Charlottesville 2017: Unite the Right’s plans were bigger than the statue.

Gamergate, with its vicious online harassment and doxing of feminist gamers, provided more grounds for white supremacist recuiting of disaffected young white males worried that women and people of color were taking over “their” game turf. Media coverage at the time tended to focus on questions of free speech rather than the inherent violence of the phenomenon. They didn’t get what the Gamergate forces were really up to. The alt-right and Unite the Right were next steps—and mainstream media were largely clueless about that, as well, until Aug. 12 happened.

Charlottesville 2017: Unite the Right’s plans were bigger than the statue.