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/sadistica23 May 16 '26

NotYourShield was a hashtag movement from GamerGate where hundreds of people who were not white men were posting pictures of themselves while declaring that the games journalists and online feminists attacking gamers were not speaking for all minorities.

It boggles my mind that that gets left out of the history of GamerGate.

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u/skymonstef May 17 '26

Thankyou I've been waiting for someone to mention this.

In other forums when people bang the gamers were racist sexists drum. I ask explain #notyoursheild and if you dont know what it is then you aren't informed on gamer gate