

Republicans out Democrat in 'World of Warcraft' witch hunt - roguecoder
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ingame/republicans-out-democrat-world-warcraft-witch-hunt-6283586

======
btilly
A small minority of Americans have extremely conservative religious views, and
firmly believe that everything in our world is a battle between the forces of
God (which they are on the side of) and people controlled by various demons on
the side of the Devil (which they are opposed to). Members of this minority
tend to view _everything_ through this lens. If you come from this
perspective, it is clear that a game where people pretend to be evil beings
killing people HAS to be inspired by forces of evil. And people who play those
games are in danger of their souls being captured by those evil beings.

The same minority applying the same logic come to other conclusions that
surprise the more secular majority - such as that Harry Potter is the work of
the devil and should be banned. (Again, if there are only 2 sides that control
everything, the world described in Harry Potter clearly is not inspired by the
Bible and must be the work of the Devil.)

This minority is strongly attracted to the Republican party, and has proven
influential within it. (Both Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann publicly
identify with this minority.) However their views do NOT reflect the majority
of the Republican party.

I can completely understand how some members of the Republican party who have
this world view would conclude that this "outing" is a good idea. That said,
it is no more fair to attribute these opinions to Republicans in general than
it is to attribute, say, Shirley Maclaine's views on reincarnation to all
Democrats.

~~~
rpwilcox
I went to a Christian school growing up, K-12. This is very much true. (Or at
least the vocal Christians, the neocons/Pentecostals)

I'd also add that there's very much a persecution complex going on too: they
believe that the world is out to get them, as Christians.

Be that "persecution" Harry Potter "encouraging witchcraft", a fear of RPG
games ("these kids pretend they're wizards and cast actual spells!") to "they
took the 10 commandments down in the courtroom - more proof of an evil,
Godless country..."

The more they see these things the more they cry out, "help, help we're being
repressed!" and then it bounces around the echo chamber and feeeds their
belief as a whole.

~~~
btilly
Yup. A feeling of persecution is very good for reinforcing a faith that
believes that you are being persecuted for your faith.

As another example reinforcing that is that members of missionary religions
(like Jehova's Witnesses and Mormons) commonly admit that the personal value
of being a missionary isn't so much that you convert anyone - on average you
don't = but how much the challenges of missionary work reinforce your own
faith.

------
Shivetya
Honestly I see no problems with dredging up such comments. If it works for
votes, then have at it. I hope to see more of it from both sides.

why?

Because people need to realize how little anonymity they truly have. There is
no privacy online. Anyone with the time and resources is going to find out if
you have an online presence and what you have been doing.

Politics is a dirty game. Candidates and their sycophants are constantly
digging up facts about opponents and would be opponents. National campaigns
employ teams of people just for this purpose. Every utterance, whether direct
or an alias is subject to being found.

That it is happening to a politician is all the better. Both sides feed on
prejudices, apparently this group thinks that playing fantasy games is a bad
thing.

~~~
jlgreco
This situation is "good" from a _"raising awareness of privacy issues and
concerns"_ standpoint.

From the standpoint of the individual in question, who we should of course
feel empathy for? Awful.

From a _"quality of political discourse and health of the democracy"_
standpoint? _Gag_.

~~~
yuhong
Yea, it would be a workaround, not a fix.

------
macey
Ugghhh...

I feel like the word "Republicans" is starting to refer to a weird, faceless,
unrelatable entity. Like some weird urban legend. I'd probably believe it if I
was told that they live in burrows underground.

Then again, I do live in SF.

~~~
verisimilidude
Just drive 90 minutes East. You'll know you're in red territory when every
Prius on the road suddenly becomes a huge truck.

~~~
dm8
You mean East bay? Places like Berkeley? :-)

~~~
verisimilidude
Well, we do have John Yoo over here in Berkeley. _shrugs_

------
jlgreco
Sounds like a pretty good example of why people who really "have nothing to
hide" still need and deserve privacy.

~~~
MartinCron
It wasn't that she was "outed", but that the Maine GOP used the (public) fact
that she _plays a game enjoyed by millions_ as the basis for a shameful smear
campaign.

If the people in Maine decide that playing WOW is enough to decide their vote,
then I guess they'll get the representatives that they deserve.

~~~
jlgreco
The comments that they dredged up were technically public, though I assume she
made them under the assumption that people outside that immediate audience
wouldn't be reading them.

Even if she doesn't lose the election because of this, it is a shame she has
to deal with this kind of crap at all.

~~~
MartinCron
It's a shame that she has to deal with this kind of crap at all, although she
should have known better. If you're going to run for office, you should just
assume that anything you do on any public web site (even a de-facto private
one like that) will be taken out of context and used against you.

I can see some poor campaign intern, years from now, slogging through all of
my HN comments to find something to use against me while I run for local
office. Poor kid.

~~~
adgar2
> I can see some poor campaign intern, years from now, slogging through all of
> my HN comments to find something to use against me while I run for local
> office. Poor kid.

Be smart: rotate your online accounts regularly. Do it on reddit, HN, any
place where changing your identity is relatively cheap (FB unfortunately is
not one).

Also unfortunately, pg doesn't allow deleting accounts on HN. Who knows why.
So for HN, just stop posting on your current account, and start a new one,
hoping pg wakes up and lets us delete our accounts in the future.

~~~
MartinCron
I see the benefits of online account rotation, but I've decided to just stick
with my real name and try not to say anything too stupid.

It's like walking a tightrope without a net.

------
diziet
I don't see this turning out well for the accusers. The audience that they are
reaching online via a website, plus the bloggers and other news sources that
are going to cover this are more likely to have a sympathetic outlook toward
someone that plays video games and will feel the accusers are the ones who are
not in tune with the real world.

~~~
dromidas
I kind of expect this to turn out like a minor version of SOPA...

They are targeting her for doing something that SO MANY people do that you're
going to make all those people take her side when otherwise they probably
wouldn't have cared. Worst campaign move ever... don't those guys know this is
the 21st century and online games are normal?

~~~
DigitalJack
What is being highlighted are the things she said in comments. Go look at the
page.

They don't harp on the game very much. They do a little, probably because they
see it as juvenile (not saying I agree). Mostly it's about the things she is
saying.

~~~
dromidas
Yeah but anyone playing a mmo is going to say stuff like that. It only looks
bad to the people who have never gamed before.

~~~
DigitalJack
I don't think most anyone playing an mmo is going to say they are going to
drown Grover Norquist in their bathtub.

This isn't game talk.

~~~
roguecoder
I've seen that and far worse in Trade...

------
dendory
I think outing someone for playing one of the most popular online game out
there is ridiculous. What you do in game doesn't impact what you do in real
life, and killing a sheep in Elwyn Forest doesn't mean you like to kill
animals. However, I did look at the site and some of the comments she wrote go
further than the game itself. She posted that she "wished she wasn't at work
and could play instead" and that she was "slacking off" at work. I see nothing
wrong with bringing those comments to potential voters.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
> killing a sheep in Elwyn Forest doesn't mean you like to kill animals

What GOP member would speak against hunting?

~~~
gavinlynch
Are you being intentionally obtuse or are you making a joke?

The clear answer is: Among many others, fiscal conservatives who don't care
about hunting.... Am I missing something?

edit: huh... I suppose if you don't tout one political party's line here, you
get downvoted. Good to know. I was just trying to point out that there are, in
fact, people with diverse views that do not fit into the boxes many people
presuppose. Kind of disappointing for a group that I had assumed was open-
minded.

~~~
MartinCron
I don't agree with the downvotes, but I'm going to take this as an opportunity
to mention that there is a meaningful correlation between conservatives and
the gun lobby, and that the people who are happy to see their candidates out
hunting are dramatically more likely to skew Republican.

------
theevocater
Is this the first taste of the future of politics? Smear websites dredging up
every silly / facetious / dumb comment someone has ever made?

The smear site is linked to in the article and can be found:
<http://www.colleensworld.com/>

The whole site is made up of pictures of her comments from reddit. I suppose
older folks will probably be very unhappy with many of her comments, but she
just sounds like a normal person who uses the reddit and plays WoW.

Actually scratch that, having played WoW she is definitely far above average
:). Too bad I don't live in Maine though!

I guess we can only hope that this stuff isn't convincing to people who
actually use the internet, and that in the future it won't work.

~~~
btilly
You think that this is a change?

Not long ago I listened to [http://www.npr.org/2012/09/19/161436246/political-
consulting...](http://www.npr.org/2012/09/19/161436246/political-consulting-
and-the-lie-factory) which discussed the origins of modern political
consultants. One tactic included taking the worst things that a person ever
said, and then running ads where you just quoted that person and tied them to
those quotes.

Context did not matter. For example in a 1934 campaign they smeared Upton
Sinclair with quotes taken from his fictional characters in his books. Of
course any good author will include fictional characters who are very
dislikable, and they will say things that the author does not agree with.

Smear websites are just a minor update on this age-old tactic.

~~~
theevocater
oh definitely agreed. Smear tactics/hit ads are nothing new, but this is (I
believe) our first taste of this form of it in the future. We have all seen
attack ads on TV and in print, but this is the first time I have seen a
website pulling quotes from reddit (at the moment).

I think the largest change is in the distribution. Upton Sinclair was a
internationally syndicated author whereas this woman is simply a redditor who
is now running for public office. The real change is in the ability of a
single person to reach the universe.

------
waterlesscloud
It's a state senate election, which relatively few people pay attention to. Or
even care about, though they really should. So a tiny advantage could make a
difference.

Quick! Name your state senator! Name their opponent in this year's election!

But when I think this through...why shouldn't voters be made aware of things
she said in public? If that's how people want to decide how to vote...well,
people make decisions about voting based on equally irrelevant things all the
time.

------
clarky07
I don't think that her playing WoW is a problem, but some of the comments she
made certainly could be.

------
underdown
the website linked in the article is mainly made up of dailykos comments. how
are they not fair game? The WoW stuff is a little ridiculous (and I would bet
ineffective) but postings on a political site definitely matter.

------
ChuckMcM
Waiting for the Snorg T-shirt "I'm a Democrat but I play for the Alliance!"

------
hkmurakami
For the last year, I've been thinking about what my longtime involvement in
certain very popular gaming sites would mean for me if I ever chose to run for
office in the future. (It's pretty easy to connect me to the account) There's
a somewhat reasonable chance that I may try my hand at public service 20 or 30
years from now.

This article basically proves the worst of my fears, and makes me wonder if I
should try to divorce my "real life" identity with online gaming identities
going forward. :(

~~~
yuhong
Hopefully 20 years from now things will be better.

------
mdesq
Why is this on the front page of HN? If anyone needs evidence that the quality
here has suffered, this is exhibit 1.

"On-Topic: ...anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. Off-Topic:
Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of
some interesting new phenomenon."

I don't consider this some interesting new phenomenon and would be surprised
if others, when pressed, would really think this was. This is a "weird news,
politics" story.

~~~
MartinCron
I'm conflicted. It's easy to read this as partisan flamebait (because it is)
but also brings up the kinds of questions about things like identity, privacy,
online community, digital media, real-name policies, and anti-gamer bias that
at least a few people care about.

News isn't exclusively about what has just happened, it can also be about what
has been happening.

------
sigzero
I find that incredibly funny.

~~~
ohashi
It would be funnier if it wasn't so sad and pathetic.

------
fusiongyro
I hope she'll bury them in the election over this, but I'd be surprised if it
had much effect.

