How the Awful Stuff Won
Exploring the dark and far-reaching consequences of our dependence on the Internet.
Exploring the dark and far-reaching consequences of our dependence on the Internet.
Tom Scocca New York Review of Books Oct 2020 25min Permalink
Video-game designer Zoë Quinn in the aftermath of Gamergate, an act of web harassment with world-altering implications.
Noreen Malone New York Jul 2017 25min Permalink
"These young men seem to have no conception of the consequences of allying yourself publicly with the far right, even before their hero gets accused of endorsing pedophilia in public. Yiannopoulos has been good to them. They’re having a great time. Over the course of a few hours, I find myself playing an awkward Wendy to these lackluster lost boys as I watch them wrestle with the moral challenge of actually goddamn growing up."
Laurie Penny Pacific Standard Feb 2017 20min Permalink
"4chan value system, like Trump’s ideology, is obsessed with masculine competition (and the subsequent humiliation when the competition is lost). Note the terms 4chan invented, now so popular among grade schoolers everywhere: “fail” and “win”, “alpha” males and “beta cucks”. This system is defined by its childlike innocence, that is to say, the inventor’s inexperience with any sort of “IRL” romantic interaction. And like Trump, since these men wear their insecurities on their sleeve, they fling these insults in wild rabid bursts at everyone else. Trump the loser, the outsider, the hot mess, the pathetic joke, embodies this duality. "
Dale Beran Medium Feb 2017 30min Permalink
A man felt wronged by his ex-girlfriend, a video game designer. So he published a 9,425-word online screed with “each component designed to be as damaging to [her] as possible.” It sparked the online fire known as “Gamergate.”
Zachary Jason Boston Magazine May 2015 20min Permalink
A profile of Anita Sarkeesian, who has recieved death threats as she exposes misogyny in the $25 billion video game industry.
Sheelah Kolhatkar Businessweek Nov 2014 15min Permalink