If you stuff a bunch of angry, narcissistic, egotistical twits into a “movement” the size of a teapot, it is perhaps inevitable that there will be drama. So I’m pleased to report on a dramatic BREAKING STORY in the Men’s Rights “movement” – a split between A Voice for Men and the bald, blabby, bigoted far-right videoblogger Bernard Chapin.
Well, I’m not sure how much of a BREAKING STORY it is. It happened about three weeks ago, but I only just noticed it yesterday.
Anyhoo, the split happened after Chapin appeared on the AVFM News and Activism “radio” show in the wake of the election. Apparently (I haven’t listened to it) he said some things that displeased the A Voice for Men regulars and a giant battle erupted in the comments section. Alas, AVFM head narcissist Paul Elam got pissy and deleted all the comments, so the exact details of the discussion are apparently lost to history. But the few details I have been able to glean, by watching a couple of Chapin videos and looking at his Facebook page, are hilarious.
The basis of the disagreement is, surprisingly enough, sort of substantive: Chapin is a right-wing blogger, while the A Voice for Men guys like to pretend that they are somehow above political partisanship. But naturally, this being the Men’s Rights movement, this disagreement played out in the silliest possible way.
In several videos made during and after the comments-page kerfuffle, Chapin charges that A Voice for Men – which he now refers to as A Voice for Diabolical Leftists – is being taken over by leftists and radical feminists, some of them possibly agents for the Southern Poverty Law Center (or at least SPLC fellow travelers). No, really; he seems to actually believe this.
According to Chapin, the vanguard of this leftist infiltration of AVFM is the site’s relatively new “managing editor,” a long-haired, middle-aged IT dude by the name of Dean Esmay, whom Chapin has taken to calling “Dean Rimsgays” and “Dean Licksgays.” (Such a wit!)
Chapin accuses Esmay of being an evil lefty who doesn’t appreciate the full gloriousness of small government, while Esmay accuses Chapin of not having a solution to the problem of greedy, golddigging, Alpha-male-chasing ladies. No, seriously. At one point in the debate Esmay apparently confronted Chapin about this crucial Men’s Rights issue:
While you’re at it, explain to me how “smaller government” will end hypergamy. Indeed, explain to me if you would why libertarianism (whichever particular flavor of that ideology you espouse) would not actually APPLAUD hypergamy in women? What, like she owes her man something? If he’s a “loser” who doesn’t make enough money to make her happy, why shouldn’t she dump him and trade up? Hey, isn’t that the FREE MARKET?
Chapin is also pissed that some of the AVFM folks refer to him as “Bernie” instead of “Bernard.” Elam is (one can only imagine) pissed that Bernie has done an impression of him in a silly voice.
And so these former allies are now going their separate ways. A Voice for Men seems to have removed Bernie’s – sorry, Bernard’s – videos from its video page (or at least from its “featured video” list), though it hasn’t scrubbed all mentions of Chapin from the site.
I look forward to the day when all of the “big names” in the Men’s Rights movement stop talking to one another.
I was thinking of posting one of Chapin’s anti-AVFM videos here, but he’s so irritatingly long-winded you’re probably better off not watching them (I’ve got a couple of links above if you’re feeling especially masochistic). Here, instead, is a video of a talking kitty:
While you’re at it, explain to me how “solar power” will end racial discrimination.
While you’re at it, explain to me how “legalizing marijuana” will prevent the fiscal cliff.
Some kitty cats do learn to actually talk! Their mouths are like ours enough to talk better than parrots can, they’re just nowhere near as clever in that sort of a way.
One of mine very distinctly says “hello” and “dry food”, not that 2/5ths of the family will believe Dad and I. We’re the ones who get up early to feed him the vast majority of the time, so…
When I was a kid, we had a black and white cat named Fifi (eight-year-old me named her). She was half Siamese and had that distinctive Siamese meow. Our next door neighbor swore that one day she walked into their garage and said “Lordy, lordy, lordy!” to her.
My cat makes the weirdest sounds. I’m not sure what her background is, she’s fluffy like a Persian but without the flat face? Anyway, first night I got her home she was making these little distressed sounds and I thought it was a tiny dog that was lost outside, it’s almost like yelping? She doesn’t really meow properly either, just makes these cute little kitten sounds over and over again when she wants something.
I think my cat is nagging me.
Other kitty has a very quiet purr that sounds like a pigeon. Both of mine are big big predominantly-Persian moggies, one with a lot of Maine Coon. Big fluffy adorable tabby cats.
:3
As it turns out, vodka and doctor pepper don’t actually go all that well together.
@aworldanon
If you can get ginger beer up your way, use about 2 parts of that to whatever you’re drinking and a little lemon juice in a glass with ice and you’ve got a buck or mule. Tasty, bit more sophisticated, and works with just about any spirit. Unless you’re not into ginger.
Mimi just grumbles and makes pigeon noises, Meg and Miss Kitty have the Siamese meow, and I swear Lilly can say “mom.”
Vodka and Dr. Pepper isn’t a cocktail, it’s an emergency.
Well, of all the things one could hop up Dr Pepper with, vodka’s probably most suited? I guess?
Miss Maddie makes little squeak-trill sounds, usually with a lot of effort at squeezing her belly and blinkng. Miss Fribs just makes a yowly racket, especially when she’s announcing she’s just used the litter. Miss Katie had a real Siamese voice, which, with her build, made me think she had some sort of Oriental (or specifically Siamese, maybe) ancestry, despite being a grey tabby.
Fun fact: Mountain Dew shares its name with a synonym for moonshine because it was originally made to be mixed with/cover up the taste of crappy whiskey. I don’t think the original recipe and the current drink are anything like each other beyond the citrussyness though.
My friend Twerpazoid always had a great deal to say for herself. She said it often, loud and proud. No one could understand the words but everyone always understood exactly what she wanted.
Many years ago I taught my dog friend Amber to say mama, and flip flavor snacks off her nose. It was her only trick. Well, no, that isn’t right. It was the only trick I taught her. She was a Great Dane and she had a whole bag of tricks.
Wow…just wow.
I realized there were differences between Bernard and AVfM, but seriously? They are each acting like playground children!
It’s like watching a gigantic pissing contest…and neither contestant knows how to *ahem* aim.
It’s problems like this that make me glad I am not trying to be an MRA anymore.
Egalitarians tend to be a bit more understanding, it seems. 🙂
More random soft drink trivia: 7-Up apparently once had lithium in it and had the slogan “takes the ouch out of the grouch.”
Also, wow. And I thought the Students for a Democratic Society had issues holding together. But at least they managed to achieve some shit before falling apart. Hell, I’ve seen BRIDGE PLAYERS unify better.
And Coca-Cola used to have cocaine, though most people here probably already know that one.
Fanta was concocted by Coca-Cola Deutschland when actual Coca-Cola and many of its ingredients were blocked by a trade embargo.
Schweppe’s Indian Tonic Water is the oldest continually available commercial soft drink.
MordsithJ, I watched the whole thing too! When the whole “help Todd” bit was introduced I was hoping it would take a spooky paranormal turn. Well, I suppose it stll could, assuming the guy is still making videos.
Did you find episode 13? I guess it’s hidden somewhere, but I was too lazy to go and look for it.
Considering the OP, I’m surprised no one posted a real cat fight.
I thought a mule was supposed to have lime, not lemon. I’m not an expert though because I can’t stand ginger.
@aworld
If you can get it there, I highly recommend Agrum with vodka. Or a passionfruit soft drink. Or… just about anything other than a cola based drink. Though maybe if you threw in some raspberry or grenadine it might make the Dr.P+V better.
Our Kamikaze (aka Crazypants) has a lot of Egyptian Mau in her and she has a very distinctive yowl. Particularly when she’s nerving herself up for a jump, or trying to figure one out. She also makes this kind of growly-clicky noise in the back of her throat when she’s getting ready to pounce. I tell her she should be grateful we’re feeding her, otherwise anything she tried to hunt would know about ten seconds before she tried anything.
@Kim
Either, but more commonly lime, yeah. I forgot because I tend to use lemon. Makes the drink a little tarter.
Dr Pepper and rum is drinkable, but you will have the mother of all headaches the next morning.
If you have white/gold rum, the best choice is always pineapple juice and coconut cream. Because I like pina coladas… da-de do do-de do. If you only have dark rum, the best choice is to trade it for something else.
Hey, I’ve finally collected and postedt another batch of our terrible & hilarious fake MRM posters that are still somehow better than the real ones. Now in one place for your chortling convenience!
Also, did everyone see the totally blubber-inducing pictures from the first day same sex couples were issued marriage licenses in WA?