On November 14, the man accused of a 2022 hammer attack on the former speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy PelosiThe husband pleaded not guilty, apologized in court for his actions, and explained that Gamergate was the first to expose him to right-wing conspiracies.
On October 28, San Francisco police arrested David Depape, 43, after he broke into Pelosi’s home looking for her. However, instead, she found her husband, Paul Pelosi. After asking where his wife was, Depape would have attacked Pelosi with a hammer. Pelosi was able to call 911, police eventually arrived and arrested the attacker, and Pelosi was taken to the hospital, as she suffered multiple hand injuries and a skull fracture. In court on Tuesday, Depape claimed that he wanted to talk to Nancy Pelosi about corruption and Russian involvement in the 2016 election. She also testified that she planned to “break his kneecaps” if she lied.
As reported by the Associated Press, Depape testified in court that he often played video games for up to six hours a day while listening to multiple political podcasts. According to Depape, he first became attracted to right-wing conspiracies after learning about gamergatean online harassment campaign and hate movement against women That started in 2014 and never ended.
Previously, it was reported that Depape’s now-deleted website included a message from the accused attacker. connecting it to Gamergate. This now appears to be confirmed.
Gamergaters often claimed to fight for “ethics in games journalism,” but that was never true. The movement never criticized journalism, but was simply a way for a group of angry, toxic people to come together and weaponize their hate by attacking women online. Many were also upset that gaming media was spending more time covering diversity, feminism, and politics.
Gamergate offered a glimpse into the future
It would be incorrect to say that Gamergate invented right-wing extremism or insanity. But in 2014, Gamergate gave us an early look at how these groups would use the Internet to spread their message and harass people everywhere for years to come.
With the rise of Donald Trump and his cult of right-wing conspirators in 2017, We saw that these groups were following the Gamergate playbook.– Using online social media, YouTube and other internet platforms to rapidly spread their lies, bigotry and toxic ideas to millions of people around the world.
And as these groups continue to be forced to deal with reality (things like Trump lost the election and the Covid-19 vaccine is safe) they have become increasingly hostile and violent, leading to attacks like the one carried out last year by Depape against Paul Pelosi.
In court Tuesday, DePape pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault of an immediate family member of a federal official with the intent to retaliate against the official for the performance of his or her duties. “I reacted because my plan was basically ruined. ” he said when asked why he hit Pelosi. “He was never my target and I’m sorry he was hurt.”
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