So A Voice for Men, having lost or abandoned the original venue for their “Men’s Issues” conference in Detroit, has announced its new location: A VFW post some 18 miles away from the original hotel where, presumably, most of the conference’s attendees will be staying.
According to Paul Elam, they made the move in large part to spare conference-goers the terrible inconvenience of having to watch the no-doubt riveting presentations from an “overflow room.”
No, really.
In a post last night, Elam declared that all the media attention given to the conference
has produced is a hell of a lot more interest in the conference, and more ticket sales. So much so, as a matter of fact, that we have opted to move to a venue that will seat more people and provide more security than was available previously.
While we apologize for any inconvenience that the move is going to cause, it is nonetheless a positive move for the conference. Because seating capacity was misrepresented to us at the previous venue, we were forced to plan for an overflow room where we would pipe in live events to a monitor at reduced ticket prices.
With the change of venue we will be able to accommodate all attendees in the same space at the same time.
Naturally, the first thing some critics of Elam did when they saw this announcement was to look up the seating capacity of the largest rooms at both venues. The largest room at the Doubletree Fort Shelby, where the conference was originally scheduled to take place, seats 300, with a maximum capacity of 310. The largest room at the VFW post … also seats 300. Or maybe 350. The VFW website isn’t clear.
In other words, Elam expects us to believe that in order to avoid the inconvenience of having to resort to “overflow rooms,” AVFM moved its convention to a venue 18 miles away from the original hotel that might not even offer rooms any bigger than the original venue.
Meanwhile, in the comments to Elam’s post, one would-be conference attendee reports that the Doubletree has canceled his reservation. If Doubletree has decided to wash its hands of the conference attendees now that they are no longer hosting the conference, and Elam is telling the truth about the number of people planning to attend, this could mean hundreds of people scrambling for hotel rooms.
Still, Elam and his troops are eager to present this as a great victory.
It’s weird. You might think that this sort of reality distortion would be impossible in a democratic country in the internet age. Sure, back in Stalin’s day, the Soviet Union’s propaganda machine could present massive failure as success and get away with it – at least to some degree, at least within their own country.
In the wake of a disastrous program of “forced collectivization” of rural agriculture in 1929-30, which left many peasants dead or imprisoned and paved the way for future famines, Stalin famously announced in an article in Pravda that the program had been so amazingly successful that he needed to call a temporary halt so that everyone could catch their breath. The title of his article: “Dizzy With Success.”
The only way you can get away with bullshit this brazen is if you’re a dictator or the leader of a cult – something that A Voice for Men has increasingly come to resemble. AVFMers are expected not only to accept Elam’s leadership; they’re expected to accept his distinctly non-consensus reality – a world turned upside down in which men are the real victims of domestic violence and rape and pretty much everything else, a world in which the Southern Poverty Law Center is a collection of evil bigots and his motley collection of misogynists is the true human rights movement of the twenty-first century.
Like a lot of cult leaders, Elam keeps his troops too busy to think straight in a continual frenzy of pseudo-activism. AVFMers are forever brigading comment sections of newspaper articles and YouTube videos in little squads (AVFMers almost always travel in packs), all reciting the same few talking points.
Weirdly, the dynamics of internet discussions can actually reinforce this kind of intellectual conformity, much as Stalin’s control of the media did in his day. No, AVFMers can’t avoid being exposed to facts that contradict the shared (un)reality of their ideological bubble.
But in internet discussions you don’t have to be right in order to convince yourself you’ve won an argument. You just have to be loud and persistent and unwilling to ever give in. You don’t have to convince anyone else of your arguments so long as you convince yourself. MRAs don’t win many arguments on their merits, but they manage to convince themselves they win every one.
The trouble is that when they step outside of their regular stomping grounds on the internet, this strategy – so effective in generating ideological conformity amongst cult members – falls completely apart.
We’ve seen several spectacular examples in the past couple of weeks. First, we watched a concert organized by Canadian Men’s Rights group CAFE implode after musicians and sponsors realized what they’d been roped into; the pathetically unconvincing attempts by the group to explain away this failure were amazing to behold.
Then we saw AVFM’s Dean Esmay reduce himself to a caricature on Fox (local) news as he rapidly regurgitated standard AVFM talking points like some sort of fanatical ideological auctioneer, apparently unaware that to everyone outside of the Men’s Rights bubble everything he was saying was obviously utter nonsense.
And now we have Paul Elam trying to convince the world that AVFM changed its venue for its conference because, hey, we needed more room!
The trouble with having your head up your ass most of the time is that when you take it out, people tend to notice the smell.
But, hey, as long as the AVFMers are happy with their new venue, I’m happy for them. Janet Bloomfield, the official “social media director” for the conference, posted this triumphant tweet lat night:
https://twitter.com/JudgyBitch1/status/476822883881459712
She has assured me that this is an actual quote. The “Wayne State cunts” remark is apparently a reference to the Wayne State sociology professor who, er, debated AVFM’s Dean Esmay on the local Fox affiliate the other day. Esmay has also posted a slightly shorter version of the same quote in the AVFM comments section.
So, yes, both the official PR representative for the conference and AVFM’s “managing editor” both apparently think it’s a great idea to refer to women who disagree with them as “cunts.”
Oh, and Bloomfield also thinks it’s hilarious to joke about Elam scamming his supporters of the $29,000 raised for additional security:
https://twitter.com/BhasChat/status/476907717194702848
You can’t buy this kind of publicity, largely because as far as I know there are no PR firms that offer organizations help in destroying the last tiny shreds of their credibility.
LOL putting a happy spin on being forced to relocate because nut jobs are threatening to murder and maim the hotel staff is Stalinesk collectivist mind control.
As a sex worker, with the ability to say “no”, I could never, EVER have a MRA client. That, or they’d get the worst service ever.
Sex workers, I know they are trying to use as a slur, but sex workers: too cool for MRAs.
Wait, I thought the fundraiser was to pay for the security the hotel required because of the alleged threats.
That letter that was posted certainly didn’t say they were canceling the conference because of threats.
I SERIOUSLY doubt the Doubletree is in the habit of misrepresenting capacity to any potential customers.
Another poster quoted a piece of “The Victim” profile from Lundy Bancroft’s book “Why Does He Do That” on here yesterday. It was such a fit for what I’ve seen from these MRA’s that I read the full profile and WOW. Then I got the book and haven’t been able to put it down since. It’s an excellent book with a lot of gems, such as the majority of men who claim to be victims of domestic violence are actually perpetrators of domestic violence. Things that make you go “hmmm”.
I wonder if Elam is resorting to this spin so he can say “we changed the venue because we were told the rooms would seat more people” and thus have to avoid cancellation fees. It’s such a weird spin otherwise. You’d think he would want to talk about the threats.
GNL
I see you are still your usual gullible and unpleasantly ableist self. Fuck off.
This is really JB at her most entertaining. Looks like she might have dipped into some of that coke already.
Yes, but not ALL women so remember it’s NOT a gendered slur.
But I thought when people received threats it was no big deal? Like offering money for info on the routes people take home from work.
Maybe undocumented threats are worse than fully documented threats.
Like how one woman 30 years ago saying she hates men is worse than the actual murder of countless women.
So, I used to post a bit a few years ago, but lapsed into lurking since then.
But I have to say, today’s post reminds me of a paper that I had to write for my Master’s in Anthropology, looking at the propaganda of groups that do not have the benefit of total or significant control of the media. There’s some interesting differences when a propaganda-producing group has to deal with pesky, outside facts compared to say, WWII Germany’s production of propaganda.
No, no, Not “people”. Women. When women receive threats, it’s no big deal. Silly you, thinking women count as people.
Perhaps the chairs in the new venue are less misandrous?
Where is Tom Martin when you need him…
Amid the hullaballoo, what isn’t getting discussed is how astoundingly unambitious this bizarre get together is… No plans to do anything other than talk.
The ineptitude of these fools takes the breath away.
That is a, er, colourful quote from the hall manager (who, based on the venue’s website, is a woman). I wonder if she expected such a comment to be “on the record”, or if she even really said it at all. Either way, it’s bad press for the venue, no? The MRA’s already soured one venue, they should probably at least wait until after the conference to ruin another one.
It’s a perfect choice of venue, though, when you think about it. It’s a place meant to serve veterans of wars, and AVFM is full of men who have never served in the military in any capacity, but believe they are entitled to the same respect and social benefits as real veterans by virtue of being men.
David, the talk on your site yesterday was that the conference was over – the broken-down car was a memorable image – but hey, it’s not. The talk was of Elam and others stealing the $25,000 security money. Will feminists now be SO stupid as to try and stop (or at least disrupt) a conference on men’s issues held at a ‘Veterans of Foreign Wars’ facility? Yeah, probably. We hope so. The graveyard opposite will make a great backdrop for photos of demonstrators.
I’m delighted with the change of venue, as are other MHRAs of my acquaintance. So what if it’s 18 miles from the original venue? You think that’s going to matter to anyone attending? The ‘Commander’s Ballroom’ holds 350 people, the Hilton would have had to use an overflow room with less than 300 in the main room, I believe. The room where I look forward to speaking on 28 June:
http://vfw1146brucepost.org/commanders.htm
Changing the subject, are you planning to rise to the public challenge of you, which we posted this morning (link below)? Let me know if you want any materials to help you prepare a post. Good luck.
http://j4mb.wordpress.com/our-public-challenges-to-feminists/
Have a nice day.
It’s so cute that JB was so proud of her stupid twitter joke that she had to copy and paste it here. Reactionaries never can do humor well.
I wonder if the VFW knows they are hosting a hate group?
Any other Danger Mouse fans here reminded of this?
“The ice in my cell is very pretty, the cockroaches are very friendly and I wasn’t hungry anyway.”
@weirdwoodtreehugger, I didn’t even realize it was a joke at first – I thought she was making a serious comparison. Then I realized the “lol” in front was meant to indicate this was a “joke”. Epic fail.
I suggest a banner reading
“NO, THEY ARE NOT ASKING TO GET RAPED. They are freaking begging for it.” — Paul Elam
I thought there were two hotels that y’all had given deposits to?
I’m sure the VFW is lovely, but there are numerous hotels and convention centers in the area that could serve 350 convention goers much more adequately.
Obviously they switched venues so they could avoid having to take the elevator.
Mikey’s back still desperately trying to get clicks on his sad blog I see.
Does anyone still have that adorably pathetic pic of their last ‘conference’? With elam forlornly holding a sign nearly as big as he is?
@titianblue, this is a mistake I just can’t seem to get over. Women as people! What silliness!
Considering the scandals about sexual assault in the military lately you’d think a veteran’s organization would be reluctant to host a conference by a pro-rape (as long as the victims are women or “manginas”) group.
It’s a bit like a Catholic church hosting a NAMBLA conference isn’t it?
You know that nobody is going to visit your sad little blog no matter how many times you beg us too, right, Mikey?
But on his blog I learned that Caroline Criado-Perez (the woman who dared to suggest it might be nice to have at least one women of merit on uk bank notes) has won ‘Lying Woman of the Month’ AND ‘Whiny Woman of the Month’!
Turns out it wasn’t just internet trolls harassing and bullying her, but potential political parties as well!
Keep up the good fight mikey!