Is War Machine, the mixed martial arts fighter accused of brutally beating his ex, a Men’s Rights Activist?
The “hero” the Men’s Rights movement deserves?
If the Men’s Rights movement is looking for a celebrity endorser, I think I’ve found just the guy for them: the mixed martial arts fighter, and erstwhile porn actor, War Machine, currently sitting in jail on charges of brutally beating and attempting to kill his ex-girlfriend, porn star Christy Mack.
Men’s Rights activists should be able to look past these criminal charges; after all, as they remind us all the time, women are forever falsely accusing innocent men of all sorts of terrible things.
And in so many ways War Machine is perfect for them. An MMA fighter, he’s already only one letter away from being an MRA. A misogynistic asshole with rage issues, he’ll have no trouble fitting in with the Men’s Rights crowd. And, especialy important for a movement that has a lot of trouble getting any good PR, he’s a bit more comfortable on camera than the Paul Elams and Dean Esmays of the world, with experience on television (on the reality show The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra), and in seven films (albeit pornographic ones).
Best of all: he’ll need no ideological education from what A Voice for Men likes to call Fuck Shit Up University. War Machine – real name Jonathan Koppenhaver – is already an outspoken proponent of many of the Men’s Rights Movement’s core beliefs.
Consider these selections from a little Men’s Rights manifesto War Machine wrote a few years ago during a previous stint behind bars, serving time for felony assault after two bloody bar fights. His rant, which a friend posted to the internet, would fit right in with the sort of stuff we’ve seen regularly posted on the Men’s Rights subreddit, or The Spearhead, or A Voice for Men. I’ve bolded some of the Men’s Rightsiest bits:
The oppression of MEN is worse than oppression of Jews in Nazi germany, worse than the slavery of Blacks in early America…
There has always been the oppressor and always the oppressed. Before, it was blatant … NOW the oppressor has learned to disguise his evil. You can see man, but you can not see MEN. How easy it is to oppress a minority that is invisible to the eye! How genius of the oppressor! And what a better target too! …
Men challenge injustice from Government, MEN fight for their Constitutional rights, that are slowly being taken away every year. …
And they don’t just oppress us by making more laws and taking away more freedom, they are far more clever than that! Ask yourself what your REAL dream was?? If you gave up on this dream, why? Because of the brainwashing of the Government, that’s why! They taught you to “play it safe.” They told us a responsible man has ONE wife, a house, good credit, good job, and kids. How are you supposed to chase your dreams while maintaining all of that!?
Men are supposed to take risks and be aggressive! What accomplishments have ever come of a man scared to risk it all!? None!? Where would the world be? Still ‘flat!’ Still ‘Earth at the center of the universe!’
If any of you have your Men’s Rights Bingo cards out, I’m guessing you might already be close to scoring a bingo. We’ve got a comparison to slavery that could have come straight from the pages of A Voice for Men, a marriage-is-death-to-male-dreams rant that could have been borrowed from any MGTOW forum, and an evo-psych-esque argument that men are the true risk-takers and the world’s real innovators.
And I don’t think War Machine would have much trouble with Paul Elam’s “Bash a Violent Bitch Month,” either.
[I]t’s Christmas day and I’m laying in my bunk wondering “Why in the hell do American men get married!?” … If your wife is being a bitch you can’t slap her, if your wife is yelling at you, God forbid you yell back … Next thing you know it will be illegal to fuck your wife! LMAO! Maybe then, MEN in this country will get the fucking hint and MOVE! This country forces you to be a bitch!
In another online posting, War Machine touched on another Men’s Rights hobbyhorse, the notion that the justice system is stacked against men:
[L]ook at the prisons, they are FULL of MEN, not women. Are men “evil” and women not? Or do the laws target and attempt to restrict NATURAL MEN’S BEHAVIOR? How many of the HEROES in American history would avoid prison if they lived today? Davey Crockett? Thomas Jefferson? David Bowie? General Grant & General Lee? Shit, George Washington. … Laws target MEN and men’s behavior. Women want to bitch and cry about their rights and equality… LMAO! MEN are the ones locked away like animals, while women run free!
Someone might have to explain to War Machine that David Bowie is not actually a famous American HERO but a famously androgynous British musician who once recorded an album called “Heroes.” (Mr. Machine may be thinking of James Bowie, a well-known 19th century American frontiersman and slave trader, and the guy the Bowie Knife is named after.)
But other than that, he seems ready to go.
There is, of course, that whole attempted murder charge to deal with.
It’s true the Men’s Rights Movement has had few problems in the past rallying behind men with histories of violence. But War Machine might be a harder sell as a Men’s Rights hero. His alleged attack on Mack left her with a cracked rib, a ruptured liver, numerous broken bones, missing teeth and her eyes swollen shut. (See here for photos of her injuries; obviously this link is NSFW and could be triggering.)
While Mr. Machine denies attacking Mack, he joked to a TV host last year that if she were to leave him “I would just kill her” and get a tattoo saying “Rest In Peace” above the tattoo of her name he has on his neck.
And several hours after allegedly trying to murder her, War Machine tweeted this lovely message about his ex:
War Machine does seem to be at a low point in his life. Even aside from the charges he faces, and the time he seems likely to serve, his career in porn is almost certainly over. The “Alpha Male” clothing line he helped start wants nothing to do with him. Nobody but the prison system seems to want this guy.
In other words: Men’s Rights activists, this is your chance! War Machine may not be the, er, hero you want. But he’s certainly the hero you deserve.
Posted on August 21, 2014, in a voice for men, alpha males, antifeminism, domestic violence, entitlement, excusing abuse, incoherent rage, men created civilization, men invented everything, men who should not ever be with women ever, MGTOW, misogyny, MRA, paul elam, post contains sarcasm, reactionary bullshit, red pill, violence and tagged anti-feminism, antifeminism, christy mack, domestic violence, men's rights, misogyny, MRA, red pill, violence against women, war machine. Bookmark the permalink. 1,454 Comments.
He is such a shining individual, and I hope he spends the rest of his life rotting in a jail cell for what he did to his ex and her boyfriend.
The world’s first MMRA!
So, natutal male behavior is a man acting like a jackass half the time, and the other half the time abusing the people around him? Better tell my boyfriend he’s not natural! lol!
This guy wants to think he’s all “oppressed” when society tries to stop him from hurting other people, when his ex is in agony because of his violent actions toward her. I feel sorry that she ever got involved with such a toxic person to begin with and I hope she heals.
Throw away the key.
I mean, seriously. I don’t see how such a broken person can be redeemed. Nor can I see ever letting him out again among others.
(Sadly, the other _criminals_ don’t deserve to be locked up with such a shitty failure of a human.)
Just now on the local news I learned a 19 yr old tried to shoot his girlfriend through a closed bathroom door last night and another was grabbing women and girls in a Wal-Mart and trying to kiss them.
I’m sure they can sit in jail together and talk about how oppressed men are.
Meanwhile, the woman The War Machine physically disfigured to the point she’ll need reconstructive surgery and nearly killed is being blamed by misogynists on the internet. There is literally nothing men can do to women that is bad enough that these hateful sacks of excrement won’t blame women for.
Meanwhile, is anyone else gobsmacked by this asshole protesting that men could not possibly be evil enough to be in prison (I don’t think that’s the case either. I think black men and poor black communities are targeted by the cops.), then goes out and commits an absolutely evil crime, all the while declaring his manliness?
Ah, the personification of the logical conclusion of their beliefs has arrived! And he’s just as shittastic as you’d imagine.
I also hope his two victims heal and move on to much happier lives.
@Lea: An attempted shooting and sexual assault… I just wonder how in the world these people think any of this is a good idea, let alone okay! I mean, really, who were their PARENTS? Who were their TEACHERS? Who were their FRIENDS?
How are these even real people?
Sometimes I’m ashamed to be lumped into the same spcies as these people…
Having had an ex cheat on me while she was doing a foreign exchange back in my Uni days, I’m somewhat flabbergasted that none of these men pause to consider what might inspire the infidelity. Yes, this is also residual fury from the Quinn thread.
Your partner cheats on you. That violates your agreement(s), ruins your trust in them, and makes you feel devalued. I get it! Believe me. But consider that you and your partner likely have different needs, and if one of you cheated, it’s because one or both parties never communicated and consequently understood those needs.
Rather than blaming yourself for being inadequate or the other party for being… well, various things themed around “selfish,” why not analyze your relationship, figure out what was missing, have a civil conversation about it, and move on with that knowledge?
You know. Try *growing* like a human fucking being?!
Jesus H. CHRIST. Dude leaves her with 18 broken bones, a bruised liver, both eyes blacked, several teeth either damaged or gone, and he slashed off her hair (a classic slut-shaming gesture) — and HE’s the one “fighting for [his] life”? When he fucked off like a coward, and the cops got onto him? Gimme a fuckin’ break.
Oh, and marriage is so horrible and oppressive to men, yet he claims he showed up to present her with an engagement ring before he caught her (why, that ungrateful bitch!) with that unnamed male friend?
And on top of that, didn’t he dump her before this all happened?
And he still claims she’s his “property”. Must be the fault of that rubber-stamp tattoo she hasn’t been able to get lasered off yet.
On the bright side, at least her friends have raised several thousand to help pay for her care. Lots of other battered women aren’t nearly so lucky.
As for him, he’s headed for a different kind of cage match altogether…although probably not for nearly long enough, considering that what he did to her looks an awful lot like attempted murder to me.
This… this is just awful. I completely agree, David.
Dear MRAs: look at the misogyny. Look at the self-importance. Look at the ego. Look at the rhetoric. Look at the attitude. Look at the persecution complex. Look at the hatred and entitlement seeping out through every pore in his body.
All the male firefighters, athletes, police officers, freedom fighters, inventors, scientists and whatnot who you’re trying to claim as your own? Forget them.
Look at this man. He is one of yours.
I can only add my disgust that such a human being exists. I can only hope we continue to, all too slowly for my tastes, struggle past a culture that can create a man like this.
I imagine that the aristocratic white males this history scholar mentions would do just fine avoiding trouble with the law, assuming they had access to some source of wealth that worked as well for them as slaves and land ownership. Davey Crockett looks like he was a pretty decent guy by modern standards. As for James Bowie, the only reason he wasn’t hanged for murder when he lived is because the law turned a certain blind eye to dueling.
David Bowie? David Bowie?
Uh, you mean Jim Bowie, right?
Imbecile.
I can’t see a single thing in those quotes that would NOT be in-line with ‘mainstream’ MRM propaganda.
It’s early where I am, and I accidentally read that as David Bowie and was very confused.
You aren’t confused. Look at War Machine’s actual quote. He wrote David Bowie. Seraph just corrected him.
And David Bowie’s duels are more a duel of the wits, really, if the Labyrinth has taught me anything…
Ah, yes, that great hero of American machismo David Bowie.
Also, ugh, this guy. Can someone just go drop him down a really deep well please?
More seriously, everything about this reads as MRA doctrine writ large. This is everything they are and stand for.
Men’s HUMAN Rights Advocates, folks.
Well, this guy is everything they aspire to be. I wonder if most of the MRA keyboard warriors realize that if they ever met a great hero of MRA machismo like this in real life he’d probably beat the crap out of them too?
I fully endorse a David Bowie (AMERICAN HERO!(TM)) vs. War Machine microphone battle.
sorceressensorcelled,
Well the young man who attempted to murder his gf did so in his parents home while they tried talk him out of it. I don’t know about the young man who was grabbing women and girls by the face and trying to force kisses on them.
But who told them that their behavior was OK? That would be our patriarchal society and especially misogynist assholes like the ones found in the manosphere.
He’s everything Paul Elam wishes to be. Violent, empathy-less, virulently self-absorbed. Yes, it’s quite clear that this is the face of the MRA “movement”.
Men like him terrify me. And unfortunately, you meet far too many in martial arts circuits. I used to love classical jujutsu but I kept on meeting guys at training who honestly, worried me. There’s a really deep misogynistic culture in it all. A lot of insecure little boys take it up to try to make themselves feel powerful, I guess. (It didn’t stop me training, by the way, and I got really good BUT other things in like took up my time so I stepped back.)
@Lea: I know it’s the patriarchy, but considering there are a majority of guys that never go on these sorts of entitled rampages, I’m wondering if they somehow got some other influences mixed in there as well… Particularly violent influences that made them think this… I don’t know. I’m just in shock.
Oh Tyler Durden, what happened to you?
I almost put up a link to this guy’s ranting here the other day, but most people were talking bout the shooting then, and it seemed wrong to disrupt that conversation.
I see that he’s calling for a People’s Revolution to overthrow the current government and replace it with a socialist paradise where you can chase your dreams without having to worry about trivialities like where you’re going to live or how you’re going to pay for stuff. (The “ONE wife” and “kids” parts are already optional so I’m not sure why he’s blaming the goverment for that.)
I’m not sure that would be a good idea, but I have to say that it’s a lot better than the half-baked Libertarian nonsense that the rest of the MRAs are pushing.
So I take it by the caps that he’s outraged by the fact that polygamy isn’t legal, but at the same time his ex is his property? Yep, he’s an MRA alright.
“That’s my p***sy and I’m going to take it back now.” Yeah, this guy definitely thinks that women are property and are basically sexual objects. Sounds like an MRA to me.
This guy is a piece of shit.
Still trying to get over David Bowie as a great American icon of machismo.
Poor widdle fing, whining about how he doesn’t get to keep even one woman as property, let alone multiple ones. And bragging about how many (other men’s) wives “tired of wearing the pants” he’s fucked.
Yeah. He’s SO oppressed.
David Bowie is not longer alive today. Nooooo!!! No one told me :O
One thing I’ve found disgusting about the coverage of this is that Kristy Mack’s career as an adult actress is always stressed while WM’s isn’t. It has the effect of hinting that she’s a slattern who kind of had it coming.
It would not surprise me if this guy has spent time in the manosphere. He’s just too good at reciting all the talking points.
Wow, he makes it crystal clear that MRA ideology and patriarchy are inseparable. Men are fucking terrifying.
@ Anarchonist – “All the male firefighters, athletes, police officers, freedom fighters, inventors, scientists and whatnot who you’re trying to claim as your own? Forget them.”
QFT! This! This is the face of the movement! Say what you want about egalitarianism and justice! This is the true face of misogyny, hiding under the sad, grand rhetoric.
Also, if marriage is so oppressive, why get married? Who’s forcing you? My mom tried to force me into marriage when I was 17, but I escaped. If a 17 year old girl (and I really was a girl, back then. My parents did everything they could to make me inept and dependent) can escape forced marriage, then why can’t these manly (so very manly) alpha males escape it? To hell with them! This is not about male liberation, it’s about female oppression! If they don’t own a feeeeemale, they’re oppressed? Fuck that noise!
Sorry, room, if that was TMI or rambly. This shit stain’s behaviour has left me very, very angry!
I wouldn’t be remotely surprized if the manosphere adopted this gristle brain as their latest martyr. You can be sure they’ll all be blaming Mack for the violence, saying it was her fault for going out with him in the first place.
At least he’s too stupid to wriggle out of this, everything he says just digs him in deeper.
“All the male firefighters, athletes, police officers, freedom fighters, inventors, scientists and whatnot who you’re trying to claim as your own? Forget them.”
^^ this.
The unwarranted self-importance of manospherians is really grating.
The scrotosphere will simultaneously blame her for his violence (haven’t there been multiple screeds about how all mens violence is the fault of women?) and at the same time be outraged that anyone would connect this nasty fucker with them, like with Elliot Roger.
I imagine a post is being written as we speak about what a meany wehuntedthemamoth is for daring to compare the two.
The only thing preventing me from nopetopusing out of here is the David Bowie thing (HA) and that his pathetic vest in the top picture needs an ‘s’ on the end. What a pathetic waste of space. I hope he has a great time in prison.
TW: abuse, rape
I find this paragraph the most frightening because, according to Christy Mack, he also explicitly told her “I’m going to rape you”. (He only decided not to do it because he couldn’t “get it up”.) Now here he is talking about sex in terms of “fucking your wife”, which completely lacks any sense of mutual consent (as opposed to “having sex with your wife”).
BTW, for additional context, he also made a joke about raping her once and defended himself by saying that it’s ok for a man to rape his female partner, even going as far as saying that “Real men rape. (Their GF’s and wives, not strangers, don’t get your panties in a bunch.)” He said that was a joke, too, but I don’t believe him one bit.
This seems relevant
@daintydougal
Can you please not use the word “scrotosphere”? I know you’re intending to use it in a way that highlights the male entitlement inherent in the manosphere, but it inevitably associates trans women with cis men on the basis of sharing reproductive organs.
weirwoodtreehugger, you are exactly right about the double standard. She’s in the adult film industry, so she must have deserved it (which is not true), but no one wants to talk about how the industry may have affected *his* behavior. I don’t watch porn, but from what I’ve heard, it’s generally not flattering or empowering to women. Do you think that may have contributed to his views (like the idea of owning women) or to his behavior?
Sorry, Ally, I’ve seen it used here a lot but not seen it been stopped. I try to be considerate but so much stuff just flies straight over my head. What you mentioned wouldn’t even have occurred to me. I will keep trying (if thats ok?)
But while we’re at it, I’m not overly comfortable with you saying ‘men are fucking terrifying’. We wouldn’t say that about any other blanket group like that.
Yeah, I’m not either. Knock it off.
@daintydougal
It’s cool! I’m not upset or anything. I just thought it was important to point that out since cis-centric language isn’t always easy to identify – and to a lesser extent, trans people face the same difficulty.
That’s not sitting well with me either. I get that in your experience, men have been terrifying and awful, and that’s valid. I don’t agree.
Also, I think you’re wrong about “scrotosphere.”
I thought it was clear here that saying “men” doesn’t necessarily refer to all men, and I’ve seen people here use that term the same way I just did. But I apologize, and I’ll just say instead that a lot of men are terrifying.
There’s something extra ridiculous about saying “men are fucking terrifying” on a post made by a man who is not, in fact, terrifying, a fact that I presume Ally has noticed.
We’re all such terrible language police pc gone mad feminazi pinko commies SJWs. SIGH.
So, generalization that has potential splash damage for you even though it wasn’t meant to include you = don’t do that, but generalization that has potential splash damage for other people even though it wasn’t meant to include them = totes cool?
This has been discussed quite extensively on a sex worker forum I’m involved in and… honestly it makes me sick. My line of work can seriously warp one’s perceptions and, while I’ve managed to stave it off so far, the discourse surrounding this pushed my limits pretty hard.
As Christy is going to need extensive reconstructive surgery and likely will not be returning to adult work, she needs all the help she can get. https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/qcd5/christy-mack-s-medical-expense-fund. There’s already been some incredible donationsto her medical fund, but she’ll likely need a lot more. If anyone has a few dollars to spare, I’m sure she’ll be grateful.
@ Nova
Do you know if she’s doing OK? I don’t mean medically, more emotionally.
Besides, change it to “male supremacy ideologoues are fucking terrifying” and you get the same picture perfect message across.
Anyhow, this is a prime example of why it took me so long to get back to martial arts. Superiorbros radiate a repulsor field.
I used to do martial arts and would kind of like to get back into it, but yeah, it only takes one person like this guy in a class to ruin the whole experience. I’ve been thinking of maybe starting with tai chi classes since they don’t tend to attract the macho crowd and then seeing if I can find a martial arts class where nobody aspires to be Rambo via word of mouth.
They aren’t equivalent. Generalizing about men is not oppressive because men are not oppressed, whereas using language that reinforces the notion of gendered bodies directly contributes to trans people’s oppression. That term I objected to wasn’t on based on me believing “But some women have scrotums” but rather on me believing “That language is transphobic even though that user is well-meaning.”
In any case, I made it clear that I wasn’t referring to all men. I have also said similar things about white people in the form of “White people are [insert negative trait]” but there are a lot of individual white people I like, many of whom are among the commenters here.
I wouldn’t be too hard on Ally for the “men are terrifying” comment. My observation is that only a minority of us are really dangerous but that it’s not at all easy to know when you might have to / are dealing with a dangerous specimen. Ally’s experiences seem to justify a fairly high degree of distrust.
I am big enough to be pretty scary if I need to be, and I have needed to be scary twice for about a total of 40 minutes in my 67 years. Luckily I was able to pull it off both times — I convinced the other guy that he really didn’t want a piece of me after all — meaning that I was able to avoid actual violence, which I happen to abhor.
So if it’s not oppressive you’re entitled to do if even if people tell you not to? I’m not sure why you feel that it’s OK to say things like that, but again, you are being asked to desist.
I’m taking my first kickboxing class tonight. There’s only three people in it including the instructor, so hopefully no Rambos.
Ally, you’re being a gigantic hypocrite, please stop.
@Ally:
No, saying “men are fucking terrifying” is not oppressive, nor is it equivalent with transphobic remarks. That doesn’t mean its a good thing, or something we should be fully ok with saying.
@nova: I’ll be donating when I get the chance!
Kickboxing sounds both awesome and exhausting. I think I may need to start with something a bit less physically demanding, plus I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of punching people.
(Which I know is weird and illogical, since I used to do kung fu, which is just as capable of causing serious injury. The people, we often do not make sense.)
Honestly, I don’t know. I know a few people that know her casually but they’re not talking and I’m not asking, out of respect for her privacy. I do know that she has a lot of caring people around her and trying to make sure she’s taken care of.
That’s not what I implied. I just said those two things aren’t comparable. And I said that in order to address the accusation that I’m being a hypocrite by supporting one generalization and condemning another.
Anyway, I’ll desist.
I really really didn’t realise using certain dangly genitalia terms was transphobic and I’m very sorry. I try not to use ‘dick’ etc but I just didn’t realise it could have more connotations and I’m sorry again.
This guy is such a shithead that my worry is what damage he might have already done to her self-esteem even before this particular incident happened.
@Ally:
“They aren’t equivalent. Generalizing about men is not oppressive because men are not oppressed, whereas using language that reinforces the notion of gendered bodies directly contributes to trans people’s oppression. That term I objected to wasn’t on based on me believing “But some women have scrotums” but rather on me believing “That language is transphobic even though that user is well-meaning.””
The thing is, this is not strictly speaking correct. Generalizibg about anyone is generally impolite. That’s it. It’s not about the embedded power structures aided by unconscious discourse as it relates to the public perception of virtue, power dynamics and stereotypes. It’s about not being rude.
I get a little “eeeeh” when you do the “white people are x” or “men are y” too, because it’s kind of bothersomely generally untrue. That’s it.
So… Maybe don’t.
Speaking of “terrifying” and language choices, clunky segue into what I thought a pretty damning paragraph War Machine wrote!
Using “terrorize” as an innuendo for sex (I hope) after being jailed for beating up an ex. Fantastic.
Kickboxing is fantastic! Wish they had classes at a time I could attend. It’s bloody exhausting though. Hope it’s fun, Hellkell.