Sponsored links

A Voice for Men

Humanist Counter-Theory in the Age of Misandry

Gyno Mission
You are here: Home / News / Investigation into Sarkeesian death threats reveals no risk to USU students or staff—Officials cast doubt upon their validity

Investigation into Sarkeesian death threats reveals no risk to USU students or staff—Officials cast doubt upon their validity

By 149 Comments

Late last night, sources all over the Internet were ablaze with the news of emails sent Monday to staff at Utah State University, where Anita Sarkeesian was scheduled to speak today, threatening a mass shooting if the event were to take place. In addition to the media frenzy, students and faculty protested the threats vehemently.

“If you do not cancel her talk, a Montreal Massacre style attack will be carried out against the attendees, as well as students and staff at the nearby Women’s Center. I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs. This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history and I’m giving you a chance to stop it,” the email stated.

“You have 24 hours to cancel Sarkeesian’s talk. You might be foolish enough to just beef up security at the event, but that won’t save you. Even if they’re able to stop me, there are plenty of feminists on campus who won’t be able to defend themselves. One way or another, I’m going to make sure they die.”

The email went on to refer to Marc Lépine, the shooter who went on a rampage on a Montreal campus a quarter-century ago, killing 14 women and wounding 10 women and 4 men. In the 25 years since that shooting, the name “Lépine” has taken its place among the names of many other mass shooters and now has a status of relative obscurity. Among feminists, however, his name is often used to evoke images of terror and violence toward women.

“Utah State University police is coordinating the threat information with other local, state and federal agencies, including the Utah Statewide Information and Analysis Center, the FBI Cyber Terrorism Task Force, and the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit,” said a statement issued by the university police department at 4 p.m. on October 14 on the website of the school’s newspaper, Utah State Today. “After a careful assessment of the threat it has been determined it is similar to other threats that Sarkeesian has received in the past, and all university business will be conducted as scheduled tomorrow.”

The statement did not elaborate as to why—since the threat had been determined to be “similar to other threats” Sarkeesian has received—the university would be conducting business as scheduled.

At 7 p.m., an update was posted on the same website, telling students that Sarkeesian herself had canceled her speech after discussing the emails with campus police: “During the discussion, Sarkeesian asked if weapons will be permitted at the speaking venue. Sarkeesian was informed that, in accordance with the State of Utah law regarding the carrying of firearms, if a person has a valid concealed firearm permit and is carrying a weapon, they are permitted to have it at the venue.”

Later in the evening, the police issued another statement to Utah State Today, reassuring students that their safety was the department’s top priority. They repeated prior assertions that state law enforcement and the FBI were involved in the investigation, saying, “Following a disturbing email received late Monday evening, Utah State University police and administrators have been working throughout the day to assess any level of risk to students or to a speaker scheduled to visit. USU police, in conjunction with several teams of state and federal law enforcement experts, determined that there was no threat to students, staff or the speaker, so no alert was issued.”

“At no time was there any imminent threat,” the statement continued. “The investigation is continuing.”

AVfM News called the Utah State University Police Department earlier today for more details, including whether or not a suspect was identified, and if so whether or not an arrest has or will be made. The officer who answered the phone call transferred us to Tim Vitale, the school’s executive director of public relations.

Vitale said that no suspect has yet been identified.

When asked why, if the threats were consistent with other serious threats directed toward Sarkeesian in the past, the school decided to go on with the event anyway, he replied, “Those threats never amounted to any action, and the law enforcement experts that were assessing the threat said that the threat was not real.”

“The letter itself was threatening, but they [the investigators] did not expect a followup to be carried out.”

When asked if this was based on investigations into previous threats directed toward Sarkeesian, Vitale answered affirmatively.

“We are talking about the FBI Cyber Terrorism Task Force, the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, and other law enforcement professionals who are experts in this world. We tapped the best resources we could and that was their assessment.”

When asked if he was concerned that the voluminous amount of negative media attention surrounding USU would affect its reputation and if any action would be taken against the student or students responsible for the email, Vitale said, “One, we don’t think nor do law enforcement officials think that this is a student at our institution. The investigation continues and we certainly are pursuing the name of the individual, but we really don’t believe it is a student of ours. Two, we are looking to see the investigation continue aggressively and we aren’t looking at the next round of action until that process is complete.”

“We are very aware of our university’s stellar reputation already, and as we explain how we addressed the situation and our response to the email we know that we will make it clear to people that we did everything we could in the situation to both protect the safety of the speaker herself, our students, and audience members who had chosen to go to the event,” he added. “And two, that at all times we also protected the academic integrity of the institution.”

“Front and center during this entire event were two things: safety, safety, safety, and two, academic freedom slash freedom of speech. Freedom of speech both of the speaker herself and of our students and community members who want to hear her speak about a very important topic. We know that is what we do, educate people. Give students, give the community a chance to hear different perspectives on new information presented to them. They in turn can express their own opinions either in support of or in opposition to the material they are hearing and then the final part of the process is that, we hope, they learn something. It’s the heart of the heart of what we do as an academic institution.”

You can listen to an audio recording of the phone conversation here:

Sarkeesian, a well-published critic of what she describes as a misogynistic gaming culture, has been the subject of much controversy lately, having claimed she has been the target of multiple threats, via Twitter and email, against her safety. She even claimed to have had to leave her home in August because of constant online harassment.

She has many detractors who believe that she is poisoning the game industry with what they call hateful feminist ideology. Her most famous detractor, Dr. Phil Mason, also known by the YouTube handle Thunderf00t, has produced many videos criticizing her inadequacies and exposing her outright dishonesty. #Gamergate is the Twitter hashtag most associated with her critics and has been derided by many of Sarkeesian’s supporters as being a hotbed for misogyny and a platform for attacks against her.  Thunderf00t even had his Twitter account suspended at her behest, even though there was no evidence of any threats he made against her.

 

About Robert O'Hara

Bob O'Hara is the U.S. News Director for A Voice for Men. He is a men's rights activist living in the Washington, D. C. area who has done work with S.A.V.E. and is the host of a weekly radio show with news and analysis on men's and boys' issues.

View All Posts

Want to say goodbye to that crazy woman?

Buy the instruction manual here.

Support us by becoming a member

AVFM depends on readers like you to help us pay expenses related to operations and activism. If you support our mission, please subscribe today.

Join or donate

Sponsored links

Erin

Elsewhere on AVfM

  • Eric

    After the press release, I’m now convinced that the FBI determined the email was not sent from someone inside the United States. Law enforcement takes threats of terrorism pretty seriously. How the investigation will play out in the next six-months will be interesting.

    • Kimski

      I have to agree. The preoccupation with Lépine and not Rodgers seems to indicate a feminist out of the Montreal/Toronto-area. The obvious lack of general weapon knowledge indicates no military or gun training, whatsoever.

      • inawarminister

        Whoa whoa, you’re telling me a Montreal metrochick is going to get her arse whipped by the Law?

        ‘Ell yeah!

        • Kimski

          Given the societal consensus on female judiciary “accountability”, I’d imagine they’ll pay her parents a nice little visit, after which we won’t hear of this again..ever..-until Sarkeesian pulls another victimhood donation run, that is.

      • GeorgeOlduvai

        “Obvious lack of general weapon knowledge…”

        Would you mind clarifying this?

        • Kimski

          People with gun experience tend to address them by their designated label, i.e. a Remington 22., a Winchester rifle, etc, and not some unspecific ‘semi-automatic’ or ‘pistol’.

          • Graham Strouse

            I don’t know about that but the Mark Lepine reference was pretty suspicious. Few Americans (including myself) had ever heard of Mark Lepine. I had to Google his name and I’m something of a true crime junkie. It seems very unlikely that a USU undergraduate student would be familiar with name. It’s possible, but unlikely. Like with the Boston Marathon bombing, it seemed pretty obvious that the perp were local, simply because unless you’re a track/running fan and/or a native of the greater Boston area, the marathon just went register on your terrorist-radar (terror-dar?)

        • Eric

          People with actual firearms experience will generally not give formal names when writing an email, and especially when they are angry. They will usually refer to them as “guns” or mention them with specificity. The only time I’ve heard people use the term “pistol” is when individual is older or referring to an old style pistol.

          • S Rawson

            Military basic training, gun is in your pants dumb f””k, this is a rifle!

          • GeorgeOlduvai

            “This is my rifle, this is my gun; one is for shooting, the other for fun.”

          • Guest

            This is for fighting, this is for fun

          • Union Lacktivist

            I’ve heard people use “pistol” when they are unfamiliar with guns especially people from Europe. I’d say odds are this “threat” was made by someone not inside the USA.

      • Rob

        i hope it s not big red.
        isn’t she from the toronto area?

      • Andrejovich Dietrich

        Should have threatened using a modified pressure cooker. Everyone knows feminists don’t get anywhere near cooking utensils so they wouldn’t have been suspected.

      • Magnus

        There are endless lists of shootings in recent years that the person could have referred to, so yeah the choice is a bit odd. That said IF it was an unstable person with an interest in massacre of this kind that person could have some knowledge…. but I still find it very peculiar. Why not Newtown, Rodgers, or heck Columbine? Or the Boston Bombing. Heck the Utøya shooting in Norway in 2011 is a more recent and also very applicable.
        So yeah… very strange that the person picks THAT massacre as an example.

        And I also found the way the person referred to the weapons a bit odd. Why be that specific without being MORE specific?

        • Kimski

          “very strange that the person picks THAT massacre as an example.”

          Maybe not, if you know that Lepine has been part of various soundbytes within the canadian feminist movement for years. If you just wanted to throw a name out there as a threat, you’d likely pick a name and a story you were familiar with. Which is one of the reasons I believe we’re dealing with a Canadian woman, 35-45 y/o,-maybe older, caucasian, single with a history of broken relationship(s) behind her, and definitely a feminist.

          • Magnus

            Yeah, I think I agree with you, but I was talking from the point of “If the threat was real, made by an Anti-Feminist”, in which case the massacres I mentioned would resonate a lot more.

            I know that as a Norwegian dropping the name Breivik would send a lot more dread through the populous than Lepine, even if I was threatening feminists.

          • Kimski

            Over here most people would go: ‘Marc who?’ or ‘Elliot who?’, if you used any one of those as examples, while using Breiviks name would be like dropping a grenade in the room you’re in. The responses would be quick, undoubtedly..

  • http://www.StudioBrule.com/ Steve Brulé

    The investigators basically call this threat, and every other threat to Sarkeesian, fraud.
    Most people in the US, outside of dedicated feminist circles, probably never heard of Lepine. Which means that if this threat was from within the US, it was from a feminist.

    • Union Lacktivist

      Or….someone not in the USA. Odds are it is a European or someone from Quebec.

      • Mike Hunt

        Or someone from Toronto, such as Anita Sarkeesian.

  • sondjata olatunji

    I still want to see the headers and the report as to how this “threat” is like the others? Same writing style? Same geographic origination? I think given the amount of attention this has gotten, the public has a right to know.

    • Robert Ohara

      That ball is in the FBI’s court now. Looks like this may force their hand.

      • http://www.avoiceformen.com/ Paul Elam

        Hate to say it, but I think once the FBI figures out this is not an MRA they will lose interest in the case.

        I really hope I am wrong.

        • Kostantine

          No they won’t. This was a public threat made by someone claiming that he would kill attendees to a lecture, defaming a major academic institution in the process. If they let that slide, USU would never be able to let the bad press behind this go. No matter who was behind this, it’s in the university’s and the FBI’s best interests to look into this as thoroughly as possible.

          • Rob

            if it turns out to be a woman or a feminist
            then if they are prosceuted then their supporters ( the feminists) will up in arms over it claiming that the person was trying to draw attention to what women face everyday on the streets( this in an example used inthe follow up media over elliot rodgers)

          • TrishRan

            Yeah, just like it might be “good for” some man to be falsely accused of rape, it might be “good for” the university to see what a threat to its students is like…

            Gross – but not impossible

        • http://batman-news.com MGTOW-man

          I do not think you are wrong. But if it was someone claiming to be an “MRA”, then our movement should expect to see what I have been saying will come for quite some time now: censorship. If they successfully, albeit erroneously declare we are hatred and violence, our movement on the internet will be over…unless we learn how to resist the meanness toward males from feminism some other legal way. So far, not much interest has manifested in alternative ways to resist femi-hatred of males.

        • Roland Bjorkman

          I have a feeling it may get treated like that false rape claim in Florida. Media will immediately drop the story. Chalk it up to a learning experience guys!

  • Attila_L_Vinczer

    False rape, false DV, False sexual allegations are common practice. At MRM events detractors pull fire alarms and call in bomb threats to thwart the event. To send an email threatening to mass murder students and others at a school, is extremely serious. To send such a malicious vexatious death threat is a serious criminal act. One that should be treated with extreme punishment when the person or persons responsible is/are caught. Serious jail time and other significant punitive punishment must ensue.

    Excellent journalistic work Bob!

    • Generaallucas .

      But they’re doing it for the good of women and equality! Then they cannot be judged, rait guys?

      • NotoriousPAT

        Exactly. They’re on the side of good, so they can be as bad as they want.

      • Godmars

        Can’t tell if you’re serious.

        “Yes. Let’s treat false claims the same as real ones especially when they’re made by the accuser.”

        We are just screwed as a society, aren’t we?

    • http://batman-news.com MGTOW-man

      But if they find out it came from another feminist or even a woman, she is likely to not get very much if any punishment.

      • Attila_L_Vinczer

        Agreed, and is why I am here doing the advocacy work I do, along with all the other amazing men and women who understand this gender bias. A bias that is harming men, boys and even women. Being female, does not equal to impunity simply because you were born with a vagina.

        • Eric

          I’m still holding out hope. If Shannon Guess Richardson can get 18-years in prison for mailing Ricin to the President of the United States, even though she made her husband be the fall-guy, I like to think anything is possible.

          • artiefischel

            That’s a good point. I think it’s a little too easy to become narrow focused and cowed by the power feminism has. There are other memes beside the damsel that our society has adopted, and one of them is the terrorist. Sending that email was an act of domestic terrorism (I assume it was domestic), and the agencies that investigate that don’t really care about feminism, only about whatever they think is national security. Local and state law enforcement might dance to feminism’s tune, even the FBI to some degree, but not the national intelligence agencies. Feminists just haven’t had a reason to exert pressure there. So I think there is reason to hope this will be investigated properly, if ‘properly’ is understood to include a whole host of shady or outright illegal methods shoehorned in under the Patriot Act.

        • http://batman-news.com MGTOW-man

          Yep. And thank you.

    • Thought Police

      This whole thing looks like the work of trolls sympathetic to Sarkeesian. I really hope someone is brought to justice for this.
      Next step after trolling, will be *actual* troll MRA’s (with online presence, videos, threats, misogyny etc)

  • chris perez

    So the FBI believes the threat came from outside the US? It might be a coincidence but someone has been making twitter accounts threatening Ms.Sarkeesian and people who support gamergate as well. Some people on the side of gamergate tracked down the individual responsible and he is a self proclaimed journalist from Brazil.

    • Rob

      if it is him

      shall we have a “misgoney 100 sweepstake” on the number of days after the announcement of an arrest in which various media articles will scream how he is an MRA?( I’m looking at you guardian in the UK, laura bates, estelle tang, and jessica valenti).

      the hysteria to which the guardian has jumped on this is incrediable. I got pre moderated for commenting that anita should publish the email and inform the FBI( there was no mention that she had) and that I had hoped this was going tobe another zoe quinn cry wolf episode.

      jeezz .. some of the moderators really do get their noses out of joint at the possibilty of a scam.

      i mean no one would create a threat to avoid something would they ???

      except they do
      from the guardian themselves
      Rhiannon Brooker
      Trainee barrister jailed for false rape claims
      http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/26/trainee-barrister-jailed-false-rape-claims

  • http://my.mmosite.com/2342910 DoDoDo Ro

    “The statement did not elaborate as to why—since the threat had been determined to be similar to other threats Sarkeesian has received”

    Because she’s a compulsive liar, I’m surprised people still believe her BS after 6 fucking lies of alleged “Threats” the FBI and P.D couldn’t find in their records, just 2 months ago she lied to the P.D about being threatened because she never called them, nor did they have a report in their records stating that she’s been threatened.

    • Kimski

      Yeah, someone needs to sign up their rationalization hamster for the Olympics.
      I think we might have a winner here..

    • John Narayan

      Interpol and homeland security could have this solved in a jiffi.

      • Kimski

        My best guess is that they already did: They probably found a female in the other end and this is just another version of the slap on the wrists, wherein the public is being held in the dark.
        -But my opinion is strictly based on experience from years of reading the news, of course..

    • Bingo

      But the email was not a fake, that is, it was not reported second-hand. It exists.

      • Rob

        the email does not have to be fake, only if the claims were.
        the email is just a medium, say like the a typed letter threat.

        I would have thought that if after several episodes anita woudl have been given a number at the FBI to call if she got any more threats

  • Roland Bjorkman

    Now that it’s not just a personal threat, but a threat to a college campus, maybe they’ll really devote some resources to tracking down the source of these threats. The writing is very odd, though I admit I’ve only seen two of them. The first one was a series of tweets that contained pretty flowery stuff, that suddenly turned to rape. Then there’s this one, which references a shooting that happened decades ago that is important to feminists. Not the kind of stuff you’d expect from trolls who threaten feminists.

  • Masta solanas

    The Gamergate debacle is interesting (from an anti-feminist perspective as I’m not a gamer) to say the least, even though its most popular voices still seem to have difficulty articulating what it is even about.

    The journalistic integrity issue comes off as a pretext when the real issue is combating feminist hegemony in gaming. Cronyism, lies, nepotism, propaganda, censorship, suppression, and victim narratives are just common tactics used by feminists to exert its ideological control over any area whether it be academia, government, or gaming. The same actions have been observed numerous times by MRAs when feminists constantly tried to demonize men and MRAs in the past, so those fighting in Gamergate come off as amateurs compared to MRAs. Moreover Gamergate has a problem with out-of-control trolls on their side that negatively affects their legitimacy. Feminists stratetigcally use these death threats to cast all of Gamergate as a hate movement, just as they did numerous times with the MRM by quote-mining Paul Elam’s articles.

    This latest death threat seems so contrived and suspicious. Marc Lepine? Seriously? It sounds like a caricature written by a feminist of what feminists perceive someone who is against feminism to be.

    When you said the threat isn’t real, I initially thought it was a hoax of some sort, but it looks like the author of the threat had no intention of carrying out the threat yet still used the threat to shut down the speech. It still very well could be someone from Anita’s opposition who did it.

    It looks like the FBI is really stepping up their game here unlike with other threats it investigated in the past. Hopefully there will be updates on their investigation with this one..no one knows what happened with the previous threats because coverage of them completely stopped after a few days. Hopefully they find the identity of the person who did it so everyone can know where this “unsub” (FBI BAU!) stands on the Gamergate issue.

    • GeorgeOlduvai

      “it looks like the author of the threat had no intention of carrying out the threat yet still used the threat to shut down the speech. ”

      Anita was never going to give the speech in the first place. She voiced concerns about concealed carry weapons and was told that USU couldn’t and wouldn’t abrogate constitutional law. She was then assured that additional procedures were to be undertaken in order to satisfy her. Then comes the email and her cancellation. Funny, no?

      • Dagda Mór

        Double whammy for the SJWs and the feminists. In all honesty though she’d have to be mind bogglingly stupid to pull this herself or through someone she knows. Not saying she isn’t, but these kinds of threats bring the attention of some very serious and well equipped people.

      • TrishRan

        Even more funny is how most of the discussion is framed around this being a threat against Sarkeesian herself. The threat was sent to the university, threatening attendees and students and staff at the women’s center – in other words, lots of people, and not naming Sarkeesian herself as a target for the “pistols and pipe bombs”.

        Sounds to me like a threat to kill a lot of random, non-famous people, but …Sarkeesian!

    • Kyle W

      The fight against corruption in Games Journalism is a real thing and probably the most widely held single issue #Gamergate has as a whole. HOWEVER, I’ll tell you as a 43 year old man who was abused by his Ex-Fiancee’ back in the mid 90’s by a 3rd-Wave feminist, I recognized this same kind of Ideology almost immediately and started talking about it at the few gaming sites still open. These younger people are for the most part, utterly ignorant of these things and tried very hard to avoid having any ‘politics’ interfere with their fight for better games journalism.

      The fact is though, is that the reason Games Journalism is as corrupt as it is, is BECAUSE of these Rabid Ideologues! The two issues are inseperable. But most of the ‘Goal Confusion’ you’re seeing is coming from these kids trying to come to grips with that. I’ve had some success in convincing them. Hopefully it will be enough.

      In a broader topic though, most people in America are not used to Ideologues. Everyone obviously, *has* certain beliefs and a certain Worldview that we use to guide us through our lives. However, most people treat theirs like a Pet, like a Dog. They play with it in the backyard, they love it & feed it, sometimes they take it out for a walk, but it stays in control. The Ideologues of the Gaming Morality Force however? Their Ideology is treated like an Attack Dog, trotted out to destroy the enemy when needed. That is something that most people are just not prepared to deal with.

      • Graham Strouse

        I think gaming journalism as a medium has a bigger problem. It’s simply not all that relevant or profitable any more. Youtube and Twitch have effectively made it obsolete. The turn to social justice wars strikes me as less of an ideological move and more as a desperate ploy to maintain some semblance of usefulness. Game journalists got to pay the rent too, y’know, and many of them have limited transferable skills. As people increasingly understand that the industry is not only corrupt but also rather pointless, it gets harder for the game journos to draw a paycheck.

  • John Narayan
  • Burn Ender

    I can’t wait until the hammer of justice falls upon Anita’s head. She’s a scam artist, I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. The entire world is closing in on her, that is why she’s actively trying to get the Sarkessian effect shutdown numerous times. As bad as I think Anita is for the gaming industry, I don’t think she’s an ideologue, Mcintosh is a whacko ideologue, some of his tweets are seriously fucked up.

    • Union Lacktivist

      We have someone like her in Wisconsin. His name is Jeremy Ryan and he rides a Segway around Madison making claims that he has 100 different illnesses and needs money for meds…one of those meds being weed. He’s a scumbag and a con artist.

  • GeorgeOlduvai

    ” determined that there was no threat to students, staff or the speaker, so no alert was issued.”

    “After a careful assessment of the threat it has been determined it is similar to other threats that Sarkeesian has received in the past, and all university business will be conducted as scheduled tomorrow.”

    “Those threats never amounted to any action, and the law enforcement experts that were assessing the threat said that the threat was not real.”

    Let’s put all this together…This “threat” wasn’t real (read as actionable), yet Sarkeesian chose to cancel anyway (hmmm…). The “threats” reported by Anita previously also amounted to nothing. The last round of “threats” which “drove her from her home” (and which her local PD has no record of)…amounted to nothing. Golly gee, could it be that there is…nothing behind any of them? Oh. wait, there’s a damsel in distress…

    • Crimson Viceroy

      Reminds me of a boy, a wolf, and a whole bunch of false alarms…end of the story, village doesn’t give a damn, boy ends up facing the consequences of his stupidity, and the wolf..well the wolf ends up having a decent dinner out – end of story.

      • Andrejovich Dietrich

        She’s more like a little chicken

    • Magnus

      You know she and her cronies will use this cancellation as proof of the threats validity, and milk it for all that it’s worth.

  • Keddy43

    “Those threats never amounted to any action, and the law enforcement experts that were assessing the threat said that the threat was not real” All I can say is………. BUSTED!!!!

  • TPH

    I was thinking about the supposed threat and how Sarkeesian reacted along with the media, she and her media helpers did a ham handed attempt at tying MRA’s to guns and violence. In my mind this has all the trappings of a damseling fundraiser coupled with a political anti-gun stunt.

  • Flo

    False Flag!

  • Sand Ripper

    “I’m in fear for my life! Please donate to Feminist Frequency!”

    – Anita Sarkeesian

    • TrishRan

      burn!

    • Rob

      is that a real quote?

      if it is , then the mind boggles.
      when you are threatened, donations should be the last thing on your mind
      bizzarre !

      • Gregg Braddoch

        Sarkessian is a bit long winded for that short of a quote to be real, but in the instance where she had to leave her home she tweeted about leaving, and her very next tweet was asking for donations.

        So, as they say “close enough”

  • Crimson Viceroy

    I suppose this kind of goes along with what I like to coin the “Crying Wolf” syndrome. In this case, Sarkeesian is not only claiming empty threats, but now there is reasonable cause to suspect that she is also making them under an anonymous handle and in order to “prove” the validity of those threats in order to legitimize her pleas of fear and of cries of being threatened, she has to go to such overt lengths to cancel her speeches in order to demonstrate how valid she takes her own threats. This takes narcissism to a whole new level. Is this what it has come to, Feminism? Now women have to make threats against themselves and then act upon those empty self-accusing threats? Why the hell is anyone entertaining words from such a clearly disturbed individual?

    • Don Saxton

      Universities do not have protection beforehand. A campus group may hire a speaker who will likely harm the reputation of the university. Afterward the university could sue for damages, but the campus group will likely dissolve without funds to cover damages. Insurance might be one way around this, but that turns freedom of expression into pay to play.

      • Crimson Viceroy

        Well we certainly had to pay the piper when it came to AVFM’s first ever men’s conference. Hell, we needed our own police protection but that didn’t stop us from exercising our God-given freedom of speech. If there is anything that that conference taught me, it was that in this day and age, your freedom of speech is pay to play. Should never be that way, but alas, it is. If anything it demonstrates the iron resolve of the august body of leaders at AVFM to not backdown to empty threats and to hold steadfast to what’s right. Sarkeesian shows no convictions to her feminist proclivities. A true coward and hypocrite.

  • Crimson Viceroy

    It saddens me to a new level of despair that gaming has gotten to this. Is there nothing sacred anymore? Must women always want to invade every morsel of male space and turn the crazy on and ruin what was once an innovative, robust, sprawling community of diverse ideas and collaboration? News flash, toots, men are the primary consumers of video games and thus if you keep attacking men, in one of our most sacred areas of interest and passion, we will fight and call out your BS.

    • http://www.avoiceformen.com/ David King

      No, but feminists and moral busybodies do.

      • Crimson Viceroy

        Not sure that those are the only groups responsible for this mess. This problem transcends vocal malcontents like Sarkeesian. She’s just the tip of the iceberg.

    • Andrejovich Dietrich

      It is far easier to destroy, than create…Didn’t Zoe prove feminists capability to create something of worth?

      • Crimson Viceroy

        Quite right, Andrejovich. Thank you for reminding me of that excellent example.

        • Andrejovich Dietrich

          Feminists have proven how good they are at bringing in money for their cause. I personally think the $150K AS raised would have been better spent hiring a few Indie Developers (who actually know how to develop), and producing a game she thinks is worthy of feminism, rather than a bunch of hate videos that contributes nothing but criticism. But I am guessing she knows the type of game she would think appropriate for feminists sensibilities would bomb in the open market.

          However…As I have said before, feminists do not spend any effort to actually create anything. Just criticize what the creators in our society produce.

  • Alice Blue

    There’s no point in saying where the email came from until the FBI finishes its investigation and releases its findings. Just because there was no visible man with guns at the ready if the event wasn’t canceled does not mean she made it up. Some people are making a lot of assumptions about the sender based on nothing but their own imaginations and impressions. We need the professionals to track this down and analyze it. There is also no way to say what Anita knew or didn’t know about the threat. All this analysis here is just amateur hour.

    • http://www.avoiceformen.com/ David King

      This.

    • Andybob

      I don’t believe that Anita Sarkeesian instigated the threat or in any way colluded in it. She simply took advantage of it by refusing to go ahead with her talk, giving the impression that she was frightened off by the threatening email.

      Her ‘concerns’ about gun–toting attendees was simply an excuse to damsel after authorities declared that she was not in any danger. Had she gone ahead with the talk and emerged in one piece, the threatening email would not have been proven empty, and of little use to her.

      The reason I am so confident that the email was written by a feminist is that, whoever wrote it, either believes – or is heavily invested in perpetuating the myth – that Elliot Rodger and Mark Lepine were both MHRAs. Feminists are the only people who have ever demonstrated either this belief, or such an investment.

      David Futrelle has attempted to debunk my post. He acknowledges that neither Rodger nor Lepine were “card-carrying MRAs”, but only because he knows we’ve got him on those lies. Yet, he fails to comprehend the obvious logic that if they weren’t MHRAs, then his whole argument collapses in on itself because it is entirely predicated upon the assumption that they were.

      It is strangely fascinating to watch him hope that no-one will notice this glaring flaw in his reasoning. Spare a thought for his poor, abused hamster – the little critter must have wound up in intensive care over this one.

  • Danlantic

    Thanks for filling in on the Montreal Massacre. It had completely
    disappeared from my consciousness. Apparently it happened when I worked
    for a company where my boss couldn’t stand hearing about such things
    and wouldn’t watch the news and did not want to be updated on homicides.

    Say, does anyone remember the Isla Vista Massacre? I mean the first one. Think for a moment….

    In
    2001 Daniel Attias was a director of many episodes of “Buffy the
    Vampire Slayer”. Now, people have asked me why I watch horror films and
    my formal answer is “It externalizes internal fear.” Aristotle said
    something like that about Greek tragedy. Daniel Attias had the inner
    fear that his psychotic son would maybe go berserk, or like many, just
    heal up over time. Instead his son David who was in the same college as
    Elliot Rodger decided to get revenge on the world by running his car up
    on the sidewalk and mowing people down. He killed 4 people on Feb 23,
    2001.

    Another thought from way back. Remember the Pueblo
    Incident? Decades ago an American naval vessel gathering electronic
    intelligence legally off the coast of North Korea was captured. The
    captain signed a confession. The idiots in our State Department said it
    couldn’t have been written by an American and were too stupid to
    explain why. People in the English speaking world agreed. In countries
    where they read it in translation believed it. The reason the State
    Dept said was not that no American would be disloyal but because the
    text had sentences about how the captain undertook the mission because
    he was promised “a lot of dollars”. Besides the fact that American
    officers do not get to negotiate their missions as commercial contracts
    any native speaker of English would know that an American says “a lot of
    money” not “a lot of dollars”. George Orwell once wrote an essay about
    how Communists had created their own weird dialect of English. Tho he
    did not give that as an example “dollars” (pejorative) was a frequent
    artifact of that style. This alleged threat and its weirdness fits in.

    I watched CBS morning show this morning and they gave a biased report
    that the speech was canceled, not that Sarkeesian had unilaterally
    canceled it, and said guns were allowed on campus suggesting that Utah
    State allows open carry rather than concealed weapons licensees are
    allowed.

    • billy97

      The anti-firearm emphasis seems to be a strong part of this hoax.
      I would suggest that properly permitted weapons present little or no risk in this situation as a permit holder is very unlikely to break the law.

  • Myopia

    “Even if they’re able to stop me, there are plenty of feminists on campus who won’t be able to defend themselves.”

    A woman/sjw wrote that email. A man at the point of going postal A) wouldn’t warn his target, and B) would not refer to his target (feminists) by the name they apply to themselves. He would call them something far more derogatory.

    • Graham Strouse

      Quite possibly.

    • Gregg Braddoch

      “I’d wager a woman wrote that email.”

      If there was a way to find out, I’d be betting on not just any woman, but a feminist.

  • Bingo

    What is the point of this blog post? Are you saying that Sarkeesian was unreasonable in fearing for her safety?

    • RevSpinnaker

      No they are suggesting she or an anti-MHRA are responsible for the string of strategically placed threats.

      • Crimson Viceroy

        At this point, I would say it’s a reasonable suspicion that that is the case. Sarkeesian has had a history of “crying wolf” over and over again, without any sort of validation.

    • Kimski

      How many times do you have to man the barricades to defend the honour of a damsel in distress, before you realize there is no damsel in distress, and no honour to defend in the first place?

      • Andrejovich Dietrich

        Are we trying to imply this damsel had honor?

        • Kimski

          You should know me better by now. 😉

  • RevSpinnaker

    Hey everybody, I just started a petition over at Care2, “the largest petition site in the world”, and the most left leaning pro-feminist. It’s called “Arrest the person making death threats against Anita Sarkeesian.” Sign up at Care2 and sign the petition. They are actually very effective.

  • RevSpinnaker

    Again, please sign my petition, here’s the link:

    http://www.thepetitionsite.com/874/865/688/arrest-the-person-making-death-threats-against-anita-sarkeesian/

    I just posted it on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. I encourage everyone here to do the same.

    • NotoriousPAT

      I was going to say, please give.a link!

  • NotoriousPAT

    Surprise!

  • http://batman-news.com MGTOW-man

    Wouldn’t it be nice to see the same people who said “Free speech should not be impeded” and “Universities are places to exchange ideas….” to say the same thing when we want to exercise our human right to speak as well? Let one of our leaders schedule a talk there and then see what happens. Perhaps those same people might show their true hateful nature.

  • MrSonicAdvance

    It’s just struck me that this is one of those “Death by a thousand cuts” moments. Once again a feminist makes a small “reasonable” request that demands someone else gives up a legal right. This time it was refused, but all too often it is not. Which is how we ended up with such a perverted legal system.

    • TrishRan

      She probably thought she could bully the campus into making the event weapons-free, but the University couldn’t violate state law, so “request” denied.

      Hissy fit ensues.

      • Gregg Braddoch

        PLANNED hissy fit ensues. She had to know that the University could not violate state law.

  • Don Saxton

    The connection between bias and feminism in journalism is real. CBS News broadcasts one sided feminist view of ‪#‎GamerGate ‬http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/accusations-of-sexism-in-video-games-prompt-threats-of-violence/

  • Gregg Braddoch

    This story is bigger than just the event Sarkeesian was holding – We’ve already heard that the FBI was looking into the threat she and the gaming media blamed on #gamergate – However it seems that according to this statement by the police, that the FBI doesn’t take the threats sent to Sarkeesian seriously. (And why would they, when I can watch celebrities read & laugh at similar threats sent to their twitter on TV)

    This needs to get in the hands of thunderf00t, Internet Aristocrat, and Mundate Matt.

    • TrishRan

      Thunderf00t posted a great video about this last night.

      • Gregg Braddoch

        Nice! I will have to watch this.

  • Razedbywolvs

    If the FBI was competent….
    The world trade center would still be standing.
    The Boston boomings would have been avoided.
    Ruby ridge and Waco Texas would not of happened.
    They have all the resources to track this person down in 15 minuets. There just not going to.

    • Gregg Braddoch

      “They have all the resources to track this person down in 15 minuets. There just not going to.”

      While the FBI isn’t a prime example of competency, it is at least a little higher than the average local cops. Further, the FBI may or may not have the resources to track this person down in 15 minutes – What you see in movies = not always the case. A person with a little knowledge could have been sitting next to Sarkeesian, sending the threatening email, and leave no links back to them-self for the FBI to follow.

      Hence why the FBI said “Nothing happened after the other threats” instead of saying “we caught and stopped the other threats from being made good”

      • Razedbywolvs

        The entire Internet and all of your phone conversations are being stored in the NSA’s data banks and it would olny require a self wrighten rubber stamp warrant to retrieve. Now the threats could of come threw TOR But let’s face it Jonathan McIntosh is not that smart.

        • Gregg Braddoch

          ” But let’s face it Jonathan McIntosh is not that smart.”

          hehehehe

  • justman7

    Watch out: PBS Newshour had a segment on Sarkeesian and “Gamergate” tonight, including an interview with Briannna Wu. No mention whatsoever of false allegations. Utah State Threats were mentioned.

    • Robert Ohara

      Un-fucking believable!

      • Roland Bjorkman

        Not really.

        • Robert Ohara

          I just remember growing up with the MacNiel Leher News Hour. They would never have done anythung that sloppy.

      • Gregg Braddoch

        God, these news reports make my blood boil. It’s not like they could lie any more transparently if they tried.

        I mean seriously, I still can’t get passed how Zoe Quinn is ALWAYS mentioned by these people, and ALWAYS called a “game designer/developer” when her so-called “game” is an HTML page created with a program called Twine. I was able to replicate a similar ‘game’ in about 20 minutes, and could easily make a product that was 100 times better in the matter of a day. But of course she is *technically* a developer, so if you say she’s not, you just hate her because she’s a girl. LMFAO.

        The truly despicable part is where the anti-gg crowd pretends that people aren’t supposed to be angry about pretenders trampling all over our hobby, and calling anyone who doesn’t agree with them a misogynist harasser. God forbid that you defend yourself and your hobby.

    • justman7

      The video is now available, the Sarkeesian segment starts at time 20:22

      http://www.pbs.org/newshour/episode/pbs-newshour-full-episode-oct-16-2014/

  • https://twitter.com/TicklishQuill Isaac T. Quill

    Why is it that Hyper Hyperbole is now following the Fraudette called Sarkeesian? Whoops, is #Gamergate too much for Ms BangBang Earrings, or does she just cancel cos she has no balls for the tough stuff? … and The Professionals don’t agree with BangBang that the treats she is receiving are real – Oh That will be a blow to her Feminine Ego and Quite, Quite Tragic!

    ” Marc Lépine” – how very odd that such an obscure has been from history is resurrected to promote Hysterics. Why does the whole think just stink of Feminist Conspiracy to create a reaction and promote Hysterical Hyperbole! What Would be the Value in that? /Sarcasm levels back from 100% and Oh My God – What The F### will she and ass-ociates do next for attention! The longer she trolls on the more Hugo she gets!

  • TrishRan

    I find it very interesting that the threat was against many people – attendees of the talk, students & staff, sent not to Sarkeesian but to the University, yet so much of the discussion and media coverage frames it as a threat against Sarkeesian.

    Also interesting that it was *after* the FBI (Behavioral Sciences & Cyber Terrorism Task force), Utah Statewide Information and Analysis Center, and Utah State University campus police, determined that, “At no time was there any imminent…” that Sarkeesian cancelled. Almost sounds like a hissy fit to retaliate to those who didn’t see her as being “in distress” like some helpless damsel.

  • rome62

    Harassment is the red herring used by mainstream media and game journalist to divert attention from the real issues. Issues of forcing political feminist ideology and propaganda upon the the masses. corrupt journalism may be the largest problem facing society today; because of it’s propaganda and misinformation, wars have been waged,and economies have failed.

    • Kimski

      Agreed. Journalists have become the unemployable in any other profession than their own, because..-well, because they just generally lie about everything of importance, don’t they?

  • justman7

    The PBS Newshour video is now available, the Sarkeesian segment starts at time 20:21

    Sorry for the double post, but I thought this might be useful for those who use the “newest” display sort setting.

    • Jack Strawb

      Sarkeesian is unwatchable.

      Violence against women? Misogyny!
      Violence against men, which occurs far more often in video games? Meh. Business as usual.
      .
      In fact, I propose that since violence against women is far less frequent in the US as compared to violence against men, we should dispense with the word “misogyny” as applied to first world, white feminists. The term, really, has no significance.

      /only mildly exaggerating

      • Kimski

        Imagine playing God of War with a reversal of genders in the number of casualties….Suddenly Kratos became an boring wuzz to play, didn’t he?
        I wonder if we would hear cries of misandry in such a scenario…?

  • JNealer

    The tweets were real (which this article in no way disputes), and the school refused to restrict guns from the auditorium. I think it’s pretty fair to allow someone to be freaked out by that situation and not want to speak. To say that this was made up as some sort of feminist conspiracy is not only completely unfounded, but completely paranoid as well. I would hope that it would concern the folks on this site that the person who issued the death threats probably thrives on the crazytown views I’ve read on here.

    • Jack Strawb

      Your strange, even delusional insistence that anonymous threats MUST be exactly as advertised strikes me as the sort of cynical opportunism that has given feminism a very, very bad name.
      .
      The belief that all claims, no matter how bizarre, must be accepted at face value has for decades marginalized first-world feminism. It is an attempt to end dialogue, too, as you do by “lying by paraphrase.” Instead of taking issue with something someone specifically said and addressing them, you resort to duplicity. It’s a real shame. Adults should know better.

      • JNealer

        If the FBI takes the threats seriously, which they do, then I’ll take them seriously. If you’re more comfortable calling the victim a liar because you don’t have absolute proof, then you’ve given yourself a very, very bad name.

        • TrishRan

          Actually, the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit & Terrorism Task Force, as well at the Utah University Campus police and the Utah Statewide Information and Analysis Center did a serious investigation. and, as reported by the Utah University paper, Utah State Today:

          “After a careful assessment of the threat it has been determined it is similar to other threats that Sarkeesian has received in the past, and all university business will be conducted as scheduled tomorrow.”

          Here’s a link to the article:

          http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=54178

          • JNealer

            I’m not sure what you’re getting at – your article proves my point:

            “Prior to the threat, Utah State University police were already making preparations for security as the speaker had received similar threats in the past. Enhanced security measures will now be in place, which include prohibiting backpacks and any large bags.”
            Obviously they’re taking the threats seriously. If you honestly think that it’s more likely that she’s threatening herself for publicity instead of some nutjob doing it, then you really may want to evaluate your own motivations and assumptions.

          • driversuz

            We’re evaluating Sark’s motivations, and the assumptions of the person who wrote the letter – which was filled with phrases more common among radfems than among MRAs.
            Go polish your armor and feed your noble steed.

          • JNealer

            Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll just finish up my homework, then enjoy the rest of my day not worrying about scheming feminists plotting to make a victim of me.

          • Kimski

            Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. It’s all part of the service and they’ll do it whether you pay attention or not. It will just happen more quickly if you don’t, that’s all…

          • JNealer

            I’m not sure what you’re getting at – the article proves my point: the authorities took the threat seriously. The school official said that the threat of an action was “not real,” no one ever claimed that the threat itself was “not real.” If you truly believe that it’s more likely that Sarkeesian is threatening herself for publicity as opposed to some random nutjob tweeting her, then you should really take a hard look at your own assumptions and motivations.

          • TrishRan

            What I’m getting at is that after a threat was received by the venue where she was scheduled to speak – a threat against the audience, students & administration at the university – a threat that was determined by FBI, Utah & University police to be unfounded – Sarkeesian cancelled her appearance.

            I would never accuse her of engineering the threat. But I will say that I believe she took the opportunity to generate publicity around her “need” to cancel due to “threats”.

    • driversuz

      Paranoid?
      Google Meg Lanker-Simmons.
      Find a record of the police reports from the earlier “threats” against Sarkeesian.
      Google Danielle D’Entremont of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

      Fake threats are Standard Operating Feminist Procedure. It might be rather rude of us to suspect her and/or her “army” of a publicity stunt, but it’s not “paranoid” of us.

      • JNealer

        Yeah, I’d say it’s a bit paranoid. Sure, their have been plenty of false threats and rape allegations in the history of the internet, but they’re a fraction of the number of actual threats. I would think it would make more sense to not accuse a person of lying in such an extreme way without a shred of evidence. And no – not finding police records is not evidence.

        • driversuz

          The police records don’t exist. She just whined about the threats on the internet. You’d think if she believed they were real (and was scared enough to “flee her home”) she’d want the police to trace them. Right? I wonder why she didn’t ask the police to trace those threats to their source. I’m sure by now we’d all know the identity of her stalker(s.)

        • Kimski

          “Sure, there have been plenty of false threats and rape allegations in
          the history of the internet, but they’re a fraction of the number of
          actual threats.”

          Same thing applies to this case..

      • Kimski

        It would certainly be “stoopid” not to take the possibility into consideration, considering the feminist actions of the past.

    • TrishRan

      The state’s concealed carry law and the University’s security procedures for guest speakers are information that would be available to a potential speaker who has concerns about concealed weapons and security. If one doesn’t want to stand on a stage speaking in a place where people might have guns in their bags or waistbands, and where the venue’s security measures strike one as inadequate, one can simply not schedule the gig.

      But then there’d be no “Sarkeesian forced to cancel” headlines.

      According to Sarkeesian herself, it was the University’s security measures for the event that caused her to cancel her speech. It was only after the “threat” was found by the FBI (two units – Behavioral Sciences and Joint Terrorism Task Force), the State of Utah Information Assessment and the University’s campus police to be unfounded that Sarkeesian became so concerned about the University’s security measures that she cancelled.

      But not so long after the threat was found to not be dangerous that there was a gap in the headlines about the threat and the headlines about Sarkeesian canceling.

  • Avatar

    Is there a way that she could be charged for False report ? I fired up e-mail to the FBI already but ….

    • TrishRan

      There’s definitely a way that someone who makes a false threat against the university, students, staff & event attendees can be charged with a crime – whoever is the originator of the false threat.

  • ronthebuilder

    “Anita’s Fan Page”, or “FemFreq” just now tried to follow me on Twitter, which is nothing short of CREEPY. I have never shown any interest in her or her issues, I have no record of any kind as a gamer or visitor to any site having anything to do with gaming (I played Pong a time or two in the 70s, literally); all I can think is that they are trolling AVFM and other sites looking for “usual suspects” for future false-flag hysterics.
    Has this happened to anyone else here?

  • Andrejovich Dietrich

    What is the number one motivation for just about any action? When you want to track whats been done, who did what, what is the number one statement?

    “Follow the money.”

    Who benefits most by repeatedly issuing empty threats?
    What was one of her postings near the beginning of this latest drama?

    • TrishRan

      I don’t know if Sarkeesian or anyone in her circle were the source of the threat sent to the university. But it seems obvious to me that she saw it as an opportunity to promote the Anita-Sarkeesian-threatened-by-evil-sexists trope – which the media lapped up and regurgitated without a moment of reflection.

      • Gregg Braddoch

        “Anita-Sarkeesian-threatened-by-evil-sexists trope”

        hehehehehehe. I like that one. It is nearly identical to the “Damsel in Distress” trope. Weird.

  • TrishRan

    Sarkeesian herself said, in an interview on Polygon that she canceled the Utah talk not because of thr threat but because of the security measures that she says were inadequate:

    “Sarkeesian reiterated this on Twitter, saying that she did not decline to speak because of the threats themselves, but because she felt the security measures were inadequate.”

    http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/15/6984715/anita-sarkeesian-utah-state-university-death-threats

    The security measures Utah University has in place for guest speakers was information that would have been available before the (now discredited by FBI/BSI & JTTF, State of Utah, & Utah Univ campus police) threat.

    *If she doesn’t want to speak in places with concealed carry laws, it’s not that hard to find out if the proposed venue is in a community that has concealed carry laws and not accept the gig if that is of such pressing concern.* (But then there would have been no headlines about an event cancelled because of the audience/students/staff – I mean Sarkeesian – being subject to a threat)

    That event security/concealed carry became an issue *after* the weirdly-worded/subsequently quadrupel-discredited threat seems to be an after-the-fact excuse for Sarkeesian’s canceling the speech when the University announced their response to the “threat” was business-as-usual.

    So instead of headlines saying “Sexist Threats Force University to Cancel Sarkeesian Speech”, the headlines were ‘Sexist Threats for Sarkeesian to Cancel Speech” – even the weaker, 2.0 version makes Sarkeesian a damsel placed at risk by all those bad people who don’t “get” feminism.

  • Crom!

    i am new to this whole gamergate thing maybe I should just ignore this but I am too curious about it. So please forgive my ignorance. It’s my understanding that this whole thing started because certain game developer(s) were having quid-pro-quo relationships with popular “gaming journalists” to garner favorable review scores. People found out about this and started to lash out against this practice. That’s as far as I know. From there on I am really lost on this. How did a noble cause to enforce ethics in journalism turn into this mess? Or was there really a violation to begin with. Anyone got the time to help me catch up on this? I appreciate it.

    • driversuz

      The short version is that Quinn tried to have the courts silence her ex-boyfriend, who exposed her sleazy behavior. Team Feminism stepped in and tried to discredit the boyfriend by calling him a meanie-poopie. Not surprisingly, gamers responded. Then Sark stepped in (no doubt unable to tolerate the spotlight being shined on some OTHER damsel in distress) and tweeted that the awful people picking on poor Zoe, are the same awful people who always pick on her. Then, miraculously but of course coincidentally, Sumdood threatened to shoot up USU if Sark showed up to speak.
      In other words we are being directed to ignore the unethical behavior of a skank, because Women Are Victims. You know, vagina.

      • Andy Sheepleton

        Hahaha I like that. ‘You know, vagina’

  • John Narayan

    More lies from the BBC. – http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29821050

  • Andy Sheepleton

    I want to send death threats to myself and get hundreds of thousands of dollars too.

    What kind of sick twisted idiot would want to compare himself to Marc Lepine, the absolute lamest mass killer who ever lived. He was able to kill without mercy and still be seen as a whiny whiny little bitch. Had he not killed himself hew would have, without question, spent the rest of his miserable life servicing every con on the cell block. It is so amazingly transparent that this is. She ran out of the last pile of money she got for threatening herself and then doing as close to nothing as possible, so now she needs more attention to get more cash.