Looking back through GG history (as well as I can, since it seems Deepfreeze is never going to get fixed...), it's curious how long we tried to affirm a moral high ground when it was clear the lying press were content to paint whatever picture they wanted. Didn't matter how many women, coloreds, or colored women of color tweeted "#NotYourShield", GamerGate was only ever about "angry white male rage". Honey Badgers and Sad Puppies fell on deaf ears and only made the press hate us more for pointing out their hypocrisy. We teamed up with "good fags" and "good feminists" like Milo and CHS and the only thing it ever achieved was excommunicate them from their in-groups before they eventually dumped us further down the line.
It also didn't help that the GG movement was being strangled for years thanks to control of the 8chan board by Acid Man following Niko's capitulation to the Ayy Team. Cole Lamberson's obsession with "muh pr" tanked the entire movement and stalled genuine discoveries such as Seattle4Truth uncovering the money trail between the Literal Whos and big organizations like Microsoft, even if he went totally insane in the end and committed matricide.
What happened over the next decade was virtually an entire generation becoming politically active in a way that hasn't happened since the Vietnam War. Two US elections won, Pizzagate exposed to the world, trannies banned from sports, populism movements sprouting up all over the world, and it was all because we only ever wanted to play video games and be left in peace.
So I ask you - if we had our 2025 mindset back in 2014, would you have skipped the #NotYourShield part of our movement entirely and just got straight to shutting out troons, fags and general SJWs? If not, why?
I chalk GG up to "leftist fatigue" in all its many forms. Preachy race/gender politics don't make good entertainment, especially when we're forced to listen to it to go to school or work a job. Areas in our life where we're all but forced to genuflect to the woke mindset to not derail our job or academic goals. Not to mention how one-sided it is as they excuse their own side for the same shit they lecture you about. So after a day of all that shit, we have our escapes and that's the last place you want the same lectures/whining to show up.
In my personal case, I used to be a TV zombie as a kid. Then it got too preachy and annoying (and full of double standards) to the point I gave up most normie TV. Then movies followed suit (especially genres traditionally geared towards guys). So I retreated to video games. Then they came for the vidya...
And when a blatant corruption was called out, every corporate/establishment tentacle came out and circled wagons to maintain THE MESSAGE (poor oppressed wymyn bullied by male gamers). It was shameless and obvious and woke up A LOT of people on the fence.
Broadly that's the outline of it all. KIA original had such a wide net that actual commies were involved. It truly was just about ethics in games journalism.
But that's the cover, you start asking questions about the man behind the curtain and you end up down the rabbit hole, or you don't, and you become a Dave rubin fan, and think Candace Owen's is smart.
But if you DO ask, that's good, but there's one thing to remember.
Some of us were already down here.