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.
Is Germaine Greer Aquaman?
Look.. Id theft is really easy to do, and it has happened to me before in an older blog of mine. I came back to my own WP blog once I discovered there was a security weakness over at blogger. I am not paranoid. The records there indicated it was a group from Russia that did it, ok?
If you folks can’t understand that yall come across as mean and spiteful to newcomers here, then I can’t really help you. Not that you need the help since it does appear to me that yall are happy with the state of things now. whatever floats your boat.
Right now I gotta go. Dog seems to be dying.
Manboobz appears to be a group of identity thieves from Russia? That was one of the weirdest attempts at self-justification I’ve seen in a while.
“So how many reporters/editorial/op-ed writers do we have here (I did all three).”
Right now, pecunium, I think there’s four. I didn’t see you come in.
Why would we want to steal your identity? Us, in particular? Was the previous attempt by someone who got annoyed at you in a comments section, or do we just strike you as Russian mobsters? Your identity is not that interesting.
Huh. A return flounce. ‘Kay.
She has to keep saying we’re mean to outsiders so she can cast herself in the role as Edgy Rebel, I guess.
I don’t think I can be a Russian mobster, sorry. I don’t really like Versace.
Show of hands: Who started commenting here less than, say, three months ago? Most of the people on right now are old-timers like me, but I know there are a lot of newcomers here, too. Did you find your reception to be “mean and spiteful?”
I, for one, blundered in here like a bull in a china shop and didn’t get particularly raked over the coals for it.
Huh. I was a newcomer once and I found you all friendly, likeable people…
I remember pissing people off early on and getting told off. I got over it.
I’m a relative newcomer and I haven’t noticed any meanness directed at me. Oh yeah, that will be because of the sisterhood.
I’ve only started commenting regularly recently and you all have been great to me. (Of course, I read for a long time first which isn’t required, but can’t hurt.)
I mean, someone stole $1200 off our bank account just this month, and you don’t see me concerned that random people on blogs are debit card thieves.
OTOH, if Debra Colvin is your real name, then you’re not being paranoid enough. There’s making it easy for identity thieves, and then there’s making it a complete gimme. (That is not a threat. Nobody here is going to do it. MRAs would, though.)
I started…I don’t know, last spring? Last summer? And bounce in and out periodically. And everyone has been lovely.
Me too.
I lurked long enough to determine whether or not my participation would be appropriate. My reception was one of wait and see, just as I expected it to be.
WHAT IS THIS MAGICAL ABILITY OF WHICH YOU SPEAK?
I forgot to add that I really appreciated your kindness over my kitty’s illness, I had a buttload of anxiety symptoms until yesterday when I got the definitive diagnosis (no more stress-induced anorexia, no more dry mouth which was clearly due to anxiety, no more crying).
Speaking of sick pets, I do hope DL’s dog is okay.
DL: Look.. Id theft is really easy to do, and it has happened to me before in an older blog of mine. I came back to my own WP blog once I discovered there was a security weakness over at blogger. I am not paranoid. The records there indicated it was a group from Russia that did it, ok?
So us disagreeing with you is the same as a security hole that let the Russian Mafia.
I’d say that’s got a whiff of paranoia.
Stupid, and passive aggressive.
If you folks can’t understand that yall come across as mean and spiteful to newcomers here, then I can’t really help you.
Why do you think we need your help?
If you can’t see that saying women are, “damaged goods” is shitty, we can’t help you.
I came in guns blazing (as it were, NWO was still at his peak). I was warmly received. Most of the present regulars post date me.
I’ve also been told off. I coped.
In all seriousness, the only possible reason I can see for taking on the security risk of blogging under your own name is that you need to do so for professional purposes, ie. your name is your brand. If you don’t need to, why take the risk?
Also, if you think that a site is teeming with mobsters and scammers, why would you keep going back there and insist on your right to do so?
See, this is why we don’t take you seriously.
“So how many reporters/editorial/op-ed writers do we have here (I did all three).”
I wrote for my college newspaper, and then taught media writing and advised the student newspaper, so yeah, that “reporter” bit in the OP made me want to hurl.
I know I’ve only been commenting for a while, but I couldn’t tell you how long. Maybe 6 months?
@DLColvin – giving you a moment of benefit of the doubt, let me explain something to you: internet communities are COMMUNITIES. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean any random person can wander in and fit in. You wouldn’t walk into a meatspace community and expect everyone to bow down and worship you for gracing them with your presence, right? Every forum with an active commentariat has it’s own customs and practices, some based on the rules laid down by the moderator, some just from how people have interacted in the past. You want to get along and be a part? You have to try.
Online spaces don’t owe you a welcome by default. People who come here every day? They don’t owe it to you to hold your hand and help you fit in. They will still be here in 3 weeks when you’ve wandered off to whatever other shiny object has caught your attention
And whinging about a community being hostile to you as a newbie when you clearly didn’t lurk, haven’t attempted to fit in, have attacked this space elsewhere? If that’s your plan for surviving the internet, well, good luck with that.
I think the Manboobz community is really welcoming. I’m mostly a lurker, and lurker for a long time (I read this blog basically from the beginning, back when most of the commenters were angry MRAs). The Manboobz community is one of the few that I feel comfortable commenting on. They will tell you off, but they are also give second chances if you can prove you are sorry.