Paul Elam, head ranter at A Voice for Men, has a new video out called “You want privilege? You got it!” The thesis: if women really did have the so-called privileges that men have, they’d hate it and want men to take them all back. Because all of these so-called privileges are really giant burdens. Or, as Elam puts it, somewhat more melodramatically, these privileges have “begun to more resemble an anchor around your neck than the helm of a great ship that everyone tells you that you are captaining.”
Here’s the video.
Well, all right, that’s not really Paul Elam. But that little clip does capture pretty well the tone of his latest post, which is indeed about how male privilege is really a terrible burden.
I mean, this is his opener:
I swear by everything holy that the next time I hear some fembot caterwaul about “male privilege,” I am going to find something to break, turn it into shards, and drag the broken pieces across my chest just to distract me from the pain of their increasing stupidity. Just picture me like Martin Sheen, collapsed in a heap of bloody, tearful insanity on the floor of a cheap hotel in Saigon.
Heck, compared to that, Mr. McDuck’s reaction to the news about his “ice cream” was, if anything, rather restrained.
The rest of Elam’s post is, as is typical for him, a rather trite recitation of a number of standard Men’s Rights talking points about male “disposability” written in some of the most ridiculously overblown prose ever seen outside of an Ayn Rand novel.
Elam complains that he hasn’t seen much benefit from his privileges:
Mind you I still don’t know what that privilege is. One time when I was young and very poor I was late on my light bill. I showed the electric company my balls, but they cut my power off anyway. …
Yeah, as someone who’s also had his power cut off, I’m pretty sure they do that with everyone. I’m also pretty sure that no feminist has ever or will ever argue that male privilege means you won’t get your power cut off for nonpayment.
Here’s Elam addressing women as if they’ve traded place with men:
With your privilege comes the right to work on crab boats, drive trucks, work on electric lines, walk into burning buildings and sink into the bowels of the earth digging out coal and other things people find useful.
Apparently having greater occupational choices is scary and bad.
When a ship goes down, or any other life threatening disaster strikes, you have two choices. Be a real woman and die, or treat your life like it has value and have the world shit on you as a coward who refused to perish on cue. There is also the possibility of third option, either die from the disaster so that men can live, or have another woman blow a fucking hole in your face with a pistol because you tried to save yourself.
Yeah, I believe we may have addressed this earlier. Oh, but there’s more:
Like noticing the emperor has no clothes, it may hit you one day when you decide not to offer your seat to a man; when the stares at you from all around seem to come down people’s noses. …
You must learn not to say a word. Not to anyone else, not even to yourself. You must learn to see flames, coal dust, icy saltwater, death and sacrifice for the trappings of power that the world around you thinks them to be.
Says a dude typing out his manifestos on an expensive laptop he conned nagged his followers into buying for him.
And you must be willing to hang your head in shame over that power, even as the world chews you up, spits you out, and gets ready to take its turn with your daughter.
Elam’s rousing conclusion:
So, that is it, ladies. You want my privilege, it is yours. I will gladly hand it over to you this very minute. I am just waiting for you to meet the pre-requisites of disposibilty and an utter lack of self-value. I am waiting for you to woman up to the job, take off your fucking make up and be ready to bleed, blah blah blah look at me I’m mad!
I paraphrased a little at the end there. But, yes, the world champion at seeing male “disposability” everywhere did in fact misspell the word “disposability.” That was all him. And so, believe it or not, is the following:
I, like a Jew gone weary of being called a chosen one, am completely ready for anyone else, and in particular, you, to be chosen.
Personally, I have had about all the privilege I can stand.
Yep. He went there.
Also, I don’t know if you all knew this, but when women serve in the military these days it’s “like a day care camp for them.”
Also, not to pat myself on the back or anything, but my headline is much better than his. Maybe he should get me to write all the headlines on A Voice for Angry Duck Plutocrats Men.
Discuss.
>That’s what has US MRAs so angry.
I guess the reason why they don’t do something about it is because there are women in the army too these days…
I’m still waiting for men to pony upo for giving vaginal birth.
And yeah…its not like most women don’t bleed on a regular basis…
Yeah that may be why they aren’t fighting it too much. To be fair though, the US has faced lawsuits on the issue. But try and beat your own goverment and the military complex is no easy task.
@pillowinhell
Soldiers know about stoploss when they sign the contract. And they are placed on reserve for eight years, I believe, not indefinitely.
Sometimes people have to make choices. There are easy options and hard options. If you only look at the easy options and ignore the hard ones, that is your choice. But you’ll be left with a hell of a lot less options.
There are many good reasons for joining the Army. But you will make sacrifices. It isn’t a free ride. And it’s certainly not for everyone.
Somebody is angwy… I recommend yoga? Truth seems to stress you out a lot. Nobody can live in the Antz-fact-free-fantasy bubble forever. Time to step outside of those delusional men’s rights blogs and into the light of day! I promise, the prophesied “100 zombie Dworkins” waiting to jump on you are not really there. Did you watch the Sesame Street video? I think it might really help you get in touch with emotions other than anger.
That was directed at Antz, by the way…
I see your point Fembot, but there is an issue of class here. If you come from a middle class family or even a working class family with the ability to pay for a good education then the choice is definately a choice.
If however, you are one of the working poor its not a choice. You can sacrifice your life or the quality of your life in hopes of a better future or you can live a life where its almost certain you will be poor amd likely homeless multiple times through your existence. And given todays drive for greater education even to get jobs slinging burgers….
To Zarat, the shitweasel. No, I don’t hate all men. You, and the ones who think like you on the other hand…
@pilowinhell
I totally agree. I know a soldier who was homeless when he enlisted. And you notice not many children of Congressmembers are in the military…
My first comment here! White female (trans) cis here. God bless those comments that actually provide evidence and discussion, as well as the one self-described MRA who commented on here with a informational perspective on the hidden draft.
As to Zarat, dude, don’t know you but so far you sound like a total d*ck.
I worked graveshift at a convenience store, to you know, pay my electric bills and what not. As a new employee, I was treated as equal and put on the worst shift to start. Many of my own male collegues would dis me to my face, including the security guards (female as well) who told me straight up that women should not work graveshift, shouldn’t work at convenience stores whatsoever (because it was too dangerous.)
Besides the awful company policy being that employees were not permitted to carry weapons of any kind..I carried one anyway (knife), although I never had to use it. However, while I worked there, two women at two different stores were assaulted, one beaten and robbed and the other raped at knife-point (she was only 19-and she was also strangled)
You know what, I didn’t want that job, but I am glad I got it, so I could pay my bills. According to an MRA what is the appropriate perspective? Should I not work? Should I be married with kids already.
Just fyi, I also was harrassed nearly every night by drunks. What constitutes harassment would you say (don’t know from an MRA perspective) well, men actually not leaving the store when I asked them too, and verbally abusing me calling me all kinds of dirty names. But the worst of all, was basically because of my gender I felt no man took me seriously at all, I was not respected by my own co-workers and management (%100 male) although I performed my duties very very well. (Always had the lowest till discrepancies and the cleanest floors) and to the point that I heard men repeatedly say to my face “go back to the kitchen.”
So yeah…should I pay my bills or get knocked up so I can get on wellfare (steal sperm) as the men would rather have me be unemployed and destitute?
PS.There was one male who was stabbed 9 times by a robber as well. I thought for him too, that it was wrong to not be allowed to carry a weapon.
re: myself. sorry spelling and grammar errors. I had an espresso too many
I love how Zarat responded to being called a disingenuous, smarmy asshole by… being a disingenuous, smarmy asshole. Stay classy, dude.
Fembot. Who gets sent to war and what positions or armor they have has always been a class thing and I’m surprised so many men don’t see that. Also, you don’t want women on the frontlines because women are the ones pumping out the next group of little soldiers, amiright? Especially not the poor women who have the most cannon fodder..oh sorry…sniveling brats…erm I mean children!
“Also, you don’t want women on the frontlines because women are the ones pumping out the next group of little soldiers, amiright? Especially not the poor women who have the most cannon fodder..oh sorry…sniveling brats…erm I mean children!”
The children of the poor are more likely to go to prison than join the Army. But for many those are the two most probable outcomes.
So is the Army good for the poor or bad?
Virtual reality wives don’t build themselves!
I didn’t mean that to be facetious, either. This is a tough issue and it’s often “politically incorrect” to discuss it, let alone try to find a solution. People in this country don’t like to talk about the poor. There is a pervasive attitude that if you are poor, it’s you’re fault because you screwed up or you are deficient in some way.
Fembot. I would think it depends on whether or not you survive and what kinds of psycological effects or injuries you’re left to deal with if you do survive.
At the rate the US is going with incarceration and military expansion, it might not be long before the US starts “offering” convicted people the choice of war or prison
I don’t know how much of a choice it really is, even for those in the middle class. My sister kind of had a choice to not join the military in order to pay for her medical school, but her other options were not to go or incur staggering debt. Really not very good options.
I can’t imagine it’s much of a choice between living in poverty and joining the military. I doubt people much think about what they’re going into because what they are living in currently is pretty bad, so how much worse could it be? That doesn’t sound like much of a choice to me.
Ah well, if you’re talking purely about the social stgma aspect…I think serving would certainly help in removing some of the stigma, provided that the person served in a unit or war that helped increase their status. If its just a run of the mill conflict, peacekeeping or a unit not noted for military prestige or disgraced…then not so much.
My only point is that military service is still a choice, rather than an obligation, as it is in other countries. Whether you are forced by circumstances to join, that’s another matter. But most people are not even eligible to join. If you have a GED, take prescription meds, have bad credit or a criminal record they don’t want you. And I think our military would be EXTREMELY desperate to want convicts. We’re talking World War II Germans taking over Europe desperate. Most convicts do not have the skills or attitude to do anything but cause trouble. A successful soldier is a smart soldier, and he knows how to follow orders. Modern warfare isn’t really about blowing up “cannon fodder” anymore.
I left out obesity. Most young Americans are too fat to serve, anyway.
I just let a bunch of comments through moderation; some of them are on the previous page of comments here, including a great one about insurance and birth control from EEB that’s definitely worth going back to and reading: http://manboobz.com/2012/05/03/elam-take-my-male-privilege-please/comment-page-1/#comment-150796
Bad credit? Seriously, they won’t take you if you have bad credit?
Well then the US will have to either find another way to use/ control the growing numbers of entirely expendable people its laws and idiocy generates or most of the country is going to be one big prison.
How strange that I haven’t run into this same anti-male hatred on this site that you have Antz, what with me being male and all I would think it would be inevitable. Do you think it’s possible that this is not actually anti-male hatred but anti-you hatred? Just a thought.
Or? I’m pretty sure that is their solution.