Adam Baldwin, the actor (Firefly, Full Metal Jacket, My Bodyguard) turned activist who coined the Twitter hashtag “#GamerGate,” agreed to speak to the Raw Story about his perspective on the still-developing story. Baldwin asked that the interview be conducted on Twitter.
@AdamBaldwin What's the one thing you think the liberal media's gotten wrong about GamerGate?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
.@scottekaufman That question's at the root of your problem: "liberal media" should have been pursuing facts & truth, not a political agenda
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman Its agenda's been to enforce arbitrary "social justice" rules upon gamers & the culture by stifling varying viewpoints.
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman By groupthink. Surely U've noticed the same narrative across your so-called "liberal media." Do you believe it's Coincidence?
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman ezra klein's "the personal is political" exposes it.
Gamers want to play good games.
Leftist political crap should BTFO.
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@AdamBaldwin Why do you think leftists have become so incensed by GG? Extension of larger issues, or particular to gaming culture?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman Because those leftists cannot resist the totalitarian impulse. The downfall of journalism has done the free world no favors.
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@AdamBaldwin When do you think this downfall began?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
By way of answering, Baldwin pointed Raw Story to these tweets:
" #GamerGate: a small battle in a thousand year war… " via @ClarkHat – //t.co/Vtb7fuHcio
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) October 22, 2014
" #GamerGate Viewed from the Right. " – //t.co/Wbr1yGeWQ5
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) October 23, 2014
@AdamBaldwin As to the 2nd link: Do you think GG amounts to younger leftists attacking establishment leftists instead of left v. right
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman Anti-GG's sweeping accusations of "MISOGYNY!", etc. against a broad, bipartisan demographic was toxic & self-defeating.
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman Anecdotal, but this may answer your question: https://t.co/ptgjZZXlC2
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
Baldwin then added:
@scottekaufman Begin w/ 'John Dewey & the Decline of American Education.'
Consensus process predetermination is journalistic malpractice.
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@AdamBaldwin And that started with Dewey's educational reforms, not Hearst journalism during Spanish-American war 2 decades earlier?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman Dewey et al. got to the children via government schools. Sound familiar?
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@AdamBaldwin Hitler youth, yes, but how does that relate to journalism, outside of "most people have a public education"?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman More like… Horkheimer/Lukács youth.
It relates because it's recruited/indoctrinated kids to be political "Agents of Change."
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@AdamBaldwin Old-Frankfurt-school style indoctrination, to get the kids to love liberalism and hate jazz?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman Alinsky Rule #1?
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
By which Baldwin meant, “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have,” the first “rule for radicals” penned by Saul Alinksy.
@AdamBaldwin What do you think "victory" for either side would entail?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman There will be no parade, if that's what you mean. But, Pro- #Gamergate has clearly won this skirmish in the long culture war.
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
@AdamBaldwin So you think GG effectively changed "the narrative" in a way that will have a lasting effect?
— Scott Eric Kaufman (@scottekaufman) November 10, 2014
@scottekaufman Millions of young people now easily recognize the political jargon/attacks from the authoritarian Left. It's a breakthrough.
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
The topic of violence against critics of GamerGate supporters was not addressed in the interview.
UPDATE: Baldwin wrote Raw Story to note that he meant Alinsky’s fifth rule, not his first.
@scottekaufman Thanks. Meant Rule 5…
Dogs were barking & distracting…
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
UPDATE II: Baldwin took issue with the headline of this article, stressing that #GamgerGate is but small victory in a larger war:
@scottekaufman My tweets are clear that it is but one skirmish in the long war (as described in @ClarkHat’s linked post). @ibbibby
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) November 10, 2014
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