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.
It is not my night for blockquotes …
To defend myself a bit here, I was pretty hung over when that happened. I was trying to defrost a piece of chicken that was wrapped up for the freezer and it didn’t even occur to me to take off the tinfoil.
I think it was a pretty understandable mistake for anyone new to cooking, or new to microwaves.
::cocks ear for explosive noises coming from the north::
@Kittehs
Wasn’t actually going to try it. I’d done it with a CD before. I love contained flame and campfires, but heat too close to me freaks me the heck out. Smoking with a butane torch lighter in a pipe, as opposed to a joint lit with a BIC or similar, at a party once was just about the scariest thing I’ve ever done.
Perhaps there’s a career in fireworks waiting for me.
Didn’t think you really were, but “brb” was a great line. 🙂
Cassandra — sorry if my “on the other hand” came off as scorn or similar — I’m a combo of amazed and disappointed that you managed to move out before learning this, that’s just not right!
lowquacks — I’ve been known to pour rubbing alcohol in a sink and light it on fire (ceramic sinks are pretty much fire proof, and you can turn the faucet on if you need to put it out before it’s done, but it’s really just a flash in the pan) — your standard short weed pipe, with a butane torch lighter? No. Fucking. Way.
@Argenti
Exactly. I quite like burning paper or similar in the sink, sometimes with oil, but the casualness with which some friends of mine use those lighters freaks me out. I can never figure out how to work the carb either so w/e.
@ Argenti
You’re also forgetting how much older than you I am. I can actually remember microwaves being invented, and when my parents first got one.
@CassandaSays
Hopefully regarding that era as quaint before isn’t too offensive. . .
@Argenti
What? I was using a standard short Entirely Legal Tobacco Purchased Legally From A Licensed Vendor pipe borrowed from a Friend Of Legal Age To Smoke And Purchase Tobacco From Licensed Vendors who I definitely hadn’t Just Met That Night.
I’m now picturing a result rather similar to when one of my classmates managed to burn her eyebrows in chemistry class.
It just looked cool for a few seconds and then I stopped the microwave, actually. Still fun though.
lowquacks — of course, but a standard fare tobacco pipe is further from one’s face, just had to clarify for freak-out value 🙂
And autocorrect turned a typo of pipe into pipefish.
Cassandra — yeah, I was, mea culpa!
Tangentially, I once had a stupid blonde cheerleader yell at me for touching her precious blonde hair…I grabbed it as she was about to dip it into a burner in chemistry class. (That fucking…she had her jock friends threaten to beat the shit out of me if I didn’t let her cheat off my exams because I was c,early terribly rude for not liking her after that…I really hate people who think the world should revolve around them…)
Yeah, I *really* hated school.
also @CassandraSays
How’d she manage that?
Bunsen burner, no safety specs, got too close. She’s lucky she had her hair tied back.
@Argenti
Thanks, never knew that. Not a smoker, really, and I don’t hang out with anyone who smokes just tobacco from a pipe.
Cassandra, do you want to call ’em a pair of young whippersnappers, or shall I? I’m older than you, maybe I’d better.
“You young whippersnappers!”
/Carl from Up
Ok, but just what is a whippersnapper?!
I had to look for the definition – I’ve always known the phrase but not the specifics.
From the Free Online Dictionary:
noun
an unimportant but offensively presumptuous person, especially a young one.
Origin:
1665–75; probably blend of earlier whipster and snippersnapper, similar in sense
So not you two at all, but hey, it’s perfect for the teeny trolls we get around here (not naming names in case it summons them).
And I love “whipster”. It sounds like hipster but snappier. 😛
W hipster is um, ok auto correct, that’s correct! Given that was over 3 centuries ago, we can assume the meaning has shifted 🙂
And here I was thinking it was a type of US lawnmower!
@Kittehs
Somehow even snappier if you pronounce “wh” as separate from “w”, particularly with a broad Southern US accent as opposed to one of the stuffier RP/cultivated accents that maintains that distinction.
Y’know I’d quite forgotten about the whipper-snipper! Used to have one of those. I was always terrified of chopping bits off myself with it. Same with the Flymo. Who thought having a lawnmower with an electric lead was a good idea?
re pizza: I am not a NYC pizza fan, though I know some places which are famous; and seem (in the flavor profile) to be justfied in their fame. I find the sauce to be too sweet, the cheese to be scant, and the overall style to be not quite the thing.
But if you are in town, we can go to Arturo’s. It’s good, but it’s not quite what I like. It is however, a coal-fired oven, a splendid setting and very good NY pizza.
I also have to say that I’ve not been impressed with the Chinese here. I suspect it’s because I’m much more used to Szechuan/Mandarin combination cookery, and the former seems much less common here.
Put’s on technical cooking hat: I would do the old “hot water in the sink and cream the butter and sugar together with the bowl partly submerged” trick. Now I can’t be bothered and I just melt the butter in the microwave. I figure the butter will melt anyways during the cooking process, so it doesn’t matter.
Depending on what you are making, it does matter. How the sugar/butter combine to make a whole affects the final texture, esp. in cakes and cookies(biscuits). Superfine/caster sugar is often specified for that reason.
What’s the difference between French butter and “bog standard butter”
Depends on where you are. In the US “sweet cream” is the standard butter. In most of Europe the standard is, “cultured” butter. The culturing (allowing it to have some bacterial fermentation for about 12 hours) changes the texture, and gives it a slightly sharp undernote.
NB “Sweet cream” is not related to salting, or to pastuerising (these days the culture is added, not natural; though this may not be the case in France). The default selection for US table use is salted, in Europe the default table butter is unsalted. I suspect the US preference for sweet cream butter has something to do with this, but I don’t know.
I can say that french table butter is very good, though I did have one of the worse croissants in my life in Paris. Never went back to that café.
re cheese: Monterey Jack is a variation on some form of queso fresco which the spaniards moving up from Mexico made for travelling. It’s basically a solidified panela Since panela is a very bland cheese, so too is fresh jack. A good jack is a very pleasant thing. It’s not a strong flavor, but there is flavor. The problem (as with so many subtle things) is the amount of crap jack.
If you let it age (1-2 years) it gets very nutty, and rich.
Colby is basically raw cheddar which has had no time to develop. Again, if it’s a good colby, it has a nice, if mild, flavor (smoother texture than squeakers/cheddar curds but about the same profile). The best is from longhorn cattle. Again, if you let it age some, it develops. Tangier than cheddar, and it has a shorter shelf-life.
Cojack makes good, grilled , sandwiches, and a pleasant counterpoint to spicy food, which is how it is often used. The lack of assertion lets the coolness of the flavors come out, which is a nice balance to some really spicy tacos, etc.
There is lots of good cheese in the US. There is even a lot of good “american” cheese, but the mass-market stuff (KRAFT I’m look at you, and your ilk) are foul. Oil instead of butterfat. Greasy slicks of congealed slime.
Apparently so, since he had photos. He says he went on a trip to LA and that’s where he got the idea that all fancy American burgers must have that kind of cheese, and I can’t figure out where he could have gone to get that idea. So now a ton of Brits are probably reading his blog and getting the idea that if they don’t find and use that kind of cheese they’re Doing Burgers Wrong.
Erp! Kraft makes several cheeses which are decent (not great, but actual cheese; it costs more than it’s worth though, now that there are more cheese options).
I wonder if he had a burger with a slice of a good american cheese, and assumed it must be “Kraft”.
In-N-Out uses buns of their own making. They are a soft, sponge based, “white” bread. Their bakers set up a sponge (water, yeast, sugar) and let it rest overnight. Then they come in and make the buns (which then get shipped to the restaurants).
They also do all their own meat grinding (which is why they are regional. If they can’t get the meat from the place they grind it (in So Cal) to the restaurant in a truck, unfrozen, in eight hours, they won’t open a location).