So WF Price of The Spearhead, who responded to my previous post criticizing his and his commenters’ appalling reactions to the Cleveland abductions with thoughtfulness and maturity (by which I mean a bizarre and weirdly racist personal attack on a commenter here), has now taken offense to a darkly satirical piece the Onion ran in the wake of the revelations of what allegedly went on Ariel Castro’s house for the past 11 years.
The Onion piece wasn’t funny, exactly, nor was it meant to be; it was pretty clearly the raw reaction of someone reacting with appropriate horror to the details of Castro’s alleged crimes, which seem to surpass even the worst “man-hater’s” vision of male depravity. Price, rather missing the point, sees the Onion piece as simple “feminist man-hatred” and suggests that it proves his point all along: that patriarchy is a lie.
The Castro brothers were neither patriarchal nor privileged; they were low-life predators from the bottom of society. Not to say that low-class men are all bad people, either, but men without privilege are the most likely to commit crimes, for obvious reasons. …
The myth of male power and privilege is just that, and the Cleveland case is one more pebble on the mountain of evidence that exposes it for a lie.
Empowering men in their families will not lead to more crimes against women and girls, but fewer.
Huh. So I guess if we make all men rich, and order the police to stop responding to all “domestic disturbance” calls, all our problems will be solved!
Never mind that Ariel Castro seems to have lorded it over his now-dead ex when he was involved with her, reportedly brutalizing and terrorizing her and getting away with it in part because he threatened to further brutalize her if she testified against him. He may not have had much power in the wider world, but he certainly seems to have felt quite “empowered” in his dealings with women and girls, and the “justice” system didn’t provide any justice to his apparent victims, even before the kidnappings.
And never mind that Price continues to refer to the “Castro brothers” although the police are saying that Ariel Castro acted alone.
Despite not knowing the basic facts of the case, Price seems to like the idea of using cases like this one to push his antifeminist agenda. According to him, his attempts to use the case to “refute” the feminist idea that
male privilege [is] tied to abuse of women … really enraged them, because how dare I use one of “their” cases to point out that they are wrong. From their perspective, it should be a sacred feminist right to use these incidents against men as a political bludgeon so as to coerce more concessions, more power, etc. Some went so far as to accuse me of blaming women and feminists for the kidnappings themselves (rubbish), while a few others sent me some hate mail.
But you know, I’m going to keep it up, because they do not have the sole right to the narrative when convenient tragedies occur. …
Feminists will doubtless use examples of outrageous crimes in an effort to remove more men from their families, thereby creating both more victims and more criminals. They will use examples like the Castro brothers’ kidnapping whenever and wherever they can. We must stop them from doing so, and we must not be intimidated by their feigned moral outrage when we speak the truth about their agenda.
Dude. if you think the reactions people are having to the Cleveland abductions — or to the terrible things you and your commenters have said about them — are in any way “feigned,” then I can only suggest that you may have completely lost touch with your humanity.
Once again, the Spearhead’s commenters lived up to their past standards of moral monsterhood, continuing to put the blame for Ariel Castro’s crimes (and pretty much every other ill) on feminism and women in general. Here are some selections. You’ll notice the one wishing death on feminists is officially “well-liked” by the commentariat there.
The only vaguely encouraging thing in the entire discussion? That Dana’s call for urban genocide got a couple of downvotes. To the two Spearhead readers who don’t think wiping out an entire community of decent people because of the behavior of one man is a good idea, I would like to say “thanks.” And also suggest that maybe you should stop reading The Spearhead.
EDITED: Added paragraphs about Ariel Castro’s alleged brutality towards his ex, and clarification that only he has been charged, not his brothers.
Well I suppose that “Empowering men in their families will not lead to more crimes against women and girls, but fewer” (block quotes – I do not know how to make them) is correct, in the sense that what I think Price probably means by “empowering” would make most forms of abuse of women no longer criminal.
“Healthy gender roles practiced for 100,000 years”
Jesus christ. What is anthropology?
I can see poverty and disenfranchisement as a partial explanation for the prevalence of property crimes, drug dealing, even something like armed robbery. But the kidnapping, rape and sequestration of three teenagers? Sorry, poverty doesn’t explain that.
Jesus, the stupidity, it burns. So the argument is, if Castro had been allowed to lord over women in his own home, he wouldn’t have lorded over a bunch of unwilling women in his own home, right? If women had no rights in this society and enjoyed the status of chattel, Castro would not have treated his victims as chattel? Right, that totally makes perfect sense. Especially since Castro once had a very submissive wife, on whom he inflicted vicious beatings. He also locked her up in the house periodically. Because of feminism.
Anthro-what? Up through all of human history until 1970 there was one set of healthy gender roles practised always everywhere. And as everyone who has ever taken an interest in history will know, there was a lot less abuse and violence in the good old days.
(I really don’t understand how traditionalists can possibly miss this enormous glitch in their argument).
Yeah, but then the wife up and left him, which makes the kidnappings ALL HER FAULT.
So I guess these fucking, ass clowns are just going to ignore the new revelations about the case, huh?
That only one of the brothers is being charged; that he did, in fact, use his “authority” to beat the shit out of his ex-wife and periodically absconded with his own children?
This right here:
this is everything you need to know about these people. Fuck these fucking assholes.
Why the crap would I want to make more Castros? Those guys kidnapped people because they could, not because they couldn’t get a woman. They’re predators, just like John Wayne Gacy was and he preyed on boys. MRAs need to take an ethics class.
Actually those with privilege are just as likely. The difference is 1. they are more likely to get away with it. (Ted Bundy) 2. more likely to get some of their crimes changed from being crimes to not being crimes (like say Wall Street.)
@Shade- It’s the compressing thousands of nuanced, complicated cultures that happen to not have written language and/or practice tribal-based societal organization and/or a hunter/gatherer economy into little more than animals. BECAUSE EVOLUTION!
*goes and cries in a corner*
@princessbonbon- Yes. The only difference between a wealthy white rapist and a poor rapist of color is that people are far more likely to believe the wealthy white rapist incapable of such a thing. Because men of privilege don’t commit crimes like that!
Amused, your comment got me thinking about the issue of “empowerment” and I added a bit to the OP about it.
‘Empowering men in their families’ – isn’t that just such a lovely way to put it. These guys sure do love their ‘authority’, don’t they?
Not so much “satirical” as “sarcastic.”
And not so much “dark” as “overtly sexist.”
But hey, carry on.
I LOVE (re: hate) the way that these jerks talk about leadership in their families. As though a true leader lords it over his trembling subjects, and that is the appropriate way of the world.
The best leaders I have known inspire by personal example and charisma. They are solid in their convictions, and they encourage the people close to them to open up, be the best versions of themselves, and to become leaders in their own right. Leadership is not “given,” it must be earned by showing that you are worthy of being followed (and certainly it’s not the job of husbands to “lead” their spouses, although I would say it’s important for fathers to be leaders to their children).
Well, once again, they’re using “empowering” because feminists and other social justice movements use the word a lot, so they figure that’s how it’s done. More Cargo Cult thinking.
“healthy gender roles practiced for 100,000 years”
Major facepalm moment here. Seriously, is it asking too much for fools like this to read at least on anthropology text book? Just one?
This shit is just depraved.
awwwww the inconvenient man thinks he’s people.
Rape and torture did not exist before feminism. SCIENCE.
I wonder why they picked on Andrew. Maybe because he is a commenter with a clearly gendered (masculine) name and has a a blog? How come they never pick on me? i want some attention too, y’know!
BTW, I recently read Andrew’s book “Kingdom of Sharks” because the subject matter (the abysmal state of English instruction in China) interests me, and I can state emphatically that there is nothing in it that suggests he has an obsession with Chinese girls.
And also BTW, speaking of “yellow fever,” I highly recommend watching PBS Independent Lens “Seeking Asian Females,” available online through the next month, in which an “Asiaphile” bachelor gets more than he bargained for when he imports a young Chinese bride.
@la strega- ooooh i heard about this! the film maker did a piece for this american life a while back. *goes off to watch*
Like husband pointed out: Suppose for the sake of argument that Castro was desperately, incredibly horny because he couldn’t get a woman to sleep with him voluntarily. In that case… isn’t the expected reaction to just lock yourself in where nobody can see you and fap away like there’s no tomorrow? I mean, he was (according to these MRA:s) SO desperately horny that he forgot all about human decency, but NOT so horny that he couldn’t plan and execute this elaborate kidnapping scheme rather than just sit down in his house and fap away. That’s a… very specific level of horniness, is all I’m saying. http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=615
*shakes head*
Truthy, you’ve been neglecting your reading workbook again. Go catch up and maybe after that you can have some juice.
THIS IS IT EXACTLY. If only women went back to being property instead of people, then we wouldn’t have to waste all this time being outraged. The Castros of the world can just keep their women and children chained to a wall to be raped and beaten, like God intended.
Fucking terrorist pieces of shit. Feminists didn’t create Castro. Feminists drag cockroaches like Castro into the light of day and force society to face the horrors that were once committed in secret while neighbors turned their heads and pretended it wasn’t going on, with the belief that it’s a “private matter.”
Link to “SAF” documentary I reference above here:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2339246842/
Glad you approve. Will do. Fuck off.