This morning I found a strange message in my notifications on Twitter:
@DavidFutrelle Uncovers, the unrecoverable about MRAs in his own little feeble mind. Has he ever said anything good about MRAs? Anything?
— Attila L. Vinczer (@AttilaVinczer) July 15, 2014
Mr. Vinczer followed up this perplexing tweet with a bunch more insinuating that I’m a “hack,” a “pathological liar,” a “criminal,” and so on — as well as some links to what he apparently sees as “dirt” about me. (More on the latter in a moment.)
Apparently Vinczer — the “Activia Director” for men’s rights hate site A Voice for Men and the son of the genius who designed that AVFM commemorative coin — was stung by my gentle criticism of his father’s coin-designing skills.
So he has decided to dox me, apparently going as far as hiring a private detective to look into my allegedly sordid life.
PI will confirm, every living and non living fact about you. Enjoy your soon to be elevated infamous public status.
— Attila L. Vinczer (@AttilaVinczer) July 15, 2014
So far his doxing of me is not going very well, in that the “dirt” he has dug up about me is either wildly inaccurate, not particularly “infamous”– or not information about me, specifically, at all.
His most serious not-quite accusation: That I’m a criminal. His proof? He’s dug up a 2008 arrest record for some other guy named David Futrelle, roughly a decade older than me, with a different middle initial, and living nearly 900 miles away from me. This man — frankly, he seems like an embarrassment to all of us David Futrelles — was charged with the crime of “possessing stolen goods.”
Who is @DavidFutrelle ? A criminal? http://t.co/FNBy7eNoCt
— Attila L. Vinczer (@AttilaVinczer) July 15, 2014
In case anyone is wondering, I’ve never been arrested. Except once, by campus police, for participating in a sit-in protesting apartheid. (The charges were later dropped.)
The other, er, “information” Attila has dug up is, while actually related to me and not to some other guy, is just a teensy bit inaccurate.
NOTE: There is no city named AMFOHARE, Illinois, nor do any real telephone numbers in the US start with 555.
He has also managed to figure out that I have (gasp!) practiced journalism.
@Alvhun Wow. You have determined that I once wrote a piece for The American Prospect. I don't live in their offices in DC, though, FYI.
— David Futrelle (@DavidFutrelle) July 15, 2014
And he’s suggested that I might be, er, the Antichrist:
@DavidFutrelle is infatuated with #mrm with heavy leaning on AVFM. Could @DavidFutrelle be the Antichrist or just a cheap antagonist wannabe
— Attila L. Vinczer (@AttilaVinczer) July 15, 2014
But two can play at this game. So I have begun digging up information about this Attila guy. And what I have discovered so far is shocking.
He’s been pretty cagey so far about his career as Number One Hun.
And neither will I.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Attila Vinczer is not actually the “Activia Director” of AVFM. He is the “Activism Director.” Activia is yogurt that makes you poop, allegedly. He is also not Attila the Hun, as far as I know.
The PI i totally just hired says GWW sprung fully formed from a drum of toxic waste.
really found a new bottom of the fucking barrel for that one.
Thanks Shiraz. I wondered if they were going for “the pebble in the pond” but did not think even they so very trite. Still, their pond persists in looking like a crushed soda can.
Wait, Vinczer claimed he was doing “investigative journalism” via doxxing and stalking? No. No. If I or any of my former co-worker’s attempted to do such a thing, our editor would shut us down immediately for fear of a lawsuit. And like for being immoral. Hello? Sometimes, people would threaten reporters on our staff with doxxing in an effort to scare us off stories. Luckily, we had in office legal advisors who told us these were scare tactics that should be reported to the police.
Oh, thebewilderness, you’re welcome. And yes, it looks a lot like a “crushed soad can” too. Wow.
I still think we should start referring to that site as A Voice for Straight White Men (who really hate the ladies). So AVFSWMwrhtl. OK, so it’s a bit ungainly, but accuracy is important.
Never underestimate entitled dudebros. Make some videos about sexism and misogyny in video games? Make a documentary about the bad treatment people get for their weight? Turn down a prom invitation? Report your rapists? Be a female college student at a protest? They will want blood.
WWTH, what about this demonic cat?
http://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/picture/Lhos/1174326255-demoncat_b.jpg
A Voice For Able-bodied Neurotypical White Cis Straight Thin Male Colonialists.
AVFANWCSTMC
More power to the Men’s Rational Logical Superior Human Person Rights Movement! (MRLSHRPM)
Well, shit.
Our vet just rang. Fribbie’s thyroid readings are back in the normal range, but her kidney readings aren’t. She hasn’t responded to the kidney pills. So, the first choice is to put her on a special diet – except the food for that is chicken flavoured and Fribs only likes fish. Second is to fiddle around with more meds, which is less effective. The vet would also like, ideally, to have her in for three days on IV to flush those toxins, making a clean slate for treatment. Which would cost at least $500. We’ll probably do it, but I’ll have to ask Mum what she thinks, since she’s going to have to pay for this one. I just shelled out $200 yesterday for Fribbie’s checkup and blood scan.
Awww. So sorry, about that, kitteh. **Sigh** Stay strong.
Of course we could just admit that it really stands for A Voice for Misogynists, which is nice and short (and includes the honey badgers).
@ Kittehs
I nursed my kitty through 3 years of renal problems, so if you need help let me know.
Thanks, Shiraz, cassandra!
I might well email you about that. We’ve had kitties pass over due to renal failure, but I don’t recall if they managed three years from start to end. Given Fribs is 18, she probably doesn’t have too many years left here anyway (though who knows, she might fool us all and do a Magnus). It’ll be great if I can persuade her to eat the kidney food, but the thing is it has to be the only food they get to work. Even a little other food has too many of the toxins the kidneys just aren’t processing. It’ll take some doing to persuade Fribs to eat this stuff.
@Marinerachel: I am gross.
Me and the wife have chortled together over Youtube videos of sebaceous cysts. they’re disgusting, but compelling as they are drained.
Update: Mum’s home and we’ve booked Fribs into the
house of torturevet clinic tomorrow. At least she gets to take a few tins of her favourite food with her (the stuff I’d just stocked up on ‘cos it was on sale … sigh.)Hmm, cysts … Fribs has a recurring cyst on her neck. First time our poor vet pressed it, it blasted goo on her face. Such a fun job.
GWW’s thing:
So you and David can’t be doxxed, because your identities are already publicly known. Okay.
…I guess people whose identities are known can be doxxed. But maybe this is a special case because of the parents?
…Or maybe you just can’t keep track of what you’re saying for three paragraphs.
You haven’t lived until you’ve squeezed out dog anal glands.
katz: that last statement is a little inaccurate. She can’t keep track of what’s she’s saying from one sentence to the next.
…I think I just figured out why his dad volunteered to design a coin for him.
Bloke I worked with in my first job had to do that for his beagle. He described it graphically enough that it’s burned into my brain thirty years later!
Given the current state of David’s twitter discussion with whoever the hell blackbeard is, perhaps he should try bringing up Senator Cools again?
After all, AVFM doesn’t associate with homophobia, nope nope nope.
Kitteh — maybe Fribs could have actual fish with the special food? At least at first so silly puss associates the new stuff with fish? Not that doing that with brine shrimp and tubifex got Puff to eat the damned tubifex!
Good luck to you and your feline overlord!
At least there’s several David Futrelles to make it harder to target Our Benevolent Overlord with harassment. I am unlucky enough to have a name that’s unique in google searches, which is my main reason for choosing to stay pseudonymous when discussing the manosphere – I’d rather have accounts that are completely separated from my professional and social circles for this stuff, just in case some dudebro with a bug up his butt suddenly decides it’d be fun to make my life hell.
Kittehs, I hope Fribbs gets better.