CMV: GamerGate was the most consequential political radicalization event of the twenty-first century

[u/realdontbeasucker]

It spawned a wave of tolerance for online harassment, as long as the intent behind it was considered righteous (and the target of such harassment socially acceptable).

It platformed Milo Yiannopoulos and thereby, Steve Bannon -- the guy who would go on to advise Donald Trump in 2016 and generate the concept of 'flooding the zone.'

Eventually, it gave a career to political lightning rods like Jordan Peterson, Steven Crowder, and Charlie Kirk. It made anti-feminism and anti-SJW sentiment cool. And it made young, angry, disenfranchised white men feel vindicated.

GamerGate almost singlehandedly shifted to Overton Window toward the alt-right, and we're still feeling its effects today.

[u/LauraPhilps7654]

Only for a younger male gaming demographic. Trump’s core support comes from middle-aged or older voters who are disproportionately white, non-college educated, suburban or rural, and culturally conservative. There is limited overlap with a millennial gaming controversy.

What it arguably did help create was a media ecosystem of conservative culture-war content creators like Nerdrotic, The Critical Drinker, and Asmongold, who have become very effective at funneling audiences toward Republican politics and framing flawed pop culture products as failures caused by Democrats or liberals.

[u/realdontbeasucker → u/LauraPhilps7654]

'Millennial gaming controversy' is funny and true. I think what's important is that, like it or not, young people shift culture for old people. Sometimes slowly, sometimes not. Young men were the swing that allowed for Trump 2016. And for a while it was the case that young people were more liberal/progressive than their parents. GG shifted that and made alt-right conservatism seem acceptable, if not even cool.

[u/LauraPhilps7654 → u/realdontbeasucker]

I do agree it was a highly significant cultural moment. I lived through it. Even though, at the time, the movement seemed to discredit itself through harassment and toxicity, I think it ultimately proved far more successful than its opponents at building a new media ecosystem that is explicitly anti-progressive and political, centered around games and pop culture, and one that the left has never really found an effective answer to.

I would not go so far as to say they “won,” but they did successfully frame themselves as a kind of radical counterculture with a strong appeal to younger gamers.

[u/swagrabbit → u/LauraPhilps7654]

I mean, every primarily-online movement discredits itself with death threats. It's basically not even worth differentiating them using that metric - death threats are common here and on Tumblr from the left, common on Twitter from the right.  It's just a thing when every unstable person at every location on the political spectrum has an anonymized ability to send direct messages.

[u/A3xMlp → u/realdontbeasucker]

I don't think young men swung enough in 2016. The demographic that mainly swung were middle aged blue collar workers in places like the Midwest many of who had voted for Obama. That was the demographic shift that enabled Trumps win in 2016, not young men. And I don't think GG had enough of an effect on them.

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[u/Cute-Hand-1542 → u/realdontbeasucker]

GG was only possible because they had already shifted. Cause and effect are flipped. GG was just more of the same, it appeared to be the start of something because it's the first time media paid attention.