Our old nemesis Fidelbogen — the Would-Be Counter-Feminist Philosopher King — has taken on a dire, if altogether hypothetical, threat to the men’s rights movement as we know it today: the danger that actual activism that benefits men in the real world will get in the way of the feminist bashing that he thinks is job #1 for all good MRAs.
As he argues in a recent post:
Doing good things for men – opening DV shelters, men’s centers, passing male-friendly laws, and so on – is all very excellent and fine, but it does not attack the root of the problem.
This is kind of a remarkable statement for him to make, given that the Men’s Rights movement that Fidelbogen has attached himself to — or at least its very vocal online contingent — has so far succeeded in opening precisely zero DV shelters and/or men’s centers and has successfully lobbied for zero “male-friendly” laws.
Indeed, it’s only in recent months that any MRAs active online have managed to raise even a miniscule percentage of the money it will take to open much less operate a single shelter for men.
But apparently Fidey is worried that even these paltry efforts from MRAs will get in the way of the noble task of yelling about feminists. As he puts it, in LARGE BOLD TYPE so you know he’s extra serious:
Fidey, I don’t think you need to worry for a minute that MRAs are going to actually accomplish anything in the real world. And you can quote me on that,
Katz — yes.
Pecunium — avocado is disgusting. Right up there with mayo. And all non-fish sushi seems to include avocado >.<
ZOMG CILANTRO! *eyes roll up in head, twitchy hungry fingers, drooling* WAAAAANT. (Though hubby yoinked a tin of hot harissa the other day from a free box, and that is rapidly growing on me.)
Yeah, YoullNeverGuess isn’t impressing me either. But that’s because I’m from Texas and heard LOTS of people claiming ‘fag’ wasn’t a gay slur. It was just a synonym for ‘weak’ or ‘bad,’ guys, nothing to do with homosexuals!
Argenti: You can get them to leave it out. I do that, All The Time!
I think avocado in sushi is a culinary abomination. I’m not that purist about most foods, but sushi? Best in its simplest form, imo. Why mess with tradition when it’s already perfect?
Oh, great, language wank for dinner AGAIN. Youllneverguess (I have my suspicions): no one cares how irritated you are, trust.
katz: I’m totally leaning towards a sock Out For Revenge. IN A WORLD…
Also, if you want veggie sushi tamago should be a safe, avocado-free bet.
Why do people go into quest for revenge mode so easily if they fail to get a positive reception here? It’s pretty lulzy.
I typed out a long response, but when I saw the last few responses, I had to laugh. I’m a middle-aged female feminist who loves this blog and thought you guys were funny and smart. But apparently your love of outing trolls gets the better of you sometimes.
@pecunium — I didn’t anticipate so many responses getting generated between your post and mine, so it did appear to be directed at me.
This blog is about incredibly blatant misogyny, and I obviously vastly underestimated the distrust and sensitivity of the regulars here.
Don’t worry, I’ll stick the flounce. What a bunch of viragos!
Never tried tamago, but it does look good.
Pecunium — so do I when I can get it made on the spot. And imitation crab is apparently completely meat free, which I cannot wrap my head around but that was the CL sushi chef and he had no problem catering to my sushi desires so I see no reason for him to have lied.
The eyeballs, you guys, I think they might be lost forever.
Way to miss the point. “Bitching” isn’t indicating the client’s gender; it’s using a gendered slur about the behaviour. It’s categorising complaining/moaning/nastiness as specifically female and specifically bad.
Virago, really?
1: a loud overbearing woman : termagant
2: a woman of great stature, strength, and courage
Guessing you didn’t mean #2
Jeez, we ought to be totally okay with highly subtle misogyny. What’s our problem?
Argenti beat me to the ‘virago’ remark. I think that word is AWESOME.
I’m pretty much positive she’s not MRAL though. In fact, I’m pretty sure they are more-or-less what she says she is… though what the hell her deal is with language, I don’t know.
LBT, Pecunium, congrats, you are now viragos!
::hands out virago medals::
You’llNeverGuess: seriously, grow up. You didn’t have to bring up this complaint about language again. We all get reminded not to use certain slurs; what’s so hard about saying “Sorry, my bad,” and moving on? But if you act trollish, then yeah, you’ll get people suspicious. You’ve seen enough of what goes on with trolls here to understand that, surely.
Okay, one last comment, and then I am fully flounced: I’ve donated to this blog before because it seemed like such a great bunch of people. When you guys immediately get so hostile, you’re potentially driving away sympathetic subscribers. You might want to think about that. I’ve seen a lot of trolls here, so I get some of the suspicion, and you guys and David obviously enjoy each other, but maybe ease up on the blood lust a little.
Also, I posted that different words have different degrees of offense — I would never use “fag”, “gay”, “mangina” — and pretend it’s not a slur, I just suggested that perhaps some words had drifted enough not to matter, at least in some areas of the country. I also said repeatedly I would respect this community’s standards. But you guys don’t seem to have a narrative between “never questions a post written by a regular, ever, ever, ever, EVER” and “troll.”
Why did I pick “youllneverguess”? I have a weird name, and you would never have guessed it. Not that sinister.
I haven’t computed your initial score, but I’m increasing the standard -2 deduction for not sticking the flounce to -3 for failing to stick after specifically saying you were going to.
Pecunium, LBT! You’re women!
I was thinking 4/10, which would then be 1/10 currently.
Sounds about right.
Perhaps, but “bitch” isn’t one of them, I’m afraid. Its usage is pretty much always misogynistic unless it’s being used in a reappropriative manner.
Like I said already, You’llNeverGuess – you start acting trollish, you’ll get treated trollish. Also, you haven’t seen how regulars here have been told to pull their heads in when being assholish; I can think of two lengthy threads like that within the last few months, one involving racism and one people’s identities. Regulars do NOT get a free pass.
Also, “scaring away sympathetic subscribers”? FFS, that’s the same bullshit line men throw at women – “I’d totes be an ally of feminism if you weren’t so meeeeaaannnnn!”
And what’s your fondness for gendered slurs anyway? First bitching and hysterical, now viragos. If that was an attempt at wit or button-pushing, well, it didn’t work. Eyebrow raising and laughage-garnering, yes, but not button-pushing.
Buh-bye from all us viragos.
The language wank never gets old, and the reactions are so telling.
It occurs to me that we should be called furagos, here.
This cat isn’t a virago but zie is SO PRETTY I had to post this link:
http://mywarriorscatsclans.webs.com/cat-tortoiseshell-white.jpg