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(10/12/18 9:30am)
by Baylie Clevenger
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte's editorial board.
Midterm elections are less than a month away, and, for many states, the deadline for registration has passed.
In the last few days before registration closed, the New York Times reported that the whole country saw a spike in voter registration, with more than 150,000 new registrations. Just a little fewer than half of those registrations came from people ages 18-24. The state of Tennessee also saw a spike in registrations of about 6,000 people.
This spike in registrations is no coincidence after pop star Taylor Swift took to Instagram to discuss her political stances and particularly endorsed two Democratic candidates from Tennessee.
“I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” said Swift.
In the age of social media, celebrity opinions have a significant impact on votes as well as the political opinions of their fans.
(10/11/18 8:47pm)
by Shwetha Sundarrajan
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte's editorial board.
Back in September, conservative writer Mark Judge was accused alongside Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford. It turns out that Judge is also a staunch supporter of Gamergate, the widespread online harassment of several women in the gaming industry.
For those who’ve never heard of #GamerGate, proponents of the controversial online movement claimed they only dealt with ethics in game journalism and with protecting the "gamer" identity. Although the movement has resulted in the sustained harassment of several prominent female game writers and creators such as Zoë Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian, supporters like Mark Judge argue that their movement is strictly advocating for a victimized demographic (white men) and fighting against corruption in game journalism.
But what does Mark Judge have to do with #GamerGate?
This July, Judge wrote a scathing article on feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, #GamerGate, and feminism, branding Sarkeesian’s entire message on female representation in the gaming industry as political correctness.
In Sarkeesian’s three-part video series Damsel in Distress: Tropes vs Women in Video Games, she argues that “the damsel-in-distress trope disempowers female characters and robs them of the chance to be heroes in their own right.”
While Sarkeesian uses plenty of examples ranging from Starfox to Legend of Zelda to prove her point, Judge still characterizes her arguments as “overly broad, deceptive, and full of specific errors.”
Judge goes on to outline the strategy of Sarkeesian and other “social justice warriors” as “raising an issue, shame critics by appealing to emotion, bully, express a lot of rage and personal hurt, guilt opponents into acquiescence, then move on to the next target.”
Whereas in reality, the situation is reversed. It’s people like Judge and Youtubers such as Repzion and AlphaOmegaSin (who he mentions in the article) that shame and bully women like Sarkeesian for expressing their opinions.
In backlash for her video series, Sarkeesian has been the target of thousands of death and rape threats, account hackings, and a barrage of abuse on her social media platforms.
In a Tumblr post regarding the harassment she received, Sarkeesian addressed her haters with a short message and posted several tweets directed to her account.
“I’ve been harassed on a daily basis by irate gamers angry at my critiques of sexism in video games. It can sometimes be difficult to effectively communicate just how bad this sustained intimidation campaign really is,” Sarkeesian said.
In light of the Kavanaugh hearings, society has seen how entitlement plays a fundamental role in the thinking of powerful men such as Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. In Judge’s follow-up piece Why Do Feminist Video Game Critics Want to Ban Male Fantasies? Judge alleges that Sarkeesian, “wants to ban men from having sexual fantasies.” He goes on to commoditize women, trying to justify his argument. “So, when guys play video games, they like to fantasize about enduring hardship and making it through difficult obstacles to be rewarded at the end (or sooner) with the attention of a gorgeous, sexy woman? And this is a problem?”
Yes, Mark Judge, it is. According to a study done by Case Western Reserve University, researchers found that “entitled men were more likely to endorse views of women as manipulative, deceptive, and untrustworthy -- attitudes, which past research has shown are predictors of violence toward women.”
And Judge sure seems to think Sarkeesian and all other “social justice warriors” are out to ruin video games for males. “It seems increasingly evident that Anita Sarkeesian, the feminist critic of alleged sexism in video games, wants to ban men from having sexual fantasies,” Judge said.
Gaming is often seen as a male-dominated field which makes it difficult for women to break into the market as developers and critics. Even the few women who work in the gaming industry are bullied and harassed by their co-workers and the public. In an article from the Guardian, experts weighed in on the lack of inclusivity in the gaming industry.
“Gamergate is an example of the shortcomings,” says Damilola Odelola founder of another diversity initiative, Blackgirl.tech, which provides free workshops introducing black women to technology, including virtual reality and coding. “There was a public outcry, but the issue wasn’t addressed properly by the industry. The reaction felt superficial.”
While society as a whole is seeing a push towards equality between men and women, #Gamergate and the Kavanaugh hearings show that we still have a long way to go.
(10/11/18 4:00pm)
by Katherine Simon
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
In an era where media has made great leaps and bounds with positive representation of social minorities and making sure sensitive subjects are handled tactfully, it can be really frustrating to see ignorant writers producing problematic content despite the strides toward a more progressive media landscape. No film encapsulates this frustration better than Netflix’s Sierra Burgess is a Loser. To give a quick synopsis, the film centers around high school student Sierra Burgess, an unpopular student who is constantly bullied for her appearance and social awkwardness. One of Sierra’s bullies, Veronica, decides to give Sierra’s number out to a guy named Jamey, telling him that it’s actually her number. Once Sierra and Jamey start talking, they start to hit it off and Sierra has to keep Jamey convinced that he’s dating Veronica in order to keep the relationship afloat.
When the film was released, a lot of people were upset with the movie’s insensitivity towards LGBT and disabled communities, romanticism of catfishing, and the overall poor quality of the film’s writing—to the point where a petition to get the film removed from Netflix has gained over 6000 signatures. While I do consider myself to be anti-censorship and believe that online petitions are easily one of the most egregious forms of online slacktivism, the film itself is still extremely problematic and, even if it’s too late to remove the film, it still deserves of all the criticism it’s received.
(10/11/18 6:45pm)
Jordan Rhodes is a senior english major who writes "Shepard’s Corner" for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Jordan at jbrhodes@bsu.edu
(10/12/18 3:00pm)
Kennedi Barnett is a sophomore journalism news major and writes "Kennedi’s Kaleidoscope" for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Kennedi at kpbarnett@bsu.edu.
(10/10/18 8:55pm)
In this week's episode of How It's Played, we are discussing cross-platform gaming. Sony finally caved to allowing cross-platform gaming in Fortnite. What does this mean for the gaming community? What all does cross-platform entail? All of this and more on this week's episode of How It's Played.
(10/07/18 8:00pm)
by Ian Roesler
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
4chan is one of the most ubiquitous websites on the internet. It is the stereotype of the internet. The most internet place on the internet. Take all the mundane parts, all the weird parts, all the racist, sexist, etc. parts, and put them all on one website and presto chango, you have 4chan. The website also shows what we as humanity can accomplish when we work together.
(10/05/18 4:26pm)
by Baylie Clevenger
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Shane Dawson has had a long career with YouTube and, over time, he has become one of the most popular creators with more than 17 million subscribers. Over the last few years, his content had matured and gotten more serious. He went from skits with little to no meaning to hard hitting docuseries like “The Truth about Tanacon” and “The Secret Life of Jeffree Star.”
These docuseries have been highly controversial as the people who have been featured, like Jeffree Star and Tana Mongeau, have been the faces of huge controversies. Dawson is continuing this theme with his new series, “The Mind of Jake Paul.”
This has been no less controversial as Jake Paul is one of the most talked-about internet personalities and people have incredibly strong opinions about him.
When Dawson announced that this new series would be about Jake Paul, the internet was set ablaze with opinions about his decision. People took to social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter to express their lack of support for this upcoming series.
(10/04/18 1:00pm)
Justice Amick is a senior telecommunications journalism major and writes “Pencil Shavings" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Justice at jramick@bsu.edu.
(10/04/18 6:00pm)
John Lynch is a freshman Journalism news major and writes “Manifesto" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to John at jplynch@bsu.edu.
(10/03/18 7:00pm)
Derivative: Adjective, Imitative of the work of another person, and usually disapproved of for that reason. To take it straight from the dictionary, a derivative work is something that we’ve seen time and time again, to the point of being shunned for its’ lack of innovation. Nowhere is this more commonplace than the horror genre. For every movie about a mythical serial killer, you get sixteen more trying to ape its’ success. For every movie about evil aliens trying to exterminate the human race, you get twenty different movies sent to theaters because they gave their alien one more antenna than the one before it. For every movie about a haunted doll, a cabin in the woods, a haunted house…you can guess where it goes from there.
(10/03/18 4:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the Android version and was conducted on a Samsung Galaxy S6
(10/03/18 1:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode of God Friended Me.
(09/29/18 9:33pm)
For people who were in the know, 2017 was the year of Brockhampton. In a span of six months, the self-described “boy band” released three albums, Saturation, Saturation ll, and Saturation lll, filled with some of the most charismatic, catchy, wonderfully produced hip hop of the decade.
(09/28/18 6:46am)
Blake Williamson is a junior journalism major who writes "Blake's Beats" for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Blake at bdwilliamson@bsu.edu.
(09/28/18 4:00pm)
This review is based off the Xbox One version of the game.
(09/28/18 1:00pm)
Guerilla Toss is no stranger to new-wave and art pop, but on ‘Twisted Crystal’, they expand their sound on all fronts with surf rock sounds, chopped up, vaporizing synths, and drum machines that make up a truly unique production. All the members bring something new to the table in each song with entertaining performances that feel fresh and exciting. In only half an hour, Guerilla Toss takes you on an adventure through space and time.
(09/27/18 6:16pm)
by Tanner Kinney
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Warner Bros. has a problem. The market is booming with superheroes and superhero accessories, with Marvel making a killing, and pseudo-superhero films fairing pretty well too. Meanwhile, DC was recently coming off the Christopher Nolan Batman films when this trend started, and so they attempted to keep that style. As it turns out, audiences don’t react well to dark, gritty, confusing, and boring superhero films. They managed to squander one of the most anticipated film concepts with Batman v. Superman, and not even their big ensemble Justice League movie did well. Now, with news of various characters like Batman, Superman, and The Joker getting recast due to their original actors abandoning the project, it seems like DC’s ship has holes that can’t be plugged by CGI lips and reshoots.
Can Warner Bros. still save their superhero goldmine? Or has it already gone too far towards collapse that it can’t be saved? Let’s examine what DC has coming up soon, and if there’s even a slim chance that they can start making money again.
(09/27/18 3:30pm)
Stephanie Amador is a senior photojournalism major and writes “Café con Leche” for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Stephanie at skamador@bsu.edu.
(09/25/18 4:30am)
by Matthew Yapp
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Our world is filled with heroes. Men and women in capes with god-like powers protecting the innocent from the clutches of evil. Unfortunately for us, all those heroes happen to exist on the pages of comics or on the big screen.
Far too often it feels like the real people we interact with are playing super-villains, egotistical maniacs terrorizing our life for reasons that we just can’t quite sympathize with. At least that was the case for me. Many of my early years were spent in anguish giving me a tragic backstory that would make even the likes of Batman feel bad for me.
I won’t bore you with the details; however, to lay the scene you need to understand that in my adolescence, I was crushed by a sense of doubt and self-hatred that was reinforced by my surroundings. This left me unsure about a lot of things; the main one, however, was always, “What am I going to do to not turn into the people who’ve hurt me?”