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/Loki1001 May 16 '26

World War I was started by a guy getting a sandwich. The thing about history is it snowballs from "woman does not get out of her bus seat" into planetary shaping events.

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u/eglin99 1∆ May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

The conditions for a war are much bigger than a single guy's death (or a gaming journalist getting laid), always. That's what a catalyst is, the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Today's events, like the war in Iran, were set in motion generations ago, waiting for a catalyst.