Did Anita Sarkeesian fabricate her story about contacting the authorities?
On August 26th, 2014, Anita Sarkeesian – the Social Justice Video Game critic who runs the Feminist Frequency YouTube Channel – received a number of death threats from an anonymous twitter account. This isn’t the first time she’s received harassment online (though many people are skeptical about the volume), but these were the most violent to date. They seem to support her allegations of widespread misogyny in Video Gaming culture.
Some people were suspicious of these tweets, due to them being released at the same time as her most recent video, as well as the call for financial support which immediately followed them. Furthermore, the rapid succession with which the tweets occurred – and the fact that Anita was not logged into Twitter at the time of the screen-grab (how did she know about them 13 seconds after the final one was tweeted?) – had many people raising an eyebrow.
Then, a few days later she tweeted the following:
Bill from Kentucky looked into this – finding it a bit odd that a police officer would say something like that, in this era of overreaction and Slutwalks – and he learned that the San Francisco Police Department has no idea what she’s talking about.
I decided to phone them myself, and record the conversation with SFPD Media Relations officer Albie Esparza. The following video covers the call, and there is a transcript below.
Aurini: I’m calling about an incident which occurred in your district on August 26th to a Miss Anita Sarkeesian; she is a prominent cultural critic who received a number of death threats over Twitter, which wound up driving her out of her own home. This has been reported throughout the gaming media, as well as in other mainstream sources such as the LA Times, and The Telegraph-
Esparza: I’m very familiar with the case… the incident. There’s nothing, there’s no record of any incident occurring on the 28th of August [Ed: this would be the date that she reported it, the 26th is when she received the tweets]. I’ve been trying to reach her for the past two days. If you have a way to contact this person and ask them for a case number, we’d appreciate that. There’s no record from our dispatch centre that I called and asked. There’s no record of any report being taken. So, when I saw her tweets it says “authorities”; Anita should make sure she reports to the San Fran police how she did this because there’s no record.
Aurini: She said the officers told her she should stop doing her cultural commentary if she was receiving threats – is this the sort of thing that you would say to a victim of harassment?
Esparza: No, but that’s hearsay. That’s third party information, so I’m not going to speculate on whether or not that was said, but we wouldn’t say that to someone.
Aurini: Would that possibly be disciplinary action, if an officer were to say such a thing?
Esparza: We’re not going to talk about hypothetical situations because that would be hearsay. There’s no record of that incident occurring, so I’m not going to speculate. It’s inappropriate to make comments on that.
Aurini: I have some colleagues who have received harassment in other districts, and the police there recommended that they not respond it, or discuss it online, once the investigations has begun. Is that your department’s policy, and if not, what advice would you give to somebody who was receiving threats?
Esparza: If somebody receives a threat – and we’re talking specifically online: text messaging, twitter, email, that type of stuff – it’s important to document it. So they should somehow save – either a text message or an email or a tweet – if they can capture that and bring it to the police station as evidence, that would be booked. It’s very important that they document it, as long as can do so safely. It’s very important because, again, if they don’t do it and this continues, you never know what can happen. At least document it, if the person has any leads we will do our best, we take it seriously when somebody makes threats against someone’s life, so we would ask that they file a report, bring the evidence, so we can initiate an investigation.
Aurini: Would your department handle online harassment, or is this the sort of thing that you would pass on to the FBI or somebody else?
Esparza: Well, certainly it depends on the nature of the threat. Typically, for a threat our department would handle it. If it’s anything more significant – as far as maybe local domestic terrorism, that kind of stuff – it would move to the FBI or federal agents, but typically the city would handle it.
Aurini: If it was an online anonymous account – we don’t know who the person is, it’s a fake account – would you possibly pass that on because it’s not a local issue, such as a domestic violence issue between a local couples
Esparza: We would certainly investigate it if we feel that it’s something that is happening on a larger scale, we would share with our regional partners or even federal agents. Every case is an individual and the needs are different, but typically it’s something [garbled] it would be shared amongst our law enforcement partners.
Aurini: You said you were trying to get a hold of Ms. Sarkeesian because you’ve never heard of it? You would like the case number that she would have received if she reported it as she claims?
Esparza: Right, so I do have a report for Ms. Sarkeesian was a victim of threats as well, but this was back in March of this year. So that’s the only record I found. But there’s nothing as of yet for August.
[~20 seconds of audio redacted; Anita’s contact information was mentioned]
Esparza: The things it says on her tweets, she reports “authorities” but there are multiple police agencies in San Francisco, so I want to make sure she reported the harassment to the local police, and I did call the local precinct where she lives, they don’t have any records of an investigation with her name currently. The only thing that came up in my system was a case from March of this year.
Aurini: So you are the public representative for the entire San Francisco area? All of the districts within?
Esparza: San Francisco PD, yes.
ͼ-Ѻ-ͽ
In a certain sense, we’re running into the difficulty of trying to prove a negative. Did Ms. Sarkeesian report this to the FBI instead of the SFPD? Did the Officer who she reported to hate women, and throw her report in the garbage? Did she eat some bad burritos, and was this all just a fever dream?
It’s hard to say; but I got the sense from Esparza that he’s very upset by the accusations being directed as the SFPD, and would like some documentation to back of Sarkeesian’s claims. Personally, I’d like to see a lot MORE documentation on Sarkeesian, because this isn’t the only claim she’s made which I suspect is fraudulent – and not just her, but all of the individuals hiding behind the shield of Social Justice, and the journalists who have been aiding and abetting them, culminating in outrage known as #GamerGate. That’s why Jordan Owen and myself have started a Patreon page, so that we can create a feature-length documentary about these people and their methods, and how they bully and victimize the very people they claim to support.
So please help us get this documentary made, so that we can fight for openness and integrity within Tech and Video Game circles, and expose the professional victims for the con artists that they are. Please support our documentary, The Sarkeesian Effect: Inside the World of Social Justice Warriors.
Keep up the good work! Stuff like this is why #GamerGate is having the success it has been.
This is really great work. Women like this are poor planners and there are bound to be all sorts of slip ups with her many fabrications.
I wonder what implications this would have when you consider she made money with this.
She made a whole article about the thing and the article earned her money.
Is it legal to write about stuff you purposely made up and gain money from it?
Selling lies doesn’t sound very licit to me.
Shakier and shakier…
The police should sue her for libel, she’s got enough cash lying around, if she was black she would already have started a riot, with her swarthy complexion maybe she’ll make it racial anyway
You asked the media officer for the SF Police to talk about the incident. Of course she’s going to deny it ever happened. What is surprising is that you believe a press officer, or would use her as fact in the first place.
“You asked the media officer for the SF Police to talk about the incident. Of course she’s going to deny it ever happened”
Why? Had she actually reported this, I would have expected the police to
a) confirm that a report was made and refuse further comment,
or
b) refuse to confirm or deny that a report was made (in which case I’d assume it was made and they won’t/can’t comment further).
I would only expect them to deny that a report was made if it wasn’t made.
Brilliant work Aurini! Now you can add journalist to your growing list of job titles. This story is pure gold. Roosh over at RVF is asking all members of the manosphere to write up pieces going after the bloggers and journalists who came to her defense without checking the facts. Quite a few big MSM establishments came to her aid like to the LA Times (like you mentioned in the vid) and the Washington Post. I wrote up my own little piece here in a ROK/Forney-esque style attack: http://fanghornforest.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/is-soraya-nadia-mcdonald-guilty-of-journalistic-fraud/
Great work on cracking this case. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has some kind of mental illness.
“but typically it’s something [garbled] it would”
I believe [garbled] at around ~5:27 is “that seems more significant, then yes”
Is there an update on this?
Someone else now claims to have gotten an update from Esparza that verifies that it was “referred to Federal Authorities (FBI)” :
https://twitter.com/davidahilljr/status/510594440788856833
(tweeted at 6:02pm the 12th, Pacific Time)
So can we assume that since you haven’t updated this article since the SFPD said they actually did receive a call from Sarkeesian you’re more comfortable with straight up lying to your audience than admitting you’re full of crap?
So now that we know the answer to your question is “no, she didn’t,” do you feel like following The Truth far enough to acknowledge a mistake?
I’m not going to redact my reporting on a documented statement from the SFPD (what are you, new? That’s not how it works); instead, I’m waiting for a response from Officer Esparaza clarifying and confirming this tweet. It will involve a new post, not an edit of this post, that way anybody subscribing will be notified.
Also: note that none of this invalidates the critique of the journalists who failed to investigate these allegations against the SFPD; Miss Sarkeesian made some serious claims about what the ‘authorities’ said to her, and rather than investigating, they were taken at face value.
I’m glad to hear it. I look forward to the post that reads, “As much as I strive to offer critiques of journalists who fail to investigate allegations, I recognize that I have fallen into the same trap and so ask my readers to forgive me for my error. To make up for it (which I am sure no other journalist will do), I will always be certain in the future to doublecheck my sources rather than rely on the dubious information available on the internet.”
You can phrase it in your own terms, of course, but that’s the gist of it, right?
This post was an accurate depiction of the SFPD’s official public stance on the 11th of September, 2014; I showed more integrity than the Gaming Media in reporting this, and even if it turns out that Miss Sarkeesian did get in contact with them, there are still questions to be asked.
G, you’re an absolute lunatic if you think I did anything remotely questionable or that requires an apology. Grow a soul.
Don’t get in such a fuss, dear. All I was saying was that a little humility can go a long way in winning over future readers. Honestly, if you have such a delicate constitution, perhaps you shouldn’t be involving yourself in these things.
Have you considered needlepoint? I understand it’s quite relaxing.
I’m not angry, G; I’m just disgusted with your inability to think rationally. If you had a modicum of critical-thinking ability you wouldn’t be demanding an apology for responsible journalism. I have done nothing wrong, and have nothing to apologize for; I also suggest you look up the theology behind what humbleness actually is, it’s quite clear to me that you don’t understand it. I recommend finding Plato and Aristotle’s work on basic virtue, and moving forward from there.
I don’t recall saying that you were angry, dear, nor demanding anything. I’m hardly in the position to make demands through the comments page of a blog, am I? As for looking up theologies of humility, in which religious tradition would you suggest I begin? Your references to Plato and Aristotle are charming, but only encompass a tiny fraction of the material, and I would hate to miss some possibilities.
She did call them, and they did pass it off to the FBI: http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/2014/09/15/did-professional-sarkeesian-hater-davis-aurini-commit-felony-wire-fraud-hell-if-i-know-but-hes-definitely-an-unethical-dick/
Also, you can’t tape someone in California without their knowledge. It’s a felony. So, great work all around.
I”m aware of that; currently waiting for him to get back to me, Carrie.
Also, I identified myself as a journalist; he is a PR person; and I don’t live in California. Ergo, I did not break a single law – also, you’re an idiot.
“Responsible journalism,” here understood as the all-but-explicit claim that a woman hounded by misogynists for her work has actually lied about [perhaps only the most recent] threats made against her — a claim which, after more than the merest scrutiny, turned out to be unsurprisingly untrue. This is what ‘responsible journalism’ means to somebody so terrified of their own self-image that they actually take the time to decorate themselves in whiskey, cigarettes, ornate furniture and a cityscape backdrop for their rambling Youtube uploads.
Surely I am not a little boy; look at my powerful dress, my goatee, my alcohol and cigarettes, my casual heedless references to western philosophical canon, etc etc, please, I am dying to be worshiped. It’s no wonder that something as milquetoast as a feminist would be so horrifying to you.
I also hope that somebody has already pointed out the gross irony in promoting one’s fundraising immediately upon falsely deriding somebody for making fraudulent claims to promote her fundraising. A championship effort all around
Phlegm’s name says it all about the quality of his/her/it’s “analysis.” Lying for a a Social Justice Warrior is like breathing for a normal human being.
“phlegm
the green snotlike substance that rattles in your throat when you cough,especially after smoking about 70 cigarettes”
“the old woman ‘hawked’ up a large gobbet of ‘phlegm’ from deep in her throat,and spat it onto a shop window,where it bounced once before clinging to the glass and spreading slightly,waiting menacingly,for the first passerby to brush against it,transferring the green bastard to their expensive designer top so,when they, arrived everyone at the party would look and wonder.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=phlegm
LOL, perfect.
Very persuasive, Mike. I wouldn’t have believed it possible to so belabor the definition of a common word (and say nothing besides!). Truly, anything is possible for a misogynist whose champion has embarrassed himself.
misogynist. lol. Whatever. Embarrassed himself, whatever. Snotty pretends to be a intellectual superior, whatever
Snotty, the Fact Adverse Social Justice Warrior, said, “a claim (…that she lied about her threats…) which, after more than the merest scrutiny, turned out to be unsurprisingly untrue. ”
That’s not even a subtle lie, it’s a blatant one. One needs only to actually read the article at the top, which still is standing on it’s own merits. Anita claims this. Anita claims that. Anita claims the police said this. Anita claims the FBI. Anita throws some slop in the trough and her champions eat it up like it’s caviar. Chow down, piglets. Mmm, yum.
Do a little research, read the above article, listen to the conversation, and The Snotty Narrative gets blown to pieces. After even “the merest scrutiny” on the part of a person, it’s apparent that something is rotten in Denmark.
But I can’t do people’s research for them. If you’re dumb enough to take, at face value, what the Anitas, Manboobs, and Snottys of the world say, you’re more than likely, a lost cause anyway.
Oh my God, Mike, stop hitting yourself. It looks like you haven’t been keeping abreast of more recent events!
The substance of the article above (once you skip the bits about amateur internet detectives drawing out conspiracy theories on their cork boards) is the phone conversation in which the SFPD rep claims that they have no record of being contacted by Ms Sarkeesian. It’s the kind of claim that a reasonable person (or a responsible journalist) might hold onto until the facts could be further sussed out — and now they have been, and SFPD confirms that a report was filed and the case was handed over to the FBI.
http://gamergate.giz.moe/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SFPD-follow-up-2.jpg
https://twitter.com/Nero/status/510484796943114240
Oh, shoot! This article’s implicit claims have been sunk! And you’ve embarrassed yourself (as is the wont of your society, it seems) by, ironically, chiding me for not doing enough reading/listening.
You’re right, though, I am “dumb” enough to not doubt a woman, without sufficient evidence, when she claims that she is being harassed. There is a certain kind of person who would tend toward that doubt, though. Can you guess what such a person is called?
(There is also, incidentally, a term for somebody who trades almost solely in vague imagery and drops awkward Hamlet references where they don’t belong: “pompous moron.”)
trustworthy news?
http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/17/6225835/fbi-investigating-anita-sarkeesian-threats
let`s see what comes next
And to Aurini: Don`t take it to personally, but you should stop trying so hard coming off as edgy. The one scene in your video, where you try to casually put down your sunglasses… was slightly embarassing. But i am from Europe, so maybe i don`t get it.
Also: Can you explain to me, why you changed your political views from “monarchist” to “patriot”?
And send regards to your musician friend `Balls-Chin` Jordan!
@Kerkermeister
But-but-but – my mo says I’m cool! :'(
Why would Anita Sarkeesian make a claim that the police thought she should not be doing what she does on September 2? Is that the same date she claims she had to flee? Why would the police say they had no file regarding her threats during the same time she was claiming they told her she should be doing something else? Why would she believe her work is so important in the face of death threats? Salman Rushdie took his threats pretty seriously…
I tried to reproduce the screenshot on my Nexus 7 tablet, and it doesn’t look like that. Her screenshot is “desktop” view; the mobile version looks different. I couldn’t even reproduce her view in Chrome since there’s no setting to change the User Agent to Desktop. Maybe she was using a different browser? Maybe she was viewing it on a Windows tablet in portrait mode? Seems odd. There’s just too much here that seems out-of-the-way to seem like they grabbed some anonymous user making all of those tweets within minutes of each other including her and her parents’ address.
I like that this bald-faced bullshit is still up in its original form despite being completely false. This is #Gamergate’s idea of “ethical” journalism people.
Weird. Weeks later and still no update that the entire point of this article has been debunked. As one other comments or notes, this is the extent of “gamer gate” ethics in journalism.
Right now this has turned into one big rabbit hole. I saw that because I started working on a sex trafficking case involving the Triad, massage parlors, and men like Liang Yaohui, about two years ago. Since then I’ve had a bomb put in our outreach RV, my home broken into with things moved around to freak me out obviously, death threats by phone and email, and someone who kicked in my front door just hours after I had moved out. They left the door open so I’d know they’d done this. I found out when my old manager called me about it. I even had a fake “rescue” call where a woman tried to lure me to an apartment to try and “rescue” her. When I saw through it and confronted her about why – she said she’d been hired to set me up for murder. I also had someone in the FBI call me and report they had overheard a phone call between the Triad ordering me murdered to stop our work helping these women. So I’ve had very real threats. When I heard about these women also receiving threats – I wondered if there might be a connection at all. Trying to see if I could find out more for our investigation – I contacted some of these women. As I talked to some of them – their stories started falling apart. I know well this as many people are also lying about being a survivor, and even rescue groups, these days. Samoly Mam is an example. She reported her daughter had been kidnapped and then murdered by traffickers when her daughter was alive and well. Why are they doing this? It could be two reasons. Either this is the only way they’re getting press these days or the press is doing this to smear them. Because that’s another option. I say that because I got a call a while ago from a woman in Arizona. She started telling me that the officials down in Phoenix were taking the babies away from trafficking survivors – one woman she told me had her baby taken right after birth. She’s telling me about border patrol guards raping survivors. In other words, she was really whipping me up about what was going on with victims down in Phoenix. She wanted me to talk about these things publicly. I learned a long time ago I don’t talk about anything I don’t have black and white proof of. So I responded by offering to give her surveillance and recording equipment. I demanded names. I wanted to speak to the women this was happening to. Once I started pressing for proof of her statements – she suddenly disappeared and blocked my number. Which made even less sense if what she was telling me was true. I then had someone call her from another phone than mine – and a recording came on her voicemail stating she was working for the very people she had been bashing to me! I’ve been reading up a lot about Monsanto’s tactics, and Cointelpro – and I also know that they work by making people say statements that make them appear false or crazy. For all we know – Anita might have been set up. Could she have called someone who was not a police officer? I tried to track down the officer who made the Redbook arrests. I was told by the police department, and the FBI, that the agent in the news clippings doesn’t exist. I read in Slate that a judge had “dismissed 250 DA’s because they were too corrupt” and that Kamala Harris had “ordered the Dean of UC Irvine Law to do an audit on OC DA’s”. Okay – so I contacted the Dean and he said no one had asked him to do a report. I contacted the judge’s clerk who knew nothing of the article, and knew nothing about any DA’s being dismissed by the judge she works for. I got no comment from the CA AG’s office about whether they ordered the report. I myself am the victim of a woman who has now been on the news many times, and has now done three documentaries where she presents herself as the founder of the group I founded. I’ve slapped her with a “cease and desist” order, and I’ve contacted the producers and reporters before these things aired letting them know not only was she not connected to us in any way, not our founder, but also I’d slapped her with a ‘cease and desist” over violating our trademarks and copyrights I hold. The press and producers’ response? To air the pieces anyway. The end result is I now have people within the sex workers rights’ groups calling for my head thinking I’ve said these things that the “founder” of our 12 step program has said – only I’m not the one who said these things despite being the “Founder”. When I try and explain her, and even two articles I’ve found with interviews with me supposedly I never granted, it’s almost like someone wants me to sound crazy. I do sound crazy explaining to people I never gave those interviews! So honestly – I don’t believe much anymore unless I’ve done a lot of homework! http://www.sexworkersanonymous.com