I still don't really know what Gamergate is fully about, and never heard of the jontron thing till 2 weeks ago.
JonTron is seperate. That fellow isn't exactly socially adept. You could redefine the whole discussion upon the social and autism spectrum, but that would take real empathy, real critical thinking and various combinations of these two that do not exist among the steaming shit heap of humanity that is evilbore.
Gamergate is basically an enthusiastic press coming to terms with being an enthusiastic press. Journalism that covers less gargantuan topics such as music, film or games do not take honesty, integrity, or ethics the same way someone who covers topics that have large impact zones do*.
But when the people were suspect that someone was having sex with the journalists that were reporting on them got to light(which is true), then they got a bit angry at the press. Following this, more digging revealed the gaming press were covering people who actually lived with them and not revealing this(again true). This isn't a revelation of nation wide importance, but it matters to those that care about games. In response, the rpess ran out several articles that called the people criticizing them misogynists, monsters and basically dehumanizing them. This is where Gamergate really took foot. If the press had simply said "my bad" and returned to their corporate nut sucking then this thing wouldn't blown up. However, they realized that if they called these people white and male, and then said they hated minorities and women without any proof, then they could keep going to paid-for drinking parties for at-the-least amorous reviews and not have to have any standards whatsoever.
Guess what option the press took? Yes, they lied.
And that's Gamergate. And the political swindle job they took is standard by now. Take a group that points out you're lying and call them the majority, then say they hate minorities, and then deny them space to speak. That's the approach. Silence those you oppress by calling them the oppressor. Because us dorks playing vidya are the public strong majority, right?
The FBI investigated the "harassment" and found it was some Something Awful trolls that decided to troll while another group could be blamed and took advantage of it. The Society of Professional Journalists held a discussion on it, got bomb threats, but found that GG was grossly misreported.
And nearly everyone here except me didn't spend the time to look this up.
*Those news sources don't either if it gives them ratings.
