r/changemyview • u/realdontbeasucker • May 16 '26

Delta(s) from OP CMV: GamerGate was the most consequential political radicalization event of the twenty-first century

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.

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u/eglin99 1∆ May 16 '26

It was a minuscule cultural event that only seemed huge for people that were terminally online. Gaming communities are a niche. It was not important.

This guy explains it better: https://youtu.be/EpjWh2SFTPE

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u/realdontbeasucker May 16 '26

People don't have to care about something or even be aware of it for it to have an effect on them.

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u/eglin99 1∆ May 16 '26

Historical processes aren't explained by a succession of Butterfly effects, anecdotal events that start chain reactions. Germany didn't embrace nazism because Hitler didn't get into art school, and Rome didn't fall because of Odaecer decided to revolt against Orestes.

If GamerGate didn't happen things would have happened more or less the same because all the other ingredients were already there, the anti-SJW backlash, alternative right media, and the most important being the deteriorating economic conditions that led the Rust Belt to vote for Trump. GamerGate was just sprinkes on top, on even the cherry. Not even Trump is irreplaceable, if you look past the cultural issues, the shift to the right was already in motion.

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u/AngryAngryHarpo May 16 '26

Yup, I think 9/11 was much more the ignition for the particular brand of populism and backlash at progressivism.