Carl Benjamin
YouTube career
Benjamin's YouTube channel drew attention during the Gamergate harassment campaign in 2014. Inside Higher Ed said his videos on the topic advanced a conspiracy theory in which he argued members of the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) were actively plotting to influence video game development, saying DiGRA "became co-opted by feminists to become a think tank by which gender ideologues can disseminate their ideology to the gaming press and ultimately to gamers". He also posted content that was critical of feminist video game critics and academics and posted content that was critical of feminism in general. That year, Benjamin said that he had named his channel Sargon of Akkad because he was "a lover of history and the lessons it can teach us".
YouTube career
At VidCon 2017, the media critic Anita Sarkeesian appeared on a panel discussing online harassment directed towards women. A group of YouTubers who had frequently criticised Sarkeesian in the past, including Benjamin, filled one half of the first three rows of the audience and filmed Sarkeesian as part of a targeted harassment campaign against her. Sarkeesian singled out Benjamin as a serial harasser of hers, calling him a "garbage human". The event went viral among both critics and supporters of Sarkeesian. Benjamin accused Sarkeesian of abuse and cyberbullying and said that he would have wanted to know how she "would like to be approached"; in a blog post, Sarkeesian wrote:
YouTube career
[Benjamin] makes over $5,000 a month on Patreon for creating YouTube videos that mock, insult and discredit myself and other women online, and he's not alone. He is one of several YouTubers who profit from the cottage industry of online harassment and antifeminism.
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