Today is an auspicious day. For the Men’s Rights Subreddit, which we often write about here on Man Boobz, has won the prestigious World’s Greatest Shitlord Award. Oh, sorry, I mean it won the Subreddit of the Day award on Reddit. Which is, in this case, pretty much the same thing.
Here are some highlights from the official announcement , which I am totally not making up. No, really, you can go look. Someone – that being XavierMendel, one of the mods of r/subredditoftheday — actually wrote these things. And meant them. I AM NOT BEING SARCASTIC THIS IS REAL HOLY SHIT.
The topic at hand today takes a generous turn from our amusing and lighthearted articles of the month. On this, the last day of January, we look at something a bit more worthy to be called an article. /r/MensRights comes up a lot across reddit and, indeed, across the world as being one of the few centers for men’s help. It’s often attacked, and is always the center of one controversy or the other. My questions reflect that. MensRights is, undoubtedly, the home of great activists.
Again. I am not making this up.
There were some people close to me that suggested I not run this article. That the repercussions of doing so would be unreasonably bad. Well, here you go, people. This is my way of saying that a good reporter doesn’t care. A good reporter reports. It’s not in my job to care about consequences.
I’m not sure that Mr. Mendel quite understands the difference between “reporting” and “asskissing.”
/r/MensRights. Never in our society could the uninitiated imagine such a place. A place where feminism is questioned, and our culture is deconstructed to find what it’s really up to.
Hahaha, what? I was not aware that feminism wasn’t ever questioned on the internet, or anywhere else in “our society.” I mean, it’s not like I run a blog that features nearly 500 posts detailing people attacking feminism on the internet, most of them nastily and ignorantly and sometimes using the word “cunt,” and the vast majority of them not on Reddit. And it’s not like this only barely scratches the surface of the subject.
/r/MensRights is one of the last fortifications of free thought to exist on Reddit.
Yeah, that’s why I was banned – not for trolling or harassing or calling anyone names, but for politely if persistently disagreeing with the denizens until then-moderator ignatiusloyola threw a fit.
“Surely you jest,” one might tell me, “when you mean they’re alone in this regard?” No, hypothetical 19th century British gentleman, I do not. I truly mean it when I say that. What other subreddit openly questions feminism? None spring to mind, and I make it my duty to catalog various subreddits. Most end up banned or run down within a month. Only /r/MensRights remains.
Reddit: Bastion of Internet Feminism.
Nobody can say for sure whether or not they’re correct in any single regard. It’s certain that, due to the laws of probability, they’re not correct in every regard. However, it’s also certain that they’re correct in most of them. Occasionally a wackjob or two will suggest that feminism is behind Cinnamon Toast Crunch (The taste you can see!™). The accuser latches onto those wackjobs to denounce the whole movement.
Yeah, it’s not as if comments suggesting that a man allegedly wronged in divorce court should turn to murder got literally dozens of upvotes in r/mensrights, or anything.
Oh wait, they did.
Yeah, it’s not as if Men’s Rights Redditors gave literally hundreds of upvotes to a post about a t-shirt suggesting that men could be convicted of rape simply for being in a room alone with a woman.
Oh wait, they did.
It’s not as if Men’s Rights Redditors regularly give dozens if not hundreds of upvotes to posts from unhinged hate sites like A Voice for Men or Angry Harry,or fall all over themselves praising an internet-famous female MRA who thinks that many abused women “demand” their abuse.
It’s not as if they think “spermjacking” is a real thing in the world that should make all men think twice about ejaculating in the general vicinity of women.
It’s not like … oh, you can find many, many more examples for yourself.
After claiming that “people have died” after being called misogynists, while “nobody ever dies after being called a misandrist,” Mr. Mendel winds up his speech with this stirring conclusion:
I support the struggles of people who are in bad positions. I respect it, in a way, for I have also seen great struggle. My struggle is not over, nor will it end until my death. For I struggle with something that will not go away through legislation or social change. The Men’s Rights Movement, however, struggles with something very changeable. Very malleable, able to be fixed within a generation if so desired. So I will support them, for they have a fighting chance. …
/r/MensRights is controversial for a reason. In the same sense as Jews of the 1890s, Irish of the 1850s, Hispanics of the 1350s, and many more. Each generation has their controversial improvement in society. We’ve gotten off easy so far, but we have to make it happen eventually. As far back as anyone living can remember, the table has been imbalanced in one way or another, favoring men or women. It’s time the table stays level for once. We need equality.
And that’s what /r/MensRights is trying to do.
Oy yoy yoy. There’s so much ridiculousness to unpack there that it makes me tired. I think I’ll go take a nap.
Mr. Mendel followed his stirring introduction with some questions for the denizens of r/mensrights. And there was some discussion. I can’t even. Not right now. I’ll get to all that in a future post.
In the meantime, Skepchick’s Rebecca Watson – who has been on the receiving end of r/menrights’ heroic activism more than once — has her own reaction to the Men’s Rights is the Subreddit of the Day announcement.
Wow, this guy needs some lurving. Has he ever written anything that’s not stupid? I’d google but I’m trying to give up smoking and anymore stupid would require inhaling a whole crate of cigs.
Can we start by just unpacking this tiny piece of it, because WAT?
Yoyo, did you pick the wrong week to quit smoking?
Was the 1350s bit a typo? o_O
Yes, being a man is JUST like being a Jew! Christ, and they say feminists are the ones with a victim complex?
Either a typo or he doesn’t know what “Hispanic” means.
These guys have made self-pity into an artform.
*hides men-only gas chamber behind back* Awkward…
Was gonna mention the Hispanics bit, but Bagelsan and cloudiah beat me to it.
Uh, dude. Have you BEEN in Texas lately? Racism against Hispanics is fucking RAMPANT. (I should know. My brother openly identifies as one.)
(Not Hispanic. Racist against Hispanics, I mean.)
At this point, I’m assuming the entire article was a typo. It’s the only way to account for that much wrong in such a tiny space.
Being the mod of a subreddit doesn’t actually make you a reporter.
I still think it is funny that Paul E and his crew are probably stewing in rage that MRAs who are not AVfM are getting more attention than his bunch of misogynistic toadies.
Also a real reporter, believe it or not, isn’t supposed to ass-kiss and would simply have written that r/mensrights has x members, gets about y posts per day, its talks about z, and redditor w says thus-and-such about it.
Hooooboy. This guy doesn’t read that section of his own website, now does he?
I haven’t checked out reddit for myself, and now I don’t want to go there, ever.
Even in the most fannish profiles I wrote as a teenager I didn’t manage to get my tongue as far up anyone’s ass as our friend Xavier has done here.
DLColvin, why do you keep coming back here? You left in a huff and then posted on your blog about how we suck. Every time you post, it’s just going to trigger a discussion of the reasons people don’t want you here.
I mean, if it’s a typo, well, that’s a weird typo, considering how far 3 is from (I’m guessing) 9. But if it’s not a typo, and is instead referring to… I dunno, the parts of Spain still under Islamic rule? Then it’s both a bizarre choice of date and a completely fucking nonsensical point of comparison.
… actually, the fact that it’s complete fucking nonsense kind of makes it seem more likely to be intentional. I vote “not a typo.”
LOl at “great activists.” Yes, great and mighty activists who cannot organize a meetup and do nothing but mewl about their oppression (can’t get laid on demand) on their internet. Probably the biggest bunch of whiny titty babies ever, and they’re great activists? What was Mendel huffing when he wrote that?
Sort of like Ruby with the “every thread is a clean slate” stuff too, like people can’t go back and read what was said.
Shut up, DL.
It’s Ruby Two: Asshole Boogaloo
I just really love the word ‘shitlord.’
And “Nobody can say for sure whether or not they’re correct in any single regard. It’s certain that, due to the laws of probability, they’re not correct in every regard. However, it’s also certain that they’re correct in most of them.” It just about makes my brain explode. If no one can ascertain their correctness on any given issue, then how can you possibly say it’s “almost certain” that they’re correct most of the time? If none of your claims are testable or verifiable, how can you have any kind of movement or push for social change?
This is what I get for thinking seriously about semi-literate word salad.
Also, hee! “Shitlords!”
Detailed analysis of MRA claims is misandry, especially if you point out the flaws in logic.
RE: Gametime
Even if it WAS Spain under Islamic rule, that doesn’t make sense. They’d say ‘Spaniards’ not ‘HIspanics.’
Seriously, can anyone find a reading of that that makes sense? I don’t recall the 50s being particularly notably for racism against Hispanics, of ANY century. I’m getting rather perplexed by it.
He is a century off for the Spanish Inquisition.
He’s Captain Amazing! He knew that they’d know that he knew!
It actually makes perfect sense: Men are exactly as oppressed as Spaniards are in Spain.