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.
All depends on the dish.
Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam was a friggin’ godsend (FSMsend?) when we had to fatten my mother up after surgery. Now she’s on this anti-tumor medication that makes her just slightly queasy most of the time, so getting her to eat is really difficult. o_o
When my mum had a hard time eating during chemo she could usually keep down both jello and fortified milk drinks, so those might be worth a try.
So you come on here claiming David – who does read their sites – is cherry-picking, that not all MRAs are like that, and then you admit you don’t even fucking read their sites.
Piss off, moron.
“Or tell us where to go and we’ll look for ourselves.”
No you won’t. You’re not going to go through every thread I’ve been looking for people I talked to.
“So you come on here claiming David – who does read their sites – is cherry-picking, that not all MRAs are like that, and then you admit you don’t even fucking read their sites.
Piss off, moron.”
Listen dumbass, MRA’s don’t only hang out on MRA websites, they can and do show up on large forums when a topic about gender issues comes up.
Irn Bru at all, from all I’ve heard about it! I can’t recall if I dared drink it when I was in Edinburgh back in 2000. Lonely Planet said such harsh things about it. 😀
She’s definitely able to eat more than the typical chemo patient. It’s more constant low-level queasiness that makes her forget to eat, or eat much less than she should. She can’t do Ensure, but I’ve got her drinking a different chocolate-flavored protein drink. I just have to make sure she remembers to drink it!
Guys, you may as well not bother. If someone doesn’t understand why he’s not considered an expert on people he doesn’t remember from sites he doesn’t visit, there’s not much chance of communication.
I actually like Irn Bru, by itself. Then again I am Scottish.
Diet Irn Bru otoh is an abomination.
Shorter fathertime89: I am going to just keep asserting over and over that something is true while refusing to provide even the tiniest bit of proof.
Go away, dude. Grown ups are talking here.
We’ve issued this challenge to every troll who comes by this blog claiming “these major MRA strongholds aren’t representative of the MRM, there are some reasonable MRAs!!!” and not a single one of them has managed to cough up an example. Just one example. Doesn’t matter how prominent.
You’re the only one who’s managed to come up with excuses as to why they cannot prove the existence of these ‘reasonable MRAs’, most of them just ignore the challenge.
More pretentious PR twaddle since the troll is no fun to nom on.
David’s quoting MRAs’ own sites. The ones where they do most of their ranting and hating on women. He’s going to the source. I know perfectly well these scumbag misogynists hang out elsewhere. They’re fucking hard to avoid even on something like Huffington Post. But you’re ignoring the main source of their hate speech and trying to tell us what reasonable fellows they are. You’re also ignoring specific, recurring examples of their attitudes. So no, I’m not impressed with your claims and your pretence. You’re defending the indefensible, because the MRM is entirely for and about misogyny. See that short pier over there? Go take a long walk on it.
But it’s made from girrrrrrrders!
But I can’t remember when or if I’ve ever seen MRAs in the wild because that would be haaaaaaaaaaaard 🙁
“What you’re doing is reading a few odd comments about Terry Pratchett that crop up on websites not dedicated to books and/or Terry Pratchett, and then declaring yourself highly knowledgeable about this subject.”
I’ve seen enough that I know the blanket statement that they’re all evil is complete shit.
That’s the thing with blanket statements you only need a few counter examples to disprove them.
Cassandra, what is that from??? That’s hilarious.
I found some poetry I wrote during junior high, and it was better than that.
@ cloudiah
Promo email for a new video for a band called Satan’s Wrath.
(This is why I love black metal bands, they’re so funny, even though it’s often not on purpose.)
cloudiah, that’s rotten about the chemo and constant queasiness. My BiL had much the same with his chemo a couple of years back (my sister got really used to having sick bags in the car at all times). I hope your mum comes through it all okay.
Oh, I put a link to an Angry Mormon Bear cartoon in the other thread. 🙂
I know, I shouldn’t but…
Provide a few counter examples or GTFO.
@CassandraSays
My grandfather once said Champagne tastes like Irn Bru.
We told him he’d either been drinking crap Champagne or really good Irn Bru.
(Irn Bru was also one of the components of Rocket Fuel ‘cocktail’…)
Isn’t it funny, then how you’ve provided exactly none? You made this assertion. Show some evidence. Because all the evidence so far is that the MRM is full of people with hateful attitudes toward women, and yes, toward children.
We’ve been asking for just one example for two pages.
troll: “la la la la I can’t hear you!”
Yeah Kittehs’ I love it — will add to the post after dinner!
Mom’s lucky in that she actually doesn’t need chemo or radiation; the drug she is on is generally “well tolerated” she just lucked out into being one of the few who doesn’t tolerate it so well. I told her she just had to eat even if she didn’t feel like it, and she should think of it as medicine. And then she made a really funny face at me.