The Cult of Vivian James is intellectually dishonest and an unfortunate loud voice for #Gamergate

I make no apologies for having been supportive of her and her efforts. She spoke well on videos. She kind of tried to embody the Vivian James thing, and for the most part was pretty nice and reasonable.

No real danger signals or concerns. But then I can’t say I have had a lot of exposure to her. Her star seemed to be rising a bit but no less than many others.

A slight glimpse at another side of her was provided by Ralph. But then maybe Ralph just did not like her. There are plenty of people in Gamergate and we all do not have to like the same people. So I took everything with a grain of salt. I saw evidence of her requesting Mark Kern use proper pronouns for Sarah Butts. I heard Mark left Gamergate on the basis of a small group of louder voices tone and PC policing. It pissed me off. Not complete context but it was pointing her way.

For the record, I think it is as weak as water. So you dislike a particular trans person and you disrespect them by misgendering them. What the Hell is the big deal? NO HONESTLY. What is the big deal? If I piss you off and you misgender me and call me a girl or perhaps you want to go the sexuality route and call me gay or go for my appearance and call me ugly, are THESE things off the table too? No, its different huh? Would I cry into my pillow on hearing such words? Would people flock to dry my tears and defend being called ugly or gay or a girl? Fucking weak.

I was a bit disappointed and yes to be completely honest it took a little bit of shine off my view of her. But it was other things I had heard that were a little more concerning. She was involved in supporting an idea that seemed to undermine Gamergate. Again, not wanting to rely on Ralph’s take on things as he may have had a completely different perspective to me, I questioned her directly. She seemed to confirm what he alluded to and took umbrage with him “speaking out of class” about it and making it sound bad, rather than actually being dishonest about it. I was mortified. “How could anyone who is supportive of Gamergate think of such an idea..and how the Hell could it be supported?” It was crazy. Nope …not yet.

(Hyperlinks in blue are to chains of tweets)

Terrible idea Bloody right it shouldn’t. It was a TERRIBLE idea. Almost up there with, “Do you think there would be less drama if we all just conceded?”

Dishonest Interpretation I missed it first time around. Vivian pretending I was talking about taking away freedom of speech. So many things wrong with this. Firstly, she isn’t stupid. You could perhaps accept an absolute idiot may get it wrong. Secondly, a Gamergate supporter has come to her in respect to support SHE seemed to be giving to an idea that would kill of Gamergate. A cause certainly in part fighting to keep freedoms in the gaming industry. To keep out the authoritarians. A movement mostly populated by Libertarians, to whom such freedoms are paramount…….AND THE FIRST thing she concluded was that I was interested in taking those freedoms away. I mean how else could that have been interpreted right?

No, she is not that stupid. She was being dishonest.

Feigning ignorance Unfortunately if you have seen what she writes and hear her videos you know she is not this stupid to be continually missing the point. Its deliberate. (I reported in another article that I disliked how Lynn Walsh did this a bit in SPJ Airplay. I was not the only one to see this. It did keep the peace a bit, but it looked bad…as it does here)

She thinks I am in need of having my own intentions explained to me? The people on the other side the Gamergate debate play this arrogant play a bit. Deliberately misread intent and then haughtily try to imply any number of premises, positions, intentions and such that you do not hold or have. Whilst trying to imply moral or intellectual higher ground over you, based on these imaginary positions they “want” (?) you to hold. Then seeking not to debate these positions or contest whether you in fact hold them at all.

Think of every smear of AGG threats. Any position or intent they accuse us off with respect to women in gaming or whatever. This is precisely what happens.

(“Oh no it doesn’t” You laugh “The AGG’s block us instead of arguing” Keep reading.)

Yup I would not pander to her rudeness and so I was blocked Pretty straightforward. Big ego and someone not towing her narrative and refusing to be condescended to. So what does the dishonest person do?

Explaining to Dan the White Knight Reading this in context it should be obvious that I was not honestly having a freak out about him restricting free speech. It was a analogy to Vivian’s earlier efforts to misrepresent

Explaining it as well as I can Hopefully YOU all can see the similarity and where I am coming from. Do not allow liking someone from calling it as it is

9 out of 10 White knights agree Even Dan registers where I was coming from here

No victims here If you asked Ralph whether what he did or said to Vivian, was called for, or nice He’d probably say something like “I don’t give a fuck. I hate that cosplaying bitch” (or words to that effect). Fair enough. I would imagine if you asked Vivian you would get a response highlighting how bad he is and what he said to her. Certainly her Twitter feeds read this way. See the difference?

She was baiting him as much as he was going at her. Yes she was probably a Hell of a lot more subtle and using nicer language but let’s not call it what it isn’t. They are both adults and they can fight it out

The truth is, of course, this is NOT really much about Vivian and Ralph. As I said they can fight each other to their heart content. I do not care much. Much in the way that Gamergate is not about Zoe.

She is a trusted and notable loud voice in Gamergate and her lack of honesty and her PC policing and tone policing is a concern.

In a case of pure irony This Psychology Student is all hypocrisy and guilt tripping/shaming

Now did you read what I read?

“Vivian ‏@CultOfVivian · Sep 13

It’s one thing to try to force everyone in gaming/gamergate to be politically correct, it’s another to just be PC yourself. @full_mcintosh“

Then in the same thread

“Vivian‏@CultOfVivian

someone deserves to be misgendered. Trans acceptance shouldn’t hinge on whether you like someone. @jkellytwit@aquapendulum@full_mcintosh“

Pronouns? Fucking pronouns? This person is a pedo and we should humour them with correct pronouns. She forces people to be PC or is she just being PC herself. LOL

Yes and I did see her blame Ralph directly for Game Diviner’s breakdown. More intellectual dishonesty, but this is all par for the course it seems.

Why does any of this matter? Because WE ARE ALL Stakeholders in GG. When louder voices and bigger names are scuttling gamergate and supporting crap, its a worry. When one of the recognised “nice guys/gals” is intellectually dishonest and a PC policeman/policewoman. Its a worry. When they adopt tactics we have seen with our opposition, it ought to place us on our guard.

We should ALL be working together NOT being sneaky, subversive, dishonest, tone policing, PC policing and undermining gamergate. THAT is NOT good. THAT termites us from the inside out.

For the record, I think Ralph is reactive, opinionated, arrogant, brash, unsubtle, and probably a lot of other things. What I do not see is how any of these traits are necessarily bad and bad for us. Furthermore I am not a big fan of nice. I never have been. Fair and honest is a better things to aim for and they are not mutually inclusive. I trust Ralph. I trust him to act consistently and to be him 100% of the time. I do not expect he will say the “right” things but I expect him to call it how he sees it.

I can’t say the same anymore for Vivian. Very disappointing