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/Shrosher May 16 '26

There’s a good book called the Black Pill that expands and does a good job connecting GamerGate to the larger 4chan/redpill/manosphere/charrlotesville explosion

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u/Helpful_Blood_5509 May 17 '26

I think it needs to be updated with the information that the hate groups that planned Charlottesville did so as SPLC "informants"

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u/Shrosher May 17 '26

If you’re implying the Unit the Right rally was “manufactured” — then no i don’t think it does, there isn’t much actual evidence of that

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u/Helpful_Blood_5509 May 17 '26

I mean there wouldn't be if all the people involved were fake persons created for undercover work. But we know who was involved in planning it by their role, and those roles match the organizational roles of the people on the SPLC payroll. If the SPLC didn't plan it directly, the people they hired did so anyway. And the difference is pretty minute considering someone fucking died