A prostate cancer charity has returned $6000 to donors from Reddit because it doesn’t want to be associated with their toxic money. Chalk this up as another proud day for Reddit.
So here’s the story: With Reddit emerging, over the past several days, as one of the central distribution hubs for a vast cache of stolen nude pictures of assorted celebrities – including not only an adult Jennifer Lawrence but at least two celebs who were underage when their photos were taken – one Redditor thought he saw a way for the newly created TheFappening subreddit to spin itself as a public-minded enterprise rather than as a large-scale enabler of criminal activity: why not take a few minutes off from frantic masturbation to raise a few bucks for charity?
The charity chosen for this PR stunt was the Prostate Cancer Foundation – the joke being that Jennifer Lawrence is already supporting prostate health as the unwitting supplier of nude pics of herself, because masturbation can help to reduce prostate cancer. Hilarious. So one Redditor set up a page on the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s website in the name of TheFappening, to raise money in her “honor.”
In less than a day, the subreddit had raised $6000, which might sound impressive at first glance, but which sounds decidedly less so when you consider that TheFappening has signed up more than 100,000 subscribers and generated millions of page views since being founded only a few days ago. This was enough to get TheFappening listed as the top fundraiser on the PCF’s home page.
At least until the Foundation, not wanting to be used for propaganda purposes by a bunch of skeezy assholes, shut down TheFappening’s fundraising page and returned the tainted cash, declaring that “[w]e would never condone raising funds for cancer research in this manner.”
Naturally, Redditor’s fappers were outraged.
Meanwhile, another Redditor put up a petition on Change.org begging the CEO of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to take their money:
Our donations were refused due that it was being raised in an inappropiate manner. Which is not the case. We wanted to give back and are willing to donate if you will let us. We want consent so we are not wasting our time. Even though the donations were first formed out of humor the number of donations kept coming in and were about to trend even more. This is due to us wanting to show the community that we care and will put our money where our mouths are. So please “TAKE OUR MONEY!!!”.
The top comment on the petition page:
Oh, Redditors, will you ever understand how terrible you are? There are things worth more than your $6000. Like, for example, not being associated with your bullshit. Indeed, had the Foundation taken the money, the resulting PR disaster of being connected with you assholes would have likely cost them a lot more than $6000 in donations. As it stands, the Foundation’s reputation remains intact, and it’s likely to get some extra donations for taking a principled stand.
Indeed, if you would like to donate to the foundation to help fund prostate cancer research and reward the charity for its stand, the donation page is here.
Over on TheFappening, some of the regulars decided to move on to a new charity, Water.org, which has also reportedly refused their money.
But before Water.org caught on to what the Redditors were doing, the “fappers” celebrated the fact that an anonymous Redditor was briefly honored as a “featured donor” on Water.org’s website. One Redditor posted this meme, with the comment “that’s right buddy.”
Naturally, other Redditors responded to the meme with masturbation jokes:
Elsewhere in the same thread, other TheFappening regulars joked about the fact that the pictures they were all “fapping” to together included actual child porn. After one “fapper” noted that the anonymous Redditor’s donation was bigger than the donation of another “featured donor,
” a “little girl,” this edifying discussion ensued:
Reddit: where the terrible meet to celebrate one another’s terribleness.
[EDIT: I updated several paragraphs about Water.org to acknowledge that the charity is now reportedly refusing money from Reddit’s fappers, and added a link to PCF’s donation page.]
[EDIT 2: I corrected the bit about the petition, which is directed at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, not the Prostate Cancer Foundation.]
Minus expenses if porn is found on the computer is what Kevin K said.
I’m with him all the way on treating an employee who was into violating women (let alone children) this way – and I’ve been an employee, never an employer, all my life.
So, y’know, fuck this concern for this hypothetical employee, because you’ve stripped it of all context. This is about men who’re getting off on violation.
Jurgan
The donation was just a tool. They were trying to add a sliver of credibility. It’s the same as MRAs pointing to prison inmate numbers or male suicide rates. They don’t actually care at all, but if anybody criticises them or their actions they can point to that and say “you don’t care about number of male prisoners! MISANDRY!
Heck, you can see it in action with their “So they rather watch people with cancer die than take reddit money.”
I do see the irony in people who hide behind their anonymity refusing to donate completly anonymously.
You may want to check out water.org on bbb.org website. They fail to meet some standards and their admin costs seem a little high. On the other hand PCF has a better record.
Oh, but anonymity is sooooo important while fapping. And so is being able to brag about it afterward and pretend you’re charitable, too.
What? You mean charities aren’t starving for some good dollars? You can’t hide what a huge asshole you are by hiding behind a pile of money?
I think it was Lisa Simpson who said: “You’re evil, and when you try to be good you’re even worse!”
So, thanks to the two guys I passed while on campus for grad school today, there’s apparently a followup to r/thefapening called “The Second Cumming.” The two dudebros, of course, thought that it was hilarious.
>facepalmheaddesk<
Humanity, you are on your own.
Oops. I should clarify that they didn’t make start “The Second Cumming.” They were just talking about it as I walked past, so now I know that it’s a thing, and I was too speechless to say anything about it.
I am so proud of those charitable foundations who realize that beggars CAN be choosers.
And thanks for the donation link!
It must really fuck with their petty little minds that no one wants their money, either.
I think it’s actually just beyond their comprehension that they’re so very in the wrong. Small minds and all that.
@pendraegon
I love Baldur’s Gate! For about a decade now, it has been my go-to therapy when I am so incredibly angry that I want to just punch someone in the face. Instead, I kill kobalds, whack orcs, and pummel demon-spawn. In this way, I work out the physical sensation of the anger and frustration. Once that adrenaline-pumping anger is out of my system, I can breathe easily, think rationally, and behave in a calm, cool, civilized manner.
See, violence in video games serves a purpose, when used correctly. However, I would like to point out that I’ve seen ALL of Anita Sarkeesian’s youtube videos about feminism and video games, and I don’t recall a single instance of her pointing to a problem in Baldur’s Gate. Could it be because the violence in that game is not misogynistic? Nor misandrist. Mis-monsteric, perhaps. Or anti-villain. Even if you’re playing an evil character, you still have to save the world from the OTHER villains. You know, so it will be around for you to rule, later.
Anyway, it’s cool to see another Baldur’s Gate fan. I like BG, 1 and 2, so much better than NWN (either one). And yaaaay, Beamdog! for bringing it back!
…was I the only person who thought JLaw meant Jude Law? Just me? Okay.
RE: Kevin K
Please tell me these are all 13-year-old boys. Please?
Knowing myself at thirteen, I’m actually more disturbed by the idea of children that young thinking it totally okay to do this shit. (Then again, I was getting shoved up against lockers and called transphobic and homophobic slurs at eleven, so I guess THAT eleven-year-old boy was watching horrible trans porn.) And also, they sure as hell wouldn’t have the money to donate $6K. I associate this kind of behavior with 18-and-up, myself.
” I’m actually more disturbed by the idea of children that young thinking it totally okay to do this shit.”
I agree — it’s like the 14-year-old MGTOW several threads back, if they have the disease that early it makes you wonder whether there’s any hope they’ll grow up with their values somewhat less obnoxious.
However, it is my observation that most kinds of bigotry are learned young, before people are old enough to have some ability to evaluate what is poured into their brains. That’s why I would say, after murder and rape, the worst thing you can do is implant hatred in the mind of a child.
RE: Grumpy Old Man
I’m STILL astounded that an eleven-year-old boy learned a term that is primarily used in grotesque trans porn. And this was BEFORE most kids were constantly on the Internet.
(I like to fantasize that that boy was actually so deep in the closet he was in Narnia, and that when he grew up he came out and got the fuck over himself. He seems to have vanished off the face of the Internet by college, so it’s not a hard thing to imagine.)
Well, before the internet, lots of kids still had access to their dads’ magazines and videos. And I know het dudes have been fetishizing trans women since before the Internet, so maybe his dad had a stash of that crap.
LBT, you’re back! Yay!
(And that’s about as much sense as anyone’s getting out of me till I get some coffee. Just wanted to say hi!)
RE: emilygoddess
Erlech. Even worse.
RE: cassandrakitty
Yes! I am back, ish! I am still way behind on my correspondence and kinda crazy mcpsychobonkers, but I am here! I don’t even know what all went down in the horror thread! That is a task I shall have to take on a saner day.
“I’m STILL astounded that an eleven-year-old boy learned a term that is primarily used in grotesque trans porn. And this was BEFORE most kids were constantly on the Internet.”
One of the things I learned from raising four children is that you do most of your teaching when you don’t realize that you are teaching. Children imitate, and they tend to imitate the things you wish they wouldn’t, so you have to make sure not to provide bad examples for them to copy. And you have to listen for undesirable stuff they might pick up elsewhere, and make sure you explain why you believe it’s inappropriate. Your 11-year-old antagonist probably heard the objectionable terms at home or at a friend’s home or just from a friend. Shit tends to spread.
When my daughter was about 15, she made a snide remark about lesbians. I took her to task for it, which she didn’t really like, but hey, it was my job. Now she’s happily married to another woman, and I don’t have to worry about whether she thinks I’m homophobic.
My parents weren’t without prejudice, but they never taught me to hate. Sometimes I think about what it would have been like if my parents had been hate-filled — what would I be like now? After all, children have to take what their parents say as gospel most of the time, and they don’t have much of a defense if their elders are teaching them to hate. So when I read racist or misogynist crap, I’m never quite able to totally avoid a bit of “There but for the grace of whomever it may concern …”
I’d be inclined to leave it, really. Suffice to say Ally’s gone and the atmosphere seems a lot freer. Look how the Open threads are populated again.
My dad was racist, among his many other charming qualities.
I had a black friend I was really close to in third grade…one day dad said one of his usual noxious jokes, and I suddenly realized how horribly unfair racism was.
He didn’t know my friend. Or the people he was calling names. Or anything.
…I really don’t understand how it is that some people parented by vicious people turn out like me and the kind of people who hang out on survivor forums…
While others turn out like Janet Bloomfield.
I wonder what part of that outcome is wiring? and what part is choice?
Blahlistic — If you could answer that one…. I, for one, would love to know the answer. But I’m not holding my breath.
Apparently, some people have a genetic mutation that made their ancestors immune to the Bubonic plague and makes them immune to AIDS. Maybe there’s a bigotry immunity gene. I guess we’re back to the nature vs nurture debate. I used to come down fairly heavily on the nurture side — then, at the age of almost 60, I met my biological half-sister, and we are so much alike that I’ve had to reassess my beliefs.