The MRA hissy fit over Facebook continues. Over on A Voice for (Human) Men, our old friend John “The Other” Hembling offers up his take on the whole controversy, which has roused the usually torpid MRAs to “activism,” and somehow manages to be even more overheated and incoherent than even Paul Elam before him — and at times nearly as ponderous as the legendarily ponderous Fidelbogen as well.
His argument, if it can be called that, is as follows: by demanding that Facebook remove violent images of rape and abuse posted as “jokes,” the coalition of feminists who recently got Facebook to agree to ban violently misogynistic images are therefore endorsing what Hembling has decided is the “strongest signifier of fascism” — censorship.
Now, censorship is not actually the “strongest signifier” of fascism, merely one of many ingredients in the fascist souffle — alongside such things as, you know, authoritarian rule under a powerful dictator, nationalism, racism, etc. (Also they tend to have a thing about uniforms.)
And Facebook’s removal of rape “meme” pictures and the like is not exactly akin to a one-party dictatorship taking over the media and orchestrating massive book burnings. (Heck, I’m not exactly sure what exactly is supposed to make Facebook’s “censorship” any different from A Voice for Men’s recent announcement that it was clamping down on comments that Paul Elam thinks are too “distracting.”)
But even setting all this aside, Hembling’s charges against “Laura Bates, Soraya Chemaly, Jaclyn Friedman, and every their [sic] signatory to their open letter” don’t make a lot of sense. Here’s his grand summing-up of his would-be indictment:
It is a letter calling on the largest social networking site in the world to institute a program of demographically selective censorship; to institute the practice that is the strongest signifier of fascism.
Bates, Chemaly, and Friedman are not merely endorsing violence against those most impacted by it.
Um, how exactly does asking Facebook to take down pictures depicting violence make someone a proponent of violence?
Hembling doesn’t bother to explain this, and blathers on ahead to his melodramatic conclusion:
They are not merely ignorant or indifferent to the foundational nature of free speech to the establishment of all other human rights. They are not merely content to propagate false, fraudulent models of domestic violence which continue the conditions and causes of domestic violence. They are not simply adherents of an ideology of hatred and violence, wrapping itself in the increasingly transparent veneer of false and pious humanism.
Dude, you’re sounding like a stuck record here. You’ve already accused them of promoting hatred and violence — heck, you accused them of promoting violence at the start of this very paragraph!
Hembling — recently hired on to a paid position as AVFM’s Editor in Chief — desperately needs an editor himself. (Not to mention a proofreader.)
Laura Bates, Soraya Chemaly, Jaclyn Friedman are successfully promoting the signifying feature of fascism. They are fascists, and if you support their cause, that of censorship, you may be a fascist as well.
*looks at self*
No, I’m good. Pretty sure I’m not a fascist.
Hembling ends with a surreal:
Thank you for your kind attention.
Dear readers: let me just ask you to ponder the question I find myself pondering every time I read something by Mr. Hembling: Can there really anyone who reads posts like this from him and says to themself, “this makes sense!” Because his posts all seem like histrionic grandstanding to me, filled with startling leaps of illogic I think would be even too much for dedicated MRAs to make.
I can only imagine that Hembling’s MRA fans really only pay attention to the invective, and don’t bother with the (lack of ) logic, and that for them this whole post basically comes down to: feminists are fascists, feminists support violence, feminists hate men, these three ladies are bad.
They certainly aren’t checking his facts — indeed, Hembling’s piece includes numbered footnotes in the text, but he left out the actual footnotes, and links, that were supposed to run at the end of the piece, as is AVFM custom; his post has been up for several days, and no one there seeems to have even noticed the missing footnotes.
Also, Mr. Hembling, if you’re reading this, here’s a little PROTIP for you: if you want to pretend that you guys are, you know, actually against violence, you might want to think about removing that terrorist manifesto from your “activism” section — you know, the one that calls on MRAs to literally firebomb courthouses and police stations. Not really good PR for an alleged “human rights” movement, that!
This oughtta be good.
Guit, the Facebook matter was about gendered violence – images and pages glorifying or “joking” about sexualised violence against women. This is hate speech against a gender (against half the world’s population for crying out aloud). It has nothing to do with men being called “less sensitive” to hate speech or any suggestion that men can’t be on the receiving end of it. But – allowing that I might not have got your message clearly – it does sound like you’re turning this into a “what about the men?” issue when it is about women.
That’s something we get All. The. Time. and we’re kind of sick of it, y’know?
“Online harassment affects women and men differently” – http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2013/may/21/fighting-hate-speech-women-facebook
Guit, I think you aren’t understanding what you’re reading (in English) very well, judging by your questions on the other thread. But sure, provide a source of some well-regarded, modern feminist saying that “men are less sensitive to hate speech.” Also, there is no double standard in Facebook’s policy. Any posts attacking men can also be reported, and they should take them down.
Your point, Guit? More women are targeted for that kind of speech.
I’m smelling socks already.
Okay, I guess you’re referring to this statement in the article:
You still haven’t made your point. Sexualised violence is overwhelmingly directed at women by men, online and off – are you trying to say it’s not the case?
cloudiah, just what I was thinking.
Guit – assuming you’re not a sock – I’d really leave this, because your English skills don’t seem to be up to it. I’m not having a go at you, I’m saying you aren’t comprehending what you’ve read.
If you’re not a sock, that is.
I think that by a individual point of view, you’re not really interested if socially more women or more men are affected by something, It strikes you and that’s enought. I do not see men protected by that rule. They never wrote men can also be affected, they always wrote women. I think that hate speech affects both sensitive men and women, and goes unnoticed by others.
The actual rules adopted by Facebook are gender neutral, meaning they cover hate speech directed at either men or women.
See how easy that was? You’re not going to find anyone here who supports hate speech directed at any gender.
Now go away. This isn’t the website you’re looking for.
Men ARE protected by this new FB rule. But let’s face it, men aren’t subjected to the same amounts of gendered violence and the kinds of online attacks women get.
New troll is boring.
What shall we talk about instead? Any reviews of the fritter recipe?
Guit is aware that nobody here runs The Guardian, right?
I made them tonight, they were delicious! Mr. HK wants me to make more.
Alternative things! The guys with the kitties that katz posted were very cute. Also I am currently eating a Mexican chocolate cookie, and it’s very good.
Oh, if anyone needs a laugh, there’s more bad MRA “artistry” here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1fpvdf/threw_this_together_since_its_relevant_for_today/
(And a fake MRA one in the comments.)
To be fair, this wasn’t popular on r/mr either, so this is just for lulz.
@Guit
Nowhere in that article does it say that hate speech doesn’t affect men. It says that it affects men and women differently. Which is true, given the differences in the ways women and men are treated, and spoken to and about.
Oh, and alternatively, my new rice cooker got here yesterday! It is excellent and I am so excited about it!
You asked me to go away?
Hmm yes I think the general consensus is that you’re either trolling or are not good enough at English to have a meaningful discussion with. Not that the second means you’re a bad person or anything, and if you REALLY want to talk about it, maybe I can get my husband to translate an argument for you, given that he is also Italian. Though I make no promises.
He understands go away.
Ok. I go. This was a lesson. Tomorrow when I’ll meet you americans in Rome asking for directions, I’ll respond: “Oh guy, let’s go away. You’rc not good enought at Italian to stay here”. Addio.
Guit: “You asked me to go away?”
That’s all you got from what Cloudiah told you? Many trolls have been here, saying the same things over and over and not listening to the explanations they were given. You seem to be following the same path.
First troll who does, then.