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SXSW Cancels Panels On Harassment Due To Harassment (sxsw.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the let's-pretend-there-isn't-problem dept.

New submitter rMortyH writes: Two panels on online harassment in gaming scheduled for the upcoming South by Southwest festival have been cancelled due to online harassment and threats. According to a statement from SXSW Director Hugh Forrest, "... in the seven days since announcing these two sessions, SXSW has received numerous threats of on-site violence related to this programming. ... If people can not agree, disagree and embrace new ways of thinking in a safe and secure place that is free of online and offline harassment, then this marketplace of ideas is inevitably compromised."

9 of 618 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Or perhaps... by rwven · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This has absolutely NOTHING to do with a "politically correct narrative." This is a bunch of asshole teenagers on the internet being led by a couple basement dwelling 40 year olds who are mad at everyone for no good reason.

    It's the dregs of humanity...on the internet...being assholes. Plain and simple.

    Not a single "threat" would have been followed through on because these people either never leave their homes, or they're still under their parent's jurisdiction.

  2. SAFE secure SPACE there is your problem. by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you define disagreement as harassment, there is no way to have discussion.

    1. Re:SAFE secure SPACE there is your problem. by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The people who shut this down didn't want a discussion. Seeing as it was #GamerGate and the Anti GamerGaters, and the Anti GamerGaters have a history of shutting down discussions faking threats, and in general wholesale fabrication,I have little doubt where this came from.

  3. No freedom of assembly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, GamerGate's first large meetup in Washington, D.C. was disrupted by a bomb threat.

    Then, GamerGate's panels in Airplay were disrupted by several bomb threats, despite precautions taken against possible bombs by the SPJ at the venue.

    Now, their panel at SXSW was cancelled due to threats of violence and harassment.

    The fact that they cannot seem to peacefully assemble, which is defined as a basic human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations (among many other human rights documents), should be concerning no matter what your position on GamerGate is.

  4. Re:Or perhaps... by epyT-R · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah.. It's just as likely that this 'cancellation' is nothing more than a publicity stunt design to 'signal boost' 'awareness' of the 'problem.'

    If people can not agree, disagree and embrace new ways of thinking in a safe and secure place that is free of online and offline harassment, then this marketplace of ideas is inevitably compromised."

    Interesting. Marketplace of ideas, eh? I guess this guy's been watching certain vids on youtube. Too bad his 'new way of thinking' is newspeak jargon for 'politically correct' speech, which has no room for any other kind.

  5. +1 funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Loved the humor you two a/cs, even if the moderator is too PC, I laughed. Also GGP is not a -1, troll, people are sick of the politically correct narrative and it is their way of rebelling.

    This reminds me of my sister in law. I was teasing my brother, and he was smiling and happy, and she misunderstood the teasing as insults. She came screaming across and had a go at me. The smile on my brothers face dropped, like "oh no not again", and he tried to calm her down, explain that we were joking and he was having fun.

    She insisted we spend the holiday apart after that, she couldn't simply admit she was wrong, it had to become a PC thing.

    She doesn't interact in social situations much, and isn't use to the concept of ragging or teasing for fun. So she doesn't know how to behave in groups among friends, and they try to avoid her.

    In short, she's a real cunt who can't admit she's wrong and makes REAL problems from her IMAGINED issues. For us, we had to find another hotel at peak season, which meant walking 2 miles with heavy bags on a hot summers day with no water. Fucking cow.

    I see the same things here with these people. They don't interact much with real people in the real world, and so don't get to develop the thicker skin needed to be happy in social situations.

    So the take actions which do serious harm, in order to be protected from the most minor imagined slight. As if their slight is more important than the real harm to free speech they're doing.

    1. Re:+1 funny by tburkhol · · Score: 5, Insightful

      people are sick of the politically correct narrative and it is their way of rebelling.

      So join the conversation. Explain to the thin-skinned whiners how to distinguish between malicious threats and mock teasing. You might even learn something in the process about about why your sis-in-law seems like such "a real cunt who can't admit she's wrong" while you're so willing to accept that your teasing could have been legitimately misinterpreted.

      The problem on the internet seems to be that a minority of the "sick of PC narrative" people express their opinions with bomb threats. Seriously? That doesn't do anyone any good. There's extremists on both sides. The rest of us should keep them as pariahs: demonstrations of how not to behave.

    2. Re:+1 funny by russotto · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So join the conversation. Explain to the thin-skinned whiners how to distinguish between malicious threats and mock teasing.

      You can't. There's no conversation possible. Disagreeing with the whiners is "harassment", trying to explain anything to them is mansplaining.

      The problem on the internet seems to be that a minority of the "sick of PC narrative" people express their opinions with bomb threats.

      Actually, the last few bomb threats have been called in AGAINST the "sick of the PC narrative" groups.

  6. Re:It's just an issue that's gotten too polarized by rho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is one of those things that SXSW doesn't want to burn a lot of calories on trying to wrangle. SXSW is still mostly focussed on music and movies. Nerds fighting over video game politics are not in the wheelhouse.

    Put another way, you go to SXSW to have a great time. You do not go there because you want to fight over ideology. Nobody from the alt-rock music scene is making angry Tweets because the alt-country guys have a venue, nor vice versa. As far as SXSW is concerned, both factions are music fans who might find common ground, but otherwise are not interested in open warfare.

    Activists on games, they're not so chill. (They'll become chill, after gaming has passed through the "Fonzie Barrier," where rebellion and fear mellow and become folksy humor.)

    TL;DR: SXSW isn't interested in burning resources on your gay slapfight over who's right on the Internet.

    --
    Potato chips are a by-yourself food.