If you’re starting up a political movement and want to get the asses into the seats — and then out into the streets — it’s helpful to have a stirring manifesto.
Here’s the opening of the Communist Manifesto.
A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.
That’s pretty good, you gotta admit. Like the start of an action movie.
And then there’s the classic opening of our own Declaration of Independence. Not quite as dramatic, but pretty damn stately. It starts off with all that “[w]hen in the Course of human events” stuff, and then, BAM:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That is, like, really quotable and shit.
Well, our old friend Fidelbogen has been doing some manifesto writing of his own. Let’s see how his new manifesto stands up against these classics.
The Manifesto of Coalition JS38
JS38 – Operational Overview
JS38 is a coalition of politically conscious non-feminist groups and individuals. The name itself is a random character string which serves only as an identification tag. As a project, JS38 is designed to overcome the problems which labels often generate – such problems as branding, false grouping, conflation, stereotypification, message degradation and the like.
What What WHAT?! You’ve named your movement after A RANDOM CHARACTER STRING?
Fidelbogen apparently thinks he’s writing a manifesto for robots.
Let’s see if he can pick up the pace a bit in the second paragraph:
We recognize that we are in a contest to sway hearts and minds.
Yeah, nothing wins hearts and minds faster than random character strings.
We recognize that this contest is played out on the field of public rhetoric – by which we mean things popularly said and heard. We strive, accordingly, to craft a message as well as we are able.
Dude, I hate to break it to you, but you are about as talented at crafting messages as I am at ballet dancing. The difference between the two of us is that I don’t post videos of myself trying to ballet dance on the internet, while you have a blog entirely — if inadvertently — devoted to documenting your failures to “craft messages” with any kind of skill. (And of course there’s your amazing Twitter account.)
The operation of JS38 will boost and clarify the signal of our selected message and cut through the background noise. In this way, the message will gain a more individuated presence within the public discourse.
Uh, see what I mean? Then Fidey, having set forth no reasons whatsoever for anyone to get involved in his little project, gets into the nitty-gritty of how it will work:
Members of JS38 (called “signatories”) are aligned with each other under the terms of a Prime Constitution – a list of points that encompass a mission, a code of principles, and a practical worldview.
He continues on in this fashion for approximately one million words (rough estimate). Here are some more snippets, to give you a flavor:
JS38 is neither a moral collective nor an organization in any sense, but only a joint intellectual effort to distill a message signal, and to differentiate this from what other feminist-averse groups and individuals are transmitting. …
If we establish that an octagon is an eight-sided geometrical figure, the truth of that message remains uncompromised by the messenger. Even if Stalin or Caligula declared that an octagon was an eight-sided geometrical figure, it would not become a nine-sided or seven-sided figure. …
The points in the Prime Constitution are not listed in order of priority, and there is no linear progression of ideas from one item to the next. However, the items do form a loose holographic unity. …
Ideally, every sub-constitution would list its entire chain of linkages, leading eventually back to the Prime Constitution, which is deemed canonical. In the end, this would generate a pyramidal structure of variations which cascade from the Prime Constitution. …
We value self-containment and aplomb in our spoken and written communications. Furthermore, we believe it is good practice to “think like a lawyer.” …
We define our method as query-based rather than theory-based – although it is true that we theorize. But feminism owes us answers, and not the reverse. Thus, if we declare that “feminism is x”, we are expecting proof that feminism is NOT x, and shall expect our concerns to be sensitively and respectfully addressed. …
If a particular idea is not expressly stated in this document, it cannot be attributed to the document. Equally, however, it cannot be said that the document excludes it. …
We seek to bring about a decolonization of the non-feminist mind. To that end, we claim an epistemic standpoint independent of feminist discourse, and from said standpoint we develop a counter-discourse. …
We assert the prerogative to define feminism in absolute terms in the light of our own study, regardless of feminist objection to such a proceeding. Simply put, feminism categorically IS what WE say it is. …
We assert that feminism is like a product that must be sold, and that nobody is obligated to buy. …
I’m thinking that Fidelbogen’s He Man Antifeminism Club 4NtevaSh — sorry, “Coalition JS38“ — isn’t going to be making a lot of sales itself.
Ninja’d by katz!
@LBT
I’m not sure where this particular example lands since you’re not sure if the dude knew you were a man. Iin addition to what Ally and katz said, I do think that if someone deliberately misgenders you and then treats you in a misogynistic manner, then that would fall under an intersection of mysogyny and transphobia. Feel free to check me if you guys think I’m wrong.
Argh, what a weird brainhurt to have! I dunno. Like, trans women are often misgendered by people, but they STILL face major league misogyny… way more than trans men, on the average. So I’m not sure I’m quite satisfied with that explanation.
But then again, if I make it clear that I’m NOT a woman, not trying to speak for all women’s experiences ever, and… ugh, my brain hurts, trying to figure this out. Like, I have the privilege now of being able to treat these occurrences as flukes, rather than the daily part of life they used to be before we adopted a more androgynous presentation, and–OW MY BRAIN.
The role of misidentification in bigotry is a good intersectionality topic. Shall I write a post about that?
Trans men perceived as women still face way less misogyny than trans women perceived as men – simply because masculine women are only seen as women who are wrongly trying to gain power, status, respect, etc., whereas feminine men are seen as people who are devoid of self-respect and worth.
I was thinking about that and the answer, I think, is that people tend to choose the most othering possible interpretation. So it’s one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations where if you get misidentified as belonging to a less privileged group, you’ll face (some of) the oppression faced by that group, but if you get misidentified as belonging to a more privileged group, you’ll probably end up getting a lot of the oppression from your actual group anyway (eg, a trans woman will get treated as “that weird guy who thinks he’s a woman”).
katz, that would be an awesome article! I think you should write it.
RE: katz
Go for it! I definitely wouldn’t feel educated enough to take that on. (As though my headachery didn’t make that obvious, heh.)
RE: Shadow
I’m not sure where this particular example lands since you’re not sure if the dude knew you were a man.
I know this sounds really weird, but… he was VERY MUCH treating me the way a Nice Guy treats a woman, crossed with a lot of stereotypes about multi women — that they’re delicate little flowers bruised by a lifetime of victimization, that they need a man to take care of them, etc. etc. So even though he never outright stated such, he was treating me in a VERY gendered-woman way.
Also, this guy wasn’t very bright. He was trying to dig deep dark secrets out of me but didn’t seem to know that I had (A) written a novel, and (B) didn’t like being called a personality. I sincerely think he was misidentifying me for the mythical Original Girl who used to run the place.
Oof, I’m definitely not educated enough, but I think I’ll just make it a survey of cases where that sort of thing happened.
That would be a fascinating article!
(I think I’ve saved my draft properly this time. Fingers crossed!)
Do we have a recommended word count?
Not that I know of.
OK so I know I’m not part of this project, but is there going to be a fandom issue? People could write about their favorite female characters, their favorite creators, feminist issues within fandom, etc. There are lots of fannish Boobzers, but I know fandom stuff is incomprehensible and/or irrelevant to everyone else, so…
Is misgendering something multi people get often, do you know, Rogan? The only popular culture depictions I know are Sybil and United States of Tara, and I wondered if a) they’re at all representative, ie. multiple personality is associated with female-bodied people, and b) if that’s the case – big if, obvs – might that be why Creepy McDumbass assumes you’re a woman?
/speculatinginthedark
Break it up into part 1, etc if it’s going to turn into a novella?
Hippodameia, it saved.
Does anyone have any complaints about me doing an overlay about real browsers if someone loads it in IE? Because trying to make IE behave is proving impossible. Things that should work in IE9 fucking don’t. And I mean basic layout stuff that it should’ve supported years ago.
Oh man, if we did a fandom issue, I would OBVIOUSLY have to make my Women in History article on Jackie Ormes!
Doesn’t bother me. I loathe IE anyway. 😛
Alice, I just proofread your piece on atheism and misogyny – great! (I changed “amount of followers” to “number of followers” for teh grammarz, but nothing else.)
Would it be worth expanding a little to mention that Elevator Douche was both at RW’s talk, and present all during the hours when everyone was at the bar, and she was still talking about not wanting to be hit on at conferences, and when she said at 4am she was dead beat and going to bed? The whole thing was that he ignored every fucking thing she said, as well as ignoring every opportunity to talk to her in public about it.
emilygoddess — we already have a post on representations of mentally ill women in movies, so I don’t see an issue, as long as it’s general enough that you don’t need to be a fan to follow it. (Like, some of the MLP stuff? You don’t need to be a fan to see what’s wrong with grown men complaining it’s too girly)
Speaking of threads to talk about Feminist Borg, would it be worth asking David to have a Feminist Borg thread here? Not everyone knows about it yet, methinks, and since we’re reading on here anyway, we’d be able to see recent comments and keep up easily.
I think that’s a great idea, kitteh!
Would Fandom 101 be a hassle for people? Like, introducing readers to whatever you’re a fan of, maybe less a rundown than what you like about it? I’d be interested to read those, ‘cos the fandom discussions here really are for the fans (duh).
My favorite lolfandom thing was a thread where a bunch of adults were complaining that there were too many kids at a Harry Potter bookstore event and the kids won all the prizes.
Cassandra — oh wow. That’s, wow.
As for a thread…give it a few days, I make no promises I won’t break it again!
RE: Kittehs
Is misgendering something multi people get often, do you know, Rogan?
Wellll… multis come in three flavors, generally, and mostly only in “male axe-murderer” and “female victim” types. The “cross-gender alter” is a very common phenomenon, but it inhabits a really weird place in the pop culture consciousness. I could give you the longer version, but it’s actually kinda complicated, and fascinating to me as a trans person.
Honestly, I think Creeper thought I was a woman for the same reasons I confuse a lot of trolls, including orion. I am pretty open about having been sexually victimized, and the entry he really pulled from, I discussed the DID diag, disability, our family’s incest cycle, and how it influenced us as a rape survivor. For a LOT of people, this means I must automatically be female. (Because male rape is TOTALLY not a thing, you guys! Even MRAs make this mistake.)
kittehs – Ah, cool. 🙂
Hm, about the Elevator Creep guy: I could, but I was basing the information I had on Elevatorgate from memory, Manboobz, and RationalWiki (and RW’s initial video post), so I wasn’t sure if I could put that in there without it being needless speculation.