Another elevator joke for you all:
So Pierce Harlan of the False Rape Society blog gets into an elevator ….
Well, OK, not a joke. In his latest post, Harlan offers a reaction, of sorts, to the whole atheist elevator incident –- by relating an anecdote of a recent elevator experience of his own.
EDITED TO ADD: Harlan has now deleted the post in question. It can still be seen, at least for now, in Google’s cache of the original page, which you can find here. Grab screenshots! Back to the story:
Seems he was riding a hotel elevator with a sweet old lady. Neither one said anything to the other (Harlan apparently hates talking to sweet old ladies) but when he got off the elevator – well, let’s let him explain:
I glanced back at her and saw that … she was immobilized with fear. In fact, she was practically cowering in the corner. Her eyes couldn’t have been wider if I had whipped out my dick and lathered it up with Grey Poupon. Hers was the face of utter, unbridled fear, and she was watching me like the scardest of scared deer. She said not a word but her demeanor practically pleaded, “Please don’t rape me, sir!”
Now, Harlan seems to have what you might call a taste for overstatement. He describes feminists as “screeching banshees” and “extremist loons allied with the sexual grievance industry.” I doubt he could describe a chicken-salad sandwich without resorting to angry hyperbole. (That was a little bit of overstatement on my part.) But let’s just assume that there is at least a kernel of truth here: this woman was creeped out by Harlan.
So what was Harlan’s response to this woman’s obvious discomfort?
[N]o one has more empathy for his fellow human beings than I do. The first thought that came to my mind in response to the obvious fear on the face of this pathetic, sweet looking, older woman — who probably never hurt anyone in her entire life — was fuck you!
Obviously we are supposed to ask just what it was that drove Harlan – the self-described world’s most empathetic man – to say something so seemingly callous? Well, as is usually the case with those we write about here, it all comes back to man-hating ladies and their male allies, with their evil insistence on sexual assault education (sorry, “indoctrination”) and their callous demands to “’take back the night,’ although the night has always been theirs.”(I don’t quite know what that means, but it sure sounds selfish of these women to want a whole extra night just for themselves.)
Ours is, Harlan says, “a culture marked by crass, hysterical fear-mongering about male sexual predation and violence.” (Evidently some guys haven’t gotten the memo on this.)
But all this evil misandry seems to have left poor Mr. Harlan in an uncharitable mood towards, well, almost everyone — though he directs his worst opprobrium at sweet old ladies.
Fuck them all. The paranoia of the woman in the elevator is her problem, not mine. Ironically, the elevator, the hotel itself, the car she rode in and the roads she rode on to get to the hotel were all undoubtedly conceived, designed, and built by men — men she’d fear just as much as me if they were standing in that elevator with her. I felt no guilt or shame or bewilderment over the fact that she fears me because of my birth class. Let her fear me. I can’t change it, and I have too much to do to worry about it.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s good that some people fear us. Maybe we should exult in the power we wield by reason of their paranoia. One thing I know: I will never do anything to alleviate their paranoia. In fact, I’m just fine with it, thank you very much. If someday, my riding the elevator causes some old woman to have a heart attack, that, too, is not my problem. Blame it on a culture that I don’t approve of. Blame on sweet looking, older women who give in to the paranoia.
Truly the world’s most empathetic man.
Harlan goes on to talk briefly about the Rebecca Watson elevator incident. Needless to say, he adds nothing interesting to the discussion.
I like that Pierce “invited” people from here to discuss this on his blog, then warned all his commenters to “be prepared for some folks who think we approve of rape.”
Then he banned MediumDave after he made one comment.
He also accused MD of writing like a 16 year old because he used the word “bogus.”
I’m talking about fleeting interactions with strangers (like this elevator thing) not with actual acquaintances.
And feminists constantly attempt to justify being “creeped out” by men and shit, so obviously they implicitly admit it happens.
I just gotta ask. Who are Her Holy Highnesses?
I read the FRS blog and that Pierce Harlan dude is a fucking idiot in general, I’ll admit, but he makes good points here.
I am writing Pierce Harlan/little old lady fanfic right now.
My therapist told me to stop using negative terminology, like “bitch” and stuff, even online or in my own head. “Her Holy Highness” is basically a placeholder for that, ie, an entitled, arrogant woman who thinks she’s far superior to the second class non-alphas.
Okay Mr. Al, but since turn-about is fair play, why don’t we just let the little old lady alone, and you can stop bitching about that one time where this girl you kind of know didn’t say “Hi” to you in the right tone of voice in the elevator. Ahem, I mean “spat on you” by not saying “Hi” in what you deem to be the correct tone of voice.
Little old lady who appears kind of scared of someone younger and stronger than she is = all the alpha FUCK bitches in the world. Or whatever.
Or, MRAL, you could just say “woman.” Both online and in your head.
Pierce and I had such a nice discussion for a while, then he just decided i was one of those hysterical ladies with their silly lady brains, thinking strange men could possibly not be safe and acting accordingly. Tsk, tsk.
I haven’t the courage to read the rest of the blog, I’m afraid.
MRAL-seriously, next time ask. Be polite and respectful (which I am sure you can do, just pretend to be addressing Mr. Martin when asking) and ask the female why she is looking at you in such a way.
Right, like I’m going to ask a random stranger why she’s looking at me a certain way. That’s weird. She’d probably just deny it anyway.
MRAL that’s just….. completely missing the point. If you’re just going to use different words to just say “bitch” then you may as well just say “bitch”. I’m not a therapist, but i believe the point here is not to just not say negative things, but to promote a less negative worldview by using less negative language.
I give you props for putting in the effort though.
I had to ask when is it actually okay to be scared as a female of a strange guy-is it when you are a small female, old lady, or have a history of violence?
It’s ok to be scared about anything you want. I suffer from claustrophobia, I’m scared of elevators, especially small ones. Once I got stuck in an elevator, but that’s another story. Anyway, in spite of my fears I don’t start a national campaign to ban all elevators.
@Elizabeth. I’m gonna side with MRAL on this one. If some guy who had already made me feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or creeped out came up to me and asked me why I seemingly felt that way, I’d deny it and flee as soon as possible.
To me, this misses the point that the woman was an older woman. The fear she might have felt for him probably isn’t that he’d rape her, rather that he might attack her for her purse.
My mother is in her late 70s. She lives alone in the house where she lived most of her marriage with my father, who died last year. She’s still in fairly good physical condition, looks after herself and her pets, and is happy to be able to live in her own home.
But one push from someone attempting to steal her purse when she’s out could mean disaster for her. A broken hip or leg would be very hard to heal at her age and would probably mean the end to her being able to live alone without support. I don’t know how she would act in an elevator with an unknown man, but I do know that she’s told me that she doesn’t like strangers knowing she lives alone. If someone she doesn’t know comes to the front door, she yells out that she’s going to answer the door, as if my father were still alive, so the stranger doesn’t know for sure she’s alone.
And there have been enough stories in her local newspaper and on the local TV newscasts about the elderly being attacked for money or possessions that I don’t think she’s being paranoid.
So, rather than assuming the elderly woman was afraid of being raped, I think it’s more likely that she knows she’s frail and can’t defend herself from any sort of attack. Why resent someone for that? If the poster were as empathetic as he claims, wouldn’t he have pity and understanding for an older person, male or female, being afraid?
Marky Mark just popped up and expressed his utter amazement that a woman would be scared at night on the highway of a strange dude.
Shora, that is my problem with MRAL though-he is inventing how she feels about him from her lack of what he considers positive contact. But he has never asked a female once if she has a problem with him.
Oh yes. Us Holy Highnesses should fear nothing XD
For the record, I prefer “alpha FUCK woman” to “Her Holy Highness.”
“Alpha FUCK Women” should be the new name of this blog.
Eh, fear is such a complicated concept.
One common intersection of fear, maleness and identity in our society is the fear that people have when they see a black man. “He’s a thug” they say. Or a big man. “Scary”. A nerdy man. “Pervert”.
Wouldn’t you be disgusted to be feared in this way – after all, the “you” that everyone sees is so commonly just a stereotyped placeholder for the “you” that nobody else seems to want to get to know?
I am. But I guess I’m also sad that these discussions get to the point where both groups of people – women and men never- choose to see beyond their own narrow visions of what the world is. I am no less justified in my wish not to be seen as Jeffrey Dahmer, or big scary man, and get shit looks wherever I go, than you are in your desire to be safe, and happy and enjoy your evening.
Part of the solution to this problem is dismantling fear. Fear is a useful tool for forcing people to hate each other, and to force people to be unhappy.
Maybe we need more stories of – “Man gets in elevator, talks to woman. Both enjoy pleasant conversation. Both get off on first floor, go about their own business”.
Harlan had no obligation to do anything other than what he did, in terms of making her feel comfortable. My question is why did her reaction piss him off so much, since it likely had nothing to do with him or feminism.
“Did you know it was you she was actually scared of? I know I am scared to death of heights and when an elevator is one of those all glass ones you can see out of I get more scared then when they are not.”
Yeh man, I’m terrified of lifts! Small, enclosed space, full of strangers, could break down and get stuck (and what if the emergency button doesn’t work???) or, worse, plummet to the ground and kill us all as we are trapped inside a falling metal death-trap…
Yeh I try to take the stairs.
Anyway, I like how this has progressed from ‘alpha FUCK’ women to little old ladies. Soon it’ll be a four-year-old girl crying when he is within ten feet of her or something.
MRAL, you told us you had violent fantasies about doing unmentionable things to a woman who said ‘hi’ to you wrong…in an elevator…I’d be pretty scared if we were trapped in the same one!
@ MRAL: Alright, if you’re going to stand by what you said, let’s discuss it.
“I will not hide in my house so the entitled Her Holy Highnesses will not have to gaze upon my hideous male visage and be discomforted by my presence.”
Does the scared old lady Pierce Harlan mentioned count as an “entitled Her Holy Highness”? If so, please explain what qualifies her for that description. If not, why would you bring “entitled Her Holy Highness[es]” into a conversation that has nothing to do with them?
Also, aren’t you banned from talking about your face on this blog?
“I have just as much right to walk around outside, to enjoy myself, to go in elevators, as any female”
The preferred term is ‘woman,’ but otherwise I completely agree with this. Women and men have equal rights to use public space.
“and not be shamed into changing my behavior for no reason other than gender.”
Who is shaming you? Do you think that scared little old lady is shaming you? Please offer specifics as to the identity of this putative shamer, and how it relates to the original post.
“I will exercise that right, and if you have a problem with that, that’s TOO FUCKING BAD.”
You go ahead and exercise that right, MRAL. Ride those elevators up and down and up and down all day long if it makes you happy. Nobody’s stopping you.
So when we see “her holy highness” you basically mean “bitch”? o_O
The other day some people were staring at me for chewing with my mouth open. Well, FUCK THEM. They’re nothing to me. I will not hide in my house so these Royal Highnesses don’t have to gaze upon my hideous life-sustaining food intake and be grossed out by a simple biological reality. Fuck that. I have just as much right to eat in public, to enjoy myself, to enjoy chicken salad sandwiches, as any polite person, and not be shamed into changing my behavior for no reason other than squeamishness. I will exercise that right, and if you have a problem with that, that’s TOO FUCKING BAD.
MANGINA BITCHES MISANDRY