I suppose none of us should really be shocked that the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager literally shot in the back reportedly shot six times by a white officer, has caused barely a ripple in the world of the Men’s Rightsers — there are only two small threads on the subject on the Men’s Rights subreddit at the moment, and the only active one is filled with a lot of tut-tutting about “violent” protesters. It’s hardly news that MRAs, almost all of them white men, are more interested in lamenting their own imagined oppression than they are in dealing with the real injustices faced by young men of color.
But I have to admit I was a bit surprised by the callous “logic” in the following, currently the top comment in the only thread devoted to Michael Brown’s death in the FeMRAdebates subreddit:
![ZorbaTHut Egalitarian [score hidden] 8 hours ago* Well, first, homicide may be the leading cause of death among young black men, but it's not the leading cause of death among men. It is certainly a concern, but the good news is that there are many organizations already concerned about it. The MRM aims towards improving the rights of all men, not small subsets of men, and spending a bunch of effort on an issue that is already well-covered would be a gross misuse of the MRM's relatively meager resources. That said, keep in mind why you've heard about this at all. Michael Brown's murder isn't getting airtime because he was male; it's getting airtime because he was black and because he was killed by a white police officer in a massive show of police power. If he was white and homeless you might have heard a bit about it, but it certainly never would have been discussed by the Tumblrsphere. If he was killed by someone who wasn't a police officer, nobody would give a shit, black or white. The problem isn't that the MRM is ignoring Michael Brown. The problem is that everyone else ignores all the male murder victims who weren't a black person killed by a white man in power. This problem isn't solved by making even more of a media circus around the one-in-hundred-thousand male murder victim that Jezebel decides to bother with.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/zorba.png?resize=497%2C408&ssl=1)
“Egalitarianism,” you’re doing it wrong.
The FeMRAdebates subreddit is supposed to be a neutral forum for feminists and MRAs to discuss issues, yet somehow manages to be even more cringe-inducing than the Men’s Rights subreddit.
(Thanks to diehtc0ke on Reddit for pointing out this amazing comment.)
@hellkell
Especially since the last I heard, the average street-level gang affiliated drug dealer ends up making less than minimum wage. It’s not really lucrative at all for the amount of risk involved.
Just double-checked: the number’s I’m referring to are from the 2008 book by Sudhir Venkatesh based on his experience befriending a local gang leader. His 3 lieutenants made about 7.70 an hour (fairly close to the minimum wage at the time). Street-level drug dealers made an average of 3.30 an hour, and those positions were highly sought after as most of the gang members made no money at all.
Last I recall, the MRM was more than happy to co-opt all the POC being put in jail into their argument that men are considered disposable, locked up under the most trivial charges, and treated like scum. When people tried to point out it was a race and/or class issue, not a gender issue, they’d get all huffy and insist it was about gender.
But when a young man is shot in the back on the street, now they decide that it really isn’t a gender issue?
So, when it’s helpful to your argument against feminists, you’ll gladly pretend the issues of black men are the issues of all men, but when it isn’t, “meh.”
Doubly ironic is the complaint about resources when they balk at feminists arguing that feminism should devote its resources to women’s issues.
Cloudiah
“Its a shit sandwich.”
Would you like shit fries and a shit coke with that?
It’s simply the only avenue open to them when all other avenues are closed. Defund the schools so their education is worthless, fill the neighborhoods with police so that even the slightest infraction ( walking, running, driving, standing around with black skin) gets you into the penal system as young as possible, and then craft laws that make it impossible to make a living, rent an apartment or go to school … And yeah the future’s so bright!
I’m not normally a violent person but this fool needs to be inundated with sharp heavy slaps. He just used the grand trifecta of racist excuses to explain why they won’t support the rights of Black men to …you know..live.
That massive shitstain needs to shut up and take several seats.
If the subject in question isn’t about their boners ,they can’t possibly be bothered to care.
Let’s see… so, MRAs don’t care about black folks murdered, they don’t care about male rape victims, they don’t care about veterans’ needs…
But they’re a totally legit movement who are achieving great things. Right.
(Also oh man, the stuff happening in Ferguson. D8)
Hey guys, off topic, but have you heard about this?
http://www.avclub.com/article/twitter-change-its-policies-after-zelda-williams-w-208157
Apparently, Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, posted a tribute to him on Twitter after his death and was greeted with, among an outpouring of support, some pretty vicious trolling and at least 2 photoshopped pictures of his dead body. Twitter is going to review its harassment policies because of the incident, but she is taking a break, possibly a permanent one, from social media.
Was anybody else who posted a tribute to him trolled? Or just his daughter? Why is that?
Hey guys, can we not use “POC” to refer to Black and Latino men? This is a specifically Black situation, and using “POC in its stead elides the fact that it’s not all men of color or all people of color– it’s Black people and Latin@ people who bear the brunt of police violence.
This shit is hardly surprising. Remember when Matt Binder “debated” Paul Elam while Dean Esmay “moderated?” Neither of them had ANYTHING to say about Stop and Frisk. Esmay even ASKED for a fucking ARTICLE about it. Binder was shocked. Surely you haven’t heard of it? It’s been like…all over the news. EVERYWHERE. And Esmay weasels out of it by saying they are a “volunteer” organization. WE CAN’T KNOW OR GET TO EVERY SINGLE ISSUES. GEEZ, GUY.
@tesformes: Apparently, someone decided she didn’t have enough selfies with him online, so that means she didn’t really love him.
Also, maybe we should move the Robin Williams convo to the August Open Thread a few posts back.
Tesformes
Wow I hope they will walk forever on Legos.
I think that’s a good idea, Falconer. I liked Mr. Williams too, but Michael Brown takes priority here.
“If he was white nobody would have heard of it.”
It is of course entirely unsurprising MRAs would have such a “logic”. It’s the same attitude they always display:
“What about the menz?”
is now
“What about the whitez?”
If it’s not about them, they don’t care. They think they have a god given right that the world should revolve around them.
So, the “tiny subset[s] of men” that include those unjustly accused of rape and those who were unable to obtain custody of their children for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON AT ALL are totally worth all the time and effort of MRAs who want to “represent all men” (except those who are perfectly fine with and like women, who are purple poodles/manginas/white knights only in it to get laid, or gay guys, or trans* men, or black and Latino men, or men who just go about their lives without taking the red pill and don’t understand the STAKES in this WAR AGAINST MEN).
But issues that affect men that can’t somehow be blamed on women, those are not issues that the MRM prioritises. Right. Got it.
I can’t wait for these jackasses to find their social consciences and cry “racism” the next time HRC says anything disparaging about somebody who isn’t white.
I’ve always said that a man has enough blood to run his brain or his boner, but not both at the same time. So, then, if you have a group of men with a perpetual hard-on … well, I don’t think I have to draw a picture.
Awareness of their own hypocrisy isn’t their strong suit.
…What is their strong suit? Oh yeah…
Projection and victim-blaming. This fits the pattern.
I keep hoping that these attitudes, expressed so openly by MRM people, will drive others away from their movement.
Men: your self-professed rights movement doesn’t care about most of you. Stop giving them money, and stop supporting them in comments on websites. Let them fade away into obscurity, as an embarrassing historical footnote.
@GrumpyOldMan – I cannot speak with any authority about men who love women, but for most of the gay men I knew when I was still romantically active it was directly proportional rather than inversely.
Given the considerable overlap between misogynists, MRMs and racists, this surprises me not even the slightest bit.
You know, the important to MRAs-type of homeless.
Do these guys do any actual reading beyond their own anti-feminist gibber gabber? I’m pretty sure everything this guy knows about racism he learned by staring into space while not thinking about racism.
The weird thing is, I’m pretty sure that no one was asking the MRM for help. After all, the MRM’s issues involve imaginary jackbooted thugs who arbitrarily punish men who have done no wrong. No one expects them to have to deal with real jackbooted thugs who arbitrarily punish men who have done no wrong.
It’s not a mens rights movement. It’s a boys rights movement.
I’d say it’s a Good Ol’ Boy’s Rights Movement.
@DJG What I said was 99.5% snark with 0.5% shaking my head at the way many men behave.
Of course there ARE men who can combine sex and mind. It’s just that there are too many who don’t seem to be able to.
Reblogged this on Sacrificial Tomato.