Misogyny Theater is back with Episode 4!
If you paid any attention to A Voice for Men’s recent conference in – well, near – Detroit, you probably heard about the guy who was ejected from the conference after reportedly “petting” a reporter and a number of other men. (You can read about him here.)
In this episode of Misogyny Theater, we return to the Man Going His Own Way who calls himself Sandman to hear his highly speculative theories about this gentleman and his activities.
Sandman also warns Men’s Rightsers and MGTOWers that if they get together in large groups, they will inevitably attract opportunistic sex-seekers eager to take advantage of the man surplus for their own perverse ends. Apparently, angry dudes who hate women are like catnip to gay men and straight ladies alike.
The audio for this little cartoon of mine comes from Sandman’s video “Men’s Rights Molester.” I have indicated edits in the audio with little scratchy sounds. And I’ve bleeped out the name of the alleged molester. Otherwise it’s all straight Sandman.
My previous Misogyny Theater episode featuring Sandman can be found here.
Crowd chatter and buzzer sounds from FreeSFX.
I can only get behind drug testing for welfare if there’s an offer of help with drug treatment for those who test positive. Just cutting off benefits only creates desperation, for the addict and those around zir. Been there, done that.
What I can definitely get behind is more available space for those needing help for drug addiction. It shouldn’t take a month to get in and shouldn’t be so crowded that they can only offer basic detox, with no continuing support.
Fauxgressive feminists generally don’t want me in their club either. It’s extremely sad, but exotic dancers and other sex workers are pariahs in most movements. All sex workers are uneducated, drug addicted and unsavable… even the ones who aren’t.
You’re not helping them by keeping the money out of their hands, either, and nor are you helping their dependents. It doesn’t sound “mean”, it sounds fucking ignorant and cruel. Drug addiction isn’t a moral failure that needs punishing, it’s a medical/mental health condition that needs treatment and support.
As for intersectionality, you realize it’s not only about race, right? Class and disability are also included, and you just fucking failed at both.
Signed,
a fucking pissed off recovering addict
I don’t even understand the “just giving them money isn’t helping!” argument when it comes to benefits because few if any programs are just giving no-strings-attached money (at least in the US). The welfare benefits most people get are in the form of EBT cards and WIC and housing subsidies, things like that. The money can only be used to purchase basic necessities.
I have a lot of first-hand experience with addiction (tends to run in my family) and on a personal level, yeah, just handing cash to an addict is generally not a good way to help them. But neither is forcing them onto the street without enough money to eat. In fact, cutting benefits tends to make things worse because what’s the point of staying sober if your reality is nothing but stress and worry and unrelenting deprivation?
If you really give a damn about helping addicts, mandatory drug tests to get benefits aren’t the way to help. Increased funding for recovery programs, more community support and better living conditions for people in poverty are.
Some contextual Tennessee stuff:
Tennessee has a HUGE meth problem. Like, huge.
Tennessee also has a HUGE recovery community. Like, huge.
As someone in Tennessee and as someone on recovery, I really don’t see how this law will help anyone. Addiction is more often than not a co-occouring issue–it accompanies mental health problems like depression, anxiety, so on, and it often accompanies socioeconomic issues as well. Targeting recipients of government assistance based only on drug use does nothing to address any co-occurring issue and frankly I am appalled at my state for passing such legislation.
I plan on writing my congressperson tomorrow. I need to do so do research to see what exactly this crap details, but geeze. How absurd.
Does anyone have a link to any information on this?
Re: welfare and addiction
Wanting to deny welfare to addicts under any circumstances shows either complete ignorance of addiction or a complete lack of compassion for people in poverty.
Addiction is a symptom, often of depression or some other pain, often brought on or exacerbated by struggle, poverty or homelessness. I’m preaching to the choir, so I haven’t dug up references, but when people are provided the resources they need to survive, rates of addiction go down because they are able to access treatment. They are also less likely to relapse. In cities where they implemented a minimum guaranteed income, addiction, depression, suicide and crime rates plummeted.
Compassion, empathy and intersectionality or GTFO.
You see, it’s because the unborn are sinless. Once they’re born, Original Sin kicks in and unless they repent and turn to Jaysus, they deserve the consequences.
[It kind of makes my head hurt to think like that.]
[CN: drugs]
All right, so I’m not entirely sure if my experiences are relevant to this argument, but I’ve been what some would call a drug addict. Weed isn’t an addictive substance, but I’m definitely dependent on it. It alleviates my anxiety, increases my appetite, and relieves various forms of physical pain.
I’m not on welfare currently, although at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what I end up having to get on. Because I am literally incapable of work these days. Not only is it difficult for me to get a job because I’d be rejected on the basis of drug test results (at least for a lot of employers, not all of them), but my mental state also makes work itself difficult if not impossible to do. I’m hoping to get a job some day, but until then I’ll have to live on a few small donations here and there. (And I’ll have you know that donations are only helpful for so long – soon I’ll have nothing if I don’t figure out something.)
So yeah, it would, in fact, do me a favor for me to receive welfare aid. You don’t get to tell me what my needs are, especially if you’re some rich white dude. It is all about intersectionality because what you advocate does nothing more than contribute to a oppressive cycle of poverty that disproportionately affects people of color, disabled people, women, trans people, queer people, and so on. (And I happen to belong to all of those categories mentioned.) Receiving financial aid probably won’t ever cure my PTSD or eating disorder, but it sure will make my life a lot less shitty. And it’s certainly the exact fucking opposite of contributing to a downward spiral. I just woke up so I might be really bad at understanding what you’re saying but I’m also pissed off at fuckers like you and I just wanted to get across the message that people like you need to fuck off forever.
Addiction is an attempt to treat emotional pain. I just don’t see how adding more pain by punishing people can help anything. I am just fed up to see resources wasted in control and law enforcement when drug clinics, detox programs, access to mental healthcare are grossly underfunded.
The downward spiral happens a lot faster when you are an addict and don’t have food or money…
Nequam | July 6, 2014 at 11:11 am
“Somehow abortion is terrible because babies, but cutting snap benefits and school lunch programs is totally ok. Doesn’t compute”
“You see, it’s because the unborn are sinless. Once they’re born, Original Sin kicks in and unless they repent and turn to Jaysus, they deserve the consequences.
[It kind of makes my head hurt to think like that.]”
I cant be the only one who thought of George Carlin:
I’m sad to see that this discussion has migrated here from Jez. I’m especially disappointed the see that someone is defending this nonsense. And, I’m triply disappointed that someone has trotted out the “I have to get drug tested for my job, so everyone else should also be humiliated and invasively searched because equity” argument. USians seem to not realise that the rest of the world manages to function reasonably well without mandatory employment drug screening. I was kind of arguing on Jez with someone who claimed to be a lawyer who had to get drug screened, and also her ex (a surgeon) had to get drug screened, so everything was OK. Just because the US has allowed employers to snoop on people doesn’t mean it’s OK, and it especially doesn’t mean that public funds should be wasted on boondoggles that aren’t actually going to help addicts get sober.
As to this particular post (love misogyny theater, by the way); What is this cock carousel the MGTOW’s speak of so very frequently? Is it anything like a bag of dicks?
Ffs. When I said intersectionality I was mainly talking about class. Although I do think race is a factor because of the (not accurate) stereotype that black people are on welfare and white people are not.
Everyone knows cocaine is rampant on Wall Street. Yet, when the bank bailout occurred, was there ever a suggestion that the executives should have to get a drug test to make sure they would spend their bailout money responsibly? Of course there wasn’t! Do farmers have to take drug tests before they get ag subsidies? Nope! When a Boeing or Lockheed executive scores a big defensive contract are they first drug tested? No way! Do homeowners need to take a test before taking the mortgage tax deduction? Hardly! Only poor people are humiliated and looked down on for taking government aid.
The notion that welfare should only be given to those who are perfect and moral 100% of the time is absolutely ridiculous. I also take issue with the notion that addicts are bad people who deserve to starve.
Also, where do you get the idea that welfare is given out indiscriminately? There are already plenty of hoops people are required to jump through to get benefits. This is particularly true of social security disability. Fraud exists, but it is not as widespread as conservatives would have us believe. I’m too lazy to get citations at the moment, maybe later, but the biggest example of benefit fraud I’ve ever heard of wasn’t the doing of recipients. It is unscrupulous doctors and clinics billing Medicare fraudulently. That’s been common. Funny how no one ever suggested that the staff at medical clinics should have to drug tested before they can bill Medicare…
As to drug testing at work, that’s already been covered by Freshly Squeezed Cynic and others. The one time I had it done it was actually pretty humiliating. The people at the clinic were really rude and treated me like I was criminal even though my employer drug tested all new hires. I wasn’t singled out for suspicious behavior or anything.
How pot smoking off the clock effects the ability of a college student to work seasonally at a department store is anybody’s guess. I don’t see what the point was.
Pre-employment drug tests are also not difficult to pass. The drugs that are arguably the most damaging are also out of your system within one to three days. Not only are these screenings unhelpful to addicts, they don’t even necessarily function as deterrents.
Cannabis has a really long half life compared to other drugs, so yeah, that’s usually what drug tests catch. It’s a huge waste because it’s very rare someone is such a stoner that they can’t function. I do think we’re very slowly headed in the direction of marijuana legalization and that’s going to make drug testing even more obsolete.
Oh, I remember that case! Columbia/HCA ended up paying the U.S. government $1.7 billion in fines. Whatever happened to the CEO of that company? Oh, yeah, he took the considerable remains of his personal fortune, invested in some new healthcare business ventures, and then took those profits to fund his campaign for governor of Florida. Now he spends his days fussing about waste, fraud, and abuse as he spends hundreds of thousands of dollars defending unconstitutional drug testing programs. What a guy!
Many years ago when the market crashed I was out of a job & became a SAHM since the cost of daycare was more then I could make. I used coupons, shopped sales & can’t tell you the number of times I heard the comments about things in my cart & how I needed to get a real job & stop abusing the system. Forget the fact that maybe crab legs were on sale & cheaper then ground meat that week, how dare I eat those & abuse the system!! How dare I drive a decent car that I saved up 7 years to be able to afford?? How dare I exist outside of the narrative that they had created in their head? And I realize as someone who is caucasian that what I heard isn’t a quarter of what other people hear.
For those in the US, forgive me since that’s where I live, that’s what I know, welfare benefits aren’t a free pass to a life of luxury. Do you know that benefits can’t be used to buy toilet paper and sanitary supplies? Yep, people on benefits are really abusing the system when they can’t even get basic hygiene products.
As far a drug testing for support that is the biggest waste of money that I’ve heard of and is only trotted out to make people feel that they are better then “those people”. Increase the ability to seek help without stigmatizing those that have an addiction and life will get better. Kick someone when they are down will only make life worse. If your life is already a hell, telling someone you will make it worse if they don’t perform to you standards doesn’t help.
Wait what? You can’t use benefits to buy toilet paper or sanitary supplies? Why on earth not?
This doesn’t even address the fundamental idea behind the success of things like needle exchange programs. It turns out that treating people like their lives have worth is a better way to bring them back from the brink.
Also, homelessness is helped best by getting people in a home first (radical I know). Then treating any health issues (mental included), the success rate is much better. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First
I blame this mollycoddling of slackers on our radical socialist president.
Nearly half of Americans willing to concede that poverty may not result from character flaws
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/20/1308472/-Nearly-half-of-Americans-willing-to-concede-that-poverty-may-not-result-from-character-flaws
Poll: Fewer Americans Blame Poverty on the Poor
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/poll-fewer-americans-blame-poverty-poor-n136051
If/when cannabis is legalized, do you think US employers will still continue testing for it? Would that be legally feasible? If yes, would it be a precedent for testing tobacco and alcohol?
I suppose alcohol is already often tested along with illegal drugs, in the sense that you shouldn’t be drunk at job. Years ago I read on New Scientist that some US schools had been testing their students for alcohol breakdown products, which can survive for days. This was on the basis that minors shouldn’t drink even on their spare time.
My thought, while not backed up by citation, is because the vast majority of people see those that need help as less then human.
One of the main reasons that I got into coupons was so I could afford the basics in life. Being hungry & being torn between buying something to fill you stomach or something to wipe your behind is never a fun position to be in. But of course I was living the high life with my $150 month benefits. Rice & beans get old fast.
I am thankfully in a much better place in life now but it took years for me to get here and I’ll still go toe to toe with people at the grocery store when they think they are righteous to judge others for what is in their cart. Contrary to what people think most people receiving help are more then above board and if they could pull their heads out of their behinds for just a minute they would realize that in the US you are one medical emergency/job loss/unexpected bill away from being in the same position.
I had to be drug tested to start my job! And yes, I was definitely treated like a criminal. Not because anyone thought I was, the nurses knew it was a new-hire screening, but the rules they had to follow are definitely demeaning. I had to wash my hands in front of the nurse, then she squirted some blue stuff all over the sink and inside the toilet. Then, she had to turn the water off so I wouldn’t be able to use the faucet. I had to leave my purse with her and pee in a cup with her standing outside the stall. Talk about stage fright! It took me a really long time to relax and pee in the middle of all this crap, which just compounded the anxiety I felt that they’d think I was up to something. Finally, I wasn’t allowed to wash my hands after I peed. I had to wait until they labeled all my urine so I could get my purse, walk out of the office, then wash my hands. I was worried that maybe some of my prescribed meds might show a positive for something, but I didn’t dare to ask so as not to look like I was worried I may not pass, thus jeopardizing my chances at making a good first impression as an upstanding citizen.
It sort of blew my mind that many highly qualified applicants would be turned away for smoking pot once a week. So, so strange. So stupid. I mean really, if my drug problem interfered with my ability to do work, then we can discuss drugs and take it from there. Then there’s an issue. But if the only way you can tell I’m on drugs is if you screen me then what’s the fucking point of it?
Thankfully the UK is not (yet) at the point of dictating what people do with their benefits money, though I believe they do for asylum seekers. The beautiful irony of not allowing these nasty foriegns to buy condoms.
To some ‘people’ shampoo is a luxury. If you’re not wallowing in your own filth you can’t possibly be poor. These ‘people’ have a very particular idea of survival.
It really makes me think of the apocryphal thing about Marie Antoinette, having a great time pretending to be poor. These ‘people’ have a fantasy in their heads of how they’d manage with nothing and it does not correspond with reality.
As Sam-I-Was? says, rice (actually quite expensive now!) and beans do indeed get old fast.
The basic point here is that welfare is a provision to help you survive, not a reward for good behavior, so it shouldn’t matter what kind of person you are.
I worked for the Federal Government for twenty four years and was never drug tested.
It seems like a lot of people have a distorted impression of life on ‘welfare’, here in today’s modern world of the future. The number of people in the USA who just loll about, smoking crack and eating steak,waiting for that fat money pie to show up every month? Roughly zero. The idea that someone is getting away with something at YOUR expense is probably more addictive than tobacco, and worse for you.