Jennifer Allaway is a social scientist who studies diversity in games. In the wake of being targeted by Gamergate trolls, she has written an analysis of the movement as a hate group, showing that it satisfies the formal requirements for such.
Once these tools and ideologies are developed, #Gamergate uses hate and fear tactics to create a culture of silence around the topic and prevent progressive dialogue around them. McNamee, Peterson, and Pena’s 2010 study on “Understanding the Communications of Online Hate Groups” mentions one particular method that is fundamental to the way hate groups take their ideologies and transition them into action: Indictment, or the “messages that blame other groups for various offenses.”In this specific case it chiefly means demonizing the media and entertainment industry, or any other groups that #Gamergate claims to have been misrepresented by. #Gamergate as an organization has been internally confused over the past two months as it tries to sort out its message, but ultimately, the blame falls most consistently and often with the game industry’s “corruption” and “corrupt media.”
However, their current leaderless and anonymous qualities, combined with their ability to replicate the appearance of active members through dummy accounts, creates a powerful mob mentality in which anybody can suggest a radical way of leveraging hate or fear, pressure others into following suit, and thus continue to perpetuate their narrative through action. By selling themselves as a “grassroots movement of the people,” they’re able to pressure parties ignorant of their origins into doing what they want.
#Gamergate Trolls Aren’t Ethics Crusaders; They’re a Hate Group [Jennifer Allaway/Jezebel]
(via Metafilter)
(Icon: Hangmans Noose, WJBscribe, CC-BY-SA)
