Saturday, December 17, 2016

INFOGALACTIC, PIZZAGATE, AND RED PILL HOAXES

   It's been a few weeks since we last wrote about Infogalatic. Readers might recall that Infogalactic was a project initiated by Game/Red Pill cult blogger Vox Day and a few of his toadies to rewrite Wikipedia articles from their 'Alpha' perspectives. The Alphas believe that Wikipedia is censoring their contributions, because their editors insist on things like supporting sources and facts.

   Infogalactic had somewhat disappeared from what little public attention it had until the Pizzagate controversy drew it some more recent attention in the Manosphere.

   So we checked in with Science Fiction blogger Camestros Felapton, who has been keeping with Infogalactic and many of Vox' other antics. In 2013, Vox was booted out of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America organization; hence members feel obligated to keep an eye on him before he does further damage to their cause. Camestros noted in his most recent article on Infogalactic that, outside of the Manosphere and a few other Radical Right echo-chambers, Infogalactic has gotten no traction among the general public whatsoever. In fact, the project seems to be shrinking, with fewer editors actually re-scripting Wikipedia; the Infogalactic blog itself hasn't even been updated since late October.

    Over the last several months, Camestros has done an excellent job of exposing Infogalactic's pseudoscientific and history-revisionist claims. But in his December 3rd article, The Alt-Right and Misogyny, Camestros explains why programs like Infogalactic and other Red Pill cutouts are so pernicious socially:

    "Misogyny has been the gateway for the Alt-Right to recruit young men into a racist movement. The current Alt-Right has deep and continuing connections with 'men's rights' style movements as well as supposed pick-up artist (PUA) groups and dodgy 'self-improvement' and pseudo-psychology. In each case, there is a strong element of the Alt-Right playing on the sexual insecurities of young men. At the same time, the Alt-Right have tended to prefer nationalism and racism to self-define their movement...yet women are the most consistent personal targets of Alt-Right campaigns. Anti-women viewpoints (including views that promote or legitimize sexual assault) are central to their messaging. Even their anti-immigrant propaganda is centered on sexual fears---often phrased in terms that imply that women are territory or property at risk of being stolen from white men."

     Camestros is exactly right; psychologists of the past were well-aware of the deep connection between political/religious extremism and sexual maladjustment. Vehicles like Infogalactic are 'gateways' disguised as online encyclopedias to lure the unwary into the Red Pill Cult. This is why there has been a flurry of Manosphere articles lately praising Infogalactic's coverage of Pizzagate. The idea is to draw in Pizzagate proponents by expressing sympathy for their views (in contrast to the alienation Pizzagaters are experiencing) and then converting them to their other ideas. It's a typical cultish tactic; and the same tactic that the Red Pills have employed to suck in Men's Rights Activists, Gamergate theorists, and others before.

     In short, Infogalactic never had a chance of replacing Wikipedia; and it probably was not intended that it should---at least not in the short run. It was designed to serve as a recruiting tool, to draw more men into a movement which could never stand on its own merits.

    
  

   

6 comments:

  1. Hi, for the record I apologize for being rude in my comments. But I just wanted to explain something:

    I'm aware that Vox has written some "manosphere articles" (aka game, red pill). According to IG's mission statement however, ideological cursading isn't allowed there, so as long as Vox takes a hands-off approach like Jimbo Wales (who is an atheist Ayn Rand fan) on Wikipedia, then I don't care what the founders views outside of the website are myself.

    *I'm an admin there and I've deleted some "red pill" stuff which didn't meet the website's guidelines. I'm a traditionalist conservative and disagree with the "manosphere" ideology, but I think InfoGalactic has potential to be a better alternative than Wikipedia. I joined the website because had issues with Wikipedia bias and corruption problems (such as pro-pedophilia editors infiltrating Wikipedia).

    *If you disagree with me, then I invite you to contribute to the website, since the long-term plan is for it to be a mainstream competitor which is more objective than Wikipedia, not a fringe "manosphere" crank site like Kings Wiki - I am Tears of Ovid on InfoGalactic - you're free to view my edits there, and see that I have removed unsourced promotion of "manosphere/alpha/game/red pill" jargon myself, here's an example of my work:

    Thanks for your time: here's an example:

    https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=List_of_alt-right_concepts&type=revision&diff=724677423&oldid=724677412

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  2. I suppose I can't understand why you keep deleting my comments without responding even when I apologized for being rude, and gave you proof that my agenda with InfoGalactic has nothing to do with the "manosphere cult" you're referring to.

    My advice is pick your poison; InfoGalactic might be attracting some of those manosphere/red pill fellows you're referring to, but Wikipedia has plenty of problems of its own, and definitely isn't friendly on the whole toward traditionalist conservative views.

    If nothing else, I'd recommend at least reading up on some of the bias and conduct scandals that have plagued Wikipedia in the past (such as the "Virgin Killer" controversy where Wikipedia editors hosted sexualized imagery of a 13 year old girl from a music album - that may have violated some country's child pornography laws).

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    1. I didn't delete your comment, for some reason it didn't post and went into the filter automatically. I put it back up for you.

      I am going to be keeping an eye on the site, like I do with the rest of the Manosphere (as you suggested in the last comment). What will be interesting to see is if Infogalatic gets some serious mainstream support. Many those donors you mentioned will influence it away some from ideology.

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  3. For what it's worth, the "manosphere" as a whole is a bunch of idiots and frat boys, who will never become a serious political movement or anything more than an online nihilistic niche if they try to market themselves on an "anti-women" platform, and I'm pretty sure that most conservatives wish they weren't trying to affiliate themselves with the "right-wing".

    I personally would rather they not try to get involved in InfoGalactic at all, because if the site does go in the direction you fear it is and becomes a "manosphere hive mind" the website will flop since neither progressives or conservatives are going to agree with an self-destructive ideology that centers on reducing women to sexual objects; in fact civilization would never even survive if that were ever put into practice anyway.

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    1. A think that will be the most likely outcome; judging by how it's so far been received by both sides of the political spectrum.

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  4. Oh lastly, and if the website goes in the direction you're claiming it will, then I resolve to quit it, but I don't think it will and do think it can replace Wikipedia if it keeps the "red pill" stuff you speak of out, which I have been trying to do myself.

    I'd recommend checking up on the website 6-8 months from now and seeing if it ends up like what you say it is; because I will just let it slip that the founders have raised $25,000 from professional donors and are very serious about making it a professional project.

    It may have appealed to some manosphere folks who were angry about being 'censored' on Wikipedia initially, but I do not believe at all that is what its long term plan is.

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