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.)
Amused: you rock, and I adore your smackdowns.
RE: Ugh
…if I recall, it was the Arabs who invented zero. So actually, they probably deserve more credit for the binary system than the Romans…
I was impersonating you.
And yes, obviously I’m influenced by Western thinking. I’m also influenced by the thinking and history of many other groups of people.
This doesn’t somehow prove that Western suits mean Western culture is inherently superior.
No shit, Captain Obvious. If you grew up in US or Europe and other places, yes. But that doesn’t mean it’s the bestest thing ever and there’s no room for critique.
Jesus, Mary and Oprah, you are dumb.
Katz, you beat me to it! I went for MRM vs otters.
http://www.google.com.au/trends/explore#q=otters%2C%20mens%20rights%20movement&cmpt=q
LBT, I googled it…but I aint reading it.
Diogenes is cracking a great unsolved language mystery, and yet he’s taking time to wank here also.
Do tell us what the key is.
I’m starting to think Diogenes is Steele’s little brother. Not the writing style, but the whole Renaissance man bullshit they try to pull.
Oh and they’re sons of the multitalented Dr Pell.
RE: pillowinhell
You are a wise soul.
God, fuck, I should know better. Every time, it brings the worst kind of apologists out of the woodwork, laughing about how they wish they had teachers like that and ARGH WHYYYYYY
Oh, and if the thread’s going to be a ME! ME! exercise, I’ll derail Diogenes’ derail by saying I got some writing and illustrating done last night, for the first time in over a month. Yay for feeling happy and having the energy to be creative again!
The West is also responsible for the invention of the car alarm.
This is proof that the West is, in fact, the most obnoxious civilization to ever walk the Earth.
LBT, because we make these things to be “unthinkable”. Which really means we give ourselves permission to be unthinking jackasses when this shit happens.
Its not that hard to imagine what it might be like to be a victim, just very uncomfortable, nasty and stomach turning. Still nothing compared to the actual experience though.
I thought that invention to earn us the dubious honor was kareoke?
Amused
Well, there is the argument you interpreted from what I wrote, and there is what I wrote.
I know that a white kid in a suburb is more likely to be let go for a minor infraction than his inner city counterpart. But, that doesn’t have anything to do with my argument.
My point is that after the fact, when the white person, the black person, the rich person, and the poor person are already charged with the same crime, there will be a sentencing disparity, and that needs to be addressed. I’m not talking about raw numbers of violent incidents. I don’t even understand why you thought that that would be relevant.
And what else do you think is fair? I wouldn’t doubt a poor person who can’t afford bail is going to get a longer sentence than someone who could afford bail, and wears respectable clothing to their trial. I remember this one case where a dude in a wheelchair murdered his wife. The entire trial he was slumped over in his chair getting wheeled in and out. He was acquitted. I don’t think a jury should be able to base their judgement on how someone looks. That would be asinine.
I didn’t crack the manuscript. I just have a lead on it.
DtC: Are you saying because something is dominant that it is inherently superior and that things that are inherently superior always become dominant?
That about wraps it up for the MRM, then.
PUA / Strauss comparable to interest in women’s rights.
Visitation trumps all. Funnily enough most blokes start theinking about men’s rights when they get divorced.
Yeah, we’re aware that the MRM consists mostly of bitter divorcees and guys angry that they can’t get underwear models to have sex with them on command, as opposed to people with any real interest in gender issues or civil rights. MRAs come over here all the time to kindly demonstrate this for us.
Kim, neither actually.
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.
Interestingly, “smelly discharge” and “men’s rights” started out neck and neck, but now “smelly discharge” is pulling away.
That would be the weirdest horse race ever.
I’d have put amplified music as the West’s Evil Invention.
RE: pillowinhell
Nah, the Japanese invented karaoke. THEY’RE stuck with that one.
And hey, karaoke is at least fun, according to my friends what do it. Car alarm? Never been enjoyable by anyone ever.
RE: Diogenes
My point is that after the fact, when the white person, the black person, the rich person, and the poor person are already charged with the same crime, there will be a sentencing disparity, and that needs to be addressed
Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place?
What’s with the euphemisms? They won actual wars, in which they went to countries, killed lots of people, and took their stuff. Now anyone who wants some of that stuff back has to act like them. Why dance around that?
There’s been a ring-in! I thought Men’s Rights was a Smelly Discharge!
Does the prevalence of tacos in North American cuisine mean that the Mexican-American War went the other way?
Does the fact that the suits you love so much are often made out of silk mean that China won a cultural war?
Is “cultural war” synonomous with “any part of culture that spread to any other part of the globe, any time?”
Guys, guys, we’re missing the obvious question here: what do Mandarin collars on men’s suits say about the culture of suits? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE.