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Ever-gullible Men’s Rights Redditors throw yet another tantrum over a phony “feminist” screencap [UPDATE: w/ Men’s Rights response]

madflower
This  flower seems angry.

The top post on the Men’s Rights subreddit at the moment, with more than 300 600 700 net upvotes, is a link to this screenshot, posted as an example of radical feminism gone wild:

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Naturally, the assembled Men’s Rights Redditors are outraged yet quiety affirmed in their beliefs by the quote. OuiCrudites responds with a slogan:

ouislogan
OsirisFox does a callback to that screenshotted lady we talked about the other day:

foxfeminism
And DavidByron demonstrates a severe disconnection from reality:

davidbyronreality

There’s just one little problem with that rad-fem screenshot they’re all reacting to: it’s, uh, pretty freaking obviously not a quote from a real feminist. Not only is it ridiculously over-the-top — there’s no feminist alive who thinks women shouldn’t be responsible for any of their decisions —  but there’s also that “supposed” in the final sentence, which makes it clear this isn’t a comment from a deluded feminist but a sarcastic comment from someone who is not exactly a fan of feminism.

The person who posted the screenshot to the Men’s Rights subreddit did not, alas, post a link to the source of the screenshot. But, making use of a little-known internet technology known as “Google,” I was able to trace it to its source: the comment section on Gawker. Specifically, right here.

Unlike the last screenshot from Gawker media that caused the Men’s Rights subreddit such embarrassment, this screenshot wasn’t doctored. But the screenshotter did leave out a bit of context: that is, if you look at GardeniaBlossom’s comment history, it’s clear that this pretty flower is no radical feminist.

Most of Gardenia’s comments are attacks on fat acceptance; there’s a snarky one insulting prostitutes and  a followup suggesting that women dating PUAs shouldn’t be shocked when PUAs sexually harass them; and one, in the comments section to an article about feminism, setting forth the basic MRA talking points about circumcision and female genital mutilation. (You can find more analysis of Gardenia in the AgainstMensRights subreddit; there are also a few — a distinct minority — in the Men’s Rights discussion who suspect a troll.)

I’m guessing Gardinia is, at the very least, a Redditor, if not an active poster to the Men’s Rights subreddit.

MRAs love to claim that I take quotes “out of context,” but I quote liberally, and when I quote and/or post screenshots, I provide links to the quotes in their original contexts — as I have done here. I don’t generally quote comments by obvious trolls, or quotes that have been heavily criticized by others on the sites I find them on.

When I take comments from sites like Reddit or The Spearhead where readers can up- and downvote comments, I tend to quote comments that have received a substantial number of upvotes. When I quote outliers or unpopular comments, I mention this in my posts.

The Men’s Rights subreddit, by contrast, is happy to upvote completely unsourced screenshots without even doing the thirty seconds of Googling it would take to figure out where they come from in the first place. But that sort of makes sense. Given that Men’s Rights Redditors spend so much of their time fighting imaginary straw feminists — and that the entire Men’s Rights movement is in fact built upon fighting straw feminists — why does it matter if the screenshots of evil feminist quotes they like to circle-jerk over are real or forged, or, in this case, actually from a feminist at all?

Fighting imaginary enemies, all in a day’s work for the Men’s Rights Warriors of Reddit Dot Com.

EDIT: I reworked the paragraph starting “There’s just one little problem” to be a bit more blunt.

EDITED TO ADD: Some of the regulars in the Men’s Rights subreddit has discovered this post of mine. The regulars have recognized their folly, and have begun some serious soul-searching about their willingness to believe the literally unbelievable about feminists without even doing the most basic factchecking first.

Nah, just kidding, they still think the screenshot is real — though the subreddit’s mods (apparently having a teensy bit more sense than the subreddit regulars themselves) have finally labelled the screenshot a “fake.” Which isn’t exactly true. It wasn’t fake; it was simply some fairly obvious sarcasm that the regulars in the Men’s Rights were too obtuse to notice. Did none of them even read the comment all the way through to the end?

Also, turns out the TumblrInAction subreddit also had a giant circle-jerk over the screenshot as well, which garnered nearly 700 upvotes and more than 200 mostly outraged and not-in-the-slightest skeptical comments; they also discovered this post of mine and are also continuing to insist that the screenshot was a real feminist probably, honest.

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pineapplecookies
pineapplecookies
11 years ago

I should never learned what is that. Now I want that…. I will have to bake that.

Probably tomorrow *_____*

I’m learning so many recipes here! Where are the MRAs to mention our interest in culinary?

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Thanks, cloudiah! I don’t gamble, but I’ve got a couple fellow foodie co-workers, so we’re going to hit up some places that are supposed to be great. We might even have time to go to the Fremont and have an authentic Hawaiian breakfast (Spam! Carbs! Deliciousness!).

Plus I imagine the people watching will be most excellent.

Motty
Motty
11 years ago

Poe’s law in action.

pineapplecookies
pineapplecookies
11 years ago

ohmygod, maude!!!! O___O that looks AWESOME!

*adds to “recipes from manbooz to try” list.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago
pineapplecookies
pineapplecookies
11 years ago

We should start a cooking book. What would the title be?

ellex24
ellex24
11 years ago

@pineapplecookies – There are recipes all over the internet for pineapple upside down cake. It’s very easy to make. I don’t care for pineapple myself, but my mother brought some home the other day and made a special request, so I made some. I made coffee cake muffins for myself – I cheated and used a Krusteez mix.

@Kittehs – since I got her a computer of her own (damn you Windows 8, she was just getting the hang of things), my mother’s presence only seems to affect Youtube. I’m still trying to convince her that she can listen to the radio on the internet, though – it just doesn’t seem to be sinking in.

@Maude – MRA’s tend to fail miserably at basic logic and reasoning, as far as I can see. If it doesn’t fit their warped little worldview, they completely ignore it or twist it to fit. It’s kind of like the way women who are fat, ugly, and/or over age 30 don’t even exist in their world. One of these days, some MRA is going to a bright idea about a Logan’s Run type scenario for all women over a certain age, weight, or completely “objective” scale of beauty.

Damn…I’ve been dating myself a lot recently. I had to explain to a co-worker the other day that My Little Ponies aren’t exactly new.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Pinapplecookies: The Misandrist’s Cookbook and Hater’s Guide to Great Meals.

Maude LL
Maude LL
11 years ago

Yay, recipe swap for misandry!
You should try the upside down cake pineapplecookie, it’s so easy to make, but it looks fancy. If you can get good fresh unsalted butter, it’s even better (but still good with normal butter, and I even made it with coconut oil for lactose intolerant guests.)

Maude LL
Maude LL
11 years ago

Whoa, hellkell’s recipe: bookmarked.

pineapplecookies
pineapplecookies
11 years ago

The Misandrist’s Cookbook and Hater’s Guide to Great Meals.

That’s a great project!!

(I bookmarked all the recipes!)

pineapplecookies
pineapplecookies
11 years ago

the quotes didn’t work! 😛 pff…..

pineapplecookies
pineapplecookies
11 years ago

and =P becomes :P?? in which universe?

ellex24
ellex24
11 years ago

“Cooking for Boobz”?

I’ve found some excellent recipes here: http://smittenkitchen.com/

Her raspberry breakfast bars are super easy and delicious. I’ve made them with blueberries (frozen from last years crop, grown in my backyard), apple slices and caramel, and strawberries (strawberry pie filling with additional fresh sliced strawberries – I left out the other filling ingredients in the recipe for that one). Line your pan with greased parchment paper first, it makes the bars much easier to cut and remove.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

I tried the smittenkitchen Bolognese lasagna (with a few shortcuts) and it was AWESOME.

Kittehserf
11 years ago

OMG

that pear and almond cake

glad the local cook saw that, I know what he’ll be making tonight!

katz
11 years ago

I take it this is the off-topic thread?

Someone want to tell me if this cyberpunk character looks cool or way too 80’s? Cyberpunk being from the 80’s, a lot of the characters end up looking frozen in time, which is kind of ironic.

mildlymagnificent
11 years ago

One cooking note occurred to me from that pear recipe. If you want perfectly. even. slices. of something that’s pretty soft, like mushrooms for instance, use one of those slicers for hard-boiled eggs. It doesn’t work for most veg, nor for crisp fruit – esp if the peel is still on, so not for tomatoes either. But for _small_ peeled pears or peaches, it’s worth a try.

ellex24
ellex24
11 years ago

If you can get Hubbard squash, it’s a fantastic substitute for any recipe involving pumpkin. It’s naturally a little sweeter than pumpkin, so you can cut the sugar in any recipe in half.

The only problem is that getting Hubbard squash usually involves finding a farmers market and buying one, and they’re enormous. Then you have to cut it up and cook it, and scrape the flesh off the rind, and put the flesh through a blender or food processor. So I usually end up with anywhere from 6 to 10 cups worth. But it freezes very well.

Then I make fabulous molasses squash muffins with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom (or shortcut with tea masala). And honey butter to spread on them.

I’m making them this weekend. I bet you all wish you lived near me right now, don’t you?

cloudiah
11 years ago

I’ve made a few smittenkitchen (which I always want to call smittenkitten) things too; they’ve been pretty great. I loved this one:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/06/broccoli-parmesan-fritters/

Kittehserf
11 years ago

The top and gloves do look pretty 80s to me, katz, though not straight out of the decade – more like a reference, if that makes any sense. Can’t be pure 80s, no shoulder pads and no big hair!

cloudiah
11 years ago

katz, yes this, unlike all the other threads, is one where off topic posts are allowed. 😀

I like the character; the ripped pants may be a little too 80s. I wouldn’t say WAY too 80s, but maybe a little bit of a Pat Benatar music video vibe.

Kittehserf
11 years ago

::checks train timetable to ellex’s place::

cloudiah
11 years ago

That sounded really sarcastic didn’t it? Ack. Mostly I liked it, but it definitely has an 80s thing going on.

Kittehserf
11 years ago

It didn’t read as sarcastic to me, cloudiah.