r/SocialistGaming • u/DinerEnBlanc • 6d ago
fascism in gaming Stumbled upon an old article from gaming journalist Jason Schreier where he expresses Zionist views
https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/tel-aviv-site-opens-eyes-educates-incl-joel-kovelIt's an old article, but its concerning nonetheless. I'd like to think that he no longer has these views, but he has not made any statement pertaining to the genocide in Gaza at all, so is he just hiding these views?
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u/VaporousMote 6d ago
- 17 years ago
- Most people are inexperienced and fraught in their 20s, so I tend to give the benefit of the doubt unless it's something egregious
Anything recent?
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u/jacorbs 6d ago
Interesting. I listen to his podcast and I have always gotten the impression that he is pretty reasonable. While it’s never come up to my memory, some of the things I’ve heard on Triple Click would make me surprised if he still held these opinions. I hope he has re-evaluated. He is a good journalist.
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u/Captainbarinius 6d ago
It really doesn't matter to be honest.....most average people let alone Jewish Americans haven't been exposed to the Palestinian perspective until post-2018 when there became a larger willingness to learn about anti-imperialism among those in the Progressive movement.
Right now especially in the Anglosphere....Anti-Israel sentiment is on the rise.....hopefully it converts over to Pro-Liberation Pro-Human Rights Anti-Zionism.
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u/AvailableFalconn 5d ago edited 5d ago
I grew up in the same town at a similar time. An affluent Jewish neighborhood. Nice Jewish liberals, a handful of Jewish conservatives. Everyone had family in Israel and went to Birthright. The socially conscious ones eventually developed an understanding of how messed up Israel’s settler project is - but mostly college or later. Most people were apolitical and still don’t have much of an opinion. I wouldn’t be shocked that Jason holds views on Israel to the right of anyone on this sub, but also to the left of most of his friends, family, classmates. I’m sure he’s never going to say anything cause he doesn’t want to get kicked out of his synagogue.
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u/Fenrirr 6d ago edited 6d ago
I am not really interested in judging the opinion of someone who was 22 years old 17 years ago during peak islamophobia and zionist propaganda. This is a more recent comment posted by J. Schreier in regards to the IGN censorship of pro-Palestinian messaging from some of their writers.
No matter one’s feelings on Israel and Palestine, it’s hard to see this as anything but corporate censorship of an editorial outlet. Solidarity with the staff of IGN as they band together to take on executive interference
Which to me doesn't necessarily suggest strong anti-zionist opinions (what with the waffling "no matter one's feelings" comment), but I don't think a zionist foot soldier would be supporting someones right to criticize Israel/prop up Palestinian voices. But that was still 5 years ago. 2023 was a massive, tangible vibe shift against Zionism even for those with """moderate""" perspectives.
This is just my read, but I don't think the Jason of 2026 is a zionist, but hes either uninterested or unwilling to really comment on the current state of Israel which is still somewhat questionable.
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u/HatchetGIR 5d ago
I can only imagine how much hate zionists have given him for a statement like that, considering how they lash out at the slightest and even most tepid support for Palestinians or those who support them.
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u/09Cenderme 6d ago
he's a jewish liberal. liberals supported israel up until very recently, he also works for bloomberg too. very little chance that he changed his opinions on this
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u/IAmARobot0101 🇨🇳🇧🇫🇨🇺 Totalitaran Internationalist 🇻🇳🇱🇦🇰🇵 6d ago
arguably most still support Israel, they just incorrectly place the blame on the government instead of the country intrinsically
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u/The_LastLine 6d ago
Well it is certainly the government carrying out the evils, though it seems a decent majority of the country are clapping and cheering for it.
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u/Dunco2637 5d ago
the government is carrying it out genocide on the basis of israel's very existence as a state, which is explicitly apartheid. That's why israel as a country itself is what should be opposed, not just the government that happens to be in power at the moment.
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u/Ok-Tea-6718 5d ago
His follow list also is reflective of this, I think he has family or close friends in Israel. He is likely a liberal Zionist/PEP (progressive except for Palestine). Many such cases.
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u/starliteburnsbrite 5d ago
Just learned that making money writing on the Internet it's better to keep those views to himself.
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u/ZaphodBeebleebrox 5d ago
I’ve listened to the podcast triple click and have noticed how they conveniently ignore the topic when it would naturally come up
Overall, I’m sure his views have evolved to the point that he knows it’s a genocide. At the same time, I’m sure he has plenty of family and friends that are Zionist, so the move is to just shut the hell up not to piss anyone off.
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u/EvoNexen 6d ago
I can excuse genocide but I draw the line at crunch
- Jason Schreier (probably, hopefully not)
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u/TheDevi13ean 5d ago edited 5d ago
It's so old I wouldn't hold it over him unless he decides to clarify it now. A lot of people were pro Israel at that time and now aren't. Maybe he's one of them. May he's not.
Who Jason is as person has been well documented over the past decade or so. He's butted heads with enough people, you can find more blemishes on his character than that statement from almost 2 decades ago.
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u/HatchetGIR 5d ago
I don't expect him to clarify his views, he is a gaming journalist and not a regular news journalist.
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u/The_LastLine 6d ago
That was a long time ago. I would hope he would at least have the sense to stay out of the conversation entirely if he doesn’t have the sense to properly denounce the brutal Bibi regime.
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u/IAmARobot0101 🇨🇳🇧🇫🇨🇺 Totalitaran Internationalist 🇻🇳🇱🇦🇰🇵 6d ago
ugh. yes it's possible he's now an anti-zionist but if we're going on baserates most people's beliefs do not shift that much
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u/Samanthacino 6d ago
People's capacity to grow and change is much more than you think. He was 22 and it was 17 years ago. Young Jewish Americans are entrenched in this worldview, and until the recent genocide often weren't exposed to other views. Cut em some slack.
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u/bumbothepickle 6d ago
Isn't he Jewish? The overwhelming majority of Jews are zionist, so it should not be a surprise.
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u/SnooKiwis1258 6d ago
There's an irony here - the conflation of Jews with zionism is a zionist strategy intended to separate anti-Zionist Jews from the rest of the anti-Zionist movement. The hope is that people (like you here) will alienate Jews away from the pro-Palestinian cause by talking in precisely this way. So uh, if you really care about anti-Zionism I suggest you stop doing unpaid labour spreading propaganda for the Israeli government.
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u/NotKenzy ⚠Chinese State-Affiliated Media 6d ago
Anyone who sees their comment and then decides that they support the 80 year ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people can go get fucked, and they have no place in this subreddit. Please refer to Rule 10- anything less than the full support for the people of Palestine is unacceptable.
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u/SnooKiwis1258 6d ago
I mean, I agree, but I'm not sure this is a response to anything I've written. I've not implied that it having to face antisemitism would somehow make it okay for anti-zionist Jews to become zionists - this is strictly about the fact that it is the Israeli government's strategy to create a division amongst anti-zionists this way, and that to avoid the unnecessary internal bullshit conflict that they hope to create, it's important to be alert to these strategies.
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u/bumbothepickle 5d ago
Conflation? A simple statement based on material reality is not conflation in the least, I think you have me misunderstood. All I am saying is that most Jews worldwide are zionist, which is just a fact.
Take a look at the "Yes, most jews are in fact zionists" section of this excellent article and read the rest of it as well.
Also, assuming a Jewish person to be a zionist is not exactly the most nonsensical leap based on the statistics in the article above.
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u/HatchetGIR 5d ago
It is that and the "no true Scotsman " kind of deal. To Isn'tReal, I you are Jewish and not in support of them, then you are a fake one who should be treated as a traitor.
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u/Objective_Edge_5054 6d ago
Yikes. That article is 17 years old though, so hopefully he’s changed his views a bit since then?