The Great Debate

[folder_nav]

[folder_nav]

Of all the criticism thrown at Anita Sarkeesian, the bitching about her decision to disable YouTube comments in the face of an organized campaign of harassment is the most misguided. It’s a dumb position for a couple of reasons. First, it implies that anyone who makes a video is honor-bound to lend their credibility and popularity to the opposing argument, they are not. Second, it implies YouTube comments contain anything that could remotely be called criticism, they do not. “I hope you get raped,” is not criticism. “Feminazi whore,” is not criticism. “Make me a sandwich,” is not criticism, nor is it funny.

Even if you were to somehow able to magically filter out all of the outright trolling, you’d still be left with a public forum that offers about as much intellectual fulfillment as shitting into your own hands in the middle of a rave. If you want to respond to a YouTube video, try the following:

• Make a video response.
• No, really. Make a fucking video response. It’s what YouTube is actually for.
• Write an article! It’s like a comment, only longer and occasionally less mind-numbingly stupid.
• Open a thread on a forum that has actual rules enforced by actual people.

As always, you can follow Grey and Cory on Twitter.