Stop Comparing Anita Sarkeesian To Jack Thompson

Ah, GamerGate. Easily the hottest topic in all of contemporary feminism. So why am I coming to it when the movement has essentially subsided? Well, because it's making a comeback, and boy is it not pretty. Truth is, though, I can't call it a comeback because it never really went away. We just stopped talking about it. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Nothing's changed with them. They're still racist, sexist, and desperately trying to convince us that they're just a noble movement aiming for fair and balanced journalism. I would talk about their recent resurgence regarding NBC supposedly calling all gamers racist neo-Nazis, but honestly I don't know all about it and it isn't really relevant to my blog. Instead I'm gonna talk about one of their more famous and favourite flagship points, that being their comparison of Anita Sarkeesian to Jack Thompson. The argument cropped up a few years ago, but I'm gonna talk about it anyway because people still bring it up as if it's a valid thing to say. 

Before I debunk the comparison, I'm gonna give a rundown of GamerGate's version of the ordeal. This analogy came from none other than Christopher Maldonado, better known by his YouTube name Chris Ray Gun. He described Jack Thompson and Anita's history fairly accurately with a few exceptions, which I'll get to. Jack Thompson is a former DA who in 2009 claimed that video games cause real world violence. As you might've predicted, this was not taken well, and was debunked almost right away. He was constantly harassed, received death threats and eventually lost his job because of his stance on gaming. He is still universally hated today. A couple years later, Anita comes into the fray and states that video games cause real world sexism. Same thing happens, people attack her for what she said about video games. She was even doxxed and had to leave her home. However, despite her huge ongoing hatred from GGers, she was defended by the gaming journalism media and was considered a sort of heroine for not backing down against her haters. Now according to GamerGate, they think that Anita got a free pass because she's a woman and of course pulled the misandry card. 

Here's the actual truth. Jack Thompson did in fact receive notable flak for his stance on video games, but he was not disbarred from the Florida bar for it. He was disbarred because he was corrupt and even framed a political opponent for possessing child pornography. In that scenario, it's kinda impossible to defend him. Anita on the other hand never claimed that video games caused sexism. She said that sexist elements in video games reflected reality, that's about it. She never even wanted to take legal action against video games, just for the industry to improve. Plus, Anita used the leftover money from her GoFundMe to buy a new home and register Feminist Frequency as a C3 charity organisation. What has Jack Thompson been up to? Framing guys for kiddy porn. Yeeeaaaaah, starting to look pretty dumb now ain't ya? Gender had nothing to with it. Anita's just a more likable person, plain and simple. 

I'm sure plenty of people are gonna come at me with their what-about-isms and claiming that Anita really is the devil's favourite demon and I just don't see it, but fact is, GamerGate's always had it wrong (no surprise there). The double standard exists because it's not a double standard. It's just that it's easier to defend an innocent woman than a fucked up individual willing to slander anyone he dislikes with a massive claim like child porn possession (btw good on the MRAs for ignoring the fact that this counts as a false accusation, but I guess it's only bad when women make them :/). Hopefully now I'll actually have drilled through some thick skulls.