Nebraska Dave News and Reviews

Veritas dropped the goods on Google:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re9Xp6cdkro&feature=youtu.be

The long and the short of it is that Google has a private definition of "fairness" which means "political correctness" and they have "fairness algorithims" that go after YouTubers they've decided are right wing or otherwise engage in wrongthink.

I think it sucks that the link to this was removed for unrelated politics, it obviously goes right to the heart of things here. But I didn't recognize the creator of that post, so maybe he doesn't know you can squeak things past the rules with self posts, so that's what I'm doing rather than letting it go undiscussed here.

How much attention does Google have to devote to controversies that seem big to us, but are probably small to them? Can their algorithim fuck with the CDPR situation, or is that the sort of thing that would require human intervention, and thus be overlooked?

This is a long one, so here's the TLDR;

I'd say from my last post, I attributed the theory of gaming companies attacking pro-consumer Youtubers, legislation, and even other gaming companies to correlative evidence, as opposed to causation. If there's no smoking gun, it can't be proven, no matter how insurmountable the evidence may seem. However, I'd say the accusation that gaming companies are using mainstream journalism to attack any dissenting voices that may impact their already astronomical profit margins is steadily shifting towards a causative, evidence-based assertion.

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About two weeks ago, I posted a theory titled What if CNet was encouraged by gaming companies to create the hitpiece on pro-consumer gaming youtubers? It didn't get much traction, but it outlined a lot of correlative evidence that may explain why pro-consumer Youtubers are being attacked. Click on the link if you're out of the loop on this.

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There's been another article smearing the same Youtubers, as well as a few content creators. CleanPrinceGaming recently responded to this with a video that I've linked here. These attacks are definitely starting to seem coordinated. Ironically, all of these Youtubers have defended CD Projekt RED. This brings me to Cyberpunk 2077.

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A few Youtubers have posted their suspicions echoing my own two weeks ago: what if gaming companies are utilizing their connections to gaming journalist to create "bad press" to harm anyone or any competition that threatens the success of their own products? What if this includes not just youtubers and pro-consumer legislation, but pro-consumer gaming companies like CD Projekt RED? A couple of videos have recently on this new theory. I'll post the videos below.

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Media Collusion – The Cyberpunk 2077 Conspiracy (Theory)

Is Epic Games behind a coordinated attack against CD Projekt RED?

Cyberpunk 2077 Negativity: Who Profits? Why is CDPR a Target? Answer: Follow the Money

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A few of you may have heard about the accused "racism" from a specific Cyberpunk 2077 faction (The Voodoo Boys). Now, my initial reaction was "come on, referring to black people as animals? I get enough of this already." But some things have started to seem a bit.. fishy with this. ALMOST like they were specifically trying to manipulate me and many others like me to be enraged. ALMOST like they were trying to use a REAL struggle people face to for their own machinations, and not to actually help the struggle of these individuals. It's interesting, because they've all failed to mention that Mike Pondsmith, a BLACK man who grew up in America, has chosen to explore an aspect of black identity through the Voodoo Boys that has often been misinterpreted and demonized (shout out to you u/therealmaxmike, I've been following you for years and you inspire me, man).

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Anything concerning Haitian culture has been historically attacked by America for literally centuries. In the past, America, with the help of mainstream media, listed Haitians as one of the potential risk-factors to contracting HIV. Even though it was "quickly" retracted, the damage had already been done (details on the horrible discrimination Haitians faced can be found here). Voudo has been equally demonized, and a dissertation on the demonization of Haitian culture by mainstream media can be found here: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=bgsu1368710585&disposition=inline

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Now, if any of you look at my post history, I seem like the epitome of an "SJW." I'd say you're right and I'm proud of it. I have been working as a researcher/program manager in a field that addresses the disparities of underrepresented groups and minorities. I know my shit on a personal and academic level and I have multiple degrees and years of experience to prove it (I'm only 26, but still). I've tried to fight for people whose voices historically haven't been heard, and I've tried to do it with good intentions. I acknowledge that I have a lot of room to grow and I'm sure many of you will point that out, but don't let my personal failings take away from what I'm about to say now.

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Coordinated attacks by mainstream media utilizing almost identical verbiage is a tried and true method to smearing a specific demographic. It's been used with minorities, autistic individuals, poor people, immigrants, pro-consumer advocates, gamers, and the list goes on. Anyone that threatens the current messaging of "mainstream media" is attacked in these similar ways. And these attacks are often coached into echoing specific messaging by corporations, corporate lobbyist, and other corporate "influencers" (looking at you EA game-changers)

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Enough of my rambling, what's the TLDR? I'd say from my last post, I attributed the theory of gaming companies attacking pro-consumer Youtubers, legislation, and even other gaming companies to correlative evidence, as opposed to causation. If there's no smoking gun, it can't be proven, no matter how insurmountable the evidence may seem. However, I'd say the accusation that gaming companies are using mainstream journalism to attack any dissenting voices that may impact their already astronomical profit margins is steadily shifting towards a causative, evidence-based assertion.

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So what can we do about it? In research, the main way to dispel any sort of unfounded assertion is to create counter-research. I'll be working on a survey this weekend that will address some of these issues that you guys will be able to answer. It's no thesis or dissertation, but I believe that ANY hard evidence on this issue and our stance as gamers will be among the first steps that many pro-consumer YouTubers will be able to use to show that they are not just a "select few" that are echoing these sentiments. (Side note: I won't post the link here to adhere to r/gamingnews's rules).

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It is equally important (if not more so) that we do more to support CD Projekt RED, pro-consumer Youtubers, Mike Pondsmith, and many others trying to make the gaming industry better. Gaming companies are working with gaming journalist to bury them right now, and unless we mobilize together to support them, they will succeed. If you can, please support them anyway you can.

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Thanks for reading my long ramble. What do you guys think about all of this? Let's make our beloved hobby better together.

Okay, since all the usual suspects decided to dunk on Cyberpunk in the same time, some have decided there might be something much bigger. For example, this video, where a scheme shows that all our journos can be financially traced back to the Epic Store. While creator does not claim that this is a conspiracy to try and bring down Cyberpunk, the fact that these hit pieces were released quite fast and the fact journos have already been mobilizing against "gamer threat" (gamejournopros), this can be a serious issue to make the fuss about.

Oh, and Anita was trying to get on the going train too.

What do you think?