I sometimes say that the only “activism” that the Men’s Rights Movement is any good at is harassing individual women. But perhaps I’m being a bit too stingy here: following on the heels of the Father’s Rights activists who dress up like superheroes and climb up buildings and bridges to show that, well, I’m not sure what they’re trying to show, Men’s Rightsers seem to be developing a knack for poorly conceived media stunts that make them look like idiots.
The latest incredibly poorly conceived Men’s Rights media stunt come from Men’s Rights Edmonton, the A Voice for Men sister brother group famous for, among other things, chasing women down the street in the middle of the night and claiming that the women they chased were the bullies.
Anyway, the loudest and most obnoxious dude in the group, Nick Reading (a.k.a. “Eric Duckman”) has decided to run for Edmonton City Council on — get this! — the Patriarchy Party ticket! Oh no he didn’t!
Oh, yes he did. I suppose that the Patriarchy Party’s supposed platform — including a pledge “to end antiquated laws regarding women’s sexual consent” and provisions to instruct teachers “to snatch things like toy trucks out of the hands of little girls and replace them with dolls or tea sets” — probably inspired a chuckle or two amongst the folks at A Voice for Men, but the trollery here is really too inane to offend.
Whetever, dudes. You can find their badly designed pamphlet, with traced-photo “artwork” presumably by the noted FeMRA artist TyphonBlue, here.
Other MRAs would vote for him, so would other garden variety misogynists.
So if he’s actually running, and people vote for him, then we actually have even more concrete proof that MRAs want to remove women’s rights and don’t give a shit about helping men.
@gillyrosebee right, so they’re trolling like 5-year-olds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puer_aeternus
/rolls eyes
The picture of Nick on the pamphlet is supposed to look evil and creepy; the rest of the pictures of him on it are even sillier looking, with him mugging for the camera even more shamelessly — I just used this one because I could get some of the fake party’s fake platform in the screenshot too.
On Reddit, typhonblue argued that if their candidate doesn’t win, this proves there’s no patriarchy so CHECKMATE FEMINISTS.
That artwork looks like an illustration for an article in a lurid 1950s men’s pulp mag entitled “The New Venereal Diseases!”
Or a Red Scare pamphlet: “If The Soviets Win The Next Atomic War, They Will Sterilize All Our Men And Enslave Our Women!”
Or a guy in an ad at the back of a comic book, pondering Nostradamus’ incredible prophecies about Hister.
In any case, his eyebrows don’t match his flesh-colored hair. I find that mighty fishy in a candidate. What’s he hiding? (Besides a reprehensible platform of douchecanoery, of course…that’s right out there in the open)
Let’s take a quick look at the number of men and boys helped by Men’s Rights Edmonton before their MS Paint Political Brochure Campaign…
0
Okay, and what about after the MS Paint Political Campaign?
Still 0.
Keep up the good work, Fella’s! Don’t be afraid to pat yourselves on the back!
Oh here’s the link to the snarking on r/againstmensrights, which also has a link to the r/mr thread and quotes some of the funniest quotes. typhonblue and another MRA get into a big fight, champion doxxer AgentOrangeMRA basically calls everyone else pussies, it’s a real popcorn fest:
http://www.reddit.com/r/againstmensrights/comments/1n48gz/mredmonton_trolls_their_city_council_election/
@cloudiah
Because apparently patriarchy just means women must be subjugated at all times in the worst possible way. It’s not at all more complicated than that nor does it ever vary in terms of severity depending on time period or place in the world…oh no.
I just…do they actively TRY to sound like idiots?
So the idea is that it’s a joke that’s meant to mean the opposite, like if a feminist joked about running for the Man-Haters Party?
But then you go to the “issues” page and it’s: Domestic violence against men, paper abortion, “misandry,” and false rape allegations. In other words, the things MRAs complain about all the time.
You can’t have it both ways. It can’t be both “lol, this is a silly exaggeration that obviously isn’t what we really think” and “these are the actual real issues that we think are important.” If you mash both into the same webpage, you’re just giving the impression that your “issues”–the ones you really care about–are just silly exaggerations that no one should actually take seriously.
@Kiwi girl, that’s the ticket! I remember reading something on the comment section of a gaming or programming site once that summed up all the MRAs pretty well. Basically they are driven by fear and loathing of a world where their mom could tell them to stop playing with the computer and go to bed…
Because a matriarchy party would totally win, right?
We should actually create a matriarchy party. I bet we could design a better pamphlet.
“Men’s Rights – Edmonton”
The more I see of them, the more confused I get. There are legitimately reasonable, rational people who subscribe to this shit, but they can say and subscribe to statements like that. I can see tossing skepticism aside, but that’s throwing basic reason out of the window.
@auggziliary, in the circles I move in, it’s Meal, Ready to Eat. Military rations, in boxes with a little portable heater packet. I’ve tested a few of them, and honestly I’d prefer to eat the boxes…
I,for one, am sad that if elected they haven’t promised to create a local sex robot industry. Bonbon factories (candries?) in Edmonton must be really worried.
Auggz — Meals Ready to Eat…and let’s just say that three lies in one seems apt. My brother will eat them when he’s too lazy to make food and there aren’t leftovers and our mother isn’t here to cook for him (yes, he is that lazy), I don’t consider them edible, and pecunium had choice words for my brother thinking they’re any good (I do believe “has he had to live on them for a month?” was included)
Basically, processed, unspoilable, “food” in a packet. Does not need refrigeration, nor heating. And, unlike, the Indian packet food that fits that bill, does not taste like food (cardboard perhaps, but not food)
Thanks, dominionists, for moving the Overton window way out to Neptune and making people like Newt Gingrich look moderate and reasonable.
It’s possible this is the same tactic, an attempt to normalize garden-variety misogyny by contrasting it with an even more horrible alternative, except I don’t think MRAs are actually smart enough to consciously use it.
Oh they come with heater packets now? Somehow I doubt that makes them more stomachable.
Heaters might be nice for cold hands though.
…And, since they’re listing all their “real” issues, thereby proving that nobody cares about MRA issues.
How can anyone subscribing to MRA-level misogyny be called reasonable? I’d have thought anyone who has trouble with, let alone flat-out rejects, the idea that women are people is unreasobable by definition.
And really, shouldn’t it be the Kyriarchy/Intersectionality Party? We’ve moved on to a more sophisticated model now, guys, do try to keep up.
Well, you know, bias is only ever conscious and overt, never subtle and pervasive, or institutionalized and deeply embedded in structures and systems that govern our expectations and personal interactions. And if people don’t flock to a group that spells those out specifically, it must mean that no one really holds those views any more.
It’s a relief, actually, to know that patriarchy is totally not a thing anymore and that we feminists are truly in control of the world.
I think I get the “joke” alright. It’s supposed to prove some sort of point that the patriarchy is a myth or fiction because nobody is upholding it explicitly by, say, running for political office based on its values.
What makes this an utter failure though is that this rthetoric is very easy to pick apart.
One very easy way to do it (I like easy ways since I’m lazy) is to point out that racists do not go and run for office based on their racism these days, at least not overtly. It’s much subtler these days, and racists even often take offense at being called racist, attempt to redefine the word (“Ant-racist is codeword for anti-white. yadayadayada) or even, well, deny its validity.
Yet anyone who is not a raving racist knows that it’s a real thing and that it impacts society.
So, this “joke” is somewhat like somebody running for office in the Deep South in the 60’s on a Racist Party ticket to prove that, nope, no racism here y’all.
Well, Argenti, “heat” is relative. They can be considered ‘heated’ when compared to Antarctica or upper orbit. I do have a friend who claims to enjoy them, but then again I’ve tried to eat his wife’s cooking, so maybe it’s just the contrast that makes them seem tolerable.
A “wife who can’t cook” joke? Really?
Well, not as such, so sorry if it offended.