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UPDATE: AVFM has taken the post down.
Men’s Rights Activists have had a serious hate-on for the Southern Poverty Law Center ever since the hate-group-monitoring watchdog wrote about the misogyny in the Men’s Rights movement last spring.
Since the SPLC devotes its time to ferreting out bigots and exposing them to the world, this has put SPLC-hating MRAs in some interesting company. While not everyone who’s criticized the SPLC is a bigot – both Harper’s magazine and the Nation have been critical of the group and its fundraising methods – many of the most virulent critics of the SPLC are far-right racists. On Reddit, for example, the anti-SPLC subreddit, called simply SPLC, is dominated by white nationalists; indeed, at the moment, one of the top links on its front page is titled “Interest for White Student Union grows.”
You would think that MRAs trying to portray their movement as something other than a hate movement would try to disassociate themselves from those blatantly preaching racism. But some MRAs seem unperturbed to find themselves in the company of allies like this.
A case in point: A Voice for Men, which has just republished an anti-SPLC post by Pamela Geller, a far-right racist whose virulent Islamophobia made her Norwegian terrorist mass murderer Anders Breivik’s favorite English-language blogger, and whose latest provocation involves subway ads implying that Muslims are “savages.”
The opening sentences of her post (which can also be found on her blog) will give you some idea of Geller’s style:
The communists over at the Southern Poverty Law Center are among the gravest threats to freedom in the United States … The enemedia eagerly laps up and repeats their designation of pro-freedom groups as “hate groups,” and uses this designation as a propaganda tool to demonize and discredit us.
You may also recall the weasel-worded not-quite-justification for Breivik’s rampage she published on her blog shortly after the murders, describing the victims as
the future leaders of the party responsible for flooding Norway with Muslims who refuse to assimilate, who commit major violence against Norwegian natives, including violent gang rapes, with impunity, and who live on the dole… all done without the consent of the Norwegians.
Next to a picture of camp attendees taken before the massacre, she wrote
Note the faces which are more Middle Eastern or mixed than pure Norwegian
She later removed this bit, but you can see it screencapped here.
For more on Geller and her odious ideas and actions, see this profile from, yep, the SPLC and this piece in Slate. Heck, in the wake of her “savage” ad campaign, even Fox News is beginning to distance itself from her.
Geller’s post is getting a similarly chilly reception in the Men’s Rights subreddit – and even some of the AVFM regulars are put off by her extreme Islamophobia.
But for AVFM head honcho Paul Elam, it looks like any enemy of his enemy is a friend, so long as they’re angry enough about it.
Indeed, it seems as though Elam read Geller’s post so carelessly that he didn’t even notice that the bulk of it was actually a quotation of an SPLC “expose” by James Simpson of the right-wing Capital Research Center. Apparently a quick skim of a blog post and a glance at the rest of her blog was all the “due diligence” AVFM did before climbing into bed with this particular political bedfellow.
@leftwingfox (cool nym!): an IRRATIONAL hatred of a group.
This usage bothers me because it assumes there is a rational way to hate a group–I see the excessive (NOT BY ANYBODY HERE, but in other forums) nitpicking about “phobia” and what it DICTIONARY means to be irritating. X-phobia doesn’t have to always be violently expressed to do cultural work against a group.
That said, I have major bugphobia after living in Texas (the visible behavior is jumping up and down and flailing my arms and shrieking, especially when a grasshopper leaps up my jeans).
@Aworldanon: Confirming the existence of fall flu (it’s not just the first year–it’s every bloody fall, with a follow up in the spring), and the absolute stone importance of letting your teachers know (I don’t give a damn about official excuses, I like to take my students’ words–but they need to let me know what’s up, not just ignore the class for three weeks and then show up. Sometimes there are university policies faculty have to use–they should be in the syllabi). But nothing is worse than NO communication at all.
@Timetravellingfool: I’m reminded of all the criticism of Jon Stewart as well (Colbert doesn’t get it–which is interesting!)–and it’s hilarious! Fox news dudes like O’Reilly, and others like Geraldo Rivera (or is he on fox news these days) all pointing and thundering at Jon for not living up to journalistic ethics when his news is a FAKE NEWS SHOW! It’s hilarious.
And even more hilariously weird is how little he has to make up these days: he can report it straight, and it’s more bizarre than ANYTHING he could make up.
It’s….I don’t know. (Housemate and I went back to see him and Stephen’s thing at DC a few years back–was SO MUCH FUN).
@BoringTroll: who appointed you god? Who put you in charge of David’s destiny? And I noticed it wasn’t only the MRM movement he’s supposed to fix, but contemporary feminism (as IF). As a contemporary feminist, I would like to tell you that you are an exquisite dipshit who is fixated on your imaginary sense of power and ability to critique what David does here (since you cannot even figure out what he does, your pathetic attempt to create a sense of ethos is completely misplaced), and you should just STFU because, man, are you boring.
Maybe get a doll or two to talk to?
Shorter Al: “It is oppression and dishonesty of the worst sort to not dig deep to find out if people saying hateful things only kinda sorta meant them!”
Today in bizarre ideas about what journalism is for – the purpose of journalism is to “fix” both legit social justice movements (feminism) and weird hate movements composed of a bunch of guys who’re mad at their ex wives and/or the women who won’t date them.
This update on the purpose of journalism brought to you by the most boring person in the history of the internet.
A long time ago, pre-Internet*, I made a bunch of fake Chick tracts that looked pretty real, and would leave them around wherever I saw real ones — including once in a religious bookstore that sold the real ones.
*I just got back from a meeting where I got to see the machine that sent the world’s first message over ARPANET. That was pretty cool.
For the record, this is pretty much the best ‘Chick Tract’ EVAR:
http://rubbersuitstudios.com/ptcct.htm
“Note the faces which are more Middle Eastern or mixed than pure Norwegian”
I’ve read a few MRA comments about the Nordic nations being “feminised” and men in Nordic countries “importing” wives from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia because they don’t like the attitudes of “Western” women, and now they want a pure-bred race of Norwegians, even if this means “breeding” with those Western women they claim to despise? These guys (and misogynistic gals) really can’t make their minds up can they?
@Katz — That’s like a little MAD Magazine comic, except it flies off the rails about two-thirds of the way through.
Plus I had to LOL at the creators’ belief that little kids like their comics. Little kids like comics and cartoons, right? So comics and cartoons will endear you to little kids!
@Cloudiah: A big piece of Internet history — cool!
@OWLslave
LOST which is part of agenda 21
Honestly, for a minute there I thought you were talking about the TV show. You’re not talking about the TV show, are you? ‘Cause that would a whole new level of awesome craziness if you were.
The government is a subsidy of the corporation.
That’s THE CORPORATION, to you buddy. All caps grants them magical powers. Actually, I agree that corporate power has disproportionate influence in government, just not in the way you think it does. For example, there would be no need to surround Obama and his family with assassins, since he was never at risk of seriously threatening corporate interests in the first place. Also, I believe you meant subsidiary, not subsidy. Subsidy is what they pay to farmers.
There is only one enemy in the world today. Either they die or we do.
Would that be the killer robots or the lizard people? And do they have super-dogs?
I think that someguy has conclusively proven that David is NO TRUE SCOTSMAN!!!
That’s THE CORPORATION, to you buddy. All caps grants them magical powers.
Clearly you mean TH3 C0RP0RAT10N. Don’t want them spotting you using their name on the net, do you?!
@Some boring guy,
I honestly think one day you’ll look back and regret that.
Such concern! David, how can you not see that Boring Guy just has your best interests at heart? He’s concerned, oh so concerned that, in your autumn years, you may look back and bitterly regret the opportunities missed.
Don’t be that man, David. Please, change course before it’s too late.
I’m beginning to think that Owly temporarily broke away from his usual reading habits and found his way via the (unimpressive) sci-fi novels to the more mainstream work of Iain Banks, and from there to The Business. His already credulous mind has never quite recovered from the shock.
@ithiliana and leftwingfox
Interesting discussion!
I can agree, ithiliana, that the excessive nitpicking about dictionary definitions can be annoying.
I’m not sure if I made this clear in my original post (or maybe I did and I’m just repeating myself), but my problem lies specifically in the idea that because it is a “phobia” it is okay, because fears don’t have to be rational (which I think I didn’t phrase right originally).
Also, it does have connotations of taking refuge in something that one has no control over, since a phobia is also a clinical diagnosis. Some people cannot just “snap out of” their anxieties or control the massive panic attacks they have for various things.
On the flip side, if one says that someone is Islamo/homo/X phobic, they can always through out the “NUH-UH! I’m not scared of them!” They take refuge in the literal meaning of phobia to deny any prejudice on their part.
So, I think that “X-phobic” is, at best, a difficult term to work with.
Let’s not forget that by “the bankers,” NWO means “THE JEWS.”
WTF is Agenda 21? I’d Google it, but I can’t wade through the woo like our pal NWO.
Oh, I see. Agenda 21 is something form the UN, and in NWO reads it as “KILL THE WHITE CHRISTIAN MAN.”
I think Agenda 21 is like Area 51, but instead of keeping aliens there they keep members of the Rothschild family.
Actually I shouldn’t mention Area 51 in front of Slavey. I’m sure he has theories about that too.
@ hellkell,
Agenda 21 has to do with sustainable development. It came out of the Rio conference in 1992. It’s completely benign, as far as I can tell, so naturally the tin-foil hat brigade is absolutely sure that it’s a blueprint for UN-dominated world government, or some shit like that. It’s right up there with fluoridation of the water supply on the wignut hit parade.
@Captain Bathrobe: thanks. I see the Tea Party is against it because arglebarglepropertrightssomethingorother.
Is this another Left Behind thing where there’s no point in making things sustainable because most of us are going to die and the ones who count will be raptured?
I think it amounts to: liberals like it, therefore we hate it. Maybe we should start talking about how much we like sexism, racism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and exploitation of workers. Worth a shot.
Cassandra,
I think it’s more about the fear of UN black helicopters coming to take away our freedoms. Because if there’s one thing we don’t want, it’s black helicopters. Presumably, white helicopters would be perfectly fine.
Some day I will understand how the minds of conspiracy theorists work, but clearly today is not that day.
@captainbathrobe
I just watched a segment of the Daily Show where Jon Stewart said “if Michelle Obama said that we needed clean air to breathe, there’s a significant proportion of the population who would demand gills because ‘BIG GUHVMENT!'”. Nail. Head.