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,
Beets and I have an unfortunate history. They were one of my mum’s favorite foods so I kept trying them at regular intervals to see if I would learn to like them and nope, not happening.
I love pickled beets, but that’s definitely an acquired taste.
I love the color, which is part of why I kept trying them, but nope, alas, they are not for me.
Are beets = beetroot? I’m only just coming to tolerate a little of that in salad sandwiches.
Yep, same veggie. It’s such a pretty color but I just don’t like it.
I know, I really would like to like beets; they’re very pretty. But no matter how they’re prepared, they just taste like dirt.
Ditto. And does that colour ever stay … I keep saying they should use it to make the magenta ink I use at work.
Say, hellkell, guess what I’m wearing today – my Emphella Shell. It arrived yesterday. 🙂
I guess I’m never making my delicious succotash for hellkell. XD
I don’t mind being offered dishes with foods I don’t think I like, because I have learned to enjoy many things I used to hate (Olives! Coconut! Broccoli!). But if they get pushy or try to proselytize, I get real grumpy, real fast. Not only because it’s rude and boundary-ignoring, but also, there’s no reason it should be that important to people.
Yeah, there’s an element of why is it so important to you that I eat X? I mean I’ll try to eat whatever I’m offered at someone’s home just out of politeness, but a sustained campaign to change people’s tastes just confuses me.
A veggie I can do without is onion. Not emanoured of the taste, and I dislike the smell, especially because it lingers so.
“I guess I’m never making my delicious succotash for hellkell. XD”
So sufferin’ succotash is a thing? :O
Speaking of seaweed, guess what I just got puff to reluctantly try? Strangely, he hated it less than he hates tubifex worms. (Little dude has a case of fishie contstripation, I was testing if I thought I could coax him into nibbling on a pea since that almost always works, and hey, maybe I can!)
I once unintentionally pressured a friend into trying something she hated. She mentioned one day how much she loved freshly-made lemonade, and I said we should go to my favorite Lebanese place in LA because they have very good, very fresh lemonade. What I neglected to mention is that the reason I loved it was because it was very lemony (i.e. sour) with only a hint of sweetness. She spent our entire lunch trying to dissolve enough sugar in it so that she could drink it.
I felt terrible. But I think that was more of a sin of omission, rather than commission.
Ooh, I like the lemony lemonade. I had an amazing cocktail last night actually, can’t remember all of what was in it but there was definitely vermouth, lime, and Calvados.
Sorry, that was done badly on my part. I wasn’t trying to say one ought to try seaweeds.
Speaking of flavors changing, I’m immensely pleased to discover I have developed some spice tolerance! Not a lot, but still some.
Mmm, beets [aka beetroot]… I also like beet greens–I think they might be my favorite green.
Mmm, onions…. I don’t really like them raw, though, except a tiny bit on a hamburger.
I really like this recipe, which uses lots of onions. I like to put in a bunch of oyster mushrooms, too.
My tolerance for bitter flavors became much greater at about, hmm, late 20s or so? I can’t imagine teenage me eating gai lan, for example, but now it’s one of my favorite things.
I really like onions, but I can eat very few of them before getting pretty sick.
Raw onions make my mouth go numb and I feel kind of like I’m getting a cold. I don’t have problems if they’re cooked.
Now mushrooms I like – only ever have the little ones in butter sauce, but the time I had mushies sauteed in garlic butter (at Yosemite, sigh) was just heaven.
Count me in on the no olives and no anchovies group, though. I don’t mind salty flavours but those two, yech.
Lemonade – the BEST lemonade I ever had was at a restaurant in Chicago. Or rather, just outside it, I think, near a big shopping mall. Anyways this lemonade had strawberries crushed into it. Real, strong strawberry flavour and not overly sweet – never drunk anything so good.
But speaking of an olive I really like: behold the Emphella Shell!
Super cute!
The shell looks great! I like the skirt you have on with it.
Thanks!
That’s my goes-with-almost-anything skirt. Black, brown, olive, violet and magenta covers a good portion of my wardrobe. 😀