Shit That Pissed Me Off – 10/24

Felicia Day Speaks Up About GamerGate and is Almost Immediately Doxxed

For those unfamiliar with the term, doxxing is when people take personal information (like home address and private e-mail accounts) and share them with everyone on the internet.  The intent is to encourage others to harass the individual in question either online or in person.

Because people are assholes.

Chris Kluwe wrote a profanity ridden rant against GamerGaters earlier in the week.  Was his contact information splashed all over the internet?  Of course not.

What is interesting about the Gamergate phenomenon is that they claim this issue is not about women in gaming and yet when women speak up, they suffer harassment almost immediately.  I’m not saying Kluwe didn’t get called names.  He probably did.

The difference, though, is Kluwe (and Wil Wheton) were called names.  Day had her personal information tweeted out within an hour.

This is not Felicia Day’s house. Or Chris Kluwe’s. Because where they live is none of your damn business.

Now I’m fairly certain a brief internet search could have yielded her home address.  That information may be private but it is hard to protect.  Her personal e-mail would take a little more digging but probably isn’t too hard to get.  Privacy is an illusion the internet is rapidly dispelling.

None of that changes the fact doxxing is an asshole move.  The only purpose is to harass the victim rather than engage in civil discourse.

GamerGate is not about ethics.  It is about being pissy because female gamers (and their allies) would like a few games for themselves. It also has an unoriginal and stupid name.

Artist Vandalizes National Parks Because ART!

A young artist has decided that the National Parks are darn beautiful but they would be a lot more beautiful if some of her artwork was there for decoration.

So she’s been painting on rocks with acrylic paint (not water soluble) and documenting her work on Instagram, which has made it fairly easy to track her down to face the felony charges that await her.

Now, I don’t think her art is particularly good but that isn’t the point.  If Pablo Picasso had painted on rocks in national parks, the issue would be the same.  Those rocks are not a canvas for anything but natural forces.  That is the whole fucking point of national parks.

If she’d painted on a canvas and left the canvas on a trail somewhere, that’s kind of littering but it wouldn’t really bug me.

But she defaced natural beauty because she felt she was entitled to do so.  She is also pictured touching protected petroglyphs so the rules, apparently, don’t apply to her.

The good news is that she is stupid enough to be proud of what she did and she will be caught.

I hope the judge sentences her to clean up her mess.

News Host Says Young Women Shouldn’t Vote

I shouldn’t really call Kimberly Guilfoyl a “news host” as she is on the Fox equivalent of “The View,” which is to say a show that pretends to be about serious matters but really isn’t.

Now I’ve read a few apologist articles about Guilfoyl’s statement but it boils down to this: what she was saying is that you get more conservative as you get older so please, don’t vote until you’ll vote for her party.

I can’t find any evidence that supports the assertion people get more conservative as they get older.  A Google search yielded a whole lot of opinion pieces but no actual research on the subject.  But never mind, that isn’t really the point.

The point is if Kimberly said it, it must be true!

So what she is really saying is that young people are too dumb to vote the right way.  And by the right way, she means her way.

I know a lot of smart young people.  I know a lot of dumb old people.  And I know all sorts in between.  Her gross generalization is offensive and I would suggest the best way for her party to win elections is to be a party people would like to vote for.

This Stupid Article Claiming Scientists Have Discovered Atheists Might Not Exist

The article is actually a few months old but it was shared with me this week.

It is idiotic.

Any time an article suggesting that scientists have discovered something needs to include one very important thing.

Scientific research.

Because otherwise, what you are doing is writing an opinion piece and using science to support your opinion.  And by “science,” I mean the word science but not actual – you know – science.

Just like Guilfoyl’s assertion about people getting more conservative as they age, this article has no supporting information outside of polling data.

So a Pew poll turns into “scientists have discovered.”

The really important thing to remember about the internet is titles are designed to get you to click on the article.  As important, however, as not reading the comments is this: make sure you actually read the article before assuming you know what it says.

 Researchers Find There is Nothing you can do to Convince Anti-Vaxxers They are Wrong

People have confirmation bias.  We all know this.  Well most of us know this.

This truth is no more depressingly evident than in this study where it was found there is nothing you can do to convince anti-vaxxers they are wrong.  Nothing.

In my interactions with Anti-vaxxers, I have found this to be true.  That is anecdotal evidence.

So why even try?

Because there are a lot of people who are undecided and it is tremendously important to reach those folks before the dark side dominates their destiny.

Actually, given the extent of the injuries suffered on Mustafir, Vader is immunodeficient and strongly supports vaccinations.

Now I know what someone will say.  Hey, Tim, aren’t you equally unwilling to consider the evidence that vaccines are unsafe and we’d be better off with measles, mumps, chicken pox and polio so fewer kids will have autism?

Actually, I would be very open to that evidence.  As soon as some becomes available, I’ll take a look at it.

Toys R Us Pulls Breaking Bad Action Figures Because a Mom Complains

OK, on the one hand, you have an action figure of a meth dealer in Toys R Us.  I mean yeah, it’s still a toy but the dude is a meth dealer.

I’ve seen it pointed out that the company sells blood covered toy weapons and the mom in question never complained about the impact those toys might have on her kids.

However, I think that Florida mom is failing to recognize the larger issue.

Toys R Us sells Darth Vader action figures!

TOTAL METH HEAD!

I guess destroying an entire planet filled with billions of innocent people is nothing compared to a couple of drug related murders.  Certainly the cold-blooded murder of a bunch of Jedi children (or Younglings if you want to call them by their officially stupid name) pales in comparison to selling drugs.  Vader did those kids a favor because there is absolutely no chance they will ever become addicts!

Vader is a pretty bad guy but he’s no Walter White.  The Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy but other than that, he’s a completely acceptable action figure. Loki tried to enslave Earth but who cares?  The kids love Loki!

My point here is this: if you don’t think your kid should have a meth lab play set, don’t buy it.