Sworebytheprecious, a regular in the AgainstMensRights subreddit, is trying to raise money so she can get to Detroit to report on that A Voice for Men conference you might have heard about. And you can help!
Here’s her pitch, from her GoFundMe page:
Lissie (akaSworebythePrecious) wants to get to Detroit to report on the convention held by A Voice for Men and Paul Elam. She also wants to start up a website for Project Dark Horse. Who wants to help?
Our goal is $1000. We’ll be posting receipts. We want to rent a car, get a room, and get a plane ticket. I also want to talk to some of the protesters who were bothered last Saturday.
So far she’s raised a little over $200, but I’m sure we can help her raise a lot more than that. If she goes over $1000, the money will go to charity or to help build a website for Project Dark Horse, dedicated to exposing the bullshit of the Men’s Rights movement in general and AVFM in particular. More details on Dark Horse here, and on her fundraiser here on the GoFundMe page.
If it’s still going on Wednesday and my budget can handle it, I’ll donate. Can’t donate much, but I can donate a bit, and that’s what matters…
Well that should be fun. I hope to see her there.
The Adventure begins…
I’d love to but AMR gave me da boot.
Ugh. See the “You seem like a nice kid, anyway” where Fidelbogen has responded on the fundraiser page is particularly vile. And the fact that both he and Esmay have chosen to make it clear she’s come to their attention is pretty obviously meant to be an intimidation tactic. I’d happily donate so she can stick a microphone in their faces and ask them about all their hateful shit without giving them time to spin.
Not sure why Fidelbogen is discouraging her so hard – I thought all publicity was good publicity!
Your “dark horse” looks like a rottie/Lab mix and I need it.
emilygoddess, you take the horse, I’ll take the rider!
thanks so much, David, for this excellent write up. we now have a plane ticket and we are at 305. i have been in touch with Elam who doubts i will be there, or that i have an audience. he called me slurs, told me to go fuck myself, and boy have i pissed him off. nevertheless i am still hopeful for a press pass and some interviews.
ive also been in touch with the IRS and Texas attorney general. someone forgot to pay his taxes. someone didn’t raise his funds for this conference under an llc, but pretended to. someone doesn’t have an llc that should be raising funds.
well, he asked for a new woman to hate. they got one.
@DarkHorseSwore
Interesting. I was wondering about the tax thing. Thanks for digging!
I’d donate, but I’m already over budget for the month. Nonetheless, you rock!
Good work, Dark Horse Swore – and wouldn’t I love to see the IRS clean Pauly out.
thanks everyone!
Isn’t it just *charming* how assholes like Elam do the solicitous niceness schtick in public venues (like your fundraising page, @DarkHorseSwore/Lissie) and save their vitriol and venom for hidden avenues of communication?
He seems like a nice kid, anyway – it’d be a shame if the IRS investigated him into the Stone Age. :.)
I’ve donated. Just glad to have the means to be able to do so. Looking forwards excitedly to the reports and seeing these charmers put on the spot.
I would be MASSIVELY surprised if this conference actually happens. They’ve drawn too much attention to themselves. Even they know they work best shrouded in the anonymity of the internet.
Also is anything going to come of judgyb!tch libeling the venue manager?
thanks everyone (especially titianblue <3)
they don't intimidate me, but i will candidly here, admit to some fears i do have.
dean doesn't scare me (actually he seems kind of funny; check out his amazon reviews). neither does Fidelbogen. not one follower down to the last. Elam, however, i see without any sort of humor, a defense mechanism which his hate and conviction renders null.
he's not especially charismatic or very good in front of the camera, but he speaks well and that is his strength. he communicates better when he is allowed the advantage of a recorded message , and his channel makes it clear you are better served to understand him if you listen to his audio instead of video. i suspect he's not comfortable with being watched.
in his 20/20 interview, a perfect demonstration of his strengths and weaknesses, you'll notice he has trouble looking into the eyes of his interviewer. on camera, he often looks as if he wants nothing more than to find an exit, his discomfort clear. i don't trust a man who has trouble looking people in the eyes. i especially don't trust a man like him who has trouble looking women in the eyes. he has no trouble with some of the women who agree with him.
as far as cults of personality go, this is de rigor. he's absolutely not unique. he compels because he is not unique. and that leaves me hear wondering about other men who have made themselves as martyrs, desperate for an audience of their own.
Hmm, I’m next door to Michigan…maybe I should think about taking a road trip.
As mentioned above, the conference probably won’t happen. AVfM could walk and save face because the public does seem to accept that they are underdogs run out of town by feminists. The conference is a big publicity stunt crafted to attract membership and they already got that accomplished so whats the point?
@DarkHorseSwore
I have no problem with donating for a cause like this will be glad to. I commend you because you are one courageous woman and please be safe. Taino has a point that possibly with all the commotion, this conference may not even happen and would not be shocked if Elam finds some sort of excuse to back out. He may be realizing now he is outnumbered that the protesters will be a greater force that any of the so called mra’s. I don’t think Elam can handle all of this stuff. But if it does go on it will be a very emotional combative scene. Have a safe trip and thanks DarkHorseSwore for keeping us here up to date on the shenanigans of Elam and his cohorts.
Elam should pull out this week and not next. He has to do it before the feminist threat is proven to be a hoax and AVfM loses the underdog status. Once he is out, that proof would be far less consequential.
The venue manager has not responded to the email I sent informing them of the libelous twitter comment.
If this conference doesn’t go ahead, and Elam has $29k of money for security that’s no longer required, he could:
A) take that money and contribute it to a worthwhile cause that does something constructive to help men and boys – like, say, organisations working to reduce gun violence in the USA (which disproportionately affects males), or perhaps some of the fine NGOs working in Africa & Asia to stop the use of child soldiers, who are mostly boys. This would mean that avfm had actually done something good for the world for once.
B) Continue to complain about how women are responsible for all bad things in the world without doing a damn thing to actually make things better for men and boys, instead spreading his hateful distortions of facts and encouraging other men to use threats, intimidation and violent rhetoric to silence their critics. Also, what money?
Either Paul proves us right and remains a prime target for mockery, or he makes the world a better place for once in his spiteful, petty life. How’s that for a “challenge” ? (To steal a buzzword from MikeB 😉 )
Lissie and David know so much more than me about fighting misogyny that I’m hesitant to ask, but….
Given that AVFM regularly proves themselves to be hateful and incompetent on their website, is there any point in spending a bunch of money to send someone out to see them being hateful and incompetent in person? Especially since the odds are good she’ll just be banned from the venue.
An I missing something?
(sigh) well, if the conference doesn’t happen, Elam’s dug himself quite a whole. he’s already committed fraud and raised a bunch of money on Paypal under the name of an LLC seized by Texas for tax forfeiture, so maybe this is just his grand hurrah before he takes the money and runs. i’m surprised no one in Texas has tried to come after him or A Voice for Men, LLC for libel, slander, hate speech or fraud. the state seems interested but the government is slow so individuals may have greater traction. if your business is sued in Texas and your registration and everything is out of date, you cannot mount an affirmative defense against the charges and Elam’s individual assets are forfeit rather than the business as it does not legally exist. moreover, because his site’s terms of service listed AVfM as property of said defunct LLC, he can’t really dodge and say “hey but my fans know i take the money and it all goes to me!!!” that’s not the point. furthermore, his Better Business Bureu page, his Facebook page listing for search engine aggregation, and one of his video channels were listed as non-profits (i took screencaps of all of it). that’s enough right there for the IRS and Texas.
and hey: this is a win-win! if the conference doesn’t happen, than i get to make a website to report on more of this shit, plus donate the extra funds to charity. if it happens, we’ll be meeting them on their own turf.