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.
Antz really lives in another world, with no resemblance to the fact-based one the rest of us deal with. Here is how he is spinning his visits here over on AVfm: http://i.imgur.com/ij5BI.jpg (screencapped so you don’t have to taint your browsers)
SQUAWK, SQUAWK! 🙂
@Idylle Here’s 0:32 that will help you recover from that misspent 5:00:
@Shaenon – I’m sure he’d love to, but apparently the silkiness of a worker’s garment is inversely correlated with the validity of zir work.
He forgets that the idea of privilege is basically something that is considered the “standard” and that male privilege is only one type of privilege (privilege being how much you fit into the “ideal” person to the point that you DO NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH SHIT unless you choose to. Privilege also has a lot to do with how OTHER PEOPLE TREAT YOU, which you individually have little to no control over).
So, for example, if a man conforms to all the masculine stereotypes, is white, able, rich, hetereosexual, and Christian (in the US at least), the amount of shit that he has to deal with is relatively minor compared to a female, black, disabled, poor, homosexual, atheist person.
And just like most multifaceted issues, your privilege can change based on where you are and who is around you! If you go into an area where the culture and appearance of everyone is completely different than yours, suddenly YOU become the person who has less privilege, even if you have some markers of status that translate over. For example, if you’re uneducated and come from generational poverty and then end up in a rich, mostly Black suburb because you inherited a house from a great aunt who died and left you her estate. Suddenly, you’re in a situation where you’re the minority IN THAT AREA, and you may encounter feelings of being uncomfortable or out of place WHILE IN THAT AREA (you may still be treated.
I’ve always taken a look at privilege as the amount of crap you can ignore if you choose to ignore it. For example, I generally don’t have to think about the plight of the average homeless person and constantly try and strategize where might be a safe and relatively sheltered place to sleep outside because I have an apartment where I can go sleep at night. I have privilege that a homeless person does not.
Similarly, my husband has the privilege to not think about how shitty round ligament pain in pregnancy feels because he is male and can never be pregnant. Of course, if he CHOOSES TO, he can sympathize with me when I’m having trouble carrying things or squatting down without pain because I’m 4-ish months pregnant, but that’s completely optional.
Many white people don’t have to worry about being automatically scoped out by clerks as being shoplifters or robbers. And adults generally don’t have to worry about being snatched up by predators the way that children might. Of course, young people have the privilege to be considered more knowledgable about technology due to their age, while older people are often considered technologically ignorant when it comes to the newest tech products.
Many of these assumptions are not outright harmful, though. Most of them can be cleared up, or they can be changed.
But the source post by Elam basically ignores the fact that NOT ALL MEN ARE FORCED TO BE COAL MINERS.
Some men are. Some men live in places where there are practically no choices when it comes to jobs. You either work in a coal mine or you sit on your ass. And in many of these places, moving away isn’t an option because you either don’t have education (and therefore less educational privilege) or you don’t want to move away from family and friends and places that you are familiar with (location privilege).
In a decent and just world, we’d be able to choose freely without any major sacrifices to our well-being, but sometimes shitty choices in the job or career department means that your home life is bearable or enjoyable. Sometimes, joining the military can lead to job prospects you would otherwise not have (and your increased rank in the military can often lead to higher pay and more privileges in society based on your merit).
So some privilege can be changed, but a lot of it cannot be changed without major sacrifices in other areas.
And I think it’s really disingenuous for Elam to bring up the suffering and discrimination of those who are poor, disabled, old, etc due to the fact that there are REAL destructions of certain types of privilege in these categories and then chalking it up to “men not having privilege” or alternatively, having “shitty privilege.”
True story- I was in college and walking home after watching a late movie with two of my male friends. I commented that I was really happy to be walking home with them because I like being out late at night but being out alone made me feel uncomfortable and worried.
Both of them looked at me like I was crazy. It literally HAD NOT OCCURRED to them that it could possibly be dangerous to walk around downtown late at night alone.
Privilege allows you to not think about things that are really big barriers and can lead to other people (who do not have the privilege you have) being hurt. It’s like a magical invisible shield that you wear, one that you can’t see, and generally you can’t notice the beneficial effects, but if you were to remove it, you’d suddenly see what those who do not have that privilege must prepare for, expect, and endure every day.
TL;DR- Privilege doesn’t mean your life is perfect and you never have problems. It means you have significantly fewer problems and have the ability to not think about certain things because you HAVE that particular type of privilege.
@clauciah
I requested guidance from HQ because I was perplexed. Boob land discussion are usually relatively civil. If anything, the boobland faithful are usually (on average) more civil than I am. Naturally, I was confused by the intensity of your hostility, on a day when I have been (mostly) civil and upbeat:
“don’t hate males. Just you. Yes you. YOU, PERSONALLY, AS A HUMAN BEING. Not because you’re a male. Just because something about your personality is repulsive.”
“.. fuck you, Zarat .. liar and a disingenuous scumbag .. you ridiculous jackass .. how fucking dare you .. how anyone here tolerates such an insipid liar such as yourself .. you’re a bottom feeder .. toxic hatred ..” — Lady Zombie
“.. misogynist douchebag ..” — Tulgey Logger
“.. Fuck all these MRAs ..” — Quqackers
So far, this is all I got in response:
“You insensitive brute Antz, violating a feminist safe space with your manfacts.
Look, you’ve made poor David feel faint. Quick, get the catnip!”
Not much to go on, is it?
I’m bored with Sarcastic Health-Care-Reform-Obsessed Zarat. Where’s Wifebot-Building Zarat of the Future? He’s my favorite.
@ AntZ – There is no fucking way you’re a scientist. Anybody with a science education knows what a goddamned citation is, because scientists have to use them all the time, in every science-related thing they write. It’s part of the backbone of scientific communication, for fuck’s sake.
A citation is the provenance of a fact. Don’t be so dense; you’re embarrassing yourself.
Boobland faithful
LOL. Nice, one, Anthony. I’ll be taking that back with me to MGTOW, if you don’t mind. 😉
VAWA passed today! Just thought I would let everyone know.
Also, nice to see Zarat still cannot read.
PS, when you ignore facts and citations, it makes you look really, really stupid.
Zarat, shouldn’t you be spending time with your FOREIGN BRIDE that you’re going to replace as soon as you get the technology up and running?
VAWA passed, that means we can expect a frothy shitstorm from NWO. That’s his favoritest thing besides Title IX.
True story – I was driving back to grad school after my 10 year HS reunion. I stopped at a “Scotty’s” hardware store to buy fluorescent light bulbs. I asked a crying employee what was the problem, and she told me her father had kicked her out of her home because she drank too much alcohool (her mother was in another relationship and could not receive her).
I offered to let her stay in my spare bedroom for the summer and to help her prepare for the GED (I used to teach for Kaplan, to make ends meet). On the drive home, I realized the danger of my situation.
So, I phoned a grad school buddy that had a sexual interest in me. I started a physical relationship with my grad school buddy just so she would move in with me and protect me from a potential false accusation by the 17 year old homeless girl that I was trying to help.
No false accusation materialized. However, if the 17 year old had accused me of rape, there is not one living person in the United States that would have believed me. NOT EVEN MRA’S 🙂
By the way, her mother agreed to the plan, and called CPS. They inspected my apartment for adequate space and food resources (strange, but true).
“.. You might find it beneficial to study the concept of intersectionality to better understand the conversations happening here ..”
“.. Zarat, shouldn’t you be spending time with your FOREIGN BRIDE that you’re going to replace as soon as you get the technology up and running?”
I am going to do both of these things … TONIGHT! Unlike feminist women, my FOREIGN BRIDE does not consider sex (and children) to be commodities to be peddled for profit (in cash or kind) 8)
Antz, you really need to learn to tell stories better, because this one reads like the worst Penthouse Letter ever.
Out of the blue you offered to let a 17-year-old girl you’d never met before who’d been kicked out of her dad’s home for excessive drinking stay in your house over the summer?
Then started having sex with another woman so she’d move in with you, jsut to preotect you from a possible false accusation from the 17 year old?
None of this sounds even remotely plausible. I think we’re going to need some more details here before we even consider believing any of it.
Yeah, Zarat, cool story bro.
Pantz: Hostility? I offered you the sweetest Sesame Street video ever! Did you even watch it? And then facts, lots of juicy facts, but I think you must be allergic, poor dear.
[pats Pantz on head, heads off to the market]
Anthony, I’m sorry… for the whole situation. Sounds like it sucked for everyone involved.
This is what I find so damn galling about a lot of the feminists. The fact remains that a woman can essentially ruin a man’s life at any time with a false accusation, a social phenomenon that the feminists are mostly responsible for. And yet they expect men to be receptive to them? It makes no sense!
Upbeat I’ll grant you. (Though “smug” is more accurate.) But civil?
From your very first post on this thread. This you call civility? If you’re gonna lie, at try to make it plausible. Oh, and incidentally, there are feminists who have male privilege. Because they’re, y’know, male.
So, since a woman can essentially ruin a man’s life with a false accusation, there must be many well known cases of men’s lives actually being ruined by false accusations. I would like to see some substantiation of that assertion.
Hi, William. If you believe Zarat’s tale, I have some Florida swampland that might interest you.
Every false accusation story I’ve heard of has ended with “so I never faced any legal proceedings and I stayed in school/at my job and all my friends and family rallied around me and the girl was ostracized forever… but I was VERY NEARLY INCONVENIENCED.”
Still waiting for one with life-ruination.
(Double mega bonus points if it happened to a white man. Sorry, but zero points if it involves a woman actually being raped but the wrong person going to jail, unless “sometimes women make true accusations which are poorly handled by the police and leave dangerous rapists on the streets” is the point you’re trying to prove..)
Bostonian. Come on now. Duke. Strass-Kahn. Many, many, many that I know personally, though their names will mean nothing to you.
Sometimes I just wish women would stay away from me entirely, or at least, women I do not trust implicitly. Anthony can vouch for me here.
John-John grew up hot. I don’t know how to feel about that.
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/John_Williams_III
Anthony, how does your story, even if true, show that life is anything like what you think it is? The girl did not falsely accuse you of rape, and her mother and CYS had no problem with her living with you. They didn’t think you were exploiting her, and everything was sunshine and roses. What the hell does your story prove?