I know. It’s an MRA. It’s nine minutes long. But seriously, just watch it. You won’t regret it.
And, no, it’s not a parody.
If you want to see what the man behind the voice looks like, check out his Gravatar.
After you’ve finished laughing, you can go over and read the catty little thread it inspired over on Antimisandry.com.
Since WordPress now allows us to add polls to our posts I’m adding one right here.
EDITED TO ADD: And now, thanks to serrana, here’s a transcript of the whole bloody thing. Make like a bird, and read it:
I am Agent Orange. I am responsible for the initial collection of data from the now defunct forums of radfemspeak.net. I also recruited most of the team and set forth the vision that would become the Agent Orange Files. I continued promoting the Agent Orange Files during the radfem 2012 fiasco.
I have waited and watched for quite some time the events unfold around me in this broad movement called the MRM. I have seen a sickness strike the heart of what I’ve once considered something grand.
Now, in my capacity as a sort of bird in the sky, I hear rumblings of malcontent throughout the halls of my esteemed brothers. This troubles me as I have not been troubled before. In my life, there has been nothing that has troubled me more. I give of my time, love, and life itself in hopes of creating a society free of misandry, where all humans are judged equally before the laws of nations throughout the world.
Are we still in the wilderness, my brothers, where there are none but our own voices to fall upon our ears? Are we still shouting at the top of our lungs and hearing but a brief echo announcing our solitude? Or have we built a fortress in this cold land, paving paths to others to trade ideas in good faith? Have we not spit in the eyes of our enemies, met them in many skirmishes, and run a sword of truth into the heart of their lies over and over?
We have done much, even to the consternation of those who would use our name in vain for their own petty purposes. We men have refused to back the fight with honeyed words, and bowing to properness and propriety. We have damned the use of all but plain speech in the signing of declarations of war against those who would enslave us. We have spit upon them for good measure as is rightfully deserved.
But the sickness still comes into our fort. It is one borne of temperance of speech that hides half-truths behind the language of our enemies. It poisons the minds of men so they can no longer arm the battlements out of fear of some imagined greater power. It is a false enemy, that never has, and never will have power over the souls of free men.
It has turned brother against brother within the confines of our home. It has distracted us with questions and answers that have no bearing on our lives as free men. We tremble before these questions out of fear of answering to something other than ourselves instead of taking the fight to our enemy. It blinds us to the simplest of answers that we should care not.
We have become complicated, filled with innuendo, brimming with foppishness and base impulse, just like our enemies. We have forgotten the faces of our fathers and grandfathers. We have neglected the pain of our brothers. We have lost sight of our most basic of functions and we are becoming like those we fight in the process.
What are we if not the voice of reason and truth in an otherwise insane world? How did we fall so far as to worry about how possible allies may view us in the future? Do we not stand upon our own merits? Have we not continually crushed our enemies beneath our feet with the weapons of sharp rhetoric and truth spoken with passion and resolve? Do we really care so much about how we are branded that we are willing to sacrifice each other upon the altar of political correctness and forsake our brothers?
Beware of what you say henceforth to each other. You think carefully about our true enemy: identity politics, the politicization of experience. Don’t use dark powers that suggest to us that flowery speech will gather us more bees to make the honey, because that honey is a sour poison that kills us all one by one by one.
Think hard on the cause of suffering among us. Recognize that it is the death of the individual that does this and the removal of accountability and responsibility through the idea that there is collective salvation instead of individual merit, that there is only coercion by their gods instead of the charity of a man, that there is only room for the love of your slavemaster instead of love for yourself.
I have not sat upon a single branch since I have taken flight long ago and I will not do so until the last breath is wrenched from my body through the violence of our enemies or the ravages of age. I have been among you all. I’ve been talking and watching, teaching and learning, healing and tending.
I have been encouraging others to take back their dignity and embark upon a course of action that can best take the fight to our enemy. I hope to help free all men from their self-imposed shackles. My words have rarely been met with derision by those brothers who know me.
Those that have matched wits with me in good faith find me an honorable and competent visionary with the tenacity of a wolverine.
I would ask, but I think it wise to set the example. All of you, lay down your weapons against your brothers in arms immediately, set aside your momentary lapses of reason and come to a table that will soon be provided. Those of you to whom I have whispered secrets before, if you fancy yourself a leader, or a speaker in any capacity, you will come.
There are going to be things to be taught, and revelations that will be made apparent. Those that contribute wisely at the table will walk away with a greater sense of purpose and direction than what we have ever had before.
I promise you magic steel to further our cause. Come, sit beside your brother, though you may have smitten him before. The blood will not be washed away, but regret will at least not hang upon your brow, if you do sit with us.
In the meantime, return to the battlements, and think on this: Remember our enemy that comes from outside our hard-won land. Trust that those not showing up for discourse will have their true colors shown, or are too shamed by their past actions. Remove the names of your brothers from your lips and hold the steel strongly toward the outer walls.
You know where I fly. Send a pigeon or catapult yourself to me, I care not which. I will be waiting impatiently for a response.
“I wonder if this guy talks like that in real life. To Pierre, maybe?”
Even after all he’s been through, making Pierre listen to this twit would be cruel and unusual punishment!
“No, I got even better. What if he got Jack Black to say everything he wrote?”
What about the guy who does the voiceover for the True Facts videos?
No, Kitteh, it would be more like he’s a cashier, doing his normal cashier thing, asking how he was, when this guy starts reciting that whole speech.
Also, I still think that Jack Black doing his Tenacious D voice while Manowar plays in the background would be more over-the-top. And while we’re at it, why not make the background a spinning video of a nuclear explosion which occasionally cuts to the logos for Doritos, Mountain Dew, and Monster Energy.
Kittehserf I second your vote for the True Facts guy. Although it would also be fun being read by Fran Drescher.
From his The steps To War (Part V):
So… MRA’s have never had a solid movement. *snicker*
Actually, I think he should do his next video more like this…
More manly and energetic.
What about Dylan Moran or Bill Bailey in their Black Books personae? Bernard could rattle that off drunk, no problem, or Manny would sound like he was spaced out and making it up as he went along.
Wait, wait – what about the guy who read that screed in his best Christopher-Lee-as-Saruman voice?
The complaint generator is adorable. I shall entertain my friends for entire minutes with ponderous Klingon voice until they yell at me.
Noooo~~~
I don’t want 400 hyperactive babies
Even if they are as fast as KENYANS
Hmm, the swaggering grandiosity of all of this sort of makes me want to re-record it using my best imitation of Sir Christopher Lee’s sepulchral tones, while the overture to Rienzi plays in the background. However, that would probably not make it any more pompous or overblown than it already is.
Wait, this isn’t a preview for the new Conan movie?
Unfortunately for Mr. Orange here, the answers he seeks that will help him in his quest are only available from The Lady Galadriel, and he certainly won’t go crawling to no woman. And as for that mangina, Celeborn, well!
Oh I’m glad you gave me the option of “everything” in that poll, there was no way I was going to be able to choose just one aspect.
That speech reminded me of a person I once played tabletop RPGs with, everything was a massive declaration of monumental importance declaimed in the highest speech he could muster. Pity neither was clever enough nor had the chops to pull it off.
I particularly liked the bit at the end where he insisted that anyone who didn’t attend his workshop would be a traitor to the cause. I mean, hey, do you want to argue with Gandalf if he says that your non-attendance will allow the feminist Sauron (Amanda, I guess?) to steal the ring and take over the world?
Aaliyah, I forgot that as the blogowner I could edit Tremblay’s comment. The slur is gone. I AM ALL-POWERFUL.
Why does it turn out that so many otherwise interesting atheists are asshats? (I’m taking your word on that, as I’ve never read anything by FT.)
The asshattish ones seem to have an overdose of “I am the great white dude who is smarter than anyone else” – I doubt their atheism has much to do with it.
Cloudiah: Privilege, pure and simple. In this particular case, it has to do with the fact that being religious (particularly being Christian, but most other faiths at least are considered to be fans of the same game, even if they’re backing the ‘wrong team’) is a privileged position in and of itself in the U.S. This has two effects:
1: It’s easier for people with other privileges (white, middle-class, male) to walk away from a voluntary privilege like religion. (Ever notice it’s usually well-educated whites who do the whole, “I’m gonna just drop out of the job market for awhile and go find myself” routine? Same thing–they can give up the privilege of being employed and middle-class, because once their soul-searching is over, it’s easier for them to go back to it.) So atheism–at least, ‘movement atheism’, where you are known as such to your neighbors and everything–was heavily dominated by the most privileged demographic for a long time.
2: At the same time, since they really did give up a genuine privilege, they felt that particular sting very, very strongly. In some, this generates a strong sense of empathy and compassion for the underprivileged along other axes of the kyriarchy. In others, it creates a martyr complex that actively blinds them to the other axes.
Guess which variety the asshats are from?
I know some who aren’t white dudes who are like that.
In their defense, though, they’re about 15.
TW
Random and not relevant really.
Did you guys read about the guy who raped an unconscious woman whose defense was that he was trying to “save her”?
Yes, because the way you get body temperture up is to stick you P3nis in…………
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56439206-78/police-woman-kelly-court.html.csp
*flees from the universe*
The ignorance excuse is wearing VERY thin. Not that I bought it the first time I read one on the news.
Nobody believes that he didn’t know he was raping her.
Aspect of number 1 that I left out–the predominance of white men in the atheist movement meant that there came to be an unspoken assumption that white men were ‘better’ at atheism (rather than simply luckier in being able to BE movement atheists without being abandoned by their community).
Cthulhu’s Intern – LOL!
My contact with any “movement atheists” (funny how “bowel” so often seems to be the missing word with these things) is limited to reading stuff on the ‘net, so my impression of this brand of asshattery is formed by the likes of Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris, or the ranting of sundry douchecanoes with the martyr complex Freemage mentioned. Dawkins comes across as someone who could just as easily have been an arrogant C of E bishop, pontificating to all and sundry whether or not he knew jack shit about the subject. Hitchens just struck me as another Oxbridge bully boy.
Melody: The last paragraph of that one made it pretty damned clear that there was no ‘ignorance’ at play, there. Ugh.
Kittehserf: Well, those three also have ‘star power’ in the movement, thus adding that level of hubris. Same with Michael Shermer. And now I have to defend movement atheism as a whole–it also includes Greta Christina, PZ Meyers, Rebecca Watson, Ed Brayton, Heina (I can never recall her last name without checking, but she’s brilliant), Stephanie Zvan, the Crommunist, Ophelia Benson… seriously, the big thing is actually that because the bit in Step 2 seems to be such a radical difference, the Movement is quickly splitting, and I really do believe the greater numbers are, after some painful dithering on some parts, falling on the right side of the ‘deep rifts’.
Back to being relevant. I have NOT read all the comments FYI.
Just watched the video.
Is he trying to sound like an all knowing overseer? Because he clearly wants to come off as a mentor. The voice and word choices makes me think of a super hero monologuing:
“it has turned brother against brother”
“we tremble before these questions”
“what are we if not the voice of reason”
“beware what you say henceforth”
“I have been among you all”
“Come sit beside your brother; though he may have spit upon you before”
“remember the enemy that comes from outside our hard won land; trust that those not showing up for discourse will have their true colors shown”
Women are slavers of men? Really?
And the phrasing and the pretension language……The epic music makes this seem like a joke. It is REALLY hard to buy he is for real. I can’t imagine what he was thinking while writing the script and editing the video.
Thanks, all, for answering my question about atheist asshats. They probably don’t outnumber non-atheist asshats, but I notice them especially for some reason.