John Bain, known as TotalBiscuit, the Cynical Brit on YouTube has died of cancer. Bain was an influential figure in the GamerGate controversy. Brianna Wu, one of the major "anti-GG" figures has taken to Twitter to literally laugh at the tragedy. Bain had been involved in gaming, reviews and consumer advocacy since before GamerGate but due to his large audience and the fact that he refused to review a game by Brianna Wu.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The true face of SJWs. <br>Brianna Wu one of the main SJW monsters of GamerGate laughing at the death of Total Biscuit. <br>But let's not do anything to kick people like this out of pop culture which was inclusive until these piles of shit showed up. No let's try to reason with them. <a href="https://t.co/6195l6Elsd">https://t.co/6195l6Elsd</a></p>— Mr. Bat-man 🍁🦇 (@KnightWing19) <a href="https://twitter.com/KnightWing19/status/1000144258328915968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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TotalBiscuit exposed Anita Sarkeesian's death threats as a hoax at which point Wu amassed the force of the anti-GamerGate community to attack him. Wu had tried to paint Bain as a transphobic misogynist who was "targetting women and trans persons." His actual complaints against Wu never had anything to do with her gender or trans status. At one point Wu even accused him of being a white supremacist for using the term "PC Master Race" an in-joke amongst gamers that, (shock of shocks) actually has nothing to do with white supremacy.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am very much fucking done with pretending that Brianna Wu has anything worthwhile to say and is not a colossal attention-seeking hypocrite</p>— TotalBiscuit. (@Totalbiscuit) <a href="https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/558666438089904128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
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In October of 2015, Bain's cancer had become inoperable and he was diagnosed as having 2 to 3 years to live. Initially, Wu offered condolences, but shortly after this, she released a video trying to claim Bain's tweets were death and rape threats. Chances are, by the way, if Bain had been a transphobic, misogynist, white supremacist he wouldn't be being memorialized by BBC, Twitch and others.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Holy shit. John Bain died. That's the end of an era. I knew he was sick and his time was short, but not this short. One of the great internet shitkickers. Love him or hate him, the dude left a mark. Godspeed, brother. <a href="https://t.co/lVGKOAAdH5">https://t.co/lVGKOAAdH5</a></p>— C. Robert Cargill (@Massawyrm) <a href="https://twitter.com/Massawyrm/status/999790869069807618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Personal discomfort or his battle with cancer took a back seat. <br><br>He inspired me to look for deeper meaning in what we do and get beyond the “I’m tired” or “it’s too early” <br><br>If John Bain could do it I sure as hell have to try. <br><br>Gonna carry that with me forever.</p>— Geoff Robinson (@iNcontroLTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/iNcontroLTV/status/999807352789389312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Although <a href="https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@totalbiscuit</a> always insist that he isn't a journalist. He showed us how the future of journalism looks like and inspired a whole industry. "Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin never died. They simply became music." Same is true for John Bain, so he can rest in peace for sure. <a href="https://t.co/rPuKOT4KVH">pic.twitter.com/rPuKOT4KVH</a></p>— Alex Utopia (@alexutopia) <a href="https://twitter.com/alexutopia/status/999798082534440961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Brianna Wu, now a candidate for Congress, is just one of many anti-GamerGaters who are evidently cheering the death of Bain.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I think it's pretty funny that john bain is burning in hell and making fun of him is good because it makes the fires hotter and more painful</p>— Crystal (@ArcaneCrystal) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArcaneCrystal/status/999865270180163584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">respectability politics are bullshit and i'm not gonna pretend john bain was a dude worthy of anything but derision when he was a staunch reactionary his whole life who did his damnedest to make games as an industry more hostile for queer folks and women</p>— overnemui (@drilwatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/drilwatch/status/999857003420962816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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If you claim to stand for tolerance, love and respect, do that. If you attempt to do that with toxic opinions, cheering the untimely death of someone who leaves behind family and loved ones, chances are you're missing the point of what you're fighting for. It's like the difference between being pro-peace and anti-war. If you're "fighting" against war, then war wins. If you oppose perceived hatefulness by increasing the surplus of hate that's already existent then hate wins. Probably one of the best takes on the whole issue on Twitter is the tweet below.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So many people who call the gaming community toxic are celebrating the death of John Bain, aka TotalBiscuit, today. This man leaves behind a wife and child, and you profess to take the higher ground? Congratulations, you've become worse than those you detest.<br><br>Rest in peace John.</p>— Madeleine (@MPH125) <a href="https://twitter.com/MPH125/status/1000001636264300544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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There is a <a href="gofundme.com/TotalBiscuit">GoFundMe campaign for Bain's family</a> set up if you're so inclined.
