Totalitarian Ideologue Anita Sarkeesian and The Hateful Lies of Feminism #FreeStacy

Anita Sarkeesian and Laurie Penny: The Smiling Faces of 21st-Century Totalitarianism #tcot  @PennyRed @femfreq 

Twitter has named totalitarian ideologue Anita Sarkeesian to its "Trust and Safety Council." 

#tcot #GamerGate 

The Hateful Lies of Feminism

Anita Sarkeesian (@FemFreq on Twitter) is a jargon-spewing pseudo-intellectual who made herself obnoxious by using feminist “gender theory” to critique videogames. This proved to be enormously lucrative for Ms. Sarkeesian, who became a heroine in the eyes of every left-wing ax-grinder who, like her, hates the idea of heterosexual white males enjoying themselves without being constantly lectured about what awful racist, sexist homophobes they are. Sarkeesian’s crooked hustle — “Pay me money to tell you how to abolish misogyny in videogames” — is a shakedown, a corrupt scam with which no honest person would wish to be associated.... 

Sarkeesian and her dimwit followers are incapable of original thought, and as soon as they began getting blowback from their shabby scam, they all began to shriek in unison, “Harassment!” This became the Official Media Narrative of what #GamerGate was about... 

So, about two weeks ago, Twitter announced its Orwellian-sounding “Trust and Safety Council,” of which Anita Sarkeesian is a member. When my Twitter account was suspended Friday, some people (including Robby Soave of Reason magazine) put two and two together and concluded that perhaps Ms. Sarkeesian had something to do with this matter. Was this deduction valid? I don’t know. Twitter has cited nothing specific to justify its claim that I was “participating in targeted abuse,” and this opaque accusation was delivered as a verdict, so that I do not even have any way to know whom I was alleged to have “targeted.”

Read the rest.

More background:

Anita Sarkeesian (@femfreq) and the #GamerGate Hate Hoax 

Anita Sarkeesian (@femfreq) and Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) are feminist critics of the videogame industry who seem to be trying to cash in on the fact that they are feminist critics of the videogame industry. This involves portraying themselves as victims of horrific harassment and criminal threats. Who is engaging in this harassment? Who is making these threats? We don’t know, because it seems to be coming from a lot of anonymous online accounts, and I strongly suspect that some of these threats are fake. But whether it’s fake or real, the harassment is being blamed on the gamers who, using the Twitter hashtag #GamerGate, have been blowing the whistle on some of the sleazy tactics by which feminists have been trying to turn gaming into a Political Correctness Zone and — oh, just by the way — cut themselves in on a slice of the multibillion-dollar videogame industry pie. 

Thursday, the feminists got themselves a front-page puff-piece in the New York Times, after Sarkeesian cancelled a university speech in Utah claiming she felt unsafe because of a threat. Click here to see the threat. You tell me if that looks legit. It looks phony as hell to me, but here’s the thing: I DON’T CARE IF IT’S REAL OR FAKE.

What’s important to me is that we learn the truth.

Read the rest.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other

Some people think all religions suck, other people think all gay sex sucks.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Some religious people want to avoid all homosexual weddings, other religious people want to kill all homosexuals.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Some folks think that gay marriage is not a good idea, other people think that those folks should have their lives ruined.


Six of one, half a dozen of the other...

Irresponsible Doc Brings Ebola to NYC: Bad News with a Silver Lining?

Unfortunately, an irresponsible young physician has brought Ebola to NYC.  I hope he enjoys a swift recovery.

Maybe this story comes with a silver lining. As long as Ebola was a problem only in Red States and Flyover Country, it could be treated as an abstraction and a political issue. Now that it's stricken at the heart of Blue America, sensible pragmatic strategies can replace politically correct posturing (e.g., stringent travel restrictions).

Speaking of Red States, here's how a Tennesee physician dealt with the risk:

"Doctor from Morristown, Tennessee who self-quarantined after returning from treating Ebola patients in Africa"

Hat tip: Instapundit

Progressivism is a lucrative career opportunity for clever cynics

"A valuable reminder of the best argument for reducing economic inequality."

As hateful as Matthew Yglesias is, I'm happy that the overflowing fruits of capitalistic enterprise are so abundant in this country that a mediocre blogger armed with unearned privilege can find a way to pay for a $1.2 million home.

David Burge points out that with $1.2 million, a bleeding-heart progressive journolista could buy seven houses at the median US home price.  Or pay a greedy doctor to provide health care for poor people for the better part of decade. Or buy dinner for four at Sizzler Steakhouse for 30,000 hungry families.

But I'm happy for Matt.  And I'm glad that Matt has come to terms with the heartrending inequality of this cruel world well enough to luxuriate in his good fortune while writing sloppy, poorly-researched agitprop for the proles.

Now read this, the source of the title of this post: The 1% Progressive Bloggers Club and the Bourgeois Dialectic of Comrade Yglesias






H/T The Other McCain

Government Can't Change What Marriage Means

You are hoping by its force and might, by fiat, that government will change what marriage means. But government can’t change the state of marriage fundamentally. Nobody can. The best it can do is to use the word incorrectly, and require that others do, too.

McCain, Graham Need to End the Super-Hawk Crap

Ace: 

I still consider myself a hawk.

But I don't consider myself a super-hawk. Post-9/11, I became a super-hawk. I'm not one any longer.

John McCain and Lindsey Graham are still pushing a super-hawk line that the public widely rejects.

They need to stop. If the only choice is between appeasement and super-hawk full-commitment total war, the public will choose appeasement. 

Read the rest.

Recommended Album

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Performer: Il Giardino Armonico
Conductor: Giovanni Antonini
Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
Audio CD (October 25, 1994)

"There is a feeling that every second of music was deeply thought through in an innovative way.”
Oron Zachar

"This is a Four Seasons you will want to share with the most scrutinous musical colleagues.”
Debra A. Hayes

TAX2DEF

From the Annals of the Evil 1%, Red State Edition:

Photographed near Chattanooga, TN

5300% More Likely...

If you're worried about getting killed by a gun, you should be about 5300% more worried about dying of heart disease:

Via