Publisher’s Statement Regarding Matt Forney’s Articles and GamerGate

Over the past weekend, Gawker trolls, SJWs, and Weird Twitter bullies have been attempting to smear me as a “leader” of GamerGate for no other reason then because I’ve posted Tweets supportive of the movement in the past. They have attempted to use several of my articles to discredit the movement as a whole.

I would like to set the matter straight.

Anatomy of a Hoax

The meme that I am a “leader” of GamerGate began on Saturday, when I posted a series of Tweets questioning the odd connection between Gawker Media and several major Weird Twitter personalities.

Here's an idea for a #GamerGate journalist to investigate: the bizarre connection between Weird Twitter and Gawker Media.

— Matt Forney (@realmattforney) October 25, 2014

My assertion was based on the fact that Weird Twitter folks would always attack me whenever I went after Sam Biddle, Max Read, Hamilton Nolan and other Gawker writers on Twitter. Given that GamerGate has already uncovered evidence of collusion between SJW game journalists—and given that several Weird Twitter personalities such as Jeb Lund (@Mobute) and Dan O’Sullivan (“General Gandhi” aka @Bro_Pair) have actually written for Gawker Media publications in the past—my suggestion wasn’t out of line.

An anonymous tipster in PR informed me Gawker is engaging in astroturfing. Many of the loudest anti-#GamerGate proponents are on payroll.

— Mike Cernovich (@PlayDangerously) October 27, 2014

My Tweets were subsequently re-Tweeted and shared by several major media figures and Weird Twitter personalities, such as Lund, Hermit Thrush, and Badass Digest’s Devin Faraci among others. I figured it would blow over quickly. I’ve tangled with Weird Twitter trolls like a_girl_irl and Virgil Texas before, and the deluge of Notifications usually lasts a few hours at most. 

However, anti-GamerGate trolls have been passing around several of my articles, such as “How to Beat Your Girlfriend or Wife and Get Away with It” and “How to Crush a Girl’s Self-Esteem,” attempting to use them as examples of the movement’s beliefs. The anti-GamerGate’s argument that I am a “leader” of GamerGate is based entirely on their desire to attack me for my initial remarks about the Gawker/Weird Twitter connection.

Statement on GamerGate

I have said things that I have later disavowed. For example, two years ago I wrote an article gleefully celebrating the suicide of a teenage girl who engaged in a gangbang with several football players. While I still believe that Felicia Garcia’s behavior was evidence of a poor upbringing and deeper psychological issues (which the media coverage about her suicide completely ignored), rejoicing in her death was morally abhorrent. For that, I apologize.

Additionally, four years ago, I wrote an article for my now-defunct In Mala Fide blog titled “Why Nobody Likes Nerds, and Why You’re Justified in Hating Them” that advocated bullying as a way to “shame” nerds into normality. (The article is no longer online, but can be found in my book Three Years of Hate.) While I am and will remain critical of nerds and geek culture (a big part of why I have no desire to be a “leader” of GamerGate), I’ve since realized that bullying is wrong. I may not want to hang out with nerds, but they’ve never hurt me and they just want to be left alone. Again, I apologize.

The idea that I am a “leader” or major figure of GamerGate—or even want to be—is a lie concocted by the anti-GamerGate side. I am not a geek, barely play video games anymore and have no personal stake in GamerGate. I support it solely because it is a movement that serves the good, that serves the truth. While I am currently conducting an investigation for Return of Kings that will be of interest to GamerGaters, I have no intention of being an important part of the movement.

My sole interest in GamerGate is the same interest that animates all of my writing: a search for the truth. I will not allow SJWs to assign a label to me that I have explicitly rejected, and I will never apologize for writing what I believe is the truth. I take full responsibility for everything I have written, and I am not going to explain my articles. You have the right to think whatever you want about me.

Ye Shall Know Them By Their Fruits

Having said this, I will hold myself to a higher standard and not stoop to the level of anti-GamerGate figures and Weird Twitter personalities. I will not behave like Gawker’s Max Read, who gives out advice on how to date rape women:

Nor will I gallivant about like Ian Miles Cheong, an open neo-Nazi and anti-Semite:

I pledge not to sink to the depths of a_girl_irl, a 40-year old basement dweller who doxxed a 10-year old and helped bully an autistic man to suicide (and ran off the Internet when he himself was doxxed):

I promise never to act like Virgil Texas, a “man” who writes creepy Manic Pixie Dream Girl fan-fiction yet thinks he can attack PUAs as “human garbage“:

I will not be a coward like Dayna Evans, who lambasted Gavin McInnes for “transphobia” while remaining silent on the months-long rape porn trolling her Jezebel colleagues were suffering:

I will not act like Caitlin Dewey, who smeared Roosh and myself as neo-Nazis and blamed us for Elliot Rodger’s shootings and wrote a baseless hatchet job on GamerGate:

I am determined not to act like the ladies of Jezebel, who smear all men as rapists:

Indeed, I will not act like anyone affiliated with Gawker, a website that smears and bullies Wizardchan, a site populated by depressed autistic virgins who just want to be left alone:

I like to think that I’m a better person than the average anti-GamerGater. I pledge to actually act like it.

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