Episode 525 - GamerGate

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Emily Yoshida & Andrew talk all about the term “racist” and GamerGate. Make sure to leave us a message about anything you think is racist at (323) 389-RACE.

[DirkBender 31]

I think you dropped the ball on this one.

 

Yes, of course, have a Gamergate episode. The discussion on that topic was spot on, and I enjoyed hearing Emily's insight. (there's a great interview with Brianna Wu on the topic, here, if anyone's interested --

 

http://majority.fm/2014/10/20/1020-dani-mcclain-why-black-women-are-the-voting-bloc-to-watch-in-the-midterms-brianna-wu-gamergate/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MajorityReport+%28The+Majority+Report+with+Sam+Seder%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

 

posting because why not.)

 

However, the voicemail question seems to have been completely dodged, and I listened to it twice to make sure I understood it correctly. The caller wanted to know if white people calling black folks "racist" was the equivalent of the N-word.

 

I've been hearing my fellow white folks getting their jollies by doing this disgusting thing for decades now. If anything it's only gotten worse of late; just last week Ben Stein indulged in it.

 

I'd like to hear Andrew-and-guest cover this in depth sometime. Heard most of the eps and I don't think they have, at least not in the past coupla years.

[VinsanityV22 500]

:D/> Oh this made me happy. I mean obviously, y'all are smart enough to deal with this thing in a quick and intelligent way, but I just love this sentence:

 

"They're not smart enough - well, obviously they're not smart enough - to realize that their own brand is totally tarnished now"

 

Perfect little summation there. I've hated this whole frickin' thing and that whole, incredibly vocal group of dipshits completely piss me off. Ugh. I'm in the industry (I'm a 3D artist & animator) and those fuckers (douchebags? Nope; definitely too benign, Buzzfeed) are the worst; and they are, completely, isolated little punks who only act up through internet. When exhibiting at trade shows or conventions, you don't see any of that; FAR MORE people are just universally positive about gaming (for example...).

 

And then on the internet, it's a complete 180 and it's disgusting. Big surprise, right? Just like y'all know. I'm glad to hear Emily didn't get a ton of backlash from talking about this on Grantland though. This was just a great, succinct little discussion on this without giving those assholes much attention - love that. There's nothing I can say that wasn't covered more eloquently, or more entertainingly, by Ms. Yoshida and Mr. Ti here :)/>

 

I also loved the beginning of this episode and the actual question about "Racist = N word for white people?" :)/> That was hilarious. Especially the figuring out of how the question came up in the first place - that dude DEFINITELY was just talking about that at that party, lol. It's almost like squeezing in two topics in one episode.

 

And great on Andrew for knowing some stuff about the topic this week! I mean, usually he doesn't at all, lol. Especially video games - I remember another video gaming question about a commentator dropping an N-word during commentary and he assumed it was, like, Poker on ESPN2 being talked about.

[AndyPacheco-Fores 437]

I think the big thing people miss when they say something is equivalent to the n-word is fear. You can use racist or douchebag to hurt a white person's feelings, but those words can't make them afraid.

[wo 265]

"They're not smart enough - well, obviously they're not smart enough - to realize that their own brand is totally tarnished now"

 

That's a good one. Also this exchange:

"They LOVE scorched earth."

"It's really easy to render."

[action52 554]

I think the big thing people miss when they say something is equivalent to the n-word is fear. You can use racist or douchebag to hurt a white person's feelings, but those words can't make them afraid.

 

Oh, you'd be surprised how scared white people can get just at the thought of being racist. The real difference is that black people's fear is based on legitimate real-life reasons, whereas white people's fear is based on irrational paranoia.

[AndyPacheco-Fores 437]

 

Oh, you'd be surprised how scared white people can get just at the thought of being racist. The real difference is that black people's fear is based on legitimate real-life reasons, whereas white people's fear is based on irrational paranoia.

That's what I mean. Like, viscerally afraid. Like "Is the person saying this going to hurt/kill me?" afraid. It's a much different emotion.