When you spend as much time as we do here at Man Boobz scrutinizing the Men’s Rights movement, it’s easy to forget what a fringe phenomenon it is. So here are some charts from Google Trends – charting the frequency of certain search terms from 2004 until today — that help to put it all in perspective. (Thanks to Katz, Cloudiah and Cthulhu’s Intern in the comments for inspiring this post.)
That “rapidly growing” Men’s Rights movement that MRAs like to talk about? It may actually be stagnant or even shrinking, if searches for “men’s rights” are any indication. Despite a recent comeback, they’re still less than half of what they were at their height in 2004.
Now let’s put that in perspective.
No, there’s nothing wrong with that graph; it’s just that My Little Pony is so much more popular than Men’s Rights that the latter simply vanishes into the X axis.
But this graph is my favorite:
Well, nothing will top that, but here’s a graph showing that people are a lot more concerned about misogyny than misandry — and, I would add, for good reason.
Let’s see what other trends we can find!
(Oh, and sorry about the low quality pics; WordPress won’t let me embed the charts.)
Diogenes the Naïf: You wrote on vellum? Just like dudes did 500 years ago. Wow.
I taught people how to sharpen knives, did a restaurant review, evaluated some roving, did a comparison tasting of three teas, had a long set of conversations on comparative aspects of theologies (RC, Anglo-Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and aspects of Judaism), had a conversation about ASL, and did some educating on aspects of the inclusive/non-inclusive use of first person plural phrasing, as well as some discussion of how the less than brilliant aspects of facebooks aggregation algorithm is both useful and distortive of the issues around a child molestation trial.
And, when all is said and done, I don’t feel I did all that much of intellectual merit. Basically I went to work, did some shopping and went to a party.
I’m saying that the universal use of a single system for anything shows us that at sometime a civilization won a cultural war against the rest of the world.
And being a philosopher I am sure you have a reason for this? The one you were giving is, “that makes them superior” but now you seem to be pretending to back off that, while still claiming it’s somehow important.
So you are either spouting an irrelevant truism, or or blabbering to hear yourself talk.
Put up, or shut up.
Oh yeah, and all music is written in 16th century Italian. I found this out after asking an Israeli if the music written in Israel read right-to-left.
Nope: The Catholic church still notates the mass in the notation for gregorian chant.
What makes Cameroon so keen on kittens? Is the regional interest based on kitten searches/all searches for that region? Or is it kitten searches in region/all kitten searches? I’m guessing the former since otherwise all region interest maps would be the same as density of people with internet access maps.
And of course the ultimte question!
kittens vs puppies
http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=kittens%2C%20puppies&cmpt=q
NB: Cameroon also dominates puppy searches
Diogenes the Naïf: I didn’t crack it. I’m just in the early stages now.
Gonna finish before, or after, you solve perpetual motion?
Catbeast laid the smackdown.
And, um, yeah, The Odyssey may not be the best choice to make yourself look smart; I’m sure I’m not the only adventure-story-loving child who read it in late elementary or middle school.
I read stories from it when I was 9-10. I also read Verne (didn’t understand the subtext in 20,000 league for anything, but journey to the center of the earth was great). I was eight when I read “A study in scarlett” and “The sigh of the four”. Both of which were a bit beyond me. The entire mormon interlude was surreal (esp. as I was on a cross country trip through the southwest at the time) and I thought Holmes had killed the narrator.
But hey, i was eight; and while I was smart, I had no context. I, at least, managed to fix the lack of context.
Were you a fan of H.G. Wells too? Thats a common combo.
@ Katz: I did? Hurrah! 8D
Lolz, I read the odyssey after I finished LOTR and the Silmarillion in between “procuring” copies of the history of middle-earth; When I was eleven. I was a strange tyke and liked it save it’s one defining floor… No elves! the horror! I’m glad that I’m not the only one who read classic lit during childhood.
“Is there centaur porn?”
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/digital-shorts/video/centaur-job-interview/1350447/
Diogenes: What have you accomplished?
Who thinks Diogenes actually cares about literature and who thinks he’s desperately trying to change the subject since he’s failing so badly at making himself look smart?
katz: That looks like a sucker’s bet.
Man, the “radians vs degrees” thing is just a perfect example of an utterly shallow understanding of a random factoid this Diogenes guy picked up on the interwebs to try to make himself look smart.
Radians and degrees are not in competition and never were. Degrees did not defeat radians in some sort of cultural showdown. They serve different purposes, and yes, radians are still in use. Radians are used to the near-total exclusion of degrees in mathematics and physics. The reason is that radians were specifically invented to make math involving circles (and hence, pi) more elegant. Degrees are more intuitive and nobody ever tried to argue differently; but radians are more useful when doing geometry.
I too liked Journey to the Center of the Earth (and From the Earth to the Moon) better than 20,000 Leagues as a kid; I should probably reread the latter now that I’m older.
Wells is more fun for kids, I think, since both the “science” and the themes are easier to understand. Better characterization, too. Verne is totally the Asimov of the 19th century.
Wells also has some serious social issues, but they are more obvious. I was 10, or so, when I read The Time Machine, and while I didn’t get the specific metaphors of the Eloi story, I did get that there was more going on then I’d gotten in 20,000 leagues.
I was also a little older so…
I still found things like Roy Chapman Andrews more interesting, as well as, “The Mad Scientists Club” and Madeleine L’Engle.
Feminist protest 2012 VS redneck protest 1962
http://youtu.be/cA_AfWmnxzg
Damn, I better go on a poster run, on my horse!
http://youtu.be/uuS0DcJiIMY
I think we have a new contender for worst troll ever.
AvFM freeway banner coming up soon I will keep you all informed. 🙂
@Frank: Wait? We’re supposed to care? Those posters are very bland… I hope the banner is improved, but considering the MRM’s tragic history with graphic design I’m not optimistic.
Oh yes, MRM activism at its finest … posters that would at best get a “yeah, and?” response.
Multiple postings of feeble video. Is there a prize for most stupid, unoriginal troll?
I thought XKCD already solved the Voynich Manuscript http://xkcd.com/593/
LOL Noadi!
I reckon it was some early Fantasye Fictione Wrytere’s notes for their upcoming bestseller epic.
If only it was a hundred years later we could say it was Leonardo pulling people’s legs again.
Butts are apparently more popular than horse porn. And apparently Emilie Autumn is more popular than Brian Molko. And all of these are more popular than men’s rights.
http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=men%27s%20rights%2C%20horse%20porn%2C%20emilie%20autumn%2C%20brian%20molko%2C%20butts&cmpt=q
Let’s see, Minecraft is more popular than the MRM, although that’s kind of an unfair competition given that Minecraft is more popular on the internet than… something that is really popular on the internet.
Spec Ops: The Line (which is an awesome game, by the way) was already more popular than the MRM two years before its release.
Charles Dickens’s novel Our Mutual Friend (a 150-year-old book that hardly anyone outside of classic-lit majors (and certain theater companies) have read) has broke even a few times, but overall is reliably superior.
Speaking of Dickens, even a misspelling of one of his more famous books is almost as popular as the MRM (let alone the real thing).
Hmm, it’s interesting what neurological disorders are more popular (then I added Tourette’s and it flattened the rest).
And I just noticed I should have been in bed five hours ago.