Is A Voice for Men using phony “death threats” allegedly directed at those planning to attend its upcoming “Men’s Issues” conference in Detroit, as well as upon employees and guests of the hotel where it’s scheduled to be held, as an excuse to smear feminists and raise a quick $25,000 in donations from readers and possibly even from a handful of gullible feminists?
As incredible as that sounds, that’s what some people I respect are saying. Despite AVFM’s history of lying about alleged feminist threats – you may recall John Hembling’s infamous confrontation with an imaginary mob of 20-30 feminists brandishing boxcutters – I’m not willing to go that far.
But there’s a lot about the story that makes no sense, and some big questions that need convincing answers.
1) The Doubletree Fort Shelby hotel has not confirmed that the letter Paul Elam posted on his site several days ago, and which he has now removed, actually came from them. The letter is, so far, the only evidence that there were any threats.
Hotel management needs to confirm whether or not they sent this letter to Elam.
2) Both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press spoke to Detroit Police spokesman Adam Madera, who told them that the police had not received any reports of death threats from the hotel. He told both papers that hotel staff had asked about hiring off-duty officers for security but hadn’t specified why.
Hotel management needs to confirm either that 1) they got death threats and didn’t report them or 2) that they got no such threats. They should also confirm whether their calls about off-duty police officers were related to the “Men’s Issues” conference.
There are a few other clues that support the “hoax” theory, though they’re far from definitive:
Several people who have allegedly contacted the hotel to ask about the threat say that the managers they spoke to knew nothing about the threats. Even if these reports are true, this may not be significant; managers may not have been told about threats related to a conference many weeks off.
The Detroit News also spoke to the owner of the hotel, and he said he was unaware of any threats. That may not be significant either; he may simply be out of the loop.
Essentially, we’re waiting for the Doubletree Fort Shelby management to answer these questions. If you look at the news coverage so far you’ll notice that the hotel staffers who can answer these questions don’t seem to be answering their phones or returning calls. I left a message for them today as well. No reply yet.
The other bits of evidence we’re waiting for? Well, the letter Elam claims he got from hotel management says that he and the other conference organizers need to send the hotel proof that they’ve hired the required number of Detroit police officers to handle security, as well as proof that they have also paid for at least $2 million in liability insurance. They have to have this done by the 6th.
In light of all the questions still swirling around, I think people are going to want to see this proof too.
It may be that the hotel comes forward and confirms that the letter was real, that the threats were real, and that indeed A Voice for Men does have to shell out $25,000 for extra security. It may even be the case that it was a feminist or a group of feminists making the threats. But we don’t know. And right now the people who do know are either not talking — or they have pretty much no credibility. Let’s hope the silence ends soon, because there’s no way the not-so-good folks at AVFM are suddenly going to turn credible overnight.
EDIT: I toned down some of the language, which I think was detracting from my main points, and added a new final paragraph.
EDIT 2: Removed some speculation. We’ll know some of the answers soon enough; no need to speculate.
UPDATE: DOUBLETREE STATEMENT
So I’ve heard back from Atiya Frederick, the PR Manager for Embassy Suites Hotels & DoubleTree, and she’s made clear that the hotel won’t be answering specific questions about any of this just yet. Here’s what she sent me.
At this time we are confining our comments on this matter to the below statement …
Hilton Worldwide strives to operate meeting places for people from all walks of life, regardless of beliefs, race, color, national origin, religion or sexual orientation. The views of our guests do not reflect the sentiment of Hilton Worldwide. As places of public accommodation, our hotels do not discriminate against any individual or group. Our goal is to provide quality accommodations and a pleasant environment for our guests, employees and members of our community . We would like to emphasize that we strive to be an inclusive company and regret if this policy has unintentionally offended any individual or organization.
This statement seems to be their standard response when they host a conference by a controversial group.
Good summary of the situation. I am the first to admit I have no idea what is really going on here, but not trusting AVfM seems like a pretty safe bet given their track record.
Answers? Um, they’re full of shit, maybe?
So the hotel needs the proof of the hiring and insurance by the 6th, so AVfM needs to have written evidence of the insurance and police officer statuses by that date so they can ?fax ?email it to the hotel.
Will AVfM be posting the two pieces of evidence as well:
– the insurance coverage agreement
– the written confirmation from the business arm of the Detroit PD re the number of officers hired and the cost?
I find it interesting that the fundraiser, for money due on 6 June, is open for 30 days; i.e. well past the point at which they need to have spent the money.
Why is mustache Jon Stewart selling fear?
Well, what can I say? Elam needs a few more sports cars in order to embark on his mission to save men and boys.
If Elam or an associate of his did fake threats against their conference, that will be really rich. I remember Elam talking about the threats Rebecca Watson received, accusing her of being an “attention whore” and bragging about how he received death threats AL THE TIME but doesn’t publicize them because he’s not a Damsel in Distress like those inferior femails. Fake or not, I think this whole scenario puts the lie to that latter claim.
30 days, on a deadline of 3
This is almost assuredly a scam. It’s been demonstrated time and again that Paul Elam is a fraud and liar as well as a vicious bigot. The fact that his followers don’t grasp that he’s constantly fleecing them is pathetic. I almost feel sorry for the rubes…but I feel sorrier for the women and men they attack.
I see this as another instance of the far right elite exploiting their own followers in order to make a quick buck. Other examples include Glenn Beck, the vast majority of rightwing media, and the Tea Party. What they all have in common besides hateful ideas is a pathological inability to care about other people, even people who consider them allies and leaders.
Anyone know a contact at Google? John Hembling just false DMCA’d one of my vids to try and get my docs. Contact me through email or tell David and he’ll contact me.
I know this is unethical of them, but I wonder if it’s illegal, too?
Thanks for that link pecunium. Isn’t the fundraiser against FundAnything’s ToR, see 4d in http://support.fundanything.com/customer/portal/articles/1081666-terms-of-use
?
I think Paul’s rent is going up. They didn’t sell enough tickets, so he’s scrambling to raise as much money as he can and then he’s going to cancel at the last minute for some bullshit reason. Then he’ll claim he needed the 25K anyway for a new server or something
Well, I complained to the Fund Anything site about the campaign and linked to a couple of recent AVfM posts as evidence.
While suspicious, he might be planning to pay for the expenses out of pocket and then raise money to reimburse himself. That would be reasonable if he thought he didn’t have enough time to fundraise before the deadline.
Or, splitting the sketchiness difference, he might have just figured that, while he was fundraising anyway, he might as well leave it running and see how much extra he could make on top of the actual costs.
Paul’s a kept man so, unless he’s trying to move up in the world, beyond what his sugar momma can provide, he doesn’t need help paying his living costs. What could he be spending it on?
katz: I admit to not pointing out there is no way a crowdsourcing site is going to be able to pay the money in time to meet the surety deadline.
We had to have 2 million in general liability insurance for the wedding: cost us less than $200, because we used the rider from our homeowners insurance. So that aspect of it is much more trivial than it looks.
The cost for the cops would be in the 20-30,000 range: If we say 3 shifts, times 7 cops, times 3 days get
3*7*3 =504 man hours. Assuming it’s billed at $50 an hour we get 25,200 which is in keeping with the pitch they are making.
So it’s possible (at the more generous end of duplicity) they got dinged for the cost of extra security: based on the nature of the group, combined with recent events, and rather than make a simple plea for cash, the came up with the ridiculous story of sleeper cells, willing to spend a moderate amount of money (trip to Detroit, room nights; in addition to the risk of arrest) to drum up cash. It’s not too much of a stretch, given the credulous nature of the MRM to assume they expected to be able to bilk them with this story.
Because it’s a winner. If they do get a protest, they are vindicated. If they don’t,they are also vindicated; because the presence of the police was needed to protect the MRM from the Evil Feminists.
(I certainly think it’s very likely a scam and the fundraising deadline doesn’t help the plausibility any; it’s just not the sketchiest thing about the whole affair.)
If they were going to make up the death threat letter, why not call in actual death threats? That’s their style anyway, and it would lend credibility to the whole enterprise. Getting management to vouch for the death threats should be easy, even if this is a scam.
Just a note: I toned down some of the language in the post a bit; I think it was distracting from my main points.
Delphi Ote, could be. I suppose the drawback of that plan might be that 1) if they get caught they probably go to jail and 2) they would have to actually pay for the extra security.
I wonder if the conference should address the serious issue of how the US per capita consumption of margarine is highly correlated with the divorce rate in Maine:
http://www.tylervigen.com/view_correlation?id=1703
Are trans fats misandry? Enquiring minds want to know.
It is very likely that Hilton have a policy relating to threats. It would be out of the hands of the GM, an area manager would be the lowest level to make a decision.
It is almost unbelievable that Hilton would not report threats to the police as a matter of policy.
Find and contact the area manager and she/he could fill in the blanks.
Oooh, we’re going to get answers soon? I’m on the edge of my (hard misandric) seat!