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.
@hellkell cassandrakitty’s account, IIRC, was that her trans-positive friends were guilted into sex with their trans friend on the basis that refusing sex made them poor allies. The success of that tactic would imply that they were concerned about their status as allies, and that was exploited. An indignation, one that rightfully warrants anger, but that anger should not be directed at transfolk unrelated to that crime by knowingly crossing lines with questions like “I wonder if this can all be blamed on their male socialization.”
We’re a community that watches those tactics like birds of prey. We identify them all the time in the manosphere.
I understand that cassandra has a lot of support around here, but that no one else caught that particular snippet pissed me off a lot more than all this TERFdom (hue) and “we can’t use male/female” accusations. I’m sure we can all tell the difference between a genuine sociological query and a rhetorical question designed to hurt, and considering I came here to learn, I found the remark incredibly insincere. To put it lightly.
@cofee
I have no problem with women, trans or otherwise, who date women calling themselves lesbians. There are self-proclaimed lesbian police acting like trans women calling themselves lesbians is false advertising, a farce or some other imaginary offense. They are wrong and are being assholes. People say stupid hurtful shit and I’m sorry for that.
For a non trans related example, there are people, yes often on Tumblr, who say a relationship between two women can’t be considered a lesbian relationship if one or both are bisexual. I have to say I was stunned by that, you have to sort of both wildly overthink this while not thinking at all to come up with that.
I personally don’t go by some variation of the Animal Farm slogan, “vagina good, penis bad”. I’m very attracted to androgynous and butch women but don’t date trans men. I don’t date men. Trans men who have top surgery, take hormones to develop male secondary sexual characteristics and live as men are, to me, in fact men. It’s not like I’m open to having a go with every person with a vagina.
That said, I’m personally sexually incompatible with anyone with a penis. I just am. Sexual incompatibility is a thing. I can think a person is visually attractive, sexy or just plain like the cut of their jib, but that doesn’t mean I want to get naked with them and have sexy times.
She can be considered attractive and a lesbian before and after I learn she doesn’t possess a vagina, I just don’t want to have sex with her if she doesn’t have a vagina. I like to point out that I personally have been rejected by lesbians plenty of times, it sucks but that’s life.
And backing the others, @coffee there appears to be some ad hominem attacks going on against @cassandra. I’m uncomfortable with that, given how sensitive this area is, using emotional language for more effect is probably Not A Good Idea.
My big issue with this UR A TRANSMISOGYNIST YO notion is I’m straight and if a dude I would otherwise like to be intimate with didnt have a penis I might no longer be interested. I’m not even talking about the dude having a vulva. If he had anything for genitals other than the usual male package I might no longer be interested in having sex with him. It’s not that I have an aversion to whatever he has got. It’s that I’m into dick and in order for me to be attracted to a man he’s got to have one.
So it may not so much be socialisation associating dicks with maleness re: women who don’t want to fuck trans women. It may just be people for whom female genitals are absolutely necessary for attraction.
OK, when we’ve reached making shit up o’clock it really is time for me to bow out.
Also I’m not the only one finding this rapid swinging back and forth between “no stay we’re totally getting to the point of resolution” and “disingenuous weaponizing $%#$%$#%”, really weird, right?
No you’re not the only one. :/
Not all transfolk are like that?
Well, no. Not all transfolk are like that. Apparently, just the ones with penises. Oddly similar to the cisfolk who are like that.
What cassandra was alluding to was that little boys, with rare exceptions, are socialized to grow into men who feel entitled to being sexually catered to. Would it really be so surprising that this bit of insidious socialization stuck, even if the gender identity didn’t?
There are so many comments being posted to this page at once. I just noticed cassandrakitty clarifying that the socialization question was a response to something Ally said. If that’s the case, I have misinterpreted the situation, and can pipe the fuck down on that topic. Confirmation from cassandra would be appreciated.
@pallygirl You raise good questions. Right now, “I don’t know.” I will think on it.
Someone else, lost the post now, said they were bisexual and couldn’t conceive of separating attraction-by-gender and attraction-by-sex. That was actually a neat comment to read, and gave me a different perspective to understand bisexuality. I’m hoping they expand on that, if they can, because that might indicate weaknesses in the interpretation.
Seconded. I find the conversation as confusing as hell without the ad hominems added into the mix.
Also, I’m really happy to see cassandra and hellkell and marinerachel back. I hope you stick around. And I’m really, really sad to see LBT leave.
No, it’s weird.
Well, I’m glad we’re allowed to be angry at that, thanks.
Going to reiterate that socialization was brought up because we’ve been told that no such thing exists. One the one hand, you’re coming into some old, repressed shit right now, on the other, you’re verging towards the disingenuous.
Okay, now here I might be really stepping on the landmine, but here goes.
I suspect that you are correct, that the problem here is indeed one of terminology. We certainly seem to lack precise terms to adequately represent the complexity of this situation, as you explicitly acknowledge. And yet, in the very next paragraph of your post, you return to the insistence that, in order to be considered trans-positive (and to avoid being labeled a TERF, with all the implications that carries) it is absolutely required that trans lesbianism be considered as perfectly congruent with cis lesbianism. Anything less is to stigmatize trans lesbians as somehow not “real”.
Look, I get that trans folk are suffering not only from externalized oppression but from the psychological ramifications of that external pressure as well as the stress of existing in a form that feels alien to one’s own identity. I fully and enthusiastically support any measures trans folk need from the broader feminist community to help lessen that pressure and eradicate that oppression. But maybe the most productive way to go forward would be to pay attention to your own articulation of the inherent contradiction (and the stress and pain it is adding), and take your own advice.
At the risk of touching off global thermonuclear war, maybe it’s just not reasonable to call for a complete reframing of the word ‘lesbian.’ Maybe that’s too much to ask, even from people who would otherwise be on your side and sympathetic to your needs and struggles if they weren’t feeling so fundamentally attacked (and from within the camp, too because a huge factor in cis lesbian socialization is being under constant attack from those who abjectly refuse to acknowledge the experience and perspective wrapped up in the historical use of the word ‘lesbian’). Maybe there are cis lesbians and trans lesbians and both are equally “real” and valid but they are just not exactly the same, and it’s (to some degree, at least) unreasonable and self defeating to try to force them to be.
I cringed when Ally said, “Men are fucking terrifying.” I don’t want to be associated with any community where men in general are denigrated like this and the comment goes unchallenged OR excuses are made for it. In spite of her horrific experiences of abuse, Ally chose to read an article about violent abuse and then comment on it, aware that it might trigger her. Not only is this the opposite of self-care, it put others here at risk.
After Ally was challenged by a few people, she responded to “So if it’s not oppressive you’re entitled to do if even if people tell you not to?” by saying:
She has a habit of grudgingly backing down without offering an apology in spite of the fact that the community expects everyone else to go the extra mile.
Instead of holding Ally to the same standards as others, people rushed to excuse her on the basis of the triggering article. In my opinion, the choice to be here was on her shoulders and she needed to be accountable for her reactions in the same way other people are expected to. She’s been infantalized and coddled to the point where she has controlled the community. That led to the following examples of emotional manipulation and passive-aggressive behaviour on this thread:
Those last two were beyond manipulative. They were abusive and there’s never an excuse for that – not when you deliberately immerse yourself in stories of abuse that you know might trigger you.
I resented the way she appointed herself as an authority instead of simply offering her own opinions. She upset me recently when someone mentioned sociopaths and not in the context of explaining away bad behaviour. Ally told that person not to demonize sociopaths because some of them are kind. I was thinking, WTF?!? By definition, sociopaths are devoid of empathy. They’re excellent mimics and can fake any behaviour but underneath they are master manipulators, exploiters, compulsive liars, cruel, and devious. I’ve been a victim of someone with all the defining characteristics of the disorder and it was sheer hell before I cut off all ties. To my knowledge, no one challenged Ally on this and I didn’t dare to. It’s like claiming some rapists are kind people. Fuck that noise.
One individual was allowed to hijack a community with self-pity, attention-seeking, and manipulative behaviours. Short-term accommodation after a crisis might be okay but not over the long term. Perhaps her age is part of the reason it was allowed to happen but enabling it doesn’t help her and it literally tore the community apart. This dynamic needs to be recognized and nipped in the bud before it gets to the stage it did here.
I’m sad to see LBT leave too, and I hope he’s the only commenter to leave this site whom I felt at least somewhat close to, selfish though that is.
@Unimaginative It’s not that the question was posed. It’s a good question. But it was posted in the context of cassandrakitty being pissed at Ally (at the time), which is why I understood it to be a rather personal attack, and not a rhetorical question, considering I spend a majority of my free thinking time obsessing over it and how it will “Other” me from women.
(Blinks) Yeah, guess I missed that one. Superficially charming and kind are not the same thing, and also…fuck it, I’ve had enough of this nonsense, I’m going to go hug a cat.
@gillyrosebee No landmine, those were all reasonable points presented in a cool manner. I need to sleep eventually and will be back tomorrow, but I’m not angry about anything that’s been said other than the possible misunderstanding vis-a-vis one of cassandra’s comments from yesterday.
OK, one more thing before I really do fuck off to play with the cat. This?
Is exactly what Ally was doing, and expecting everyone else to anticipate and accomodate and generally mold the entire blog around her/your personal stuff. It is not everyone else’s responsibility to anticipate what will trigger you and work around it. That is not a reasonable expectation. Please, everyone, let’s not let this dynamic kick in again.
Yeah, agreed. I’m glad that we care for one another during crisis, but trying to anticipate what might trigger one individual all the time is exhausting.
@ Unimaginative
If this pattern keeps repeating itself, like the last part of this thread, I’m not back for long. Nope, not doing this again. Want to join an email group instead? It’s nifty.
UGH, misunderstandings keep piling on. I already rescinded. Drop it.
Coffee —
“It is, dare I say it, a privilege, to have the language to describe oneself at all, never mind in neutral terms.”
So binary trans people have more privilege than us non-binaries? Cuz my gender identity is “um, neither? I don’t like this system, can I have another one?”
In short, you’re using an awful lot of words to say we need new words, while not providing any new words. I had more to say, but other people covered it well enough, and I’d rather be watching QI than tending to my virtual stable of teal deers and ableist unicorns.
——
Cassandra —
“Ambiphilic makes it sound like we’re attracted to frogs, so yeah, let’s not use that term.”
They have colacea, it could never work. I’m sorry.
“Also, in terms of the the topic of male socialization, the reason that came up the way it did is that Ally has been very firmly instructing the people on this blog that trans women did not and could not have received any male socialization for quite some time.”
Yeah, that. Because let’s face it, gender socialization starts in infancy, before you have a concept of language, forget about gender.
Cool, now we’re getting orders. Bye for now, guys.
Auntie Alias: You said it all. Were you in my head, and if so did you enjoy your stay?
*cloaca
I can spell real good! I swear!
I said it was a possible misunderstanding. The only clarification that was needed was whether the comment was directed at Ally as a response to Ally’s material, thereby confirming that I imagined the entire thing and would apologize.
Bye, Cassandra! Hope you get awesome hugs from the kitty!
PS: please come back later, hopefully, when it’s a better time and stuff.
If more than one person is misunderstanding you, the problem is you.
Drop it? Ohhhhhh-kay.
Argenti: when will there be fish pics?
Cassandrakitty doesn’t make indiscriminate personal attacks. She attacks trolls, and she gets very short with people she thinks are behaving badly. With everyone else, she’s amazingly patient and generous.
She’s put up with a lot of shit and abuse over the years from people who stir up shit, and from people who don’t get that they’ve been shit-stirred by the stirrer until they, hopefully, finally get what she’s saying. She’s very clear-sighted about people, and I’ve found over the years that if she’s telling you you’re wrong about something, you really need to shut up and listen.
I don’t want to set her up as some kind of infallible goddess of human interaction, but if she cares enough to keep hammering at you about something, then take the gift, and learn something.
It’s like you drew that out off head, auntie alias.
Now I’m thinking about anteochoanal nasal polyps being excised and pulled out through a nostril.
@hellkell
Yeah, your exit line was a signal that I wasn’t alone in the way I was feeling.
I dunno about email groups. I can’t follow yahoo email groups for love or money, but I’ll ask one of the mods to send you my email and see if I can keep up.
hellkell, I’m really glad to see you back, by the way. :)
@hellkell And an apology would be accepting responsibility for that blunder made by me, would it not? This is still detracting from anything that I said earlier that was trying to explain where the origin of exclusion was coming from. That’s why I’m agitated. That, and the condescension.
I’m pretty sure Condescension Avenue is a two-way street. May want to check yourself.
Thanks, Alex.
Everything Auntie Alias said. Exactly. Like I said previously, I’m sorry I didn’t back you ‘evil’ folk up more – at the time it seemed pointless and frankly intimidating, not being a ‘regular’ poster. I had no idea other ppl were feeling the same way I did about how things were going around here.
@coffee
Please don’t order people around.
I think that’s me.
Was there something in particular you were curious about?
I was the same, Tracy. I thought everyone but me was OK with the way Ally conducted herself and how everyone conducted themselves around her. Didn’t feel like rocking the boat until, instead of just monopolizing discussions and making people feel their challenges were being diminished, she started spewing potentially harmful things that no one was allowed to rigorously criticise. Now we’re all transmisogynists. Pity.
@Auntie Alias
I misunderstood something that cassandra said. I blew it out of proportion. I was wrong. We got distracted by my mistake, I got agitated by the distraction, and issued an inappropriate ultimatum as a consequence. I am sincere in my efforts to understand cassandra’s perspective, even if they haven’t yet yielded fruit.
Can we please return to the discussion at hand?
Just as I am sure you will forgive me for pointing out that putting words in my mouth in order to take yet another cheap shot at cassandrakitty really does not fly in this community.
I am a little bit hypersensitive to the “you must be attracted to whomever or you are a bad person” argument. I am asexual. Everyone, not everyone, seems to think they are entitled to police my lack of sexual attraction. Asexual yesterday, asexual today, and blimey if it don’t look like asexual tomorrer.
@coffee
I’m completely lost in the conversation you’re having so I am not going to participate.
After what just happened with Ally, I’m not going to sit by silently and watch the same dynamic begin again with someone else.
“Ally told that person not to demonize sociopaths because some of them are kind. I was thinking, WTF?!?”
Wtf indeed! I guess one or two could play nice, but they’re doing it the way a small child does — to stay out of trouble. Selflessness is not a thing they are capable of, by definition. I missed that, or I’d have dropped the DSM on her head. And that thing is damned heavy (great for dealing with a comfy chair with a broken leg though!)
Hellkell — axolotl’s aren’t fish, but this weekend, hopefully. Everything except the CO2 is up and running, so I need to see what the tank temp is after peak heat tomorrow.
@Auntie Alias I understand. I just want to make the concession that I was wrong on the point of accusing cassandra of weaponizing a rhetorical question, and move on to see if we can hash out further issues and/or solutions to the original thesis.
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I think Cassandra’s done for the evening, maybe with the whole thread, but hopefully not with the whole site.
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@coffee
Around here we apologize when we’ve made a mistake.
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One little axolotl
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Dammit…
1?
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@coffee, I don’t think any of us has the energy to hash out your thesis. Feel free to bang it out on your own, though.
No, you were correct :)
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Oh, for dog’s sake. My internet sucks tonight. I counted seconds, and it took seven for my 4 to be posted. Grr.
One puffer fish
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So then you are all going to leave me here totes pissed off all by my own self?
Oh! One of my mother’s coworkers just adopted a TINY kitten — only two weeks old [sad alert] little one’s mother was killed, idk how.
Put your hand out, picture a tabby covering just the palm, all newborn and bottle fed and still needs its bum wiped. Yeah. I want pictures.