One of the strangest things about doing this blog is all the things I ‘ve learned about myself in the process. I don’t mean all the insights into my inner being I’ve gained, though there’s been a bit of that. I mean all the completely untrue things I’ve learned from people who hate me.
For some reason, many of the people who most hate this blog– many of whom have never read it — aren’t satistfied with criticizing me for what I do and who I am; they find it necessary to make up many new and horrible and not-actually-true things to criticize me for: That I plant the things I quote on this blog to make Men’s Rightsers look bad, that I write all the comments myself (all the hundreds of thousands of them) to make Man Boobz look more popular.
Oh, and that I want all men cuckolded.
To those who hate me and this site, I and the Man Boobz commentariat have become what sociologist Stanley Cohen called “folk devils,” convenient scapegoats around which various urban legends — or in this case internet legends — have grown like mushrooms.
The ShitRedditSays empire on Reddit has developed a similar mythos of its own. ShitRedditSays started out as a subreddit to collect together and skewer the worst, most bigoted nonsense that regularly posted and upvoted on Reddit; it grew into a robust Reddit counterculture that’s really one of the only good things about the site.
But to most Redditors, it seems, the SRS folk devils really are akin to the devil, and they are accused of all sorts of preposterous things on a daily basis — many of which suggest that SRS wields vast and nefarious powers behind the scenes on Reddit and possibly even in the real world. There’s so much of this nonsense that the SRSers have started a whole subreddit devoted to the SRS Mythos.
Basically, all the preceding was sort of a long-winded preface to me saying that I just discovered SRSMythos and have been really enjoying reading it.
Here are some of the not-so-true facts about SRS catalogued there:
A claim that
my friend used to mod there [on SRS], he and his buddies from Stormfront.org started it as a joke to get people to hate politically correct liberals and black people.
The notion that SRS was secretly started as a joke by Nazis or other bigots is one of Reddit’s favorite conspiracy theories.
A claim from a Men’s Rights Redditor that one of the Men’s Rights subreddit mods is a secret SRS agent.
Another Redditor, familiar to anyone who reads the anti-SRS and/or Men’s Rights subreddits, offers a convoluted theory about how SRS is all part of a weird eugenics experiment.
Someone called againstSRS complains that “THEY’RE the ones who try to make fun of US for so-called “ridiculous” conspiracy theories? Our theories about SRS and women destroying society are more grounded in concrete facts than their entire sense of reality.”
Someone else asserts that SRS is a
horrible horrible subreddit full of Nazi Feminists that aren’t actually for equality. They hate all men, and think that every man is a rapist. I’ve seen people banned from it just for mentioning that they were a guy while commenting.
Actually, SRS did its own demographic surveys and found that most SRSers — -somewhere in the range of 57% to 59% — were dudes. Granted, that’s a low percentage of men for Reddit — which is overall 80% male — but not exactly evidence that SRSers are a bunch of man-hating feeeeemale separatists.
Check it out. There’s a lot of fascinating stuff there, whether you’re studying the sociology of scapegoating, or if you just like seeing Redditors post idiotic crap.
IMO, the negative reputation of tumblr is rather exaggerated. There’s certainly messed up and ridiculous stuff that goes on, but there’s lots of excellent stuff too. Back when I still used it regularly, I followed way too many people, but I seldom saw anything that was over-the-top, much less anywhere near the level of “otherkin”.
As for what Ax says about SRS, it’s hard to argue with an evaluation in such vague terms, but my perception of it is nothing like that. Calling SRS hypocritical is like saying reverse racism is real, to me.
@Pear_tree
I can’t find the study, but a friend of mine also mentioned that when there’s a group of people that is 1/3 female people perceive it as being half female. I feel like there has to be a source for this . . .
RE: Alice
I thought the transethnic and transabled folks were mostly trolls? But then, I keep my tumblr wanderings pretty curtailed just to avoid brainpain.
RE: Ally
I thought the keffiyeh was used regionally because it was the most appropriate headgear for the climate? But fuck, I’ve never been out there, so what do I know. I’ve never seen white folks wear them either, but hell, I live in Coldland, so it wouldn’t really be the best choice.
RE: auggziliary
I ran into one pro-ana tumblr by accident. I think I covered my eyes, howled, and flailed at the keyboard blindly, desperately trying to escape. *SHUDDER*
RE: Tulgey
I seldom saw anything that was over-the-top, much less anywhere near the level of “otherkin”.
What’s wrong with otherkin? All the furries, scalies, and otherkin I’ve known have been perfectly lovely.
There are lots of other countries that would be just fascinated to know that the keffiyeh is exclusively Palestinian.
LBT – That’s what I want to think too. One of my friends is disabled, and she found out that someone who claims to be transable coned a doctor into giving zir a disabled parking placard. WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE?? AUGHHH. And then there’s people who claim that they totes have autism/OCD/PTSD/whatever, and then they use it as a “get out of jerk” free card or something, which makes me want to smash them with a fucking frying pan.
And then there’s the people who claim to be transethnic, as in “I’m white on the outside, but I’m really [other race] inside!”, and not “I’m [other race] adopted into a white family”. Those people REALLY fucking piss me off. My culture/race is NOT a freaking piece of exotic clothing you fucking assholes, fuck you and go step on some motherfucking Legos.
You can see how much hatred I have for transethnic/transable people.
Um, I’m German. And I speak the language fluently, too. Trust me, bub, Nazism is diametrically opposed to feminism in every way. Hitler outlawed abortion, and made it very clear that women belonged in the kitchen, with the kids, or attending church…and nowhere else.
I think people can take cultural appropriation accusations too far. Like a friend of mine has a tattoo in the North West Coast style and someone accused her of cultural appropriation. I thought that was a bit far.
But definitely if you’re doing it to either give yourself an advantage or because it’s “exotic” without thinking about how that has a very real effect on an entire group of people, then you are a jerk (AKA Katy Perry).
RE: Alice
and then there’s the people who claim to be transethnic, as in “I’m white on the outside, but I’m really [other race] inside!”, and not “I’m [other race] adopted into a white family”.
Yeah. I know multi systems where members are different races… but they usually take great pains to NOT be dicks about it. (See: the predominantly white system I know… who inhabit a black body. Race is a complex subject for them.) And my own race, in-system is… complicated… but I’m not about to claim I know what it’s like to face racism on a daily basis. There’s a difference between that and trying to claim you’ve experienced the bullshit, you know?
LBT – Exactly. The problem with the majority (if not every single member) of the Tumblr “transethnic”/”transabled” group is that they’re uttermost dicks about it, from claiming “I TOTES know what racism is like ’cause I’m a transblack and also I can say [n-word]!” to “I have depression and autism and [other disorder], NOW GIVE ME COOKIES AND PRAISE!”
Seriously, that’s just an asshole move.
Yeah, personally when I first started wanting to wear keffiyehs, I wanted to wear the common red-and-white keffiyeh often worn by Saudi folks. I barely used to even think about the Palestinian keffiyeh. (BTW, I wish that the word “shimagh” was used more often instead. I like how it sounds in Arabic.)
RE: Alice
Well, that’s tumblr for you. I find the identity politics there to be… exhausting. I kinda wish I could just throw Eboo Patel at them and end it. There are some interesting discussions there, but you have to be careful where you find them, or the next thing you know, you’re buried in crap like “fandom is an oppressed class!” and “using neurotypical to describe anything but non-austistic is APPROPRIATION!”
RE: Ally
Yeah, my first learning of the keffiyeh was actually when I was designing UAE folks for katz. So the red-and-white keffiyeh (which is quite common there) was how I first learned of it!
Ye gods, Rogan, it sounds like they’ve got raging SpeshulSnowflakism.
LBT – Whut? “Fandom is an oppressed class?” Yeah, thanks for making light of actual oppression, you stupid fucking asshole.
RE: Kittehs
*sigh, rubs temples* Yeah. It’s actually really frustrating to me, because a fair amount of those tropes actively work to my detriment. If people feel they can’t call someone out unless they have the right privilege labels, then it can lead to, say, things like women being racist or gay folks being sexist, and then clutching their pearls when called out on that. (Which will sometimes lead to the majority being silent, thereby making the problem WORSE.) And the “educate yourself” meme I just wish would die, because I’d rather give folks my comics or answer the same dull questions a bajillion times than run into those folks who try and figure it out through Sibyl and shit.
What I’m saying is, a lot of it doesn’t work for me.
Let me guess, Ax’s shit didn’t go over too well on SRS. I mean, what’s not to love about someone who puts feminism in scare quotes?
::hands LBT ice cubes for headachey temples::
Surfacing from lurkitude to say,
Finally! A goat. And a badass one at that. This particular feminist does indeed resemble that image, horn, arrows and glare included.
Yeeeaaaah, it drives me nuts. Plus seeing abusers use tumblr social justice rhetoric to defend themselves, and seeing other people buy it, ugh it burns. (Thinking of YOU too, m0ym0y! You and your claim that being asked not to tell folks to kill themselves is a tone argument.)
Question: does anyone here buy into the argument that only white people can be racist, while any other race can only be discriminatory (or similarly, that only men can be sexists and women can only be discriminatory)?
Honestly, that argument just pisses me off. I understand that systematic oppression due to societal hierarchical structures is worse than a one-off “oh, you crackers”, but still. Women can be sexists, even towards other women, and black people can be racists, even towards Hispanics, Asians, and others.
Also, am I the only one tired of seeing trans lesbians say “There’s nothing wrong with hating men because it’s valid for oppressed people to hate their oppressors?” Because I see that shit very often. Ugh.
Some trans lesbians on Tumblr, I mean.
Ally – I’m tired of seeing that too. I know someone who’s a TOTAL Tumblresque SJW. They once argued that we should use “guilty until proven innocent” in regards to accused rapists in a court of law, and needed someone to explain to them why this should not be a thing.
*facepalm*
Sorry, I forgot that I’ve seen plenty of cis lesbians on Tumblr say that as well. It’s just that I’ve seen a lot of it in some radical feminist trans lesbian circles.
RE: Alice
Question: does anyone here buy into the argument that only white people can be racist, while any other race can only be discriminatory (or similarly, that only men can be sexists and women can only be discriminatory)?
No. Multiple races are oppressed. Ergo, people of one race can contribute to the racism of another, even if they aren’t involved in dickery towards their own race. However, I feel a lot of that racism and oppression comes from the people in power — in my country, folks who are white. It’s generally our mess, so it’s our duty to clean it up. Just as an example, black folks can’t take much responsibility for the massive racism against First Nations folks in the USA, even if they might as individuals hold racist opinions about them. (Though this is probably not all that common; black folks and First Nations folks banded together in fights centuries ago.)
RE: Ally
Also, am I the only one tired of seeing trans lesbians say “There’s nothing wrong with hating men because it’s valid for oppressed people to hate their oppressors?”
I’ve been lucky not to run into that. But then again, I’ve seen enough trans women treated terribly that I can’t really blame them, either. *shrug* I guess I just try and stay away from stuff like that. I’m a man. It’s not my place to tell them their anger isn’t justified, or protest it.