
Famous anti-GamerGate figurehead Brianna Wu (aka John Flynt) has broadened his horizons and is doing a speaking engagement at Arlington High School in Massachusetts next month. This engagement is for the Arlington Community Education program, a local initiative that uses short classes to educate people on certain subjects. Wu’s speaking engagement has an admission fee of $10 and is set for June 25th from 7 to 9pm. The topic will presumably be Wu and his brush with GamerGate.
Running Down The Clock On His 15 Minutes Of Fame
The above description of Brianna Wu by the Arlington Community Education editorial staff is riddled with errors, the first being that Brianna Wu is a central figure in GamerGate and not its Emperor Norton. Brianna Wu’s history with GamerGate includes being pranked by the ludicrous Autistic character actor Jan Rankowski (Jace Connors), claiming that his games aren’t liked because of sexism against “women” and even being tarred, feathered and run out of anti-GamerGate on a rail.
One of the biggest errors in the piece isn’t a factoid, but a narrative lie. This can be noticed by using an “Us” vs “Them” theme by the wording of Gamergate vs Anti-GamerGate. The backhanded compliment of describing GamerGate as a “seemingly coordinated movement of gamers” creates the perception of the movement as an Illuminati-like cult. The “them” theme is completed with weasel words such as “anonymous,” “allegations,” “frequently,” and “graphic.” The author of the piece couldn’t libel the whole GamerGate movement, so they used media weasel words to implant a false narrative.
In contrast to how GamerGate is described, the description uses “us” to describe anti-GamerGate and their fellow travelers. The first thing the author of this blurb does is push the authority angle. They mention “industry insiders” as a way to show that the “experts” stand against the evil “misogynist” GamerGaters.
The last piece of this puzzle of lies is the quote “amounts to a campaign of intimidation aimed at crushing the growing influence of women in the industry.” The author of this small blip can’t even stand behind the words he or she is spewing. They use the weasel word “amounts” to push a complete falsehood. In a paragraph, this anonymous author managed to write L. Ron Hubbard-level delusions about GamerGate.
After the Harlem Globetrotter level of spinning involved in creating the first half of this snippet, the author shills for Brianna Wu as a media authority. This includes pimping out the news organizations that have interviewed him, the debunked lie of being pushed out of his house in October, and assuaging his view of himself as defending women in the industry. The absurdity of the article almost makes me believe that Wu wrote it himself.
As Wu’s engagement is still a few weeks away and it hasn’t even been announced by Wu yet, we don’t have an inkling of what he’s going to talk about. Wu’s victimhood acumen can’t be understated, as can be seen on his Patreon page. Yes, that’s a real Patreon account showing that Wu is making over $3,000 a month to do absolutely nothing. I don’t think he’ll talk about that in his speech, but I’m not an oracle.
The Arlington speaking engagement is around the same price as a movie ticket, but it will entertain those who can decipher media lies. Getting lectured by gaming’s Leona Helmsley (Wu) about women in gaming is a hilarious prospect, especially when the audience is probably going to be filled with middle-aged feminists. Brianna Wu must be a little mad that Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian have parlayed GamerGate into monstrous speaking engagements and bigger convention invites.
It sounds about right that Brianna Wu’s popularity is receding back to his rightful level of fame: public access television and small community/college engagements.
Read More: Anti #Gamergate Turns On Brianna Wu