Well, my fellow feminists, we might as well pack it in. For the forces arrayed against us have a devastating, nay brutal, new slogan.
The Counter-Feminist Agent of Change (CFAC) who calls himself Fidelbogen explained in a recent post how this “wicked new slogan” came to him. Also, what the slogan is:
This occurred to me in a flash of inspiration today. I grabbed the first scrap of paper I could find and jotted it down:
Feminism spreads lies like a fly spreads germs.
You like it? I thought you would.
So . . . spread it around, and make it part of the “buzz”!
Get it? Buzz. Like, “buzz” means “what people are excitedly talking about.” But it is also the sound that a fly makes.
See, Fidelbogen is working with TWO DIFFERENT MEANINGS at once. It’s like juggling two things at once, only with your brain. No wonder some MRAs regard his as the finest mind in the Men’s Rights movement today.
Several days after The Bogen (that’s what I like to call him) came up with this masterful slogan, one artistically minded MRA took it to a whole nother level – by using the slogan in the graphic above.
As The Bogen explained in his second post about his new slogan:
Memes can take many forms, and what you see here is among the most elemental and effective of those forms.
I am posting this graphic image for anybody on the planet who wants to fly away with it and spread it around.
First with the “buzz” thing, and now “fly away with it.” LIKE FLIES DO! The man is a genius.
Hell man, you could even print it on T-shirts and coffee mugs. Certainly you can post it on your website. Best of all, you can print it on little squares of paper and leave these in all manner of places where all manner of people will happen upon them.
Oh shit. T-shirts? Mugs? Motherfucking SQUARES OF PAPER?! He’s going CROSS-PLATFORM!
This is the sort of thing that will land in people’s brains, and buzz around there, and never leave!
I explained the buzz thing already, didn’t I?
It will find its way into the general buzz of conversation, too!
Just in case you’ve forgotten. Buzz = what people are talking about. ALSO THE SOUND FLIES MAKE.
I still cannot get over how much of a genius move that whole “buzz” thing is. I don’t know how he does it.
I kindly thank St. Estephe, the blog keeper who created this. I am honored to see my words so skillfully combined with pictures, and made ten times more effective by that method.
It’s true. It takes a tremendous amount of skill to find a picture of a fly, and then to put words next to it.
How can we possibly compete with this?
I tried to come up with some slogans of my own. But the best I could do was this:
I hope you guys have some better ideas.
Try QuickMeme if you want to make a little graphic. I’ll post any especially good ones here!
EDITED TO ADD: Some more graphics that are Fidelbogenesque in their brilliance. One from Scar, one from me.
For the last time, your job is to bring the chips for gaming night. Robert is bringing the rest.
Snacks.
Not dice.
@Ami, re the trans gender issue, i worked in women only hostels for a while and and the arguments that would erupt at meetings about admitting people who were trans women and then the endless issues over working with the residents if the residents were outed…it was just depressing. Trans women were definitely not safe in there. And i know of hostels that started out mixed gender which moved to men only. And i know of mixed gender hostels that installed heavy steel security doors between the men/women sections.
i agree, this is like the dumb argument over the titanic or the costa…i’ve done this job long enough to see how everyone hurts and how we all need to work together to stop the hurt.
Every time I look over at the bookshelf and see my Furby gathering dust, it just reminds me how much money I wasted on the thing.
Fads.
Not wise.
I feel like we can write a pretty hilarious children’s book like this. xD Nebody with drawing skills want to help? 😀 Meet me over at the forum.
I used to sell men’s neckwear….now I’m a lumberjack.
Axe.
Not ties.
@BigMomma thankfully in my city a lot of women’s shelters seem to be becoming trans inclusive, or already are. I’ve consulted with a lot who are trans inclusive, but want to be more so, or who want to actually put in actual policies. A lot of the rape services and shelters in my city released a statement of support for trans people in the wake of Vancouver Rape Relief’s policy of rejecting trans women. >_< I hope that my experiences aren't totally abnormal and are more the trend of what shelters and services are heading towards. 🙂 But I definitely am also aware of the history and continuing struggle of trans people to get shelter and services and have their gender identity respected. Recently, in a city just north of me, a trans woman was rejected when trying to access a women's shelter even though she had no place to stay because of her abusive boyfriend. The conversation was taped and is on youtube, and she's now taken her complaint in front of a Human Rights Tribunal. It's sad too because the place that rejected her is under the banner of the YWCA, and in my city, they've been really great to me, and my experiences with them as a woman who's suffered trauma have been wonderful and they've been openly supportive of me being trans (and made it clear to staff and clients that discrimination against trans women won't be tolerated), but I also know that a lot of these shelters may operate under a banner, but have their own policies. : There's a shelter under the Salvation Army in my city that is trans inclusive too (and has actively sough help from my work place to create trans inclusive and positive policies) but I know that in general the SA is pretty problematic, esp WRT queer people. -_-
aaaaaaand…I’m fired….you’d think i’d’ve known better….please strike through ‘mens’ in my last comment
As of 2005, the NHL has adopted a shoot out format to decide games that are tied after overtime.
Pucks.
Not ties.
@Ami. that all sounds fabulous! (in terms of getting trans people included). where i live and work now (rural Australia) i think their heads would explode if you asked them to even THINK about what you are talking about. But i am here to slip the ideas under the barricades. also, i reckon that due to the general ‘rural’ nature of the politics around here, anyone who doesn’t ‘fit in’ hightails it out pretty quick. Luckily i am assembling a group of like minded people so we can try to influence policy.
so what do you do exactly Ami? You don’t know to tell me, that’s fine, i’m just curious as one service provider to another!
know???????????????????????? need, more like
i haz stoopid
Read stonerwithaboner’s article. He seems a bit confused:
” If he (David) is only trying to shame “extremist” MRA’s and he truly believes they are “misogynistic,” wouldn’t he be happy if they opt out of relationships with women.”
But i am here to slip the ideas under the barricades. also, i reckon that due to the general ‘rural’ nature of the politics around here, anyone who doesn’t ‘fit in’ hightails it out pretty quick.
That’s something that’s really true. Where I live, (which isn’t where I work, I commute), it’s pretty closed minded and there’s not a lot of support for queer people because it’s “a city thing” and people just take it for granted that if you’re queer, or queer-supportive you’ll high-tail it to the city, so they don’t need to care. I’m trying to change that, since I’ve found allies in my area too through my work (since we service the greater metro area) 🙂 And as I said, north of us it gets really closed minded too :
My job, not to get into too much specifics, involves consulting and advising agencies with their policies and helping them make their agency and policies inclusive to marginalized groups, with a focus on trans people, though I try to make sure there’s a big focus on intersectionality too. 🙂 Sometimes that can include facilities, or changing literature so people can trust an agency is trans inclusive (and inclusive to other groups, such as articulating that it’s inclusive to men if it’s a rape crisis service) and sometimes that’s just policies. My OTHER job (I have 2 separate jobs) is to do workshops with businesses, agencies and services to teach their employees about trans 101, trans issues, and being trans inclusive and non discrimination.
As an example, I’m currently making some fake “problematic” policies for use as teaching tools for a presentation to the hostel services in my city and teaching them how to be inclusive towards trans people. 🙂
Where I’m from “queer” is more of a slur than “fag”. I always think you’re being mean when you use that word O.o
I’m hoping to parlay this into a more direct services job. I already have an offer to do something more direct in my region, which I’ll definitely take. But I need to go back to school (I don’t have a formal education, I got these jobs, interestingly, by showing my activism online and interviewing well >_> ) for social work, but I’m definitely planning on social services as my future career. 🙂
Sorry 🙁 I’m not :
However, if I’m offending people, I want to know 🙂 For me, and at least my experiences in my region, online, etc… queer is the preferred term for referring to LGBTQ spectrum people, and I prefer to use it so I don’t feel like I’m excluding anybody (though sometimes you’ll hear me say Queer and Trans, just because I know some people don’t read queer as meaning trans)
Go Ami! =D
My ER provides excellent cardiac care.
Heart attacks.
Not dies.
Not really offended, it just strikes me as odd. Our cultural differences are interesting.
Unlike NWO, I much prefer having a socialized safety net and health care system, rather than a society where “female privilege” of crying for food/care covers up women being unable to work.
Tax.
Not cries.
if i need to, Ami, (as i am hoping to move up to a management role in a different bigger organisation), can i ask you for advice/pointers in policy development? just general stuff to make sure i’ve not being ignorant. it sounds like such good work you are doing. i’m not after a freebie like you doing a policy for me and i think i can cover the basics of not being transphobic, but all the same…
Okay 🙂 Well, as long as it’s fine with you 🙂
And yeah, it definitely is interesting how cultural differences affect how we read things, and whether something is a slur or an inclusive term. 😐
However, if somebody doesn’t want me to use the word “queer” or to refer to them as such, I definitely won’t. I know some cultures that don’t read the word “tranny” as being a slur and I definitely would hope that somebody from that country wouldn’t use it to refer to me if I don’t want them to. 🙂
I’ve also heard “queer” used as a blanket term for everyone on the QUILTBAG spectrum, and it’s not offensive in that sense. I tend to use it to be less offensive than “gay,” which leaves out various folks who aren’t gay but don’t have a normative sexuality and/or gender either.
I think it’s a matter not so much of regions but of:
1. Noun or adjective; it’s okay to say “queer person;” not so much “a queer.”
2. Whether the speaker themselves identifies as queer. I don’t think this is a word non-queer people can’t use but it’s one they definitely have to be careful with.
3. Simply whether it’s being used as a slur, which is generally very very easy to tell.
I ate the freebie cookies in the conference room instead of going out to McDonald’s.
Snacks.
Not fries.
if i need to, Ami, (as i am hoping to move up to a management role in a different bigger organisation), can i ask you for advice/pointers in policy development? just general stuff to make sure i’ve not being ignorant. it sounds like such good work you are doing. i’m not after a freebie like you doing a policy for me and i think i can cover the basics of not being transphobic, but all the same…
No, absolutely you can! I’d be more than happy to help you with anything you need to and help you develop trans inclusive policies. I think it’s awesome that you might have a chance to move into a management role! (and I hope you do!) We really need more progressive and inclusive people in these positions, especially ones who are allies. 🙂
Drop me a line at http://ami-rants.blogspot.com (the comments are moderated, so nobody will see your comment but me) and leave me your email address or IM information or something and you can contact me if you want to talk. ^^
Honestly, I’m also really excited to meet somebody way more experienced than me at social services, because I’m really very new to this and I’m happy to meet somebody who works in this area and also knows it well. 🙂
My comment is awaiting moderation I think b/c of the policy our awesome Dark Lord (David) put in place to protect trans ppl here (specifically from NWO I think)… so here it is again:
Okay 🙂 Well, as long as it’s fine with you 🙂
And yeah, it definitely is interesting how cultural differences affect how we read things, and whether something is a slur or an inclusive term. 😐
However, if somebody doesn’t want me to use the word “queer” or to refer to them as such, I definitely won’t. I know some cultures that don’t read the word “tr*nny” as being a slur and I definitely would hope that somebody from that country wouldn’t use it to refer to me if I don’t want them to. 🙂