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.
I haven’t really seen this often outside of Tumblr, either. Let’s just say that, as a trans girl who has spent a decent amount of time in many other feminist trans-friendly spaces, Tumblr gave me major culture shock.
Well, it’s definitely true of ShitRedditSays, which just got a ringing endorsement from the unctuous David Futrelle.
Gee, I must really hate myself to hang out here, then.
Sure, I coat my genitals in cast-iron codpieces to protect myself from feminists, but so far, I’ve only had to replace it once.
Still waiting for those citations, DefScum.
See, this is why that poster who was using that archaic insult generator site managed to troll us for a bit. I’ve never met an MRA who hasn’t had an unhealthy relationship with a thesaurus. Well, except for the ones who are barely literate in the first place, but I feel that goes without saying.
Jammy Dodger really needs to get some Febreze to cover up that sock smell.
For such a homophobic bunch, they sure like to hump Monsieur Roget a lot.
Enh. I just find it amusing that of all the things to be mad at feminism for, of all its failings, of all the stupid shit it does sometimes… DefJam chooses that.
But MRAs. What can you do?
You are wonderful.
I’ve never met an MRA who hasn’t had an unhealthy relationship with a thesaurus.
Don’t own a thesaurus. It’s not a particularly obscure word, and it accurately describes its subject from what I can tell.. But anti-intellectualism like that is pretty bog-stanard for feminist communities.
Jammy, we’re not anti-intellectual, we’re anti-asshole.
@CassandraSays, @hellkell,
I put “feminism” in scare quotes precisely because it’s a movement I respect and take seriously. I don’t want to dignify the juvenile circlejerking that goes on in ShitRedditSays with the label.
Haha yeah, because “unctuous” is totally a common adjective used in comment sections. Hon, I’m a professional editor. I didn’t think it was “particularly obscure.” I thought it was a red flag signifying someone whose actual arguments don’t hold up, so the person attempts to throw people off by using archaic or otherwise unusual terminology. And reading through your actual arguments…well, you’ve supported my hypothesis quite nicely.
RE: DefJam
But anti-intellectualism like that is pretty bog-stanard for feminist communities.
You can be as intellectual as you like, but you still ain’t that bright.
Aw, bless. It’s so cute when they try to be condescending and fall right on their rhetorical asses.
… unctuous. Oh look,someone has read a Jane Austen novel.
Probably only in an effort to Get Girls Fast™. Or maybe to figure out How Women Think™.
Well, we all know that only a woman can understand other wimmins minds, am I right?
Name them. C’mon, it should be easy, you’re right here, you’ve made this claim about this very blog.
It’s Katie! She says you’ve never given her a pat. (Whaddya mean she’s not a feminist, she’s a cat, of course she is.)
Is that an MRA Standard™ two-dot ellipsis I see?
PS: Still waiting for proof of your earlier canard, you unctuous cretin. Cites, or merciless ridicule! Your choice…
Enh. I just find it amusing that of all the things to be mad at feminism for, of all its failings, of all the stupid shit it does sometimes… DefJam chooses that.
I didn’t choose that, it was what you were already talking about, so I made a contribution to the conversation… christ.
In a general sense, the commentariat here would do well to spend more time considering their words instead of just posting whatever inchoate thought pops into their heads.
Oh, how intellectual. Look out, we got a badass over here!
Gonna cite some examples of transphobia here, huh?
LBT — oh, it’s worse than that. I think you were indisposed, as Sneak put it, when this came up. (Oh and news for y’all!)
My psych paperwork to the lawyer says they don’t know if I’m malingering. This isn’t just the stereotype, this was sent to SSI!
For bonus stupid, hey put my Dx on that as PTSD, generalized anxiety, and personality disorder nos with borderline features. No mood disorder. The thing that hasn’t been in question since I was like 14.
And then I get a print out from the (absolutely lovely and new mom) receptionist. Just standard scheduling, but they changed the system, it now prints Dx’s. I’m apparently borderline, based on…I have no idea because like, if you stretch it, maybe 3 of the symptoms fit (and you need 5). Literally the only one that doesn’t require bending over backwards is the one where self-injury > BPD.
Lovely. So now trying to get a new psych would be even harder thanks to the stigma of BPD (which requires such fucking pigeonholing it’d be funny if they weren’t serious)
But no dysphoria, despite meeting the DSM-V for that to a T. (Oh! OH! DSM-V accounts for non-binary genders!!)
Wait, we’re transphobic? LBT, can I come hide with you? I’ll go BLOOP!
I do adore it when they play at intellectual superiority. Inchoate thoughts, indeed.
Thanks muchly for the welcome package, Kittehserf.
(not much else to add to the convo, so off I go again)