Pity the poor MRAs who travelled hundreds — if not thousands — of miles to AVFM’s big weekend in Toronto hoping for a confrontation with the evil feminazis that never happened. They wanted footage of angry women they could watch again and again on YouTube. They wanted new names and faces to put up on Register-Her. In short, they wanted new women to hate.
But alas, the feminists, for the most part, stayed home. And the ones who showed up were mostly dudes, from the LBGT activist group BashBack. Making things even worse, they didn’t block any doors or try to crash AVFM’s rally. What they did, mostly, was chant things the MRAs didn’t like.
No, it was the MRAs who ignored the explicit instructions of the police to stay away from their opponents. Evidently hoping to provoke the confrontation that had been denied them thus far, a sizeable proportion of the AVFMers and Mens Rights Edmontoners in Toronto that day leave the spot designated for their rally to face off against the BashBack counter-protest.
How do we know this? Because Men’s Rights Edmonton filmed them doing it and put it on YouTube. And AVFM posted it on their site as well.
It’s kind of remarkable that they did. For one thing, it provides even more proof of how tiny the rally itself was. And it shows pretty clearly what an immature misogynistic buffoon Nick Reading of Men’s Rights Edmonton really is.
For those who don’t have the patience to watch the whole thing, here’s a quick summary:
The video starts over near where the MRA rally itself is being organized (or had just finished up). Nick Reading introduces himself.
Then, in the distance, the counterprotesters begin chanting “racist, sexist, anti-gay, MRA, go away.”
“What’s wrong with being racist and sexist?” Nick shouts in response. “It’s awesome!”
No, really. It’s about 40 seconds in.
Shortly afterwards he marches over and into the small crowd of counterprotesters, clearly itching for some kind of ideological smackdown. He’s followed by Dean Esmay, who’s indignant that MRAs are being called “anti-gay.” Which makes me wonder if he ever actually reads the website he’s the “Managing Editor” of. He yells about this for a time, then leaves. An assortment of others from the MRA crowd also show up. Some yell, others film.
Nick, who remains in the midst of the BashBackers, does his best to try to provoke, explaining his Patriarchy Party candidacy and generally acting like an ass. Eventually he elicits an angry reaction from several group members by declaring, roughly 5:50 into the video, that rape is funny; indeed, that “sometimes it’s hilarious.”
But that’s as close as he gets to provoking the confrontation he’s clearly itching for. After several minutes, apparently having run out of inspiration, he finally decides to leave.
And, scene.
This embarrassing video is in fact the first real footage of the events in Toronto that AVFM has put online so far — all the others they’ve put up have been interviews after the rally.
But I guess the folks at AVFM figured that posting this was preferable to posting video of the anemic rally itself.
And it’s true that the counterprotesters don’t exactly come across brilliantly in the video either. Despite their admirable restraint in the face of the MRA provocations, their overheated rhetoric is often way off the mark, and their old-school chants seem faintly ridiculous in an age of YouTube. And, seriously, wearing pink hammers and sickles to show support for LBGT folks being persecuted in Russia today? Stalin made male homosexuality punishable by five years in a labor camp; that law wasn’t repealed until 1993.
But it is really hard to see how Nick Reading telling a group of mostly gay men that rape is “hilarious” helps to solve the “crisis” facing men and boys– the ostensible reason for the rally in the first place.
Even more interesting than Reading’s abortive attempts to bait the BashBack protesters in Toronto were the reactions of AVFM readers to the video itself. Deprived of new women to hate, they turned instead to bashing the gay men in the video instead.
Mike Hunt — oh, very funny! — offers this totally not homophobic at all assessment of the BashBack activists:
I fully support gay rights and I am the last person to discriminate against gays, but did anyone else notice that all of these protesters seem to be gay? And not self assured, confident in who they are gay, but feminine and completely out of touch with any aspect of themselves that is masculine gay?
JinnBottle, meanwhile, claimed that AVFM had cured his homophobia — no, really — but that these protesters were making him think that maybe he should return to his old ways.
I came to AVfM definitely not “the last person to discriminate against Gays” – at least in my thinking. That thinking specifically took the form of repellence to the ubiquitous ball-busting of (mostly straight, but even other gay) men by gay guys I’d witnessed for 35-plus years in both the politico-social and personal spheres, ever since gay men had “come out”, about 1969.
Subsequently I saw that some of the clearest thinkers, potent social observers and eloquent writers on AVfM are gay – and bi … I rethought my thinking, and thought … the Radfem/Misandric Gay Guy was becoming a thing passing.
Now along come this fresh troupe of Gay misandrists and feminist allies representative of the old notion that, if not *all* gay males are self-hating masochist insulated style-boys, then a majority are.
Riku, meanwhile, didn’t hem or haw or pretend that he was anything but a bigot — and went right for the rape jokes:
You should have raped them guys. These guys literally begged for it. That’s what you were there for, no? 🙁 Thought I’d see some rapes on the event.
AVFM: Where jokes about raping gay men are a form of human rights activism.
Nice cross stitch! I can think of somewhere it needs to be displayed. I’ve got about three projects on the go, so anytime you want to help me stitch them up… Also, considering taking on a project for the ROM. They’ve been contacting guilds of textile arts to help them with a display.
And rats ARE murder on Hoovers. Also, earphones.
Knitting!!
Forget your coat. I’m in the process of assembling a dozen or so knitted rugs. Daughter wants “rustic” “traditional” “hand-made” throws to go over the straw bales she wants for decoration / seating at her wedding. As well as a few cushion covers.
10 weeks to go and only one is completely finished. Another half a dozen half done. And a mountain of yarn (cheap rubbish from $2 shops) for knitting another 100 plus squares.
Christian? A’ight… Pro-woman? Ok, with you so far. Traditionalist? But you said pro-woman? Christian traditionalist ≠ pro-woman.
Christian pro-woman? Fine. Christian traditionalist? Fine. Christian pro-woman traditionalist? Does not compute. Unless you mean something very, very different when you say traditionalist… or possibly christian. I mean, so what that this bizarrely named movement is distancing itself from the MRM, a large number of MRAs are vocal atheists, so it makes sense for you to distance yourself from the baby-eaters… but that doesn’t mean you’re actually better than them. Certainly not if you’re selling traditionalism.
I can’t speak for any male administrators or their armies of women, but I have no fear of the lord. I don’t believe there’s a lord to be fearful of, and if there was a being worthy of such a title, why would it inspire fear rather than respect? Seems to me that a being who rules by fear is closer to a demon than to a god.
?
Why would that be a failure? For one thing, if it’s forced, it’s not agreement… nothing will ever force agreement on any scale, a forced agreement is merely a hidden disagreement. But that’s not the point, nothing about feminism states that all women must agree that they’re human beings with the same rights as men, only that women should have access to those same rights. If there are women out there who disagree that they are human beings, they are perfectly welcome to not indulge in their rights. A woman denying her own rights is not a failure of feminism, only the denial of her rights – including her right to deny her own rights – by others is a failure.
All you’re really expressing is how little you understand what feminism is, or what failure means.
You command? Ban one person, or we’re siding with one appalling organisation against another appalling organisation? How about opposing both?
Disa-fucking-greed. I mean, granted, I oppose the restoration of theocratic nations, and the majority of other atheists, to the best of my knowledge, also oppose it, so you could claim we’d band together in that, but that’s not actually banding together. That’s an appalling thing being opposed by various groups, many of whom happen to be composed of non-believers. Did you mean pernicious?
The Kittish are coming! THE KITTISH ARE COMING!!
Y’know, I’m always calling my dogs rats for chewing on random shit and now I know why. You don’t happen to call Dori a bad dog at all, do you?
To the extent that I look like an MRAL sock, especially with the football code thing, I am sure that this is being done by God’s will. I know not why, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Haha no, but he has about 20 nicknames and doesn’t respond to any of them so I might as well give it a go!
My other rat knows his name and comes when he’s called. Still chews stuff though, and never sits still enough for pictures 🙁
@Pillowinhell – “Kitteh, got a pic coming on that coat when it’s done?”
Darn tootin’ I have. 😀
@thenat, love your cross-stitch! And the pic of Dorian paying the price for being ebil.
@mildlymagnificent – “Forget your coat.”
::blows raspberry at mildlymagnificent::
I like your daughter’s wedding ideas, but not the thought of all the work it involves!
@Athywren – “The Kittish are coming! THE KITTISH ARE COMING!!”
May I present you with one gold-plated internetz?
Don’t bother arguing with this troll, it’s just Mr Al socking until his arse gets banned again.
Going out for a couple hours to hang out at my Church. I’ll probably be banned by the time I get back, but God bless you all and may the wind always be at your back. So long and thanks for all the fish.
So Ralphie decided to pose seductively.
Damn it, I barely missed yet another troll? FUCK THIS SHIT.
😛
Alice: You’re better off without this one. It’s just our desperate little stalker begging for attention.
So — Thomas More is clearly MRAL. Too obvious. Any bets on Good being MRAL too? He’s done that trick in the past, showing up in an old persona to deflect suspicion from a new one. And the demand that Good be banned seems almost like a deliberate attempt to prevent that happening.
LOL that expression, katz! I don’t know whether to call it seductive or sly or shifty.
Could be all three, of course. All things are possible for kitties.
What… what was even the point of that? I cannot for the life of me understand how that exchange could give anyone jollies.
That’s a point, Sir Bodsworth.
If Lesser Good is Mr 90% too, he must be the most boring of any of Al’s socks.
Kittehs – I’d go for seductive, myself. I find myself very seduced 😀
EEEEEEEEE Ralphie ^_^
Damn, I want to see how the MRAL sock plays out but I should go to bed, it’s 2:30 here and my friend is arriving tomorrow – we’re his first stop while he’s cycling from London to Shanghai (no really :/)
Well both mral and good are tedious, and therefore ignorance.
dustydeste – eh, het’s just another ‘has no life’ idiot who’s in the ‘any attention is better than none’ category. Says quite a lot about him that socking here does give him the jollies … if that’s the word.
I mostly only argue for my own entertainment these days anyway. Well, my own entertainment, and neutral bystanders – there’s rarely much point in expecting the person you’re arguing with to change their mind, even if they’re not a sockdrawer troll.
*oohs and aahs at his brand new internetz*
I shall hang it on my wall, and call it Mahalaleel. Not for any religious purpose, you understand, the name just makes me giggle.
Definitely sly. That’s an excellent photo.
I’ve been knitting, and felting, recently… Trying to figure out themes for my little blank slates… it’s surprisingly difficult.
LOL that’s the skill of cats, they can be seductive while being shifty/sly/outright wicked!
Well that’s what I figure. MRAL’s writing style always gives him away, so I figure Good might be trolling pared back to absolute bare essentials to avoid giving anything away.
I’ve mostly been lurking lately, but I started to get suspicious of Good (when I could be arsed reading his crap) when he directly addressed another troll, which as we know is a very rare thing amongst Manboobz trolls. Then MRAL’s sock’s sock’s sock comes in and immediately dares Dave to ban Good…
Just a thought, I might be wrong.
An excellent reason!
Delurk moar, Sir Bodsworth! 🙂