The We Hunted the Mammoth Pledge Drive continues! If you haven’t already, please consider sending some bucks my way. (And don’t worry that the PayPal page says Man Boobz.) Thanks! And thanks again to all who’ve already donated.
If anyone was hoping – against their better judgement – that Men’s Rights activists would be inspired by the tragedy in Isla Vista to reconsider any of their beliefs, or even to reflect for a moment on the many striking similarities between passages in Elliot Rodger’s book-length manifesto and comments posted every day by MRAs and others in the manosphere, well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you should not keep that hope alive.
It’s not that they’re not talking about the tragedy. A look through the top 100 posts in the Men’s Rights subreddit, the largest Men’s Rights forum online, reveals that roughly a third of them, including the top stickied post, relate in some way to Elliot Rodger’s rampage and the discussions that have come up online and in the media in its aftermath.
But the message of virtually all of these posts is: “Nothing to see here! Move along!” There are numerous posts expressing outrage that anyone would see any connection between Rodger’s toxic misogyny to the Men’s Rights movement; there are others mocking and attacking the #YesAllWomen hashtag; there’s even one suggesting that Rodger, who wrote about how he longed to watch all the women of the world starve to death in concentration camps, wasn’t actually a misogynist at all.
Take a look. One post, with more than 500 upvotes, complains:
Another post makes a strikingly similar complaint:
One angry MRA asks:
Another wonders:
Sorry to break it to you, fella, but that’s not how defamation suits work. If it were, all of us who call ourselves feminists would be collecting millions of dollars from the Men’s Rights subreddit for all the patently untrue things you guys say about us every day of every week.
Still others make sure that everyone knows that Rodger hated men too – not that this has actually gone unnoticed in the media or in discussions of the tragedy.
And then there’s this fellow, who seems to think that Rodger only hated men, and that his big problem with women was that he loved them too much:
There are, it’s true, two posts that raise the issue of what might be done to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future. One of them takes on the issue of “virgin shaming.” (Sure, I’m against that, and against slut shaming too. Odd that roughly 100% of the virgin shaming I’ve ever heard in my life has come from MRAs and other non-fans of this blog, even though — sorry to break it to you fellows — I’ve not been a virgin since the early Reagan administration.)
Meanwhile, the other “positive” suggestion — the stickied top post, submitted by one of the forum’s moderators — is pretty transparently intended as a PR move – and an excuse to bash feminists.
Yep, “creep shaming.” That’s the problem! Way to cut through all the bullshit and get to the heart of the matter! The problem isn’t that some men — well, a lot of men — think and act in predatory and entitled ways towards women. The problem is that sometimes when they do, women call them “creeps.”
The problem isn’t that the world’s creepiest and most entitled man just killed 6 innocent people, the problem is “creep shaming.”
After killing his roommates and a friend of theirs, Rodger attempted to get inside a sorority so he could massacre the women inside it. But he couldn’t get anyone to let him in. Probably because, well, whoever was nearest the door thought he looked a bit, well, creepy.
“Creep-shaming” isn’t some insidious form of discrimination against awkward men. It’s a defense mechanism that women develop to protect them against predatory men. And in the case of the Isla Vista murders, I’m guessing that the willingness of women to go with their gut sense that Rodger was a creep literally saved lives.
But the mods of the Men’s Rights subreddit would rather moan about “creep shaming.” They would prefer that women lower their defenses against men like Elliot Rodger — because it hurts their feelings to sometimes get called a “creep.”
Guys, this is why people think Elliot Rodger was an MRA.
EDIT: I added more to the conclusion because I had more to say about creep shaming.
HEY ASSHOLE I TOLD YOU TO USE MY WHOLE NYM YOU FUCKING DISRESPECTFUL, PATHETIC SHITBAG.
It’s almost like he’s actually 23.
I’m really pissing you off, aren’t I, Davis.
Dance, troll, dance.
You’re just proving us right with every post, creep.
@cassanrdkitty, it’s not his fault. He’s “socially awkward.”
And besides women are so mean to him for no reason whatsoever.
Oh ho ho. Really? So because you don’t like what I have to say, I should be shot. Oh, yeah, you’re totally different from Elliot and the type of MRA who want to kill women who don’t sit down and shut up for them. You’re pathetic.
But it’s so accurate. My childhood cat used to tease our neighbor’s dog Billy, a sweet but hyper terrier mercilessly. Billy would be outside on a long leash because the yard didn’t have a fence. Whiskers would calmly sit just outside the reach of the leash. Poor dumb Billy would try to run at him, barking frantically and practically choking himself.
Davis reminds me a lot of Billy. Except Billy was cute, nice and fun. Davis is none of those things.
Remember, everyone, the MRM is really about men improving themselves and learning not to care about what women think about them.
We have a melting troll on the thread!
I hadn’t even bought a canary yet. The old doctor assures me that trolls hate canaries. I suppose I shall save some coin, then, on cute little singing birds.
I’m going out on another mission! The council is still really ticked about the whole dark-lord thing. They are sending us to recruit the Wizard Derk. Apparently, he was once a most sucessful dark lord.
His flying pigs are just precious.
“Remember, everyone, the MRM is really about men improving themselves and learning not to care about what women think about them.”
And human rights. Don’t forget human rights.
I won’t lie; I’mma enjoy the descent of the banhammer on this one. He’s a right little prick. Can’t even keep his word, let alone keep his story straight.
Rage on, little asshole, rage on against the world. Your rage don’t mean a thing, in the end; and between the world and your rage, you’ll be devoured.
How is that defending the shooter. If Elliot did what I did, he would have never ahot those people.
So you are like him. Good to know.
And saying that he shot people only because he didn’t “do what you did” means that you were like him, and since you are a decent guy he was, at heart, a decent guy.
So you are excusing him.
BTW, what do you think the Police ought to have done? Held him for 72 hours on a 5150 because they got a complaint? Seized his computer to search for bad things?
Tossed his place looking for a reason to haul him in (in the absence of a warrant, or any other sort of probably cause)?
Do elaborate.
Erin, I was pretty sure you’d come crawling back. You are beyond pathetic and accelerating.
Ooooh, Wizard Dirk! I think you might do better with one of his daughters, actually; I hear they’re pretty badass.
Jeez, I go offline for a bit and all hell breaks loose. Davis is banned, and I deleted the worst of his crap.
Davis: What happened to people being held accountable for their own action?
Nothing. The MRM incites men to violence. One of their acolytes committed violence because he hated women. His justifications for his hatred were part and parcel of the general mantra of the MRM, and used MRA language.
We are, as a result, holding them accountable.
Just as you say we should.
Yeah, I do hope stupid creep isn’t upsetting anyone.
But really, man comes on thread about man killing people because he hates women. Man states he hates women, says he wish people on thread were shot.
Cheese and crackers.
It’s only a matter of time until the Banhammer Mammoth descends.
Ah, then I can go to bed. Night all.
I’mma hit the sack, too; first day at the new job in the morning!
Thank you David!
But really, man comes on thread about man killing people because he hates women. Man states he hates women, says he wish people on thread were shot.
Crap. I didn’t realise I was so close to right when I said that.
Apologies if it made anything worse for anyone.
@Dustedeste
Zounds! You’re right. I’ll file an inquiry. The BPRD ordered some time turners in 2007, and the order came in one short.
I’d investigate myself, but I’m having some troubles with tourists. They’re convinced Derk is still Darklord. I forgot my zap penlight of forget-ness with K, so I’m having to be sneaky.
Was he a sock David? He claimed to have been banned 8 times.
There’s something especially pathetic about coming back to a blog you’ve already been banned from 8 times. Get a new hobby, kid.
Oh, too late! Thanks David!
I love the ban hammer, so much.
Ugh, tourists; I feel your pain there, contrapangloss 😛