Culture

Gamergate, the freewheeling catastrophe/social movement/misdirected lynchmob that has, since August, trapped wide swaths of the internet in its clutches, has still – inexplicably! – not burned itself out.

Late last week, when many of us thought we’d seen its end, the mob drove yet another woman from her home: This one, Brianna Wu , because she dared to tweet some jokes about the ongoing drama.

We have ignored Gamergate for as long as humanly possible – in large part because it’s been covered in enormous, impressive depth elsewhere, and in smaller part because we’re exhausted by the senseless, never-ending onslaught of internet misogyny, which really can’t be explained in a blog post – or, frankly, anywhere else.

But that said, the disturbing, violent threats sent to Wu, the co-founder of an indie game studio, makes it all too clear that Gamergate is less a one-off scandal (as the obnoxious -gate suffix would imply), and more a long-term, slow-burning campaign. In other words, Gamergate is not going away.

So even if so much of this bizarre internet conflict remains inexplicable, it’s important to try to understand what all is going on here – not just for gamers, but for ordinary internet-users, too.

What is Gamergate?

Whatever Gamergate may have started as, it is now an internet culture war. On one side are independent game-makers and critics, many of them women, who advocate for greater inclusion in gaming. On the other side of the equation are a motley alliance of vitriolic naysayers: misogynists, anti-feminists, trolls, people convinced they’re being manipulated by a left-leaning and/or corrupt press, and traditionalists who just don’t want their games to change.

The divide is, in part, demographic: It’s the difference between the historical, stereotypical gamer – young, nerdy white guy who likes guns and boobs – and the much broader, more diverse range of people who play now.

There are, unsurprisingly, some socio-political overtones, as well: The hashtag only took off once it was tweeted by the conservative actor Adam Baldwin and blurbed on Breitbart. (Truly odd, fascinating headline there: “Feminist bullies tearing the video game industry apart.”) Since then, Gamergate-supporters on 4chan and Twitter have been quick to sling around the acronym “SJW,” for social justice warrior – a kind of shorthand insult for liberals and progressives. It’s not a “an apolitical consumer movement,” Jon Stone argued Monday in The Guardian; it’s “a swelling of vicious right-wing sentiment.”

Why should I care about this?

If you’re not personally a gamer, it can be tempting to dismiss it all as subcultural drama. But as the preceding paragraphs would suggest, that couldn’t be further from the truth: The issues that Gamergate struggles over are also issues of great conflict, and importance, to American culture as a whole. In fact, in many respects, Gamergate is just a proxy war for a greater cultural battle over space and visibility and inclusion, a battle over who belongs to the mainstream – and as such, it’s a battle for our cultural soul. Just writ really small.

Then, of course, there’s the sheer violence of the whole thing. We bust out the term “culture war” to describe any sustained conflict between groups with opposing philosophies and ideals. But when it comes to Gamergate, there’s also an aspect of literal war, as well: Threats have become so violent that the FBI is investigating.

How did it actually start?

This all kicked off on a very specific, if no less troubling, issue. In 2013, an independent game designer named Zoe Quinn released a free game called Depression Quest. Depression Quest isn’t a “game,” in the way we traditionally conceive of it: It’s more a story or a piece of interactive art, which as it unfolds, tells the story of a young adult’s depression.

Some people were really into Depression Quest, including several video game critics. Other players took issue with what they considered the artsiness, the non-game-iness of the game. (Remember, this whole debate essentially boils down to identity: what counts as gaming and what doesn’t.)

In either case, the stage was already set for some kind of major meltdown when, in mid-August, one of Quinn’s ex-boyfriends claimed, in a series of disturbingly intimate and VERY long blog posts, that she had cheated on him with several men in the gaming industry – ostensibly to get ahead in her career.

How did the sex life of a person I’ve never heard of kick off a major “scandal”?

One of those men was a writer for the prominent gaming site Kotaku, a Gawker property. While both he and Quinn denied the allegations that she somehow traded sex for coverage, outraged gamers had already taken to Twitter, Reddit and 4chan by the tens of thousands to protest the so-called ethical breaches in gaming journalism. Almost two months later, in fact, many people will still try to tell you that ethics in game journalism are all Gamergate’s really about.

The problem with that argument is that Gamergate’s biggest “protests” don’t appear to have any relation to ethics or journalism – not even a tangential one. Instead, anonymous hackers posted Quinn’s personal information, including her address and nude pictures, shortly after her ex’s blog went up. Conspirators on Twitter purportedly made sock puppet accounts to spread the “scandal,” then bragged about it on 4chan. Some of the people sent Quinn death and rape threats so specific, so actionable, that she fled her house and called the cops.

Meanwhile, the male journalist whose ethics were (purportedly) at the center of the whole kerfuffle is still writing for Kotaku – which, for the record, ruled that neither he nor Quinn did anything wrong.

So what is Gamergate really about?

Initially, the “movement” appeared to be about Quinn – or at least about what she represented to a band of angry, anonymous gamers. But within days, Gamergaters had also attacked Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist writer and media critic, after she posted a new video in her ongoing series about women and gaming. She, like Quinn, was forced to leave her home.

Shortly after that, two other women who wrote about Quinn and Sarkeesian – Jenn Frank, a gaming journalist, and Mattie Brice, a game designer – announced that they would withdraw from the industry over the resulting harassment they received. Frank articulated the real issues at hand in her essay for the Guardian, which would later get her bullied offline: Gamergate, she wrote, is less about ethics, and more about drowning out critics of traditional, patriarchal, dude-dominated gaming culture.

For the record, the “drowning,” in this instance, wasn’t just run-of-the-mill internet nastiness. In many cases, these women received highly graphic, disturbing threats – the stuff of “SVU” episodes. And in a few cases, anonymous Twitter trolls went so far as to include the woman’s address or an exact time of attack, making the message a “true,” i.e. criminally punishable, threat.

Who are these trolls exactly?

We don’t know, as the most severe offenders are operating anonymously or under pseudonyms. In many cases, they’re organising on sites like 4chan and 8chan, an anonymous 4chan spinoff that essentially exists just to talk about Gamergate. In fact, thousands of Gamergate supporters on 8chan recently passed around a demographic survey on the gaming industry, put together by the researcher Jennifer Allaway; but alas, most of the responses contained only irrelevant (and telling!) messages, like “kill yourself.” Predictably, the debate has also attracted the usual crowd of men’s rights activists, neo-Nazis and other unsavories.

That isn’t to say that everyone flying the #Gamergate banner is sexist/racist/crazy, and that isn’t to say there aren’t some decent arguments about journalism ethics being made. But whatever voices of reason may have existed, at some point, have been totally subsumed by the mob.

How representative is this of the gaming industry/the internet/what have you?

This, at last, is the big, troubling question whenever we talk about harassment and other bad behaviour online: How many people actually feel this way? Would they ever say these things in person? Is it possible so many people hate women so much?

Don’t panic: There’s good news here. Both mainstream gaming critics and many Gamergate supporters insist the brutal trolls are just a small, vocal minority. There’s plenty of social science to back that up, too: We know that people are more aggressive, more argumentative and more nasty when they’re permitted to comment on something without using their real name.

That said, discomfort about women’s growing presence in culture and industry remains widespread IRL. According to a 2012 poll by the University of Arkansas, more than a quarter of all white men hold some sexist attitudes. Online, no one needs polls as proof: High-profile stories of gender-based harassment, abuse and bullying accumulate by the day.

But Gamergate, crucially, isn’t just about gender. It’s not, contrary its name, even about video games. At its heart, remember, the so-called “movement” (if an ambiguous hashtag with no leaders and no articulated goals can be called a movement), was always about how we define our shared cultural spaces, how we delineate identity, who is and is not allowed to have a voice in mainstream culture. It’s about that tension between tradition and inclusion – and in that regard, Gamergate may be the perfect representation of our times.

What can be done to resolve it?

People have proposed lots of great ideas to make gaming more inclusive, from critiquing existing games (a la Sarkeesian) to encouraging more women and minorities to join the industry. But perhaps the simplest and most eloquent proposal came from Andreas Zecher, of the independent studio Spaces of Play, who recently wrote a popular “open letter to the gaming community” – and got thousands of other professionals to sign on. By signing, they promised to stand up for other members of the community if/when they saw them get harassed:

“We believe that everyone, no matter what gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or disability has the right to play games, criticise games and make games without getting harassed or threatened,” he wrote. “It is the diversity of our community that allows games to flourish.”

Zecher’s manifesto doesn’t sound like it should be controversial, but it is. We can hope that as more people sign on – and as Gamergate inevitably, eventually putters out – that all changes.

Washington Post

Republicans’ criticism of Taylor Swift could massively backfire, as detractors take aim at her efforts to encourage fans to register to vote.

On September 19, National Voter Registration Day, the singer took to Instagram to share a message urging her fans to register on the nonpartisan, nonprofit Vote.org. According to the organization, Swift’s post was followed by a surge of more than 35,000 registrations—an almost 25 percent increase over the same day last year.

“I’ve been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my U.S. shows recently,” Swift, 33, wrote to her more than 273 million followers via Instagram Stories. “I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year!”

Her post included a link to register at Vote.org.

Per NPR, Andrea Hailey, the CEO of Vote.org, said in a statement that the single-day surge in registrations was a “highly encouraging sign of voter enthusiasm,” particularly as there was a 115 percent spike over 2022 in newly eligible 18 year olds registering to vote.

“Time and time again young people are showing up and demonstrating they care about their rights and access to the ballot box,” Hailey added.

However, the news has been followed by criticism of Swift from a number of Republican voters—likely stemming from the musician’s own outspoken stance against politicians in their party, most notably former president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump .

“Taylor Swift is dumb and her music sucks,” wrote Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of conservative web magazine The Federalist on X, formerly Twitter , on Monday. The post was accompanied by a link to an article on The Federalist’s website that described Swift’s popularity as “a sign of societal decline.”

The article, which was published on September 5—two weeks before Swift’s voter drive—in part took aim at the “over-the-top celebration of Swift’s success.” In addition to Swift having “conquered the unwashed masses,” the article stated, “America’s elite tastemakers have also become unrepentant Swifties.”

Writer Mark Hemingway argued in another part of the article that Swift’s success is in spite of “essentially writing the same songs over and over again”—songs that he says largely lack any perceived lyrical depth.

While Davis’ post aimed at Swift caught the attention of X users who agreed, it also attracted a flood of disparaging comments from Swifties, the fervent and sizable fanbase whose social media presence is likely only challenged by Beyoncé’s Beyhive.

The Rising Power of Generation Z

Reacting to the criticism, writer and activist Victor Shi, who was the youngest elected Illinois delegate for President Joe Biden in 2020, shared a thread in which he discussed why dismissing the power of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) could prove to be detrimental for Republicans as they vie to reclaim the White House in 2024.

“Nothing says more about how little Republicans understand Gen Z than them now saying Taylor Swift is ‘dumb & her music sucks’ after she registered more than 35,000 people to vote last week,” Shi wrote . “If you attack Taylor Swift, you also attack Gen Z. Good luck, Republicans. You’re screwed.”

Sharing a screenshot of Davis’ post, Shi added that Swift “is one of the most popular celebrities for young people & to attack her like this just because she got thousands of people registered to vote should tell you everything you need to know about how they don’t understand young people. AT ALL. Embarrassing…”

Concluding his thread, Shi stated that the “Swifities out there are a force & they will not tolerate this type of slander of one of the best singers by Republicans. Republicans are only doing this because they are threatened by the power of Taylor Swift—but like everything else, it won’t work. Best of luck guys!”

Political commentator Tomi Lahren recently weighed in with less-than-flattering thoughts on Swift, while also acknowledging the star’s boon to local economies through her Eras Tour. It is on track to become the highest-grossing live music tour of all time and its value to local economies is expected to be around $5 billion , according to a survey by QuestionPro.

“Her lefty, liberal braindead political opinions aside, I am a fan of Taylor Swift and I have been since way before she went full liberal,” Lahren recently said on her podcast. “She’s also single-handedly done more for the U.S. economy than any Democrat president, maybe ever.”

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Swift via email for comment.

A Force to be Reckoned With

While criticism of figures in pop culture is nothing new among conservatives, the current war against Swift could well backfire. Far from being an also-ran who can be ridiculed into oblivion, Swift has proven time and again that the might of her influence is a force to be reckoned with. Mere footage of her cheering on Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and rumored boyfriend) Travis Kelce at a game on Sunday led to a 400 percent spike in sales of the sportsman’s jersey . He also gained millions of social media followers in just days.

But beyond the Instagram likes and TikTok views, Swift presents a reach coveted by both sides of the political aisle: the young vote. A study unveiled last year by Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that the turnout of voters aged 18-29 in the 2020 midterm elections was the second highest it has been in almost three decades. Among this group of voters, it was found that they preferred Democrats over Republicans by a 28-point margin.

With President Joe Biden being the oldest sitting president at 80 and his likely 2024 Republican challenger Trump, being 77, neither major party has a lock on young voters through relatability. However, many of the issues that these voters care about—be it abortion, gun violence, LGBTQ+ rights or climate change—see Democrats take the edge as Republicans champion viewpoints that stand at odds with those of many younger voices.

As such, could Republicans’ scathing takedowns of Swift repel the millions of voters who have become eligible since Trump’s last attempt at election glory? Jeffrey R. Dudas, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut, told Newsweek that it’s not so cut and dried.

Dudas said that because the “breadth of [Swift’s] reach is so impressive,” there’s every chance that there will be “some sort of backlash or backfiring against efforts” to preemptively dismiss the star as somebody not worthy of being listened to.

Shared Values

However, UConnPopCast co-host Dudas believes that rather than go against Republicans at the polls as some form of retribution, Swift fans will likely vote for Democrats because the party’s values reflect their own.

“Most of the passionate Swifties with whom I am familiar tend to share an outlook on the world that is broadly consistent with the one that Taylor Swift puts out,” he explained. “She has a very particular view on the world, be it through formal politics, including voting and legislation, but also the informal politics of everyday life, like things surrounding gender relations and sexuality…Most of her fans understand and connect with and find resonance with [these issues].”

In light of this, Dudas said that he has a “hard time imagining the blank slate Swifty, who…wasn’t going to vote and they didn’t know anything or care anything about politics, but now they will and they’ll do [whatever Swift says]. I don’t think the relationship is quite that. I don’t think it’s quite that linear.”

That said, the right’s rants and dismissals of younger outspoken voices represent, Dudas said, the “old man on the lawn [saying], ‘You don’t know anything! You can’t be trusted to exert your power of self governance in a way that is that is appropriate or responsible!'”

The Bigger Picture

Dudas also told Newsweek that Swift is a target more for what she represents than who she is.

“It’s not new for [conservatives] to seek to put barriers in place to make it more difficult for this generation to vote in the first place,” Dudas said. “And in some ways, it makes sense, because by and large, young people tend to vote for Democrats rather than for Republicans. That has been the case for multiple generations—and it’s certainly the case now.

“So in part, these kinds of preemptive efforts are not really even about Taylor Swift. They’re about anxiety over the mobilization of a voting bloc that there’s fear will not be voting for Republicans. So the question of whether [the right’s criticisms of Swift] will backfire or not I think is open. My sense is that Swifties are going to be much more interested in registering to vote because it’s been endorsed by Taylor specifically, rather than because she has been attacked.”

Of course, Swift’s previous political track record hasn’t been infallible. Back in 2018, following criticism over her public silence, Swift spoke out against Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). At the time, Blackburn was running against former Democratic Governor Phil Bredesden for an open Senate seat.

“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” Swift, who moved to Nashville to pursue her music career wrote on Instagram.

“Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn,” her post went on. “As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.

“She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence , stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values.”

Despite Swift’s efforts, Blackburn emerged the victor in the 2018 midterm elections, becoming the first female senator to represent the state of Tennessee.

Undeterred, Swift has continued to weigh in on politics. Several months before the 2020 election, Swift accused then-President Trump of ” stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism ” throughout his term in office.

“We will vote you out in November,” she added in her post.

Swift and Blackburn have clashed since the 2018 election. In her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana, Swift called Blackburn “Trump in a wig,” while the senator appeared to reference Swift’s song “All Too Well” in a 2021 X post praising conservative country singer Aaron Lewis’ new song criticizing Democrats.

For years, Swift was known—and often criticized—for being tight-lipped about political issues.

“Part of the fabric of being a country artist is don’t force your politics on people,” Swift explained in Miss Americana . “Let people live their lives. That is grilled into us.”

In 2018, however, she used her platform to promote Democratic nominees in Tennessee ahead of the midterm elections. Upon hearing the news of Swift’s support for Democrats, Trump told reporters at the time: “Let’s say that I like Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now, OK?”

Over the years, Swift has become more politically outspoken, despite any potential backlash she may face.

“If I get bad press for saying, ‘Don’t put a homophobic racist in office,’ then I get bad press for that,” she said in Miss Americana .

The Hawaiian Islands in general, and Maui in particular, have been remarkably resilient over the last four years. First, Covid shut the islands down, and this quick action slowed the spread of illness to locals. When visitors were welcomed back, the proverbial floodgates opened, and talk of over-tourism began almost immediately. That delicate balance played out across all the islands over the next couple of years. Then, the town of Lahaina, Maui’s historical heart and soul, was destroyed by fire just last month, effectively shutting down tourism for several weeks. While the governor will officially welcome visitors back to all parts of the island (except Lahaina) on October 8th, the return will be understandably slow. Many travelers are reluctant to travel to Maui for fear of getting in the way of cleanup efforts and, more psychologically, visiting for pleasure while so many locals are suffering.

The truth is that while Hawai’i needs tourism to thrive economically, it is also simultaneously true that there are many ways to visit by having your presence leave a positive impact, rather than putting your blinders on and chasing the sunset. I’ll be reporting on these opportunities as they arrive — ways to help from near and far.

One upcoming event is truly worth a detour. Over the weekend of October 13-15, The Fairmont Kea Lani , in partnership with Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society will host Gathering of the Voyagers , a three-day celebration of Hawaiian and Polynesian culture. The event will bring together voyagers, navigators, canoe builders, and cultural practitioners for a weekend of ceremony, demonstrations, mākeke [a market], and kanikapila [musical jam session] at Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea, a location historically significant to Polynesia’s seafaring culture.

“We are voyagers,” says Anela Gutierrez, Executive Director of the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society. “From our ancient origins across the vast Pacific Ocean we arrived by double-hulled canoes and made these islands our home, carrying with us the plants and animals to sustain us, the values to carry us forward, and our families to continue our traditions into the future. Gathering of the Voyagers is a celebration of our great Pacific ‘ohana [family] and the cultures and values that guide us.”

A memorial paddle-out will also take place, along with fundraising opportunities to honor and support the local communities directly impacted by the Lahaina fire. You can register to paddle 10 miles around Molokini from Keoneopolo Beach in front of the Fairmont Kea Lani, departing at 8am on Sunday morning.

“We are privileged to partner with the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society for the second annual Gathering of the Voyagers,” shared Michael Pye, Regional Vice President, Hawai‘i, and General Manager, Fairmont Kea Lani. “Now more than ever, serving our community, perpetuating Hawaiian culture, and paving the way for future generations is incredibly important. Gathering of the Voyagers beautifully celebrates the culture, traditions, and values of Hawai‘i and Polynesia, and we are honored to serve as a conduit for this powerful event.”

A preview of the schedule is below, and additional information can be found at www.gatheringofthevoyagers.com . Support for Gathering of the Voyagers is provided by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority through the Community Enrichment Program.

Schedule of Events:

Friday, October 13

6:00am Hiʻuwai and E Ala Ē Ceremony

7:00am Opening Ceremony, Voyager Canoe Arrival

10:00am The Moʻolelo of Wailea, Talk Story with Kainoa Horcajo

12:00pm Paddle Making Demonstration with Malama Chun

2:00pm Canoe Building with Kalai Waʻa Charlie Noland

4:00pm Polynesian Dance & Drumming Demonstration with Kumu Mana Kekahuna

6:00pm Heiva I Maui Opening Ceremony

7:00pm Star Navigation with Kala Baybayan-Tanaka

Saturday, October 14

7:00am Community Memorial Paddle-Out

10:00am ‘We the Indigenous Migrators’ Talk Story with Kahu Lyons Naone

12:00pm ‘We the Navigators’ Talk Story with Sesario Sewralur

1:30pm PōMahina Designs Fashion Show

2:00pm Heiva I Maui , Tahitian Dance Competition

6:00pm Kanikapila featuring Kika Kila Band, Ron Kualaʻau, Kūlia, Wilmont

Kahaiali’i, Dayan Kai, and more

Sunday, October 15

8:00am Voyage around Molokini, *Advance Registration required

12:00pm Closing Ceremony