So in my email inbox yesterday, alongside a nagging reminder from my dentist to schedule a checkup and my latest marching orders from the Gynocrat Central Committee, I noticed an email from an unknown correspondent with the intriguing subject line “The Holy War against Feminism.”
Clicking on it, I found an angry little manifesto from someone calling himself Mortago Black. It started off with a bold all-caps claim:
THE MENS REIGHTS REVOLUTION IS AT HAND.
The revolution will not be spellchecked.
But apparently, if Mr. Black has any say over things, it will be “liked” on Facebook: our manifesto-writer followed his bold headline with a link to a Facebook page – which, by the time I got around to looking at his email, had been taken down, probably because it contained stuff like, well, the rest of his manifesto.
Mr. Black continued:
The dawn of men’s rights revolution is fast approaching. We are rising to destroy the evil of modern day feminism. The lies, the bigotry, and the hatred of feminism must be erased from the surface of our earth.
We are sworn to our lives to wage a holy war of men’s rights against feminism.
Huh. You know, before starting this blog, I probably would have dismissed something like this as obvious trollery. But too many Men’s Rightsers talk exactly like this for me to assume it’s not for real. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be a troll, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was 100% real.
You will see my profile picture is the flag of the men’s rights revolution.
Wait, they have a flag now?
The 3 colors represent the heart and soul of our holy struggle:
You haven’t even specified what the “evil of modern-day feminism” consists of, and you’ve already moved on to the flag-describing stage?
Black: The black represents the darkness that is the evil of feminism. The shadow the oppression of feminist bigotry casts over the land, and the blackening of hearts against that which is good and just.
Ok, black = evil. No points for originality here.
Blue: The blue representatives man as society expects him to be, the role we have written for us, the character society forces us to play.
So, the Blue Pill? The Blue Pill is bad, right? Why are you giving 2/3 of the real estate on your flag to things you don’t like?
Red: The red represents the blood shed by fathers, husbands and sons of the past. It reminds us of the struggle and sacrifice we must be willing to make to destroy feminism.
Oy. Now I’m seeing why Facebook tried to nip your little revolution in the bud.
We shall cast this flag over the United States, and one day, over the world. We shall unshackle ourselves from the chains of feminist hate. We shall cleanse the world of this cancer, of this filth, of this plague, of this DISEASE that is feminism. We shall DESTROY those who seek to hurt us simply by virtue of birth. We shall ERADICATE the hatred and enemies of men.
Dude, hate to break it to you, but when you start talking about “cleansing the world” of the “disease” that is your enemy, you don’t sound much like Thomas Jefferson. You sound a lot more like the guy who wrote this:
[T]he discovery of the Jewish virus is one of the greatest revolutions that has taken place in the world. The battle in which we are engaged today is of the same sort as the battle waged, during the last century, by Pasteur and Koch. How many diseases have their origin in the Jewish virus! … We shall regain our health only be eliminating the Jew.
Yes, it was indeed Hitler who wrote that. Yes, I just compared you to Hitler. But you can’t call Godwin on me because you are LITERALLY USING A FASCIST TROPE.
If you find yourself, consciously or unconsciously, spouting rhetoric that sounds like you plagiarized it from Mein Kampf, I think you might just have to consider the possibility that, well, you might be the baddies.
Also, would it kill you to proofread your hate manifestos before you send them out?
EDIT: Added a bit more on the question of whether or not this is real or a troll, since I can’t tell.
If you haven’t yet, go for Skyrim – it’s like a RPG with a FPS interface which totally deserves its reputation – and it’s got a metric butt-load of free player-developed add-ons, AND currently ultra-cheap.
Will let you know about Sunless Seas when I have a chance to register and update the content (in early development, so they’re working on it as it comes, but looks pretty cool so far)
Eee, Sunless Sea looks creeeeeeepy.
The Icewind Dale games are like an extension of Baldur’s Gate but without the amusing, unique characters — you make every hero in your group and the only other people you talk to are dull. No Minsc, is what I’m saying.
But I found them entertaining. Icewind Dale 2 switched to the 3rd Edition rules, if you happen to care about that.
Oh yes, I have hours of play in Skyrim and I’ve played earlier Elder Scrolls versions as well, including Morrowind (is that the one where we jumped to increase acrobatics?). I liked Skyrim a lot, although I kept getting lost in some of the cities. There was also the issue where completing one quest would remove the NPC you needed to complete another entirely different quest, but I found the cheat codes for the console to bring the NPC back so I could finish other quests in my log. I think I’m still on the Brotherhood quest train, it’s been quite a few months since I last played – apparently April 2012. But I logged 191 hours. 🙂
@Falconer I think there has been two NWN games, I have both. The one I enjoyed most was the one that came out around 2000/2001.
LOL I had Icewind Dale I and II. I really, really, really like turn-based RPGs.
Sounds like either Morrowind or Daggerfall.
I have played every Elder Scrolls game since Daggerfall, and completed exactly none of them. There’s just too much to do.
I have over 100 hours in Oblivion, just with my one character. I probably have a like amount in Morrowind, but a lot of that is due to me hiking overland ’cause I never found the teleporter system. I hate that one early Guild quest where you have to hike to the north of the map, it takes forever.
I’m really bad at getting side tracked onto side quests. Even picking flowers. And I have this need to advance as many skills as possible. My cooking is really high in Elder Scrolls /rolls eyes.
Fair? No. Would they? Yes. Do they? Yuh-huh (see: RadFemHub)
In conclusion, how dare a site dedicated to mocking misogynists mock some misogynist who happens to be especially mockable!
GASP! *monocle falls into glass of champagne*
Strewth, every thread is about games! 😀
::wanders off to do more knitting::
Aw, I haven’t played any games lately except for the two American McGee’s Alice games for Gigi. On the plus side, you get to play a mentally ill woman in her late teens who is never sexualized and despite the games having horror overtones, she’s never raped, nor does sex even ENTER in the first game?
We shall cast this flag over the United States, and one day, over the world.
RE: Nick Reading
See, when we go after people, it’s actual notable leaders and actual violent protesters and we TELL THE TRUTH.
What violent protesters?
@kitteh: I finished crocheting my cape in acrylic with little fox heads on it, and I just today bought the beads I need to sew on for the eyes. Hopefully I’ll both finish it and get a photo uploaded to Ravelry this weekend.
Nick: So, if someone calling themselves a feminist (someone no one had ever heard of and was using a pseudonym and not even showing their face) wrote a psychotic manifesto and sent it in to AVFM, would it be fair to take that and paint the entire feminist movement with it?
If they were the only person who had done so? Yeah, it would be a bit over the top. When it’s just a somewhat overblown expansion on the the core motivations of the movement, not so much.
See, when we go after people, it’s actual notable leaders and actual violent protesters and we TELL THE TRUTH.
Really? Which violent protestors? What truths? What leaders?
Regale us.
With *ahem* love to our many trolls
“The 3 colors represent the heart and soul of our holy struggle”
RED, The Blood of angry men, BLACK, The dark of ages past…
I hope I was not the only one that thought that.
Eeeeeee!
I’m in the last stages of remaking this dress into a skirt and jacket. (What does one call a remade, remade garment, anyway?) It was a gorgeous thing, but the bodice was just too heavy and firm – a good fit, yes, but I don’t like knitwear that tight. It’s too warm – the yarn’s about 12ply – and I couldn’t get away with that unless I was sitting outdoors on a cold day and not moving at ALL, or I’d immediately get too hot! So I took courage and cut the jumper part off, bound the lower part to make it a skirt, unraveled the jumper yarn and have made a sort of patchwork bolero-length jacket with it and some lilac/pink yarn I had. I’ve just got the sleeves to do now, the rest is finished.
False equivalence. Misogyny in the MRM is a feature, not a bug. “Misandry” among feminists is a bug, not a feature. Yes I put misandry in scare quotes. Deal with it.
There’s plenty of proof, some of it in this very thread that misogynists go after random feminists all the damn time. It’s pathetic that you’re so upset about Big Red a couple of years after the fact. Go drive past an abortion provider’s clinic sometime. Observe the anti-choice protesters screaming at women, calling them baby killers, blocking their way. This is something that happens to women everyday (including women that are seeking family planning services other than abortion) and you people are pissing and moaning about one protester yelling at MRAs a couple years ago. Yeah, ok. Tell me more about how men are the oppressed class and feminists are violent.
@kitteh: I think the term repurposing covers everything. 🙂 Please take photos and share when you’re finished. 🙂
I forgot to mention, I’ve ordered a blocking kit as the bottom of the cape rolls up, showing the wrong side, and I have some intarsia in those rows. Have you blocked with wire and T-pins?
Someone in my local paper brought up Thomas Ball today in a defensive way. I could
not
Seriously? Are we getting Punked? And why are they still up in arms about Postergate?
“The Revolution will not be spell checked!”–David, you sleigh me.
I’ve been thinking about going back to school to do a program to become a rape crisis counsellor, hopefully in conjunction with ASL courses, so I can work specifically with victims who have hearing and speaking impairments, as well as other disabilities. I don’t have the specific or most recent stats, but last I looked, abuse (especially sexual) is a very hidden and serious issue for persons with disabilities, and I want to stop it. (I’m not looking the stats up right now, it’s 1:30am where I am and I’m going to bed. I’ll look them up later) I probably have to wait until at least next February, but still. It’s nice to have a plan.
I’ve never done blocking! I didn’t even know about it, other than the extremely basic notion of ironing the piece, which I seldom bother about, because lazy. How does one do it?
Fear not, there will be photos of the finished item. 🙂
And it ain’t even near Christmas! XD
I only found out about how to do this with pins and wire today, see for example: http://www.planetjune.com/blog/wet-blocking-for-crochet-knit/
I normally don’t block my items, but I will need to for the cape as the stupid ends curl inside out at the bottom. Because it’s acrylic, I can’t steam it.
I’m sure David has put aside material about a “noble” MRA leader, in case one comes from a room with an infinite number of monkeys and typewriters which endlessly produces MRAs.
Nick Reading wrote this? The Patrarchy Party numbnut? That, my friends, is hilarious. He may have learned the way of MRA satire from Elam, but he arguably outdoes him in terms of saying awful, awful, things, often about rape, and pretending that non-awful people with a functioning sense of humor would be amused. Reading also awkwardly giggles after he says his random generated rape apologia, which ups the uncomfortableness even more.
Ha ha, good old Nick Reading, keep it real.