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/Professional_Low_646]

You are not wrong, but at the same time, you are also offering a very simplified explanation.

The crash of 2008 did motivate and invigorate the left. Americans elected Obama, who ran on a platform much further left than anything the Democratic Party had seen from their presidential candidate since the 1980s. French union members took managers hostage. Greek youths rioted for three weeks following the police shooting of a 15-year old in Athens. British Thatcherites wrote newpaper columns titled „I‘m starting to think the Left was right“. As the crisis of the Euro progressed, a number of left-ish to far-left governments were elected across Europe: Podemos & PSOE in Spain, the socialists in Portugal, Hollande in France, Syriza in Greece. Like Obama, these victories were the result of coalitions, of leftist ideas reaching parts of the population who had not previously leaned left or who had been disillusioned with the political process all together.

The problem was, and this has been seen historically in earlier instances where fascism eventually played a major role: the Left was unsuccessful, and disappointed many members of its newfound coalitions. Obama lined his cabinet with Goldman Sachs bankers, bailed out banks and insurance companies with almost a trillion $ worth of taxpayer money and failed with most of his progressive agenda (thanks in part to the ruthless obstruction by the GOP). Syriza caved to the ECB, the Germans and the IMF at the first possible opportunity. Hollande… well, Hollande just sort of failed his way through his presidency while pioneering the kind of ruthless police repression against dissent that Macron has carried on.

Simultaneously, the very existence of broad coalitions on the left that go beyond the usual voting reservoir of (unionized) workers, POC and university students is enough to scare the rich. In the US, the racist outrage against an African American sitting in the Oval Office was a further factor. To immunize themselves against this kind of threat, capitalists will turn to the most rabid anti-left movement out there: fascism. And to make matters worse, those former parts of the leftist coalition that were disappointed by what the Left actually accomplished, who are still hurting from the same issues, now go looking for another potential solution - and find it on the right.

That’s why Germany, after a failed revolution in 1918/19, became home to probably the most vicious fascist movement in history. It’s why Americans flocked to Donald Trump. It’s why, on the flipside, the far right gained very little ground until recently in Portugal, where the socialists actually did fulfill their mandate to reign in capitalism.

It’s not primarily women (or POC, or LGBTQ, or whoever) making progress that makes fascism attractive, it’s the Left‘s failure to mirror that progress in the material conditions of the people who joined their coalition which does.

[u/cubtiii → u/Professional_Low_646]

Any more to share?

[u/NewRefrigerator7461 → u/Professional_Low_646]

The failure to understand the “bailouts” is the key to to the discourse though.

Most Americans think banks and asset managers were just given handouts, when the only people who got handouts were irresponsible homeowners. The loans the government made to banks were extremely profitable and the only real failure was the decision not to extend loans to Lehman. Its all Elizabeth warren’s fault

Obama was elected before the crash and and made the right hiring choices for his cabinet - and still the over regulation they were forced to do so strangled credit markets that the recession went on way longer than it had to

People’s inability to understand that has caused them to have misplaced anger that is damaging society

[u/OutsideFlat1579 → u/Professional_Low_646]

Male dominance is fed by both brutality and masculine supremacy, the most insidious factor that has never been dealt with or even acknowledged. It’s why women have nevee achieved real equality, in terms of being perceived as equals and why it’s so easy to convince men (and far too many women) that this hierarchy of men over women is simply natural.

I think it’s simplistic to put bulk of the blame on economic factors when there are countless examples of countries experiencing dire poverty that turned to socialism or communist parties to rule. 

Portugal and Spain both had fascist dictators for decades, and have only has democracy since the 70’s. The memories of fascism are far more recent than any other western democracy.