At the risk of splitting the “misogynist dickbaggery in the atheist movement” discussion in two, I really need to mention the amazingly well-timed Reddit meltdown of TheAmazingAtheist. It’s already been covered pretty well by PZ Myers and by Jen McCreight of BlagHag but, what the heck, I’ll throw in my two cents as well.
TheAmazingAtheist, for those who don’t follow these things, is (or was?) a popular atheist podcaster well-known, and beloved by some, for being something of a misogynist dickbag. He’s been on a anti-feminist kick for the last couple of months, winning himself many plaudits on Reddit’s Men’s Rights subreddit, though even the MR regulars couldn’t help but notice that he’s a bit of an ass.
Well, now he’s pretty much revealed, with a series of horrendous comments on Reddit, what a complete and utter asshole he is. Let me put a second TRIGGER WARNING here (for violent talk about rape), on top of the default TRIGGER WARNING I put on all my blog posts.
The context : a discussion (which he started) about the propriety of one feminist Redditor calling themself ICumWhenIKillMen. I’m not going to defend that nickname, which obviously makes light of violence in an obnoxious way. But AmazingAthiest was apparently so troubled by this sort of language that he felt compelled to spew forth a succession of violent rape threats.
Let me draw your attention to some of the highlights. (Click here to see his whole comment history on Reddit, where he comments as terroja).
Things started going south about 19 hours ago, when he told one detractor:
I’m going to rape you with my fist.
He followed this with:
I will make you a rape victim if you don’t fuck off.
It got worse:
I’m tired of being treated like shit by you mean little cunts and then you using your rape as an excuse. Fuck you. I think we should give the guy who raped you a medal. I hope you fucking drown in rape semen, you ugly, mean-spirited cow. Actually, I don’t believe you were ever raped! What man would be tasteless enough to stick his dick into a human cesspool like you? Nice gif of a turd going into my mouth. Is that kind of like the way that rapists dick went in your pussy? Or did he use your asshole? Or was it both? Maybe you should think about it really hard for the next few hours. Relive it as much as possible. You know? Try to recall: was it my pussy or my ass?
He continued in this fashion for some time, mocking those who pointed out that rape threats can be triggering, and regularly referring to his opponents as “cunts.” (Each of the following paragraphs is from a separate comment of his; click the quotes to see the full comments in question in their original context.)
BTW, you have to admit, when I told you that I hope you drown in rape semen, you got a little wet, didn’t you? It’s okay. We’re friends now. You can share.
Yes, you read that right: he was saying this shit to a rape victim.
Eventually, theAmazingAtheist found himself stopped short by this scathing critique, from the Redditor called veerserif.
I now know that, apart from being misguided, intentionally ignorant, and quick to resort to pathetic excuses, you are also a purposefully hurtful person with no sense of empathy, and no sense of remorse. You’re not just unintentionally uninformed, you actively turn what you know against people who should be deserving of your sympathy.
I was mistaken before. I thought, maybe, just maybe, after the circlejerking and the giggling, I could try showing you the stuff you said I didn’t highlight. I could show you what feminism has done for men, or maybe tell you about the existence of sex-positive feminism.
But this… this is a whole new level.
Your reputation, in my eyes, has fallen so far that dragging it back up to “mild disgust” would require nothing short of a miracle. You pretend to care about other people, but you really don’t. You like to think that you’re a decent human being, but you fall so far short of that you’re practically on separate planes of existence.
Deliberately triggering a rape victim? Equating being called out on your bullshit to the trauma of rape?
You know what you deserve? You don’t deserve death. You don’t deserve rape. You don’t even deserve some cosmically mandated, hilarious schadenfreude which would not only be brilliant, but just.
What you deserve is for everyone to know this side of you. You deserve for anyone who thought you were a good person to know what you’ve just done. You deserve your fans’ adoration turning to hatred, you deserve the judging stares and looks that people will give you. You deserve to be reminded, every day, of what you do and what you’ve done. You deserve to remember every day that there are people who suffer more than you, that there are people who are stronger and smarter, braver, more principled and better than you, in every way, until the day you realise exactly how wrong your actions have been.
I don’t want to see bodily harm visited on you, because I don’t want to see bodily harm visited on anyone. What I do want is for you – and, for that matter, every shitposter I’ve ever seen – to learn that anonymity is not an excuse.
At this point, theAmazingAtheist backed off, offered a whiny, petulant non-apology apology for, as he put it, “SOME of the statements I made,” and wondered aloud why people were still so mad at him.
He went on to make, yep, a little video about his experience, and to offer a weird and unconvincing “rebuttal” to PZ Myers’ comments on his meltdown. See PZ Myers’ post for links to the video, as well as the rebuttal itself (which is effectively re-rebutted by Myers). See here and here for a transcript of the video.
Naturally, there’s a discussion of the meltdown on ShitRedditSays as well.
One heartening sign in all this: the massive numbers of downvotes theAmazingAtheist got for his worst comments. I hope that a significant number of them were from actual Men’s Rights Redditors, and not only from people who came into the discussion from elsewhere on Reddit, but of course there is no way of knowing.
Will atheists and MRAs drop theAmazingAtheist like a hot rape-threatening potato? Or will they start rallying around him as some sort of heroic truth teller and rape threatener? Somehow I suspect there will be a bit of both.
@Jingles
You call someone a slut for being raped then wonder why someone uses the satirical username “IcumwhenIkillmen….etc’? Fuck you. You are scum. Every time you wake up, the first thought in your head should be “I am an awful, disgusting excuse for a human being. I called a woman who had been raped a slut. I am lower than any other form of life, and I don’t deserve to be breathing the same air as any other lifeform on this earth, because I am sickening”. Fuck you. Go crawl back under your rock and die there, because frankly, humanity is better off without you.
So jingles is trolling. I do not believe anyone did that in person.
Jingles: Oh? and you weren’t exploiting your virgin status?
Bostonian: The part which seems incredible is the person he says virgin-shamed him, and then said, “I’m a rape victim”.
The slut shaming a rape victim, I can completely believe. I can even believe that someone said something he took as being virgin-shaming and then the rest took place.
Is Jingles another MRAL sockpuppet? I hate to think that there are multiple people like that out there walking around in the world.
If not – that’s nice, Jingles dear. Now go play in traffic.
@Bostonian
Unfortunately, I can believe that that happened pretty easily.
Pecunium:
Personally, I think quite a number of people use these stupid Internet arguments as entertainment. They forget that the things they say are being said to real people who can damaged by them. If most of this shit mattered maybe they could be forgiven but most of the time it’s just bullshit.
That guy! I found him in the so-called “related videos” next to Feminist Frequency. He freaked me the hell out because everything from his facial features to his body type to his voice and even his mannerisms reminded me of a guy who sexually assaulted and stalked back in high school. Figures he’s not just a narcissistic misogynist asshole, but fucking evil.
I’m a man, and not a rape victim, and was too upset to keep reading past the 1st half. I would need to make up new expletives to convey how fucked that is.
The NotSoAmazingAtheist is one unbelievable fool who’s got nothing better to do than slut-shaming! I would NEVER wish rape upon anyone! That fool needs to grow up, get a life, get a job, get a girlfriend and stop hating women and everyone else!
Set aside whether what Jingles said actually happened, it does show the hypocracy. Yeah somebody can call you names and then say she is a rape victim and you are not supposed to say anything about that? Why not? If you decide to call me names I am not going to safe ammo. If you can curse at people expect to be cursed at. If you take a username as ICUMWHENIKILLMEN expect people to post hateful stuff about women. Don’t dish it out of you can’t take it in, maybe rape insults are off limits to you but it might be not for the person you are cursing at.
@dapartypoopah/jingles (as if):
Nonsense. It’s simple: if someone’s calling you names, you call them out on *that.* On their assholery. Calling them names in return is just about the most useless, childish, and dumb possible option. Attacking them because of something they had/have no control over is bad enough (er, wasn’t that your problem in the first place?). Deliberately slut-shaming a rape victim just because “so there!”? Wow. Step this way; nine circles, no waiting.
Isn’t it funny how here, the #1 issue is “she used her rape-victim status to get away with shitty behavior!” and yet at the time, the #1 thing that came to mind was to… call her a slut? Waitwhat? That’s a really weird leap. Similarly, why should an offensive username lead directly to offensive namecalling? Like, how does that help? Something tells me posting “hateful shit about women” won’t exactly change a misandrist’s mind. And it *definitely* won’t get that username changed. Why not just confront the actual problem, which is *that it’s an offensive username.*
What the hell is wrong with some people?
What were his remarks in response to? There’s really nothing that could mitigate such remarks, but I would like to know what prompted this meltdown.
Ok, i feel like i have to comment here. let it be known that i am a women too, so here me out. how jingles reacted to that girl was very,very bad. you don’t make fun of someone for being raped, you just don’t. just like you don’t make fun of someone for having their family murdered, or make fun of someone for being a victim of domestic violence or child abuse. all of these things are truly horrible things and shouldn’t be used against someone in an attempt to demean or humiliate them. right? am i right? ok. so why is it that many of you feminist types out there treat rape like it is the most single horrific crime in all of history and the cosmos beyond. it is worst then murder, it is worst then domestic violence, genocide, EVERYTHING!! now im not trying to downplay rape or say that it isn’t as horrible or traumatic as these other crimes i’v mentioned above, i just want to know why feminist are so fucking obsessed with it. why is it that feminist place rape on a fucking pedestal above all of these other horrible crimes.
i heard someone else here mention that they don’t even care if that rape victim kills your entire family, you shouldn’t make fun of them for being raped. …really? ok, let’s say ”hypothetically” that your family was just brutally murdered and you find out that the murderer has been raped at some point in their life. and in a fit of emotional angst, anger, and fury(after all, your family was just killed)…you tell the murderer that they deserved it. ZOMG!!!HOW DARE YOU!! YOU MISGONIST PIG!! it doesn’t fucking matter if that person killed your entire family, it doesn’t matter that you are now fucked up in the head for the rest of your life because of it, it doesn’t matter that you were angry, hurt, and enraged when you said it. all the matters is that you used their rape against them, and for that you are a horrible fucking human being and you should be murdered to along with your damn family!!
ok, that’s an extreme case. but you know that’s what it sounds like to me when you say something like ”it doesn’t matter if that person killed your family”.
and again like i mentioned in the beginning of my post, what jingles said to that girl was a very asshole thing to say. just like it would be horrible if he said something like ”you deserved to be abused by your parents” if the girl had told him she was abused as a child. but i don’t think that makes him a horrible monstrosity who is unable to change and should be beat to death, like you guys imply. hell, im not even really defending him. the reason why i wrote this long ass comment was because of the way you guys are reacting to him and how many of you seem to treat rape like it is the genocide of humankind(hell, not even sure what that means). and no, im not a ”troll” either, im just voicing my opinion on this matter.
you guys should read this article on the goodman project written by a blogger called ”quiet riot girl”. in this article he talks a lot about what iv just mentioned above. im gonna link it below, some of you guys should have a read at it
http://goodmenproject.com/gender-sexuality/rape-culture-and-other-feminist-myths/
Honestly? This is just short of trolling, what with the strawmanning and militant obtuseness. But on the off chance it’s not, I’m going to take the time.
1. “many of you feminist types out there treat rape like it is the most single horrific crime… worst then murder…domestic violence, genocide, EVERYTHING!!”
Well, that’s measured. Glad to know you want to have a serious discussion. Definitely not trolling. /sarcasm
This is a ridiculous statement. Buuuut… since you’re going there, I have to note that rape *is* pretty viscerally horrifying; so much so that a common euphemism for rape is… wait for it… “a fate worse than death.” Pretty sure feminists didn’t make that up, since— lmgtfy— it’s been around since SEVENTEEN EIGHTY-ONE. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/134650.html So yeah.
2. “i just want to know why feminist are so fucking obsessed with it … feminist place rape on a fucking pedestal above all of these other horrible crimes.”
Look, this is pretty simple: feminism is about gender equality, which involves defending women’s interests. Okay? Now. Crime is bad and violence is bad. But feminism isn’t actually about fighting crime or violence… except where they intersect with what it *is* about. Rape is a horrible form of violence that’s primarily used *against women*, THAT’S why feminists are “so fucking obsessed”with it. DUH. (And btw, since when do feminists not care about DV?? Pretty sure we only have the laws we do because of them…?) I mean honestly. This is such a bullshit Bingo-card complaint. It’s called specialization. Do you also not understand why MLK placed Jim Crow “on a fucking pedestal above” say, drunk driving? Or why cops don’t fight fires? Jeez.
3. “i heard someone else here mention that they don’t even care if that rape victim kills your entire family, you shouldn’t make fun of them for being raped.”
And? What’s the problem? If, in my grief, I was going to “make fun” (??) of said murderer/rape victim, I’d prolly focus on I dunno, THE FACT THAT THEY’RE A FKN MURDERER.
4. “let’s say ”hypothetically” that your family was just brutally murdered and you find out that the murderer has been raped at some point in their life. and in a fit of emotional angst, anger, and fury … you tell the murderer that they deserved it. ZOMG!!!HOW DARE YOU!! YOU MISGONIST PIG!! … for that you are a horrible fucking human being and you should be murdered to along with your damn family!!”
Right, yes. That seems likely. Totally fair assessment. *sigh* I await an example of this. Oh, riiiight. It’s “hypothetical.” Which is to say, you’ve just made this up out of whole straw. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that nobody anywhere has ever said this. (BTW, you have now lost all credibility.)
Also, sidebar: Personally? I don’t say shit like this no matter *how* angsty, angry, or infuriated I am. Just… doesn’t come to mind. Kinda like how I don’t spew racist slurs when I’m angry. STRONG side-eye to the idea that fucked up shit suddenly makes sense to say cuz y’know, sooperpist!! WTF is that about? If you think “you deserved to get raped” is suddenly a valid sentence because someone you loved died, or because you’re angry, well fuck you, IMO. I’m sorry for your loss, AND you’re an asshole for casually advocating rape. I can do both!
5. “and should be beat to death, like you guys imply”
As if. Cite it or it didn’t happen. I’m hearing crickets already.
6. “you guys should read this article”
No. YOU need to read. You’re the one who’s so confused. You’re the one with all the entry-level questions. So no.
Yeah!! Rape is worse than murder, genocide and all that stuff. Give me a break!
Nikki is right on the money. The rest of you are fucking nuts.
How is wishing rape on someone worse than wishing DEATH or TORTURE on someone? I hope most people aren’t like you feminist fucks. I don’t even want to understand you.
Well, you’re only about a year late to the conversation here Skippy. On your way now, shoo.
Since this thread was necro’ed, I can’t say that for sure 100% definitely no one here said that, but “How is wishing rape on someone worse than wishing DEATH or TORTURE on someone?”? No one here said that.
And what is with this thread? Looks like it’s been necro’ed at least 3 times now.
Magician: So, the appropriate reaction should be “thanks for only wishing I get raped, instead of murdered”?
And incidentally: rape IS torture, and moreover, it is often a tool of genocide.
@nikki and magician,
I’ll start off with this, i am a man, I’ve never been raped, and I’m not a feminist either. However, I’d like to provide some input as to why it may seem like feminists make it seem like the “genocide of humankind” as I am actually dating a rape victim. So what I think I’ll do is state a few things that happened as a direct result of her rape: #1 she feels like she is nothing and feels she not only is horrible herself, but that everyone should think she is. #2 she Dissociates (look it up). #3 she loses time (imagine if you go through your day normally, then at 8 PM you forget everything that happened today, feel like you’ve just woken up, then you look at the clock and realize the entire day, gone (can last anywhere between an hour at a time, and a day)). #4 she panics (its not getting nervous or uncomfortable, its literally crippling fear brought on by things that a person who doesn’t suffer from the same could just blink away, she experiences things like abnormal heart rate, heart palpitations, difficulty breathing, inability to speak, move, or react to anything within the surroundings (it can be fatal)). #5 suicidal thoughts #6 the desire to drive away different family members, friends, and people she knows so that she can act on those suicidal thoughts without feeling bad. #7 Crippling Paranoia (imagine you cant control the thought that every man who walks through the door at the restaurant could be the man who attacked you, and hes going to do it again) #8 Severe trust issues. #9 Nightmares/Night terrors (usually accompanied by panic attacks afterwards). and perhaps one of the worst of them all: Flashbacks (i don’t mean “oh i remember that time he raped me”, i mean when she is triggered and i’m seeing an empty room, shes seeing her rapist, she feels him pinning her down, she feels him wrapping his fingers around her neck and choking the life from her, she feels helpless. she feels like she is being raped all over again.) and these are just some of the ones she deals with daily/weekly
# of these things i blame her for: 0
# of flashbacks she’s had in the past month: 6
# of times ive done my best to comfort her while they are happening: 6
# of times ive tried to help her out of them them: 6
# of times ive been successful in getting her out of them: 0
# of hours lost in the past month: 20
# of times shes tried (and failed) to push me away so she could kill herself: 4
# of days so far this year (2013) that she didnt think of killing herself: 2
# of hours i spend with her each day: 8-14
# of times ive told her i love her: countless
# of times she’s believed me or thought shes deserved that love: 0
and finally, a little fun fact for the people who didn’t know, there is no set time on how long it takes to get over a rape. its not something you can just get over, its something that you have to work through over many years, and with luck and help you may have a chance of getting through it. it is vastly different for each person and no one should be held to a standard of a “Rape Deadline”. for some people they never get over it at all. and honestly, i feel horrible because i use the words “get over” like its some sort of sickness, its not. its severe trauma that can be mended with time.
and finally
# of years since her rape: 6
Therefore, i don’t blame anyone for equating or calling rape worse then murder or torture. it is like you are forced to live in misery brought on by your own mind for years, decades, or forever.
@sulfurouschain,
Does she know you are sharing all this online? On this post?
@TungstenV she is very open about the details of her rape and very involved in rape activism, and yes, i showed her what i wrote before i sent it
Lol, the feminist anti-male diatribe never gets old with you lot.
And these hags wonder why feminism has become such a farce deplored by the masses? Most people are mortified by the name of feminism and have opted to take on other titles (humanist, egalitarian) and rightfully so. All I see here are a bunch of infuriated children who want to monopolize a crime (funny how rape awareness is only EVER in the interest of women, as though it’s only MEN who are complicit victims–(ah, but these hags are 100% against slut shaming, yesiree bob!!)–such a joke.
How it must pain you that The Amazing Atheist has such a grasp of rhetoric that enables him to persuade the masses and garner 142,680,800 to date. That makes your little renegade femi-con seem quaintly upstaged. Get it through your heads, rape is not black and white, and you the law is not predicated on your hysterical feminazi whims (thank God for small favors, otherwise the whole Innocent-till-proven-guilty would be tossed right out the window). Two sides to every story, and sometimes “rape” isn’t always rape. The lines have been blurred since vindictiveness became a tactic many women have employed to lock up men they hold grudges against. And for the record, if someone hurt me, I would have NO obligation whatsoever to be politically correct about it and spare the feminist identity’s feelings by refraining from saying “You deserved it, whore” or “Gee, I hope that poor guy’s d*ck didn’t catch hypothermia!”
Aww, lookit guys. Mack Zayne here is just sooo! durn! angry!… that he had to wait nine whole months to come and necro the thread. The “feminist anti-male diatribe” might never get old, skippy, but threads do, and quickly. I mean, there’s been quite a lot of threads about rape in the past week, why not go to those? Is it because the nasty women might hurt your fee-fees?
Now, if you can read this through your spittle-flecked screen, and if you’ve quite finished that little tantrum you have going on there, do you want to explain a couple of things?
Like what the fuck “MEN are complicit victims” means?
Or why the fact that (you claim) TAA has had so many views means he’s right – or even that people agree with him? I mean, I’m pretty sure Fox News reaches that many people every day.
Or why you, you special little snowflake you, have no obligation to be a decent human being, but if a woman says that she’s been the victim of a rape she’s an infuriated, hysterical, vindictive, child, hag, nazi whore?
Or why saying ridiculous things in stupid voices is now the marker of a “grasp of rhetoric”? (Does this mean Spongebob Squarepants is the last great orator?)
Ooh, or why this makes what TAA said to a MALE rape victim OK? (Also: note the fact that feminists condemned that, dingus.)
Well, you don’t really have to answer. We all know it’s because you’re a dunder-headed manchild with an entitlement complex the size of Texas who hates the idea of women having rights because for you to have to treat them as people would totally spoil everything.
Listen up, you wee misogo prick: you can have all the screaming shitfits you want, but your asinine flailing will never, ever make women have to be subservient to you. Fucking hell, you wouldn’t have even got along well in the 1950s, even they had societal rules about listening to colossal shitbags. I’m sorry that the world’s changing and that it terrifies you, but tough fucking shit. You’re so hardcore, deal with it.
Best epic takedown of a necroing troll ever! 10/10, would read again!