So someone on YouTube decided to put together what was intended as a heartwarming and inspirational video — assembled mostly from Russian dash-cam videos — showing an assortment of ordinary fellows taking a few moments from their day to help out their fellow human beings, and even a few animals. We get to see little old ladies walked across the street, cars pushed or pulled from snowbanks, and so on.
But when Paul Elam of A Voice for Men — the alleged Men’s “Human Rights” site that posts an open call to firebomb courthouses and police stations in its “activism” section — watched the video, all he saw was what wasn’t there — that is, helpful women.
For you see, as far as anyone can tell with all that heavy winter clothing, this five minute video features only helpful men, and I think one helpful boy, and no helpful people of the lady persuasion. Mr. Elam underscored this point by headlining his post “Where are the women?” and ending the post with the very same question.
I’m not exactly sure why Mr. Elam thinks this is a particularly important question to ask (twice). I don’t know the precise gender breakdown for helping little old ladies across the road either in Russia or the US, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t 100% male. I’m almost positive that there are some women in the world who actually help their fellow human beings (and animals) from time to time. I’m pretty sure I know a few myself.
Indeed, if you look at the actual statistics for volunteering from the Bureau of Labor Statistics — generally considered a better source of data than compilations of Russian dash-cam footage — you will discover not only that substantial numbers of both men and women volunteer but also that, in the US at least, women consistently volunteer at rates higher than that of men. Take it away, BLS:
The volunteer rates for both men and women (23.2 and 29.5 percent, respectively) changed little in the year ending in September 2012. Women continued to volunteer at a higher rate than did men across all age groups, educational levels, and other major demographic characteristics.
I guess that’s where the women are. Volunteering.
If you’re interested in seeing the video that got Mr. Elam’s heart feeling so warmed, here you go:
Oh, wait, that’s not it. That’s not dudes helping. That’s dudes punching each other and acting like assholes. Here it is:
Damn it! More punching and assholism. Let’s try again.
Oops again.
In my defense, the videos I’ve posted are assembled mostly from Russian dash-cam footage, and I’m pretty sure there are no women in any of them.
Here’s the actual video, for reals.
Happy birthday, cloudiah!
@AK: geese are fucking terrifying, there’s no shame in admitting that. Birds in general are often creepy.
I just went to the L.A. Arboretum last weekend. Lotsa Canada geese there, and they were pretty funny:
“Hiss! Hiss! Stay away from my babies, evil humans!…oh, hey, is that bread? Awesome! I guess you’re okay, for humans…but still! Hiss!”
Geese are ridiculous. There was one standing in traffic where I live last week. That goose did not give fuck one that it was blocking traffic on a bridge.
Happy birthday, Cloudiah!
I *HATE* geese. Not quite as much as seagulls, but close. (Goddamn seagull stole a delicious piece of garlic bread right out of my mouth once. Never forgetting.)
@princessbonbon
Well there’s your problem: you’re watching more than one video. You need to just pick a random one and extrapolate the rest of society from there.
@shadow
I’m sure the other Bostonians will agree with me when I tell you to come and collect your damn geese. They try to charge me on my way to work. Dude, it’s not my fault your mate is nesting in the middle of the park!
If you wanted to grab some of the turkeys while you’re here, we probably wouldn’t mind…
@bionicmommy
So…Sex & The City?
@AK
OMG, it’s like something out of Jurassic Park!
…thank you all for reminding me why I refuse to eat coleslaw. I had successfully forgotten about the time a seagull, um, “made a deposit” in mine.
But yes, geese are scary, not as much as swans though. I know they look gorgeous, but ever been near one? Geese at least tend to take well to a show of flapping “I’m bigger than you, dumbass” arms. Swans…not so much (and you probably aren’t bigger)
I ran into some geese while in Boston, completely minded their own business. Maybe I just have an air of “I’ve scared off flocks three times your size, don’t even think about it”.
New Haven suburbs have geese to spare in other words.
And um, are wild chickens a thing? Do people let per chicken roam when there’s a major city road Right There? Because we keep spotting chickens wandering a tiny woody area between houses and Major Fucking Roads. But then they weren’t there and no signs they got hit or anything, so the guess around here is they’re pets that got loose. That makes the most sense right? Please tell me wild chickens are not a thing.
Argenti: wild chickens aren’t a thing as far as I know, but some people in my ‘hood have about a half dozen of them, and they roam freely.
Happy birthday Cloudiah 😀 :D. You are 364 days and *mumblemumble* older than me.
Oh, and geese are assholes. The only bird that is more of an asshole than the goose (IMHO) is the swan.
@emilygoddess,
Yes, Sex and the City. Absolutely. That show is kryptonite for MRA’s.
*smacks forehead* Of course!
Now the last video I watched was a Cox N Crendor animation. All I can extrapolate from that is that some people make really silly videos and that is nice. Oh well, I guess because I am not a raged filled jerkhead, I find it hard to extrapolate anything about society.
I fail as a MRA.
Happy birthday, cloudiah!
Pauly seems to have missed that the person pulling the pram back from the road was a woman (or else a very slim man with longish hair, but zie registered as a woman to me).
Plus there’s no saying whether the person on the motorbike was a man or a woman. Hands in motorbike gloves, ooh, must be a bloke!
My anecdata is that it’s pretty evenly split between men and women helping out in public. Someone needs to get a pram or stroller off our monstrously high-stepped trams? Just as likely to be a woman as a man doing it (and, take note, it makes no difference whether the helpee is a man or a woman).
I’m not sure which enrages Pauly more: that women exist and don’t conform to his RealDoll/slave requirements, or that the world in general doesn’t share his hatred of us.
Suck it up, Pauly boy. Suck up those rotten eggs. I’m laughing at your overwhelming loserdom.
“But yes, geese are scary, not as much as swans though. I know they look gorgeous, but ever been near one? ”
Maybe it’s a species thing? There are lots of black swans at Albert Park. There’s a lake with a footpath around it and they’re all over the place with their cygnets (so cute!). They don’t seem at all bothered by people. I’ve been walking there for years and never seen or had any trouble with ’em. Of course if people were stupid enough to hassle them, that’d be different, but this mob are pretty laid-back.
Happy Birthday, Cloudiah.
Canada Geese, actually, pretty mellow for geese. Wild chickens are a bit of a thing. Chickens can fly, and if they get out they will breed.
There is a divided highway in S. Calif. which has a flock which has been living on the median for about a decade. The traffic keeps the predators (raccoons and opossums) from being able to get at them at night.
Speaking of birds that can be mean, I just ran across another pair of ducks. The lady duck was paddling in a puddle and her gentleman friend was standing guard, glaring suspiciously at the people walking by (and the occasional squirrel).
Given how some people, especially in rural areas, let their chickens roam free, I have no doubt there are feral chickens out there.
Then there’s the red junglefowl, of which domestic chickens are a subspecies, so that’s technically a wild chicken.
@emilygoddess
I’ve been planning a trip to Boston for a long while, but, for honesty’s sake, I’m torn between helping y’all out and taking some geese back and helping ourselves out and sending a couple more your way 😛
I’m not sure how common wild chickens are in N. America, but they are “definitely a thing”, and hella gorgeous
ahhh html wild chicken
The ones I’ve seen in Sri Lanka look more like this, but with slightly longer tails
Kittenserf, I think in the case of the pram, the hero is supposed to be the truck driver who alerts the woman that the pram has gone into the street instead of just running the kid over. Women caring about their own kids doesn’t count.
Wild chickens are a thing hereabouts, and also geese are direct descendents of velociraptors.
Oh, gotcha, David. I don’t have sound, is he blowing his horn or something?