Music – Sunn O))), Alice (AMV)

As a fan of both Sunn O))) and Touhou, thought this was pretty awesome in a hella bizarre way.

Shadow Over Alfheim – Pt 11 “Burn it to the Ground!”

The megadungeon in Morgansfort which i’ve been using for the ruined elven city of Malek is proving a bit problematic, because of its lack of sensible dungeon design. Now, it’s also problematic because I haven’t really included giant insects or the ecology necessary to sustain them in Alfheim, but I’m able to handwaive that as “evil elf magic”.

The dungeon’s first level is basically a small horizontal figure-8 in the middle of a large vertical figure-8. The northwest portion of the loop is closed off, however, to both the characters and to most wandering monsters by a giant nest of pony-sized ants. The choked up nature of a lot of the dungeon’s first floor makes random encounters a bit difficult to rationalize. Where was the monster going? Where was it coming from? There’s a neat trick mirror in one of the rooms that shows what happened an hour in the past (specifically a wandering group of goblins), but the room is located in such a place that the goblins wouldn’t have been there unless the party already ran into them coming the other way (away from the giant ant nest). I really like the idea that goblins are trying to take over this dungeon to use as a base, but the layout of the first level, the singular entry pointin the middle of the figure-8s, along with the infrequency of random encounters has made it harder to work in than I would like. The goblin encounters worked out a lot better above ground.

In retrospect, what I should’ve done was treat the goblins as a separate adventuring party, rather than a random encounter. Their presence would be felt in the wake of the effects they had on the dungeon, whether they were encountered or not.

This is also the first really deep dungeon that the party has hit, and it could take several sessions to clear it out. In the meantime, I worry that the story will drag. I probably shouldn’t have used this dungeon for this game, but that’s not the dungeon’s fault. Still, it’s given me a few places to showcase how messed up the elves are. Especially since I’ve gone ahead and made the Ghouls curse-bound elves.

Anyway, the party left the safety of the talking-face room and tried to finish clearing out as much of the 1st floor as they could. They started with the alchemical laboratory, where the lightning trapped door put some serious hurt on the goblin thief. They poked around the room for awhile, bagged the valuable alchemical equipment, and considered coming back some other day for the Kiln on the off chance they could bring back a team of engineers to tear the place apart stone by stone.

The party then trekked to the “dark room”, one of the many fun-but-not-really-thematically-connected tricks in the dungeon, where the room is filled with continual darkness and nothing else. This room would’ve probably been less fun if the party had not had the staff of light and dark; since they did, it was neat having them mess around with how a continual light source affected the continual dark, creating wispy maelstroms of flickering shadows. While the party was having fun playing with that, a giant ant showed up.

It was a pretty tough fight. The wizard, whose player could only play with us once, shot off a magic missile and vanished. The giant bug nearly killed the fighter, but the party was able to eventually take it down. If anything, they were sufficiently discouraged by the fight to try to face down an entire nest. As for the Bargrish the evil Wizard, I think I’ll turn him into a Wizard of Frobozz type character, who shows up randomly, casts a spell then leaves.

The party continued on to the octagonal room for the stirge fight. Much less of a headache than the ants, but still hurt some. They found the secret lever that would’ve disarmed the crossbow trap that they sprung much earlier on, but they didn’t know that.

Heading on to the upper loop of the vertical figure 8, the sneaky characters stumbled onto a random cursed elf who was wandering in circles. The cursed elf failed all of his attack rolls and was killed pretty quick. The party couldn’t figure out where it was headed, and honestly, off the top of my head, neither could I. But he was headed the same direction as the players, so I guess he’d come up past the stirges just a bit earlier. From where? I have no idea.

The mapper figured out that they’d made a full circle back to the ant colony (just on the other side). They found the aforementioned magic mirror and did some playing around with it. Again, I screwed up, because I should’ve had them run into goblins somewhere along that path between the main entrance at the middle of the figure-8s and the top of the vertical loop, but I’d forgotten about the mirror room and hadn’t really prepared for it. So, uh… there are goblins somewhere. I’ll assume that they quickly made their way back outside because screw this dungeon.

The thief pricked his finger on the trapped chest across the hall from the mirror, the room filled with poison gas. The monk managed to stick his foot in the door and get everybody out before they were too badly affected. Cheap trick, but it was harder to pull off than i would’ve liked. Oh, well.

One fun thing I was able to work in was the room where the giant shrew has one of the dungeon key rubies. I treated it as one of the shrews that the party had given its food to the first time. The fighter gave it some more food, so the shrew nuzzled the gem out of his hidey-hole. The party considered for a moment killing it to see if it had more treasure but opted not to. I know in descriptions, Giant Shrews are supposed to be super hostile, but in both encounters, the monsters had 10 or higher reaction rolls, so I went with it.

On the way to check out the last of the rooms that they hadn’t hit on the 1st floor, they scoped out the spitting cobra room. Lucky for the thief, the cleric still had a bottle of anti-venom; even if the monk could’ve collected herbs enough to make a potion, it could’ve either taken too long or they’d be picked apart by the goblin patrols in the woods.

On the way south, a green slime fell on the goblin ranger, who was burned half to death to get it off. Same thing happened to the fighter. Good times.

The illusory ladder down forever room was mistaken for a route to the second floor and was left for later. The teleporter room zapped the monk down to the cells. Took the monk about a half-hour in game time to get back to where everyone else was, but since he was the mapper, he found his way fairly quickly. As he did, the others peeked into the room where the bees were. “Anybody here remember those levels in Donkey Kong Country 2? It looks like that in there.”

Beaten up pretty good, the party decided to try to camp in the talking stone face room again. They found two cursed elves seated and listening to it saying unintelligible things. The ensuing fight was pretty rough, with two paralyzed heroes, but a few lucky rolls managed to keep it from becoming worse than it was.

As I said before, some variation of the phrase “We just need to burn this place to the ground” was uttered at least three times that night.

I definitely think I prefer running smaller dungeons to megadungeons. There are a lot of little traps and random things, but they don’t quite come together the way that the set pieces of the smaller mods I’ve run have.  Also, for being so big, it’s kind of claustrophobic.  With a dungeon laid out the way that Maze of Nuromen was, there was plenty of ways for things to come and go unseen, yet despite its openness, it had a very cozy feel.  It was easier for characters to get a connection to the place.  For Malek, I’ve done a lot of improvisations to give more than the most barebones detail and descriptions so I could make it fit.  I think it goes back to my theory on dungeons and purpose.  All dungeons have to have some sort of purpose to them: buildings were built for reasons, and even if that reason is a mystery to the explorers, making it a mystery to the DM can make it difficult to use.  I was able to extrapolate enough elven-ness to make it usable, but I’m starting to wish I hadn’t.  Most of the players still seem to be digging it, though.

Music – Dead Kennedys, Riot

Wow.  Just wow.  The store with all the Hands Up posters out front kind of remind me of Passover, only, y’know, the lamb’s blood is not working.

Hard, yet soft!

Hey, this is pretty cool news! Blueholme is a really great Holmes clone with a neat fairy-tale feel to it.

Bad and/or Weird Books I’ve Been Reading

Not long ago, I mentioned how I’d been reading Clan of the Cave Bear and then suddenly the second-hand book market got flooded with hardcover copies of several of Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children books. In the middle of Clan and loving the hell out of it, I picked up several of the sequels for a couple bucks a piece.

Well, I’m about 2/3s of the way through Valley of the Horses, and I’m a little blah about the direction it’s been going. The first half of the book is like two different books that have been spliced together. The first book is the actual sequel to Clan of the Cave Bear in which Ayla finds herself struggling to live in exile, adapting to life along, and winning over awesome animal companions. The second book, whose chapters are interspersed with the first, is rather awkwardly written and fairly explicit caveman erotica. The inevitable conclusion is going to be when Ayla and the new protagonist finally meet up and Ayla’s loneliness and isolation is cured by the new male protagonist’s giant caveman dong.*

I plan on finishing it, because I really hate not finishing books I’m in the middle of, but I don’t know if I’m going to read any of the other sequels.

Now, one book that I don’t think i can finish is Godhunter. It was one of several free books I downloaded from Drive-Thru Fiction months ago. Of the books I downloaded, the one of the only ones I was able to read all the way through was Thieves at Heart. I wanted to like Thieves at Heart, and at times I really did enjoy it, but it took some really bizarre turns, and I doubt I’ll ever get around to finishing the series. It sells itself as a fantasy take on Oliver Twist, only Oliver in this is a half-elf girl and the Fagin character has on his one ward and is not so entirely characterized in terms of his Jewishness. It had some nice slice of life, life of a petty thief and shill stuff that might give you some interesting game ideas, but the later portion of the book gives a pretty strong focus to the protagonist’s puberty, upon the reaching of which she goes into full-on sex-fiend mode. While it’s nowhere near as explicit as Valley of the Horses, it was not particularly pleasant. When I grabbed Godhunter, I didn’t know that it was an “erotic thriller” though despite that, it is generally less explicit than either Thieves at Heart or Valley of the Horses. It is laughably bad, though laughable badness can only carry one so far through a book before the boredom sets in. Godhunter is a tongue-in-cheek-but-not-parody-unless-Poe’s-Law story of a woman who kills gods who are actually ancient-evil-atlanteans-who-have-deceived-mankind-but-not-all-of-them-are-evil-some-want-to-save-mankind-from-the-evil-ones. The protagonist ends up having a rocky relationship with Thor, who, honest-to-god, is written in such a way that I can’t imagine him being anything other than Aquaman from Batman: Brave and the Bold. Seriously, imagine this guy as the male love interest in a smutty romance novel:

Like I said, the “oh, god, this is so bad it’s funny” humor only got me so far, and I don’t think I can force myself to finish this trainwreck. I can totally understand why people are so apprehensive of self-published ebooks, especially free ones. The ones I’ve read so far have been pretty iffy. Except Ava Delany. Thirst was okay, I guess, but I don’t think I’m going to read any of the others in the series.

I think I’m going to turn to non-fiction for a book or two once I’m done with Valley of the Horses. I’ve got a bio of Tallyrand that’s just screaming to be read.

*:like serious, it’s an important character development point how big this dude’s dong is, and he’s kind of mopey that none of the cavewomen he meets on his adventure are able to take all of it.

Organizing Topics in a Post

Wow. Crazy industry news over the weekend. The IGDA released (or endorsed) a twitter blocklist, which its champions were hailing as a potential blacklist against game developers who support gamergate. This blocklist accidentally blocks Roberto Rosario, who happens to be the Chair of IGDA in Puerto Rico, because of its poorly thought out algorithm that blocks based on one’s follows and followers or something.  Needless to say, he’s pretty pissed.

Anyway, I’ve decided that I’m probably NOT going to finish transcribing the Geordie Tait interview. I think I reached the crux of it, and if you’re really interested, the audio is there for anyone to listen to. I just can’t deal with spending so many hours typing up what this guy has to say.

As for Alfheim, so much crazy stuff happened, I’m still piecing stuff together myself on just what went on. Might go up today, might go up tomorrow. We nearly lost a couple characters to green slime! Fun! It was another high XP night in the ridiculous monster menagerie that is the City of Malek. The phrase “Can’t we just burn it all down?” was uttered at least three times over the course of the night.

Anyway, sometime early-mid december, I’ll be hammering out some MYFAROG related stuff.

Now, if only I can soldier on through the last hundred pages or so of Valley of the Horses! I’ll be able to recap that, Godhunter (a free ebook, which I doubt I’ll finish) and Thieves at Heart (another free ebook which I read months ago but never talked about) in a big reading roundup.

Now enjoy this SNL skit that the Washington Post thought was important enough to fact check:

Music – Boris W/Sunn O))), The Sinking Bell (Blue Sheep)

Early Christmas Present to Myself

http://www.ancestralcult-shop.com/en/52-mythic-fantasy-role-playing-game.html

There are 40 copies left.  Now I just need to sell 40 copies of City at the Top of the World to pay for it!

Once I get it, I’ll start digging into MYFAROG again.

Update on a few things

I’m extremely busy today, so I might not get to finishing transcribing that interview with Geordie Tait right away. By the time I finish, it might as well have been a million years ago in internet time anyway (heck, he’s done a new one with Mike Cernovich in which he doesn’t come across quite as raving), but I do intend on wrapping it up and then taking a break from the gamergate stuff for a while.

Next week, I’ll be getting back to some Alfheim stuff, unless our friday night game falls through within the next 36 hours. Also, I’ll probably be talking some of the weird books I’ve been reading/read-but-just-now-talked-about.

I might also try to force myself to work on my writings for a bit, since I’ve been stuck for around a month now.

Also, the second printing of MYFAROG should be coming out around the end of the month, so hopefully I’ll be able to snag a copy then, at which point I’ll be posting a lot more on that.

Geordie Tait Interview Transcribed – Pt 5

Disclaimer: I am offering, without commentary, the transcript of the Geordie Tait interview as a service to the Gamergate community and is not intended for commercial use.  As it is rather long, I will be posting it in installments.  I have faithfully transcribed the conversation to the best of my abilities and will attempt to complete the transcription so that the information is available in a timely manner.  The opinions and statements made by individuals within reflect their own opinions and ideas and are not reflective of Cirsova or any other individuals.  The transcription begins with Geordie Tait’s arrival on the stream and will end shortly after his departure.  The full audio interview can be found here.

KOP:Let’s kind of go into your article a little bit, your second article, where you kind of…

GT: Sure.

KOP: …went into this.  Now, I’m going to read something that you said, and, um, we’re going to go into this.  “I don’t care if Anita Sarkeesian’s kickstarter was called ‘Help me fund my kickstarter, Kill a Man, Inc., P.S. I Hate Testosterone’, don’t you understand it doesn’t matter?”  So, let me ask you this: does it really not matter?  That if Sarkeesian were to put in there “Kill all men”, it… you’d still fund it because it’s Anita Sarkeesian, and not…

GT: I think it’s a fucking joke that you guys deflect and have the intellectual dishonesty…

KOP: I didn’t write it.

GT: complain…

KOP: I didn’t write it.  You wrote.  And no one’s deflecting.  This is exactly your words, so I’m just asking…

GT: Why are you interrupting me?  I wasn’t even talking about that.

KOP: Oh, okay, I’m sorry.

GT: You were interrupting me on the basis of something that you expect me to say, and I was not going to say it.

KOP: Oh, well, I thought you were answering my question.

GT: I am answering your question.  I am telling you that the point of that sentence is it’s a satire of the behavior of gamergate in that they complain about manhating and so-on, and I’m saying it doesn’t matter.  I mean, she could just say “I hate men, Fund Me” and get $100k, and I wouldn’t care.  Good.

KOP: I’m sorry, I have to interject.  Doesn’t that make no sense though?  If you’re for women and saving women, why would it not matter since, as you said before, Anita Sarkeesian is of prime importance to this and it made you even say “wow” yourself, “look at all the good they’re doing”.  If she was talking about genociding all men, “I hate testosterone”, as you said in a satire way, it wouldn’t matter.  Wouldn’t that kind of be contradictory to what she wants?  That’d be like the complete opposite of what it is.

GT: No, let me explain.  Let me try to explain.  There was a time when I believe there was like some gerrymandering being done or like an early voting law was removed, and it was done to stick it to the Democrats.  I forget exactly where it was, but it happened in the United State and was implemented by some Colonel Sanders looking fuck who went on the Daily Show and got fired (unintelligible) for it.  So, the question was asked in that interview, “how many people used to vote twice, the thing that you’re trying to prevent?” and the answer was one or two.  And I think that basically gamergate’s complaints about anything amount to the one or two people voting twice.  It’s enough voter fraud to swing zero elections, it does not matter.  The Much more important thing is the, y’know, keeping that early voting law so that minorities are able to come out to the polls, or in the case of this giving women a chance to do the things that are important to them and like finally break into the industry and the various narrative in a way that is healthier for people to experience and doesn’t reinforce all these negative things that, y’know…

KOP: Okay.  Alright.  Fair enough.  A lot of people want to explain NotYourShield to you, and I have a 6 minute video here that if you want to watch it on my stream, and we’ll be quiet so you can watch it, so that maybe you can get a… and then we want to hear your opinion after seeing it.  Is that okay?

GT: You want me to watch the whole thing on the stream?  Alright, if you say so.

KOP: No, I’m asking you, is that okay?  I’m not telling you.

GT: It’s okay with me.  I’m just… if it’s okay with you.

KOP: Yeah, so we’re gonna watch 6 minutes 14 seconds.  It’s basically giving a voice to the voiceless, the NotYourShield Project.  It’s just explaining in detail what that is and then we’ll go on from there, just to show you.

GT: Sounds good.

KOP: So, we’re watching this.

Sargon: Can you send me a link to this, Pol? Cuz I’m going to have to…

KOP: Yeah.

Sargon: Can’t watch it on the stream.

KOP: No problem, it’s going to be right here in chat, so we’ll watch this and then, afterwards, you and Sargon can go on to discuss more onto the topic.

KOP: Okay.  Wrap up.  You’re still catching up?

GT: I, uh, think it’s done.

Kop: Okay.

Sargon: Yeah, I watched it.

KOP: Okay, after seeing that, I want to reask you the same question again, do you believe that the gamergate community, after seeing that, deserve to be pushed in gas chambers, as you put it?  Do you think that they’re as evil as you put it?

GT: Yeah, they’re evil.

KOP: After seeing that?  Did any of that come off as very evil or inherently bad?

GT: It came off as thinking that corruption in video game journalism… – let me just stop and say who fucking gives a shit? – is more important the plight of half the fucking world’s population.

Sargon: We give a shit, what are you talking about?

GT: I don’t care if you give a shit.  You shouldn’t.  You should sure care about something that’s actually important.

KOP: This is important to us, cuz it’s our hobby.  It’s what we enjoy.  Some people, as you saw on there, it’s more than just a hobby, it’s their livelihood.

GT: It’s my livelihood too.

KOP: But then why should we… you not care as much as we not care?  Isn’t that kind of contradictory?

GT: I believe, I think that the so called ‘corruption’ in video game journalism is way overblown.  Uh…

KOP: How so?

GT: I mean, I can’t even imagine the amount of corruption there would have be in video game journalism for it to be more serious than the current problems, as they’re called, with social justice in the gaming industry.  And, by the way, Social Justice Warrior is an utterly, unbelievably stupid term that denotes, just…

KOP: Okay.

Sargon: Hang on, let him finish, Pol.

GT: I don’t know what word I’m looking for, hatred, I guess, for, for, uh, people who believe in social justice, which is far more important than fucking, y’know, hunting down examples of video game journalism ethical breaches.  It’s just ridiculous.

KOP: Well, let’s talk about that for a minute

GT: Yep, go ahead.

KOP: … talk about Matti Leshem and the game jam that was ruined by that.  Or we can skip on to, let’s say, Ubi-soft giving Nexus 7 tablets to journalists to write better reviews, or we can talk about TB’s interview – Total Biscuit, the one we’re discussing – uh,

GT: Total Biscuit is a fuck, too.

KOP: …where he talked about being given… somebody trying to give him a $3000 laptop just to play their game included on their stream and get a good review.  We can talk about how game journalists got PS3s just to play a game.

GT: You’re preaching to the choir.  I believe all of that is wrong.

KOP: Okay, so, how is that not corruption in video games journalism.

GT: It is, it is, but I don’t care, relative to (unintelligible) happening.

Sargon: Right, okay then, can we talk about something you do care about then?  I’m very curious about, um, misogyny

GT: Yep.

Sargon: Could… I mean, could you define it for me?  What do you think misogyny is?

GT: What do I think misogyny is?  Well, it mostly takes the form, uh… I would say, of contempt… Most of it is just not caring about what is an obvious problem.  At least in gamergate.  But there’s also just a lot of really repugnant comments and like stupidity.  You know, prejudice against women.  That’s what I would say misogyny is.

Sargon: Right, cuz the definition everyone else is working to is, um, the hatred of women by virtue of them being women.  That’s… That’s the definition that everyone else works on, so when you say someone’s a misogynist, they’re like “well, there are women that I don’t hate”.  So, when you say that…

GT: Well, I’m sure that there’s plenty of women (unintelligible).

Sargon:…they’re a misognynist, it doesn’t make any sense to them.

GT: I mean, it’s possible to be a misogynist and have women that you don’t hate.

Sargon: Sorry, say that again.

GT: It’s possible to be a misogynist and have women that you don’t hate.

Sargon: I don’t think that’s true.

GT: It is obviously true.

Sargon: Why is it obviously true?

GT: (unintelligible).  Okay, I’ll tell you how it’s true: you have contempt for women who are trying to, you know, rise up from their position of being chattel and marginalized and, you know, not allowed into the best spots in industries and underpaid.  Having, you know, all of that stuff.  So, you don’t like that, but you’re totally fine with your, you know,  meek and cowed wife who you driven down into the ground over the course of 8 to 10 years, and you’re fine with, you know, the, uh, the women on twitter who says, you know, “I don’t believe in feminism”, uh, “I’m fine by myself”, and like “I have my own definition of feminism” and “I don’t care about this other thing and I don’t hate men and I don’t hate anything that’s going on” and, so of course you’re fine with that person, even though you’re a misogynist, cuz she’s tapdancing on top of the fucking dugout.  So…

Sargon: But hang on.  Okay, so, you’re saying that I like some women if they’re traditional women, traditionalist women, right?

GT: Yeah, but this is not…  This is just one example.

Sargon: I’m really just trying to understand what you’re trying to tell me, because you’re not working off the standard definitions that everyone else uses, so I really am trying to give what you’re saying credence.  Like, so, there are some women that I like because of the way they act, and there are some women that I don’t like because of the way they act.

GT: Yep.

Sargon: Is that… And so that’s what makes me a misogynist.

GT: Uh.  That isn’t what makes a misogynist.

Sargon: That’s part of, sorry, that’s why you’re calling me a misogynist: because there are some women I don’t like.

GT: That’s one way a misogynist could be.  They could also hate all women, as you say, or they could hate one woman because she’s a woman, like every other woman still be a fucking misogynist.  (unintelligible)

Sargon: What if I don’t like certain women because of the things they do?

GT: Depends what they do.

Sargon: Well, okay, maybe, um, uh, I don’t know, maybe they’re trying to defame… deface an Argentinian cathedral?

GT: Okay, are they doing that because they’re women?

Sargon: Yeah.

GT: So, you think that they’re doing that because they’re women?

Sargon: No, that’s not true, they’re doing it because they’re feminists.

GT: Oh, you think they’re doing it because they’re feminist?  That’s not the same as…

Sargon: Oh, I know they were, that’s what they were saying.

KOP: Hold on, Geordie, he’s, hold on.  I don’t think Geordie knows.  Geordie, he’s referring to a recent, not too long, a couple months ago, there was a radical feminist group, the – I can’t remember the name off the top of my head, I know, Sargon, you know what I’m  talking about – in Argentina and they went on a riot against a church where there was a priest, a couple priests, while they rioted and destroyed everything because they hated men.

Sargon: Yeah, so I don’t personally, very… like those women very much, because they’re trying to deface someone else’s property, and because the people they were attacking hadn’t done anything to them.

GT: They hadn’t?

Sargon: No, not at all.  Not as far as we know, anyway.  I would find it hard to believe a small group of very religious men had done anything to this 7 or 8 thousand strong mob of feminists.

GT: I actually disagree that someone who’s hyperreligious is less likely to have done something to women.

Sargon:  It doesn’t matter if they’re likely or not, it’s just that we have no evidence to suggest they did anything.  So…

GT: It sounds like there hasn’t been much information come out, but like if they didn’t have a reason to do that, then fine, you know, they should’ve expressed themselves in a different way.  But I think they’re justified in just generally being mad at men.

Sargon: Okay.  But if I say I don’t like those women because of what they did, am I misogynist?

GT: That’s a tough question. You’re giving me a real corner case here.  It… Y’know…

Sargon: I’m just trying to understand.

GT: I would have to really examine.  I would have to really examine those women and what they did and why.  And I would have to know your background, like, do… are you a religious person?  How do you treat other women in your life? And you know, stuff like that.  And so, you know, I would need more information.

Sargon: Okay. Um, okay, so, it’s possible to be a misogynist who doesn’t hate all women though.  There can be some women I like.

GT: Yes.  Yep.

Sargon: Cuz, it, the way that it sounds like your describing misogyny is anti-feminism.

GT: Not quite. I mean… But it takes the form of, y’know, anti-, I don’t know what I would call it.  Women who are… uh, standing up for themselves in various ways?  So… You know, sometimes that’s the case and sometimes it’s just there’s no reason for it and you dislike a very meek and cowed woman just for her nature of being a, y’know, very, sl…, just, “pathetic”, you would think, “look at her with her head hung.”  You know, meek and scared when I raise my hand, I don’t like that, so I don’t respect that, so I don’t like that woman.

Sargon: I don’t ever raise my hand to women, man.

GT: Of course, sorry, I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about a hypothetical other misogynist.

Sargon: Right, okay, so you… you kinda seem to be talking about like a guy from the 50s or something.

GT: What? No.

Sargon: You just said like “When I raise my hand to her she’s all meek and stuff” and I’m  just thinking in my own life experience and I don’t think I’ve ever met a meek woman.  Um, most of them are quite outspoken, do you not find?  I mean, I don’t know what it’s like in San Francisco.

GT: Um, I mean, I think that I’ve met women who are easy to manipulate and, y’know, I could’ve taken advantage of easily.  And of course I’ve met women who are just real firebrands, that would never be possible.  Um, I mean, I don’t know.

KOP: Let me ask you this.  Do you think that all men are inherently bad?

GT: No.

KOP: Okay.  Do you think that the majority of men are very bad.

GT: I wouldn’t say very bad, but I would say that the majority of men are shaped by society to contribute to the… you know, the reinforcement of the way things are and make it hard for… to change these circumstances, as a result.  So they unconsciously do it almost.

Sargon: Okay, I have question.

GT: Go ahead.

Sargon: Okay, so like, how exactly, and you don’t have to give me like the comprehensive description of how society does it, but a few examples would be good, if you don’t mind.

GT: Okay.  Let me try and think of a few. There’s so many.  Um.  Alright.  Men.  Like.  Something as simple as sports culture being what it is.  There’s a lot of attention paid to male sports culture, where women’s sports are not really followed closely, with the exception of tennis, I guess.   But otherwise, the male leagues and competitions are much more important, and that suddenly rubs off on everyone.  Same thing with the military, I’m sure that, uh, women are allowed in the military, but I’m sure that they are marginalized in there. I mean, you can’t tell me that they’re not.   They’re not.

KOP: Well actually, they’re kinda not, not to the extent, at least not in America.  There’s actually some things going on with that, but um.  I have to ask you a question that a lot of people want to know.  The question that a lot of people were asking on ask.fm is… are there any women… Is there a woman that you’ve ever disliked?

GT: Me?

KOP: Yes.

GT: Ann Coulter.  And like, a bunch of others that are similar to that.  Michelle Bachmann.

KOP: Okay, so according to your own definition, that would make you a misogynist, correct?

GT: No.

KOP: How so?

GT: I don’t dislike them because they’re women.  I dislike them because of their stupid political views.

Sargon: Okay.  I take it they’re right wing, are they?

GT: Yeah, they’re really right wing.  I also dislike every woman who is in gamergate.  Because of their stupid views, essentially.  So, those are other women I don’t like.

KOP: Okay, alright, that’s all I wanted to hear.  Alright, go ahead, continue on.

Sargon: Yeah, yeah, okay.  Could you tell me exactly why you like the right-wing so much?

GT: Because it’s wrong.

Sargon: Because it’s what, sorry?

GT: Wrong.

Sargon: Why’s it wrong?  What’s it doing that’s wrong?

GT: Uh.  I don’t…  I can’t even go down the whole list of why the right wing is wrong.

Sargon:  Any examples are good.  Honestly, right (unintelligible).

GT: How about everything that comes out… Have you ever heard Rush Limbaugh talk?

Sargon: Yeah, he’s a bit mental, isn’t he?

GT: Yeah, anything that comes out of his mouth is an example of the right wing being wrong and there are plenty of people who believe those things.

KOP: I have to stop and interject here as the moderator; that’s very blanket statement and you can’t just say what Rush Limbaugh says is the word of god in the sense of right-wingers, or the word of all republicans or right-wingers in general.

GT: Alright, okay, so are they the people who are trying to shut down Planned Parenthood?  If yes, then they are wrong, and evil.  So, yes, they’re evil and wrong.

Sargon: So… Okay… I’m curious about the comment ‘evil’.  Why do you think they’re evil?

GT: Because I’m tired of half-measures in terms of the speech that I use.  It is evil to shut down Planned Parenthood.  You are crushing the lives of women who need those services.  And, you know, it’s as simple as that, and I’m not afraid to say so.  And I’m sorry if I’m offending people, but…

Sargon: No, no, you’re not.  You’re not offending me; I’m actually in favor of women to be able to have access to abortion.  Um, so.  I don’t agree with the Republicans on that issue, but I wouldn’t say that they were evil for holding that position.

GT: I would.

KOP: Uh…

Sargon: I mean, they’re not murdering women, are they?

GT: Okay.  What about in the case of a woman who, woman who because she doesn’t have access to safe abortion, y’know, dies as a result of some sort of extra hospitable – extra hospital – attempt to get rid of her baby (unintelligible)

Sargon: I can only speak for my own country, but in Britain, if the woman who’s pregnant is in danger of losing her life due to her pregnancy, her pregnancy will be terminated to save her life.  Don’t they do that in America?

GT: That’s also true in America, but in order to facilitate those circumstances there have been plenty of occasions where women try to put their lives in danger and end up killing themselves, just as one example.  I mean, what.  Just let them have the services.  It’s just.  It’s just puritanism, it’s fucking bullshit.

Sargon: I-I…

KOP: Here, I want to interject here, guys, for just a minute, um, just to get a little back on topic for a moment with gamergate.  Let me ask you this, Geordie, if say with your views, right now…

GT: Yep.

KOP: Okay, if your parents, let’s say your mom and your dad, or your brother your sister, your family was inherently… gamergate.  Let’s just for the instance of hypothetically, they were pro-gamergate.

GT: Yep.

KOP: Would you cut them out of your life or would you remove…

GT: Yes.

KOP: You would cut your family out of your life.

GT: Well, my father’s dead.

KOP: Nothing personal, this is hypothetical.  I’m saying the people who are alive and in your family now, if they announced to you “I don’t agree with you”, I’m pro gamergate, would you cut them out of your life?

GT: I would not talk to them.

Sargon: Why, just out of interest?

GT: Okay, what you don’t seem to understand is that I believe this is an intensely moral issue.  So, them believing in gamergate is akin to them believing that you can stone women to death.  Because (unintelligible) the Koran.

Sargon: But that’s really… that’s not what gamergate’s advocating for, though.

GT: No, that’s my… that’s my judgment, though.  Like, you believe that’s not what it’s advocating and I believe that is what it’s advocating.

KOP: Okay, fair enough on that, Geordie.  Would you say that… Would you say… would you try…  Let me ask you this, Geordie.  You kept saying in your writings that people should listen to you to know the truth and join, in a sense, come to your side, or come to the anti-gamergate side, to understand better of what gamergate is.  Would you say that you would want to bring new people into the ideology that gamergate is inherently evil and they need to be genocided?

GT: Yes.  Well, I don’t know.  That genocide thing, everyone got really upset about that.

KOP: But just in general, you would want to bring them to your ideology on what gamergate is, that they are inherently evil, correct?

GT: That, okay.  Yes.  The genocide thing?  All I’m trying to say is that, like, I’ve gotta have the courage of my convictions.  I’m not going to half-ass it.  Because I believe gamergate is evil, because I believe it is an intensely moral issue, and they are perpetrating, y’know, moral wrongness upon a group that needs support, I have to say “Yes, the world would be better off without these people”…

KOP: Yes, fair enough.

GT: …and I happen to say “Stick them in the gas chamber”.

KOP: Okay.

Sargon: Yeah, but isn’t that what the German said about… the Nazis said about the Jews, though?  They (unintelligible)

GT: I mean, they were wrong about the Jews.

Sargon: Yeah, but you’re not considering that you might be wrong about gamergate, either.

GT: I’m not.

KOP: So…

Sargon: That’s my point, though, that’s exactly my point, I mean.  I think…

GT: I’m not wrong

Sargon: …that Hitler probably would’ve said the same thing about the Jews.

GT: Yeah, he would’ve been wrong, and I’m not.

KOP: Okay, well, Geordie, with that being said, though, you would say that you would be bringing… and you would want people to listen to you so that you would bring people to the anti-gamergate side to understand why gamergate is inherently evil in your vision.

GT: I guess, yeah.

KOP: Okay, yeah.  That’s all I… Okay, alright, um.

Sargon: Okay, um…

KOP: Go ahead, Sargon.

Sargon: I’m kind of hung up on the, um, the… the… you’re not wrong.  How do you know that?

GT: I mean, it’s kind of ridiculous to ask someone how they know they’re not wrong, I mean everyone inherently believes that they’re not wrong if they believe strongly about something.  It’s like asking me “do you know you’re not wrong that women should have access to abortions?”  Yes, I fucking know that.

Sargon: Yeah, but no one in gamergate is asking for women to lose their right to abortions.

GT: By several degrees of separation and many years of time, yes they are.

Sargon: Right, go on and explain how gamergate is advocating anti-abortion.

GT: They are generally saying that women’s rights and social justice are to be ridiculed and are not important, let’s talk about, y’know, ethics in journalism?  Who gives a shit?  And because of that attitude, if they become more successful, if more people join gamergate, the entire world is going to be filled with these dickheads, so yes, I want them gone.  And like their staying will just hinder and hamstring women and their various rights and privileges.  Yes, it won’t… it’ll be hard… y’know…  It’s hard to see the direct…

Sargon: How?

Kop: Hold on, Sargon.  So with that mindset, would you say that there’s no life outside the context of the group gamergate?

GT: I’m sorry, I don’t understand you.

KOP: with what you had to say, would you say then that you feel that there is no life outside the context of the group gamergate?

GT: No, I wouldn’t say that.  I’m not sure what brought you to that.

KOP: What I’m asking is is that if you’re pro-gamergate, is there any… do you feel there is no life outside of that context, that you are pro-gamergate?

Sargon: If you were pro-gamergate.

KOP: If you’re pro-gamergate, is…  would you feel there is no life outside the context of that group? Or in your aspect , would you feel, as anti-gamergate side, that there is no life outside the context of anti-gamergate?  If you are inherently pro-gamergate, then you must die?

GT: Um, I think that the world would be better without you, but it’s not gamergate that I believe is a, y’know, all encompassing thing.  I believe that it is women and their rights and their plight that is the all encompassing thing

KOP: alright, let’s get back on topic here.  I want to address something else we had a conversation with, more toward the gamergate side and that was radical feminism and Cultural Marxism.  Now, we did talk about this when we were prepping earlier.

GT: a little bit, yeah.  You have a much better understanding of it than I do, I think, though.

KOP: And I would like to get into that discussion.  Now, I asked you the question, I’m going to ask it here for both of you guys to discuss.  Would you say that radical feminism is just another form of cultural Marxism, they just replaced class with gender.

GT: Do you know what he’s talking about?  I have trouble answering that question.

Sargon: Yeah, do you mind if I go back to the line of inquiry I had, Pol?

KOP: If you want to wrap that up, go ahead.

Sargon: I just want to explore it a bit more, because I don’t really understand how you see the world, Geordie.  So, I…  Right.  So, do you think that the only way to be pro-human rights is to be involved in social justice?

GT: Um…. That’s an interesting question.  I think that… What’s the bigger basket there?  Human rights or social justice?  Which one fits inside the other, do you think?

Sargon: Um.  I don’t think that they necessarily fit inside each other.

GT: Oh, I do, I do, I think that it’s…  I think it’s… Human rights probably fits inside social justice, social justice is the all encompassing thing.

Sargon: Right, okay.  So.  Right, okay.  So, but do you think that it’s possible to be in favor of human rights without being part of social justice, without believing what you believe?

GT: You see this stupid picture that’s scrolling up through the chat?  This is exactly what I’d say that 80-90% of gamergate is like.  But anyway…

Sargon: That’s not what I asked, though.

GT: Sorry, I didn’t answer your question, can you repeat it?

Sargon: Yeah, yeah, do you think that it’s possible to be in favor of human rights for men and women and not be in favor of this sort of social justice that you believe in?

GT: No, I don’t think that’s possible.  There’s too much overlap.

Sargon: So, you think it’s mutually exclusive.  You can either be…

GT: No, you’re saying that.

Sargon: No, no, no, let me finish…

GT: Okay, go ahead, sorry.

Sargon: you can either be… you can either be for social justice, as you describe it, or you are against human rights?

GT: Uh, yes.  I think that’s accurate.

Sargon: Right, okay.  Um.  Is there any chance you’re wrong?

GT: No.

Sargon: Right.  Um.  Okay.  Uh, sorry, yeah, Pol, we can go to the next subject now, thanks.

GT: That’s like asking me if punching someone in the face is wrong.  I don’t know how you think I can be wrong.

KOP: Okay.

Sargon: Well, I think that everyone could be wrong about everything.

GT: No.

Sargon: Okay, okay, thanks.  Pol, your question.

KOP: So the next topic, the next question was, do you think that radical feminism, uh, is basically cultural Marxism in a nutshell.

GT: I mean, can I, uh… interrupt you.  You see this picture scrolling up through the chat?  “Insulting men is okay, insulting women is sexist”.

KOP: uh, no, I don’t see it.

GT: It’s actually one of the moderators.

KOP: Yeah, I see it.

GT: That’s actually true.

KOP: Okay.

GT: Even though he’s trying to make a joke, it’s actually, yes, that’s the case.

Sargon: Sorry, hang on, say that again, I missed the picture.  What was the?

GT: Insulting men is okay, insulting women is sexist.  Which is intended as…

Sargon: and you think that that’s legitimately…

GT: a criticism of feminism.  It’s actually true, that statement.

Sargon: Right… how do you know that?

GT: I just know it, because men are empowered.  And so insulting them rolls off their back, water off of a duck.  Insulting women who are underpowered IS in fact sexist, because it’s based on their sex, y’know, something that is cruel, because they need to be lifted up.  They don’t need to be further downtrodden.

Sargon: I mean, there’s something you’ve said there that’s true.  If you insult women for being women, then that would be sexist.  But what if I insult a woman because she did something stupid?

GT: Um.  I mean, obviously, I’d need more information.

Sargon: Well, okay…

GT: Let’s say that you’re completely telling the truth for sake of argument.  Obviously I’d need more information.  Then no, that’s not sexist.

Sargon: Do you think I’m lying to you at all in this?

GT: Uh, we’re just talking about a hypothetical case of a hypothetical man insulting a hypothetical woman because of… she did something stupid.  That is not inherently sexist, we both agree.

Sargon: Right, okay, so why is the, um, that meme wrong then.  Or right, even.

GT: It’s right.

Sargon: The fact that they’re trying to make a joke of that is wrong, isn’t it?

GT: Uh, they’ve failed, I think to make a joke of it, and it’s a stupid… it’s a stupid meme, but it’s right, and the reason that it’s right is because men are empowered.  Men are superman, they’re Kal’el.  Shit bounces off men, because the way society has been built for a plethora of reasons.

Sargon: Does it bounce off you?

GT: Yes.  Haven’t you been able to see that?

Sargon:  I… I wouldn’t dare make that judgment.

GT: It does.  Look at this chat; I’ve been reading the whole thing, and I still don’t give a fuck.

Sargon: Okay.  But do you not think there are women who have you opinion on that, like, you know “people can insult me and I don’t give a fuck”?

GT: Yeah, that’s their choice, but sure.  But that doesn’t mean that they should say that other women should be like that too.  You know, which is what the NotYourShield people essentially are saying.

KOP:  Isn’t that what you said as well, though, I mean contrary to belief, “If you don’t agree, you all should just listen to me, because you’re all wrong”?  I mean, you kind of did say that.

GT: Well, I mean, I happen to believe that they’re wrong, so I’m saying that.

Sargon: Aren’t you worried about the amount that use the word ‘believe’?

GT: It’s just a synonym for “Know” or “have discovered”.

Sargon: Okay. Okay.

GT: I’m not really worried about it.

Sargon: It’s just you couch a lot of things in what, from an outside perspective, could be religious terminology, so I want to get more to the sort of factual information.  So, I mean, I’m having trouble processing some of the things you say.  But… Do you think it’s your job to protect women?

GT: I’ve chosen to do that.  As best I can.

Sargon: You don’t think women can protect themselves?

GT: I believe that they can.

Sargon: So, why are you protecting them?

GT: I mean, my best friend can protect himself, but if he were in danger, I would protect him.  I don’t think It would be insulting to him.  So this is the same situation, basically.

Sargon: You don’t think it takes away his agency, though?

GT: No.

Sargon: Right, okay.

KOP: The next question is here, Geordie, you talked about gamergate being inherently evil.  Let’s use me for an example here.

GT: Okay.

KOP:Uh, my stream here, if you subscribe or if you donate, all the money goes straight to charity…

GT: I did donate.  I gave you $5.

KOP: I saw that.  Thank you very much.

GT: No problem.

KOP: But none of it goes to me, all of the proceeds go to charity.  I just recently got my first monthly money from it and I gave that, and you can go look on my twitter, to the Marine’s Toys for Tots foundation.  All of the money.  Now, if I was inherently evil, why would I donate all money and proceeds that is for a good cause?  Like giving kids toys for Christmas.

GT: There’s all sorts of, like, Republicans who are closing abortion clinics who donate tons to charity, who think that they’re like the nicest laughing Colonel Sanders looking old men you could ever meet.  They’re still fucking evil.  And if it took getting them off the fucking face of the earth to reopen those clinics, I would say yes, do it.  It’s the same for you.  I like you, but I mean, if you’re going to be advocating this bullshit…  Like, these people in your chat are the scum of the earth.  And you don’t seem to care, so I mean…

KOP: Well, I’ll explain why I don’t care after you’re done, but go ahead.

GT: But yeah, you understand my answer, right?

KOP:  I think so.  But now, you asked why I don’t seem to care about my chat.  And the reason why, and I’m not going to sugar coat this – the reason why I don’t care is that everybody has their own opinions and they’re entitled to it, and as long as it’s not something that is warranting distress, i.e. like a real death threat that will most likely happen, or doxing or harassment of any sort that is very dangerous or obviously legitimate, then it does not bother me.  Now, I have recently gone through a lot of shit from the gamergate community, and I brought it upon myself, to be honest…

GT: No, you fucking didn’t.  You didn’t.

Sargon: Yeah, he did.

KOP: No, I really did.  I really did, there’s no getting around that, and I own up to those things.  The difference is, I’m an adult and I have to accept the responsibilities of my actions.  I cannot just blame the others for the responsibilities of what happens to me, it doesn’t work that way, and society can’t do that.  And as adults, as you and myself, uh, Sargon here, we have responsibilities that we have to own up to and subject ourselves to regularly.  So, um, in that aspect, I really… that’s why I don’t care about my chat for the most part, is that things happen and shit comes around, but if you are inherently a part of the reason why, at least try to understand and subject yourself to what is going on on that side and get both sides of the story to come up with a basis that makes it right or wrong.  I think we lost Sargon here.  You still there?   Hello, Geordie?

GT: I’m here.

KOP: Okay, we did lose Sargon.  Um, in that aspect, that’s how it is.  So, I did get a lot of shit, and I did get doxed and harassed and death threats from people who were using the gamergate hashtag at that time…

GT: and now you’re fucking apologizing to them?

KOP: I’m not done.  But.  But.  It was not the majority.  It was only a few (unintelligible) voices, and it was apparent it was only a few voices.  But does that make it… does that mean that all of gamergate adheres to that logic that they condone harassment?  And that they are for death threats and misogyny and stuff like that?  No, it doesn’t.

GT: Yeah, it does.

KOP: No, it only goes to individuals, the select few that did it.  It does not go to gamergate as a whole, and even then, so…

GT: Hold on a second.  Hold on a second.  Um, say, I’m not sure how many people consider themselves part of gamergate…. It’s quite a few, isn’t it?  It’s like 50,000 or something like that.  Not sure.

KOP: It’s a high number, sure.

GT: It’s pretty high.  How many people were screwing with you?  Six, seven people, or more?  I’m not sure.

KOP:  Uh, it depends.  I would say, maybe probably about 100 at the most.

GT: Okay.  So only 100.

KOP: About 100 to 200.  Around there.

GT: Okay, around 100 to 200 people, and only 100 to 200 people bothered to, uh, fuck with you.  That doesn’t mean that only 100 to 200 people in gamergate are assholes.  It means that those people decided to fuck with you.

KOP: Right.  They’re individuals.

GT: Uh… They’re part of gamergate.

KOP: No.

GT: Yes.

KOP: No.  No, no, no, they’re using a hashtag to do it, that’s different.

GT: So they were part of gamergate.

KOP: No, that doesn’t mean they’re part of it.  It’s not a movement, it’s not an organization, it’s a consumer revolt.  You can just use a hashtag yourself and do it.  It doesn’t take more than 2 seconds to go do it.  I could do it now, you could do it now. It doesn’t mean that they are, it just comes from those people.  Some of them were anonymous, but the majority of them, which, like you said yourself, 50,000 or so, do not speak for the minority.  A loud vocal group is not what it is, and I took my lickings, if you will, and it was very extreme to the point where I had a mental breakdown, but… But…

GT: I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

KOP: No, I’m telling you how it works.  But as a responsible adult and things that happened, things happened, and you have to deal through that, but is it worth it to slander the entire majority vs. a minority of vocal loud people with a megaphone.  No.  No, it is not. It doesn’t work that way.

GT: Sargon just said you brought it on yourself.

KOP: Right, and I did, and I said that, but it doesn’t make it… what I’m saying is that the majority, all of gamergate, did not do it.  A minority did.  So, what I’m saying is that just because a few bad eggs say things bad that can make you think that gamergate is inherently evil, does not mean all of gamergate is inherently evil, it just means the individuals.  That as adults, we have to take responsibility that are given to us for the actions we received.

GT: Let me ask you a question.

KOP: Yes.

GT: I’m sort of hearing from you that some people were really hitting you hard…

KOP: Yes

GT: …but you believe they were justified because…

KOP: No.

GT: They weren’t?

KOP: No, what I’m trying to give you an example of is that a minority of loud megaphones do not justify all of gamergate.  You say that all of gamergate is inherently evil because they are misogynist and they hate women and they harass people and all that kind of stuff, correct?

GT: I mean, more or less, yeah.

KOP: Right, more or less, and I’m telling you as a real example that it is a small minority, not all gamergate that use the hashtag to do these things, but aren’t about what gamergate stands for or what the consumer revolt is.

GT: Oh, they really are against what gamergate stands for, or they’re not about it?  Well, where were the other 49,800 people stopping them?  They were fucking nowhere.

KOP: It’s not their job to stop them.

GT: You…. Are you fucking kidding me, Pol?  Like, if I was there, I would’ve tried to stop them if they were making you have a mental breakdown…

KOP:  And, no, and that’s a nice gesture, Geordie, but it’s not their job to stop them.

GT: Yes it is, to be a decent human being.  Yes, it is their fucking job.

KOP: Even then, gamergate does have a majority, they have a group called the Harassment Patrol that do do that.

GT: Yeah, well, where were they?

KOP: I don’t know.  I can’t tell you.

GT: Yeah, because they didn’t give a fuck, Pol, this is… this is fucking disgusting, this just reinforces my belief that they should just take everyone in gamergate and just launch them into the sun.  The world will be better for it.

Transcript will resume tomorrow at the point where Sargon returns.  Seems I forgot that Oliver didn’t show up until the 3rd hour.