The Egoistic Self-Destruction of Thunderf00t and Sargon of Akkad
Over the past summer, first Thunderf00t (Phil Tenis Mason), and then Sargon of Akkad (Carl Benjamin), self-immolated through acts of efame-driven hubris. Mason revealed himself as the big-government, anti-Brexit Globalist, who wants your tax dollars to pay for his hobby, while Benjamin repeatedly invaded Alt-Right spaces, only to dominate the conversation with first-year Communist rhetoric, before eventually tweeting gay pornography at people to prove… something.
I have to admit, it was rather gratifying. Last year the two of them went on a slanderous attack campaign against me, misquoting and outright lying. They had no regard for the morality of their actions, nor the realpolitik consequences of attacking a GamerGate ally, and I’m glad that others are finally waking up to their treachery. Neither are the principled, rational men they pretend to be; they’re just another pair of self-serving narcissists in this narcissistic era.
I briefly considered doing videos about the two of them; no slander or lying on my part, of course, with these two an accurate depiction is damning enough. Heck, the videos practically write themselves:
Thunderf00t, the Establishment Skeptic: he’ll obsessively pick apart anything that doesn’t matter in your day-to-day life (evolution, hoverboards, and solar roadways), while ignoring existential threats that demand a skeptical eye (global warming, James Watson, and over-vaccination).¹ He makes you feel smart, while keeping you ignorant.
Sargon of Akkad, aka Marxus of Boobus: the man who throws cigarettes into his neighbour’s yard, who cuts off work five minutes early and wonders why he’s never been promoted, who has sucked off of the dole for most of his life, and who thinks Western Civilization started in 1945, is also the man who thinks himself competent to dictate economic policy. If only we limited the CEO’s salary to [arbitrary number] then the world could be beautiful again.
In the same manner as the Plain Jane who teams up with Big Bertha, Phil and Carl made a career out of standing next to SJWs so they’d look more intelligent by comparison. These would have been some amusing videos to make… but I decided not to for two reasons.
First, because they weren’t necessary. I’ve expressed my disappointment with GamerGate in the past; how it went from being a stalwart defence in the culture war, to being about ethics in game journalism, to being nothing more than another equality movement; nothing but a bunch of castrated jackals who thought themselves clever.
As it turns out I was simply looking in the wrong places. GamerGate is alive and well, and at least some of them have an inkling as to how deep this game actually goes:
Hello dear anons. If you’ve made it this far, from all the board moves and drama, failures and minor victories, you’re persistent enough to call yourself a gamer, even if you don’t play many games these days.
The drive to win is what kept you here. This revolt is essentially a game, but it’s a game that was started long before you or any of us were born. We’ve been thrown into it and some have decided to stick to mini-games (such as “ethics in game journalism”) while you have decided to beat the campaign.
As for battle conditions, I’ll say this: We are losing and we are losing badly. Why are we losing and how do I know for sure?
Please, go and read the rest of that; the analysis is spot-on. The people who matter know who and what Phil and Carl actually are, so there’s no need for me to waste any more time on them, beyond this short blog post.
My second reason for not doing the videos is more personal; quite frankly, it depresses me.
I poured my heart and soul into that movie. I gave up a lot to film it. I won’t bore you with the whole sob story, suffice to say that it cost me… especially since, if things had turned out differently, it really could have had an impact.
Don’t get me wrong, Immersed in Subversion is something I’m genuinely proud of; it’s not just a good film in spite of the circumstances, it’s a bloody good film period! The problem with it isn’t the film itself – it’s the fact that it’s on YouTube. As Marshall McLuhan said, “The medium is the message,” and no matter how good the film is, it’s nothing but a “YouTube Movie” as far as most people are concerned. The whole point of filming it was to get it onto Netflix; to get it into the mainstream; to connect the dots between Anita Sarkeesian, the Human Resources Department who harasses your typical normie every day, the violent political agitators they see on TV, and the eroding quality of life they notice out of the corners of their eyes.
That movie could have changed the landscape; shifted things in our direction. Putting it in the mainstream would have allowed viewers to pattern-match to the same struggles that are happening everywhere; but as things stand, without that appearance of endorsement by the assumed experts at Netflix, it’s about as useful as a sports car at the bottom of the ocean.
It depresses me that all that potential went to waste; that it turned into pointless and destructive bickering; and that so many win-win relationships turned to ashes. Quite frankly, I’d rather not revisit any of it, and focusing on these two jackasses would just bring me down.
Instead I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing; forewarning of the challenges I see, while doing what I can to edify and bolster any of you who choose to spend some of your short time on this planet reading or watching my work.
And with that in mind, let’s finish this piece by considering the crucial flaw which brought these men low, so that we ourselves do not repeat it.
Their sin was ego.
In the analysis I linked above (what, you still haven’t read it?) they delineate the three main strategies that are used against us. Containment – Dilution and Poisoning – and Ego!
It doesn’t take a genius to see how much of a cancer reddit is. Everyone speaks of the reddit hivemind, but most of us here understand that the cancer is caused by the “up/down vote” culture. We mock plebbitors endlessly for it but very few people explain exactly why it creates cancer. On top of this, few have explained why it generates so many infiltrators.
Incidentally, I am one of those few who identified the Reddit cancer – over three years ago.²
Ego enslaves you. It puts you into monkey-mode. It makes you obsessed about what others think about you, and through that obsession you become a caricature.
Think of the Goth kid shopping at Hot Topic.
The monkey brain might be a savvy political operator, but it isn’t very smart. It obsesses over slights instead of ideas, and upon achieving an ounce of success it tends to feed back into itself. Phil and Carl are the end state of what happens when you pretend to be smart, instead of actually being intelligent. The former is far more successful in the short term, but it burns you up fast.
The /ggrevolt/ article emphasizes the importance of anonymity; I agree, but I would add that there’s a role for accountability as well. On the one hand, writers such as myself are going to be emotionally connected to their work; part of me will wonder if any given critique is actually a veiled political attack; using my real name also makes me a target for attack. On the other hand, anonymous authors can’t be held accountable; obsessive methamphetamine addicts can come across as quite cordial when they’re behind a screen.
For any of us who are writing under our real names – or who have a recognized pseudonym – it is vital that we do all that we can to kill our egos. Write because it’s true. Write because it’s necessary. Write because it is good. Resist the temptation to write because of how it makes you feel.
And that, my dear readers, is the third reason why I’m not going to make those videos; because it would be serving my ego – it would not be serving you or me.
ͼ-Ѻ-ͽ
1. Because this is the internet, and half of you are autistic, I’m going to lay out where I stand, and why these are issues:
- Evolution: I consider it elegant and simple, I think it’s probably true, but it’s largely irrelevant in our day to day lives. It doesn’t solve the moral and political problems we’re facing, and focusing overmuch on it is a distraction.
- Global Warming: even if it is actually occurring, and it’s anthropogenic, the solutions being offered won’t do anything to combat it; they’re nothing more than trojan horses for globalist control.
- James Watson: look up the travesty of what happened to this genius of a man, and then ask yourself why Mason didn’t stand up for freedom of inquiry.
- Vaccinations: while early 20th century vaccinations were almost certainly beneficial, Big Pharma’s drive for profit is pushing new vaccines onto the market before they’re proven safe. E.g. mandatory Gardisil vaccinations have been causing infertility in the victims they were forced upon.
2. I honestly didn’t point this out for the sake of my ego; I’m pointing it out in the hopes that you young’uns can overcome yours. If you’ve recently come to a conclusion that I reached years ago, maybe you ought to be listening to the crazy things I’m saying today. Just sayin’.
“[Thunderf00t] makes you feel smart, while keeping you ignorant.”
This has been the problem with most “love science” people and those who pander to them: no interest in learning, just signaling.
Thunderf00t is losing the more savvy among his audience, though, as it becomes more and more obvious that he’s not very good at the “science thing” outside of the strictures of the lab (where others keep him in line). Look up Shane Killian’s videos on YouTube, topic Thunderf00t and Hyperloop.
JCS
In Sargon’s defense, he’s never tried to pretend he was anything other than a committed European social democrat. He’s a leftist who calls out other leftists on their bullshit, but he’s always been a leftist and never denied it. If people were mistaking him for something else, in my opinion that’s on them.
If only Leftsits were merely Leftists, Taco Town; the problem with them is that they all adhere to Movie Bob’s mantra of “No bad tactics, only bad targets”. Sargon pretended to be moderate and honest at first, though he voiced support for occasional socialism – but he’s proven to be dishonest, treacherous, and unbalanced, as all Leftists ultimately are.
That’s ultimately my problem with them. Some – SOME – of their stated policies are a good idea, in the right time and place (note for instance how the Alt Right has been embracing protectionism). But whether or not their ideas make sense, the fact that they’ll lie and cheat to achieve them is what makes them scum.
That’s the problem with both of them; that they’re liars and cheaters who are too lazy to earn an honest day’s wage. They’re ultimately only out for themselves.
You should do videos on them Davis. They would be quite entertaining and some of us much prefer videos to reading. At any rate, interesting points.
“1. Because this is the internet, and half of you are autistic”
Jokes on you, I’m half autistic.
“Global Warming: even if it is actually occurring, and it’s anthropogenic, the solutions being offered won’t do anything to combat it; they’re nothing more than trojan horses for globalist control.”
… yep. I’ll agree with that. GW is real (you know the north pole was ice-free this year? The North freaking Pole!), almost certainly human-caused (either that, or there’s a massive conspiracy of 90% of all nerds who study geology), and there is nothing but nothing can or will be done about it. Only thing to do is move to higher ground.
which vaccinations would you say are reasonable?
@Paul I tend to lean more towards the solar cause hypothesis, and I doubt all of the science (the academies have reached their conclusion, and if you disprove them you’re defunded), but honestly it’s a moot point. Neither of us are scientists, we must wait for somebody who is to pick up that cross and carry it where it must be carried. Same goes for vaccinations, Strider. When I eventually have children I’ll do the best research I can, and make the best choices I can based off of that information, but right now we’re large stuck with paid-for health ‘professionals’ with IQs of 120, and antivaxxer movements led by credulous celebrities.