Our old friend over at the Pro-Male/Anti-Feminist Technology blog is angry again. This time he’s mad at a legitimate target: National Rifle Association president Wayne LaPierre. But not because LaPierre is the head of an organization that has stood athwart every attempt at sensible gun control, making tragedies like the one in Newtown an all-too-predictable side effect of the easy availability of semiautomatic weaponry.
No, Mr. Pro-Male/Anti-Feminist Tech is made at LaPierre because he thinks the NRA big gun has turned into a feminist. No, really. Noting that in the wake of the Newtown shootings LaPierre launched a transparently opportunistic attack on violent video games, Mr. PMAFT accuses him of doing the work of the grand feminist conspiracy against men and manhood:
The most important reason why LaPierre is wrong is because what he is doing is feminist. Video games are an activity predominately enjoyed by men. So are guns. Both activities are under attack from feminists (just like other predominately male activities like science fiction are) because men are interested in them and women are mostly not interested in them. LaPierre is shooting himself in the foot (pun intended) by alienating allies among the video game community and helping out feminists in their war on male activities.
Never mind that nearly half – 47% — of those playing video games these days are girls and women, according to the Entertainment Software Association. (I await the inevitable comment from a troll telling us all that whatever games these women are playing just don’t count because blah and blah.)
What LaPierre should have done is form an alliance with the video game community. While the Newtown shootings are being used against gun owners right now, the next target will be video games and other mostly male interests and activities. Both the video game community and the gun community are fighting the same enemy, feminism. They should be working together to point out facts like how the Newtown shooter was raised by a single mother and how homes where the father is kicked out lead to more violence.
Never mind that the shooter — like virtually all mass shooters — was a dude; a woman is always to blame.
The NRA is in a position of weakness now because they are attacking video games and not the real causes of the Newtown tragedy, single motherhood and feminism. The NRA is in the same boat as the Republican Party where it needs to become an explicitly anti-feminist and pro-mens rights organization to survive. (Lots of conservative and right wing organizations are in this situation.) Guns aren’t the problem here, but neither are video games. The NRA needs to realize this and realize that its only way forward is by fighting feminism. Anything else leads the NRA to irrelevance.
So one of the most powerful lobbies in American politics needs to team up with a Men’s Rights “movement” that can’t organize a single event that draws a crowd bigger than 8 people, or else it will fade into irrelevance?
I dearly hope the NRA fades into obscurity, and I am hopeful that public opinion about guns is beginning finally to shift in the right direction, but I’m not sure the NRA needs any pointers from MRAs on political relevance.
He seems young enough to enjoy the edgy aspect more than the misogyny. So, hopefully he’ll grow out of it. Until then, it’s always fun when he shows up.
And gets banned.
@Some Gal:
I think so too, but his idea of “edgy” is upsetting women, so I won’t give him a pass on the misogyny bit. I don’t think he actually believes that women can’t do math without falling over, but I think it’s misogyny that makes him think it’s hilarious to pretend.
I don’t mean to take the fun out of it though 🙂 Pell’s appearances always make me laugh. Not the way he wants me to, of course.
I’m more mean online than in real life….I should really work on that.
I wouldn’t know anyone in a religious setting because I’m not religious.
I like your username.
Me neither, really, but it’s the closest meatspace example of a group of people of various ages and such who come together socially like this based mostly on sharing some ideology.
College is that way…..sometimes.
I think the upsetting women is more about believing the feminists don’t have a sense of humorous/will be easy to rile up. So, it is misogyny, but more mainstream misogyny and not the fringe hatred of MRAs. (If that makes sense, I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses for the kid.) We disprove that every time he appears and he can’t be too bright if he hasn’t figured that out yet.
No surprise the videogame post brought him out. (This thread was awesome and I love that 2D Man trolled and then realized this was too far out even for him.)
I’m naming one of my XCOM snipers after you. With reaction shots like that, she’ll be a Colonel in no time.
@Melody
I guess so.
Sense of humor. How does my autocorrect not know that?
Must be a feminist autocorrect.
Melody, love your new kitty avatar!
I’m kinda disappointed to think that Pell isn’t an old fart.
@lowquacks
You should’ve heard my giggle at that. 🙂
It is my adorable kitty JR. He is a little special because he was dragged around by his umbilical cord by a very traumatized first time mother.
@lowquack
feminist autocorrect there needs to be an app!
That’s a traumatic start for a kitty! 🙁
He’s beautiful. But … are you quite, quite sure he isn’t Basement Cat? I mean, that black fur, piercing green eyes, firey red background …
I remember as a kid observing that people listened more to people who had authoritative experience on a topic, observing that this happened even if the experience couldn’t be proven then and there, and concluding that you ought to be able to bullshit people into believing you by making claims about yourself.
I also remember discovering that it didn’t work very well.
Reminds you of a certain ex-schoolteacher here, doesn’t it?
I think there’s a lot more malice in that ex-school teacher than there is in pellet. Even the meltdowns seem more like frustration than actual anger. Diogenes gets angry, I think. Every break is his getting angry at us.
Melody: JR is beautiful!
Our kitten’s name is Biscuit, we finally decided. Right now he’s chasing Lilly all over the house, and surprisingly, she loves it.
@Some Gal, I think we’re vigorously agreeing with each other 😀 that’s pretty much what I think too. And I definitely agree he’s not as bad as an MRA. It’s just a particular pet peeve of mine when people do that. It pokes and prods my pretty persimmons.
@clairedammit – I’m pretty sure he’s a school kid. He shows up early in the mornings before the bus shows up too, but almost never in the middle of the day (US time).
Nothing’s going to top the Montgomery Clift explosion, though. That set the bar so high, it’ll never be reached again.
Pell. My autocorrect must not like him. Misandry!
Good nickname for the kid, though.
Biscuit’s a gorgeous name! He can be Ferocious Biscuits when applicable. 🙂
@Viscaria
Good. I didn’t want anyone to think I was saying what he does is okay. It isn’t. It’s just nice that it is enjoyable for us in a way other trolls that need to listen to being banned and/or told to leave aren’t.
Oh, they are still fighting feminists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHE7ZO30L20
@Some Gal
Certainly. I was more referring to what Katz had just mentioned.