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I wanted to talk about this one, but couldn't write anything dispassionate enough. Watching the narrative flip back and forth in real time was enraging, but it was so blatant that even redditors noticed and started quoting the "narcissist's prayer."
People keep saying things like "shooting themselves in the foot", but I don't see that. I see an exercise in total narrative dominance that's only strengthened by how indefensible the claims are. If even a contrarian like Freddie will bend the knee to it, how can it be a strategic error?
God, I also wanted to talk about this, but I figured it was too "rest of the Internet" for the Motte and I also figured I wouldn't have anything of substance to say.
The incredible levels of cope and blame avoidance had my mind wandering back to the discussions around the book Sadly, Porn, it's author The Last Psychiatrist, and his general fight against narcissism. Trans, cis, or whatever, there sure seem to be a lot of people in desperate need of admitting fault. The fact that people thought Silvervale's* "Twitter freaks" comment was a dogwhistle aimed at trans people and Jews was very much an "if you're reading it, it's for you"-type of thing, and if anything, I think it's only made the term "Twitter freaks" into more of a shibboleth.
The accusations of right-wing "gayops" smack so heavily of "big if true." I can believe that it may be possible, but if so, then trans activism has a bigger problem than a stupid wizard game if they can be reliably punked by 4Channers in such a way.
This and other events related to the general online trans community (and real-life stuff like Montana's recent bill) definitely seem like a string of PR hits for them, but it's hard to say if it'll actually move the needle on public opinion or just settle back down to the status quo.
*Silver is not the VTuber who is quitting streaming, for those unaware. That would be Pikamee, who was already planning on "graduating," but speculation says that the harassment may well have accelerated the plan.
I very sincerely doubt it's a possibility. There are plenty of people in the crowd dogpiling Pikamee who have internet presences dating back years, that don't seem to be fake (but I can't prove a negative). I have yet to see a convincing argument that the majority of people dogpiling were, say, avatarless randomly-generated usernames who joined Twitter yesterday.
Of course, the standard response to an argument against a conspiracy theory is to double down on the conspiracy further and postulate an even bigger conspiracy to cover up evidence of the conspiracy being a conspiracy. I have no doubt they'll just say the 4channers will have planned this out years in advance or something. It reminds one of a JFK truther going to heaven, being told by God Himself that JFK was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, and concluding that the conspiracy runs deeper.
Good point, I didn't realize that the proportion of "Twitter eggs"* would be a factor of evidence.
*GamerGate-era term for new and anonymous Twitter accounts--back then, I think the default avatar for new accounts was an egg.
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The theory goes that normal people will see this extreme behavior and "peak", i.e. change their opinion on the trans movement, and trans people in general. It's an optimistic theory for sure; I can't claim anything on how it will all play out one way or the other.
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