is so common for me to be disappointed in the progressive posturing of people I previously admired within comedy for their insight and intelligence, that having you actually showing reason and humility is a breath of fresh air.
Thank you for being human and thank you for your comedy shows over the years.
Is it that rare though?
*Shoots arrows at people*
"I love shooting people with arrows"
"Mr Lineham, that hurts, I've done nothing to you, don't shoot me with arrows, please!"
"no. I love it and you deserve it. You are bad and wrong and I can tell because other people have shot you with arrows. That's all I need!"
*gets show with an arrow, has his bow and arrow taken away*
"OMFG I HATE BEING SHOT WITH ARROWS THIS IS AWFUL WHO WOULD DO SUCH A THING?!"
That seems fairly common. Not rare at all. Toddlers do this as a routine matter of course.
Yep, just label them racists / bigots / misogynists / white supremacists to shut them down. Ignore the core concerns like "why can't I afford groceries" then wonder why Kamala lost, or "why are games hitting me over the head with lectures" and now every game Sweet Baby Inc touches now tanks. I'm glad you're atleast willing to listen to the other side
Between then and now, games and all of pop culture was destroyed. Good work.
The quintessential gamergate vids I remember are a couple by Internet Aristocrat/MisterMetokur, and maybe one or two by LeoPirate.
Easily found a mirror of Internet Aristocrat - Quinnspiracy Theory, but I think Leo took down a bunch of his GG stuff for some reason (it was great stuff, and less slanted, I think, than Jim's)
glinner's take on Dankula and Gamergate made me somewhat pleased when his own side turned on him and he started getting a taste of his own medicine. He won me over though, with his staunch support of women vs. men who like to dress as women. Today? He deserves a knighthood for service above and beyond the cause of duty.
Its incredibly hard to figure out you where wrong, it is even harder these days since it is very hard to get out of knowledge bubble
It's not THAT hard to figure out you are wrong when you are kicked out of the "ruin peoples lives club" and they try and ruin your life.
If anything I would refer to that as "just desserts" or "poetic justice."
I appreciate your "Redemption Arc" - I joined twitter at the Heat of Gamergate and I was puzzled at the Drama. Graham, you were possibly one of the more loathed figures in the debate. (I always knew who you were re Father Ted) All the drama with Count Dankula made me think worse of you. However, the apologies and the change of Heart regarding Censorship and your personal struggles have made me listen more to you, and your Opinions. There's no "Left Wing" and "Right Wing" any more. Let's argue with each other and try to work it out, in a Non Censored way
You’re so lovely Graham❤ I hope your cut heals fast!😅
As an OG Gamergate participant, all I can say is: "Welcome, glad to have met you!". I hold no grudges. Personally, I've always liked the saying: "If I never changed my mind about things, I'd be as ignorant as I was years ago.". If we aren't growing and learning, we aren't living.
One important point I want to mention is the whole "relationship for reviews" narrative you referenced at one point in this video. Interestingly, while that was indeed a hyperbolic claim from a few gamers in the early days of the controversy, it never went any further. That particular mischaracterization of GG's claims was pushed incessantly afterward by Kotaku and other media sites. However, GG never actually believed that was what happened. It became quickly clear to objective-minded gamers that there was no evidence for "review harvesting" in the initial ex-boyfriend scandal, or indeed in any of the other rumours that popped up later. The gaming sites deliberately chose to focus on that easily-discredited claim ad nauseum to distract from the actual criticisms of unethical journalist behaviour from gamers. I'm sure you're more than familiar with that kind of media tactic of smearing an opponent by assuming the worst about them, and then mischaracterizing their genuine, reasonable concerns around an issue.
I wrote a medium-length summary to explain Gamergate to someone on Reddit just a few weeks ago, and the comment got a fair bit of praise as a readable and honest summary of the movement, coming from someone who was there first-hand, so let me know if you want to read it (I can't really share the link in a UA-cam comment unfortunately). It's not a completely unbiased perspective, I will admit, but I do always try to be objective as I look back on it now. We are over ten years removed from all the drama, so it's become easier to see the "wild customer revolt in gaming" for what it was, warts and all.
Wow... I'm stunned. In a good way. I would have never expected this. I feel like I have so much to say, but maybe it's better if I keep it short. I don't think we ever interacted directly. You didn't directly say anything bad towards me specifically, but I was part of the crowed that ended up being called sexist, racist, etc. by the anti-Gamergate side, of which you were a part of. I don't particularly need or want an apology from you. Frankly, I don't think I will be able to fully forgive the people involved with all of that, and I'm sure there are others that feel the same. But I am willing to just live and let live. And since it sounds like you also have concerns regarding the current trans ideology, I am happy to consider you an ally in this battle to make society sane again.
As for your attempts to dig into Gamergate, and try to understand it, I'm sure others might steer your towards Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) or PSA Sitch (which now co-hosts the Sitch & Adam Show here on UA-cam), or some might mention the early work The Ralph Retort did (I strongly recommend AGAINST talking to him now. Let's just say he spiraled down hard after GG, and he's basically a drunkard now. Only bad things can come out of talking to him, in my opinion). Instead I heavily recommend you search up Tachyon Blue (@TachyonBlu on Twitter). He has a small channel, but he still researches Gamergate to this day. He even wrote a book on the topic. He is likely the absolute best person to have a direct talk with and to steer you through everything there was. I can't think of anyone better that still has most, if not all, of the information fresh in his mind.
Again, this was such a surprise. I feel like congratulating you for coming to this revelation, but it kinda feels weird to say. But I do wish you good luck in finding the information you're searching for, and I hope it helps you learn more about the things that are going on in the world today.
You would be the perfect person to create a show about the madness of all this. The times they are a-changing, and all of your shows are timeless, it's time for a new one
There's no excuse for Rory Stewart - it's his JOB to know about this stuff, as an ex politician and political commentator. He should bin his Westminster bubble podcast and go and stack shelves.
Anyone who gets involved has a responsibility to know what they are talking about, just like this strange shave streamer
This apology is long overdue, but very welcome. I doubt many gamers will ever see it, and the people whose lives and careers were damaged and/or ended by the hate group you were part of may never be able to forgive you. But kudos to you for making the effort. Hopefully, most of us who do see it, will appreciate it.
For info, as Gamergate wound down, some of the chief culprits behind Gamergate moved on to destroy the American comics industry in what became known as Comicsgate. With that industry now a mere shadow of what it was, they have redoubled their efforts in the gaming sphere, and the backlash against games like the one you mentioned (Dragon Age: The Veilguard) has been dubbed Gamergate 2. A number of high profile "AAA" games have failed already this year because of the "woke" messaging, and of course the corrupt gaming news sites are again smearing ordinary gamers as homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic or racist - regardless of their sex, race or orientation.
I am genuinely sorry that you had to be on the wrong end of a hate group yourself before you were able to see the truth of Gamergate, but pleased that you are finally able to see it for what it was, acknowledge your own part in it, and make a sincere apology. On behalf of all those gamers who may never see this video, thank you.
Most women are not into gaming and the ones that are have always been welcome, If we the gamers spot a bad apple we will call it out and not lie for ideological reasons, We are the most honest people out there.
Mr Metokur was good on Gamergate. Xyzern has comprehensive archives of his streams.
Your video is encouraging to me. I have many friends that are possessed by social justice they are beyond reason. Your story gives me hope that they can change. I have been praying for them for years and it is such a burden to see them in such a state. They are in a constant panic about everything seeing the world as a threat. Thank you again. There is hope
You don't need to apologise mate. I'm just happy you've finally seen the truth of it all.
Keep using this platform of yours to advocate for what you believe in.
You sure are gullible.
@@gogetters6639?
Good work, dude.
No one did a better job of explaining gamergate than the amazing and brilliant feminist Christina Hoff Sommers.
I love your compassionate, reasoned, and often comical waffling 😊
You and I had it out a bit on Twitter a couple of years ago, mostly because I thought you were a brainwasher rather than one of the brainwashed. Seeing you slowly wake up as the years go by isn't something I would've thought possible. Oddly enough, you're not the only one I've seen this shift in. Warms the heart.
I knew nothing about gamergate personally , but it's a sign of a good person to be able to own mistakes and misunderstandings ❤
I just hope this is a sign that others deep in the programming can also find their way out. I know your path has been painful and you've found out certain people were never your friends, but you've proven to have become a far better man for it.
It used to be ethics in video games journalism put into question, but nowadays it seems like we didn't realise that journalism in general was pretty shady. I think we got a big problem where engagement is too rewarding which promotes dishonesty and division.
We need more of this, Graham. It's hard to admit when we're wrong but taking accountability and correcting course is the right thing to do. I have made some whopping mistakes, often with good intentions, and all I can do is admit I was wrong and do better.
Thank God you came around. I knew you had to be better than that. I can never understand when smart people are somehow getting the wrong info and rolling with it. Danks a great bloke and so are you. We all have to keep fighting against the communist lunacy.
He's only not a communist because he was kicked out the communist club.
@@fenrifegads5571 He was never a "communist," and neither was the club - they were just a bunch of academia addled radical liberals who have contempt for people who make under $100,000/year. Everything on the "left" isn't "communist," even if that is the prevailing political shorthand. Nor is everything on the "right" "fascist," even if every "left" of "center" person says so.
I knew you needed to work this one out, a few more people being self reflective is what everyone needs. It would be nice if you could keep thinking about some of your other foundational assumptions.
It's so lovely you can apologise. I imagine you feel much better. Confession is definitely good for the soul
Thank you for saying all that, this has been a subject that has been bugging me as well, since then, and after seeing how it evolved. I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling this way.
Don't worry man, when you're a genius comedic writer, actor, producer, director, you're bound to miss some stuff. You're putting it right and that's what matters. PS the way the thing on the mouth escalated, i was fully expecting it to end with taking a machete to the face 😂
Im a HUGE fan of your work, Graham. Im an American, and ive been loving your stuff since the 90's. Just discovered your channel here on YT.
And I have to say, that youre hitting the nail on the head. The entertainment industry, and especially the gaming industry are rife with these con artists, and its infected the brains of so many people who have good hearts, but only a passing interest. So they dont understand what is really happening.
P.S. When I say im a huge fan of your work, I mean youre one of the greatest minds in entertainment and comedic writing to exist in the modern era. There, thats the last compliment youll have from me.
I was quite angry with you back then. I appreciate this and well, as you pointed out, the side you were supporting won. And what did they win? Well, Dragon Age: The Veilguard but a lot of other games too. Like Fable and Saints Row, well a long list. They took over Sony which was their biggest coup. Now when I play a game I get to choose "Body Type A" and "Body Type B" and I'm lucky if Body Type B actually looks like a woman, and not a man in female clothing.
It's so weird seeing someone coming around and understanding what others have seen happening for years. I welcome it and hope you are able to get through to others.
I was there since the beginning of #GamerGate, and I appreciate the acknowledgement. Alas, the media will continue to lie about what happened, exaggerating the worst things the GGs did while minimizing (if not outright ignoring) the worst things the Anti-GGs did, but at least some people are waking up. Hopefully, in another decade, Rory Stewart will come to a similar realization.
Noone wants to do evil, but it happens, with righteous fervor and conviction.
I always thought that the "Down with sort of thing" protest sign in Father Ted captured this type of situation best. That episode really covers human nature in these type of situations, from attempts to keep the public uninformed, calls to morality to shame those that have different views and finally the corrupt nature of the people who use these tactics.
Graham, I hope you can get in touch with Sargon of Akkad, aka Carl Benjamin of the Lotus Eaters and sort something out with them. Not that I'm a fan, but he was right in the middle of Gamergate 1 as it happened and how I discovered what was going on at the time. He was also a friend of Dankula. I do agree though, that the tactics used against gamers then are the same as now - in crying out in pain as they beat you. Hopefully recent events (Kotaku firings today and the poor sales of infested games) and involvement from good people like yourself will mean we can soon turn a corner on having this stuff escalated upon us.
Maybe they can work together to get Trump to start gamergate 2.
Meeting Sargon and talking to him about this would be massive for Graham, and almost certainly welcomed by Sargon, who seems to have grown up alot from the gg days.
@@eleccy "Grown up" "sold out"
So easy to confuse.
@@fenrifegads5571 Especially if you are temperamentally incapable of realizing that people can grow and learn, something I suspect you must have great difficulty with as well.
@@a.g.phillbin9287 I'm not disputing that but cool strawman.
Anything to avoid engaging with the point I'm making, amirite?
Graham, maybe you could do a stream with Sargon, Milo Yiannopolous and Vox Day, who were in deep with the GamerGate stuff.
I think TotalBiscuit had a good take on this and was always focussed on the issue at hand in his 'ramble about games media in 30 minutes'.
"Because I thought I was doing the right thing." That path to hell is paved with good intentions.
Graham I didn't know you were on UA-cam, just popped up in my feed, great stuff
This is what I respect. People who have made mistakes in the past and make an honest apology to those they wronged. Too many just move on and pretend nothing happened.
Are there no Messes upcoming?
I got banned from twitter last month and I'm doing my best to not make another account, because to be honest the peace is lovely! But I am completely out of the loop, I didn't even know it was the US election until the results were in!
It is honestly great, but there are a lot of people I miss, you, Helen and Arty being among them.
despite the lack of preparation i think this might be one of the best vids you've ever done.
succinct, to the point.
i love you.
ta-ra x
“Thought terminating cliché” to stop people from thinking.
I wish others had your humility and genuine intellectual curiosity to find out what is really going on in the world. Thank you.
It was not about game REVIEWS, there were no reviews of Zoe's Game. It was about a lot of favorable press which enabled her to gather clout in the indie scene without really adding anything to it.
Dragon Age has a lot more than just that scene.
The flirting scene is even worse. Extremely creepy.
Even creepier is the "non binary" character is supposed to be younger, the youngest of all the companions in fact
Admire your ability to reflect. Honestly, there really aren't many who can say 'i got it wrong'.
Welcome back to reality Graham, I knew it would take awhile........o7.
I always disagreed with your old views on GG while supporting you for your courageous fight against trans radical activists.
I got into a few arguments with friends defending your misguided denial of the legitimacy of the GamerGate "movement".
Today I was very happy for you when you posted a letter about how you influenced Albertan law and culture for the better.
Then I see this video in my UA-cam feed of you FINALLY realizing your mistake on the GamerGate front and I am both happy for you and proud of you.
Thank you for your courage and your ability to humble yourself while standing defiantly on the public square.
Cheers mate, thank you for being yourself.
If you get the chance to read this Graham I would just like to say thank you so much for Father Ted ..its my faviroute sitcom ever and got me through some really tough times in my life ..I still watch it quite regularly ( it makes me sad when I think that Dermot and Frank are gone now ) ....it was made at a time where if someone was "offended " by what they were seeing all they had to do was switch off ...ive been watching your channel for a while now and i was disgusted when I heard what had happened in your life in recent years ....the western world went "woke" crazy 6 or 7 years ago but It feels as though the tide is changing and we seem to be (hopefully ) coming out the other side .. I think most folk have just had enough and that couldn't be made any clearer by the outcome of the American presidential election just the other day ...all the best
*REMEBER THESE PEOPLE ONLY STARTED CARING WHEN THE MOB CAME FOR THEM* before this they actually supported the mob.
It is never too late to atone for past transgressions, especially in situations like this. Unlike those on the Left, people in the rational center and even on the right are very forgiving of those who has been misled or manipulated.If you want to learn more about the issue, SideScrollers here on UA-cam have broken down the entire GG situation from the start to where it is now when it comes to video games in general.
I hope you can continue to grow and reject anti-white racism and leftism entirely.
You should reject all forms of racism.
But reject workers rights, universal healthcare, organised education? No thanks. Obviously you mean something different in your head when you use the term "leftism", but that's because you- like Graham- still need to do more reading.
@@kennethg9277 Yep, all lives matter.
We all reach that point where our suspension of disbelief gets crushed.
For me it was stumbling on Karen Straughans UA-cam videos in 2012, so I was already primed to join the Gamergaters, since I had already seen the exact same treatment aimed at the Men's Rights Movement when two years later it was aimed at Gamergate, then two more years later it was aimed at Trump and Brexit.
For a good in-depth explanation of Gamergate from someone on the left, I can recommend the Sidescrollers podcast episode where ShortFatOtaku explains the link between Sweet Baby Inc. and Gamergate.
While his slight Trump Derangement Syndrome does make him a bit of a so-called lolcow nowadays, to his credit his record keeping on Gamergate is quite excellent.
I can definitely relate to your newfound fascination with these things.
After I watched that first Karen Straughan video I spent over a month binging 10-12 video essays per day, like I had been wandering through a desert my whole life and finally found an oasis that wasn't just another mirage and couldn't stop gorging myself on water.
The other side never forgives. Glad you’re awake, not woke.
I was very sad when you against Dank et al. Well done on seeing through the bull. Legend. Your work is ace.
It is good to see you re-evaluate our position.
However, you have still internalized some of the narratives, which is quite funny.
You should read the Zoepost.
Eron Gjono was not the "jilted ex-lover" he was made out to be by the gaming press.
They were in a committed relationship, she cheated on him habitually, and he broke up with her.
He released the zoepost after having gone through hos experienced and realizing how manipultive she was, and that she was still doing the same stuff to people he knew.
Among other things, when he confronted her about the cheating, she threatened to kill herself if he pressed it
This and other such manipulation tactics happened frequently in their relationship, and he brought receipts.
It is allthemore tragic that he was slandered by the entire gaming press for years, and that she managed to put a court gag order on him so he could not defend himself.
GamerGate was about journalism, but frankly had it been about Quinn, that would not have been unwarranted.
Her, long before Gamergate fabricating "harassment" as a publicity stunt to promote her game, framing WizardChan, a board for suicidal adult virgins, who received loads of hate in the process.
Her long before GG dabotaging a game jam (the one Jontron was involved it) to a few days later accept funds to her own PayPal for her own game jam, which never materialized.
Her sabotaging a charity game jam project (TheFineYoungCapitalists), likely just to make some publicity for herself.
Her supposedly "having to flee from her home" due to "fear for her life", but in reality just taking a planned vacation to Japan.
Her starting a crowdfunder for a videogame project (ChuckTingle), which never materialized, the funds disappearing once again.
Her starting the Crash Override Network (CON :D), the funds disappearing.
Her provenly making false r*pe accusations against Alec Holowka, leading to his entire social circle including family cutting him off, and him committing suicide.
(Some of his money going to his sister, who had disowned him because of the accusations, and who likely used the funds to found SweetBabyInc together with Quinn's former PR manager, who was likely one of the people Quinn cheated on Gjoni with).
Her lies and manipulations have gone on and on for more than ten years, and have repercussions until today and on, because she knew how to make hood people believe her and do her bidding.
There's nothing like being prepared for a stream and that's nothing like being prepared :)
I salute you sir. It takes immense courage to admit your wrong. Thank you for defending normal men & women.
I still find the response at that time to Anita Sarkesian’s “women in games” series of videos (or whatever it was called) pretty ridiculous, & I find it hard to believe the hate she received was something she was fabricating because I remember reading the pages and pages of comments that had a very particular tone and used certain language that made it undeniable why that series was making so many men angry.
Buuuut ultimately when I stand back and look at what flowed from the id pol that Anita’s series originates out of, I just see rot and poison everywhere it touches. So while I feel the series was almost bland and banal in the obvious truths it points out about the depiction of women (similar thing was happening in comics at the time as well) - on balance when women “get what they want”, it came with a whole raft of hideous other things. What to make of that? I am still not sure.
Well played for the apology, Graham. Those guys (and many more) have been on the frontline against the woke game/movie industry for a long time now, which as you know is absolutely huge and responsible for pushing so much of those hideous ideologies.
Woke is just a synonym for J. E. W.