If the Men’s Rights movement is looking for a celebrity endorser, I think I’ve found just the guy for them: the mixed martial arts fighter, and erstwhile porn actor, War Machine, currently sitting in jail on charges of brutally beating and attempting to kill his ex-girlfriend, porn star Christy Mack.
Men’s Rights activists should be able to look past these criminal charges; after all, as they remind us all the time, women are forever falsely accusing innocent men of all sorts of terrible things.
And in so many ways War Machine is perfect for them. An MMA fighter, he’s already only one letter away from being an MRA. A misogynistic asshole with rage issues, he’ll have no trouble fitting in with the Men’s Rights crowd. And, especialy important for a movement that has a lot of trouble getting any good PR, he’s a bit more comfortable on camera than the Paul Elams and Dean Esmays of the world, with experience on television (on the reality show The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra), and in seven films (albeit pornographic ones).
Best of all: he’ll need no ideological education from what A Voice for Men likes to call Fuck Shit Up University. War Machine – real name Jonathan Koppenhaver – is already an outspoken proponent of many of the Men’s Rights Movement’s core beliefs.
Consider these selections from a little Men’s Rights manifesto War Machine wrote a few years ago during a previous stint behind bars, serving time for felony assault after two bloody bar fights. His rant, which a friend posted to the internet, would fit right in with the sort of stuff we’ve seen regularly posted on the Men’s Rights subreddit, or The Spearhead, or A Voice for Men. I’ve bolded some of the Men’s Rightsiest bits:
The oppression of MEN is worse than oppression of Jews in Nazi germany, worse than the slavery of Blacks in early America…
There has always been the oppressor and always the oppressed. Before, it was blatant … NOW the oppressor has learned to disguise his evil. You can see man, but you can not see MEN. How easy it is to oppress a minority that is invisible to the eye! How genius of the oppressor! And what a better target too! …
Men challenge injustice from Government, MEN fight for their Constitutional rights, that are slowly being taken away every year. …
And they don’t just oppress us by making more laws and taking away more freedom, they are far more clever than that! Ask yourself what your REAL dream was?? If you gave up on this dream, why? Because of the brainwashing of the Government, that’s why! They taught you to “play it safe.” They told us a responsible man has ONE wife, a house, good credit, good job, and kids. How are you supposed to chase your dreams while maintaining all of that!?
Men are supposed to take risks and be aggressive! What accomplishments have ever come of a man scared to risk it all!? None!? Where would the world be? Still ‘flat!’ Still ‘Earth at the center of the universe!’
If any of you have your Men’s Rights Bingo cards out, I’m guessing you might already be close to scoring a bingo. We’ve got a comparison to slavery that could have come straight from the pages of A Voice for Men, a marriage-is-death-to-male-dreams rant that could have been borrowed from any MGTOW forum, and an evo-psych-esque argument that men are the true risk-takers and the world’s real innovators.
And I don’t think War Machine would have much trouble with Paul Elam’s “Bash a Violent Bitch Month,” either.
[I]t’s Christmas day and I’m laying in my bunk wondering “Why in the hell do American men get married!?” … If your wife is being a bitch you can’t slap her, if your wife is yelling at you, God forbid you yell back … Next thing you know it will be illegal to fuck your wife! LMAO! Maybe then, MEN in this country will get the fucking hint and MOVE! This country forces you to be a bitch!
In another online posting, War Machine touched on another Men’s Rights hobbyhorse, the notion that the justice system is stacked against men:
[L]ook at the prisons, they are FULL of MEN, not women. Are men “evil” and women not? Or do the laws target and attempt to restrict NATURAL MEN’S BEHAVIOR? How many of the HEROES in American history would avoid prison if they lived today? Davey Crockett? Thomas Jefferson? David Bowie? General Grant & General Lee? Shit, George Washington. … Laws target MEN and men’s behavior. Women want to bitch and cry about their rights and equality… LMAO! MEN are the ones locked away like animals, while women run free!
Someone might have to explain to War Machine that David Bowie is not actually a famous American HERO but a famously androgynous British musician who once recorded an album called “Heroes.” (Mr. Machine may be thinking of James Bowie, a well-known 19th century American frontiersman and slave trader, and the guy the Bowie Knife is named after.)
But other than that, he seems ready to go.
There is, of course, that whole attempted murder charge to deal with.
It’s true the Men’s Rights Movement has had few problems in the past rallying behind men with histories of violence. But War Machine might be a harder sell as a Men’s Rights hero. His alleged attack on Mack left her with a cracked rib, a ruptured liver, numerous broken bones, missing teeth and her eyes swollen shut. (See here for photos of her injuries; obviously this link is NSFW and could be triggering.)
While Mr. Machine denies attacking Mack, he joked to a TV host last year that if she were to leave him “I would just kill her” and get a tattoo saying “Rest In Peace” above the tattoo of her name he has on his neck.
And several hours after allegedly trying to murder her, War Machine tweeted this lovely message about his ex:
https://twitter.com/WarMachine170/statuses/497663075831787521
War Machine does seem to be at a low point in his life. Even aside from the charges he faces, and the time he seems likely to serve, his career in porn is almost certainly over. The “Alpha Male” clothing line he helped start wants nothing to do with him. Nobody but the prison system seems to want this guy.
In other words: Men’s Rights activists, this is your chance! War Machine may not be the, er, hero you want. But he’s certainly the hero you deserve.
Oh no. I’m away for a couple of days, and this happens.
I don’t really feel like commenting on the subjects brought up in this thread, so I’ll just say I’m sad to see people I like leave or feel reluctant to comment here anymore. There are a lot of great comments that will be left unwritten now.
But if this is not a good place for you anymore, you of course do what you need to do. Best of luck to you all.
I’m going to need some ice cream now. And kitty videos. I love kitty videos.
Kittehs.
How about a video of a kitty eating an ice cream cone?.
This Inez’s wearing a tiny hat.
“Inez’s” = “ones.”
What do you have against mgtow’s? Say what you will but we aren’t violent. This was a decent article but I have some qualms. For one there is a pretty big difference between real mra’s and masculinits. Mra’s shine a light on men’s issues that deserve to be talked about without being mocked whereas masculinists are a scary bunch, male supremacists just as bad as any hategroup.
This has been said many, many times before Travis but I’ll say it again. If MGTOWs actually went their own way, we wouldn’t even notice them and there’d be nothing to hold against them. Instead of doing that however, they spend oodles of time on the internet posting hateful misogynistic things about women.
How are MRAs shining light on issues that need to be talked about? They aren’t interested in discussing men’s issues unless it’s something that can be blamed on women. I believe it was in this very thread that someone posted the new comment policy at AVFM. Commenters are not allowed to talk with anyone feeling suicidal. They can only copy and paste a message that’s essentially “fuck off and Google a suicide hotline.” They also posted a suicide meme that was so offensive to Robin Williams (among others) that it got taken off of Facebook. And Facebook usually leaves hateful speech up as they’re too busy making sure nobody has to see breast feeding pictures.
Go your own fucking way, Travis. No one will care or even notice. Post misogynistic screed after misogynistic screed riddled with lies and decent human beings are going to take exception to your bigoted bullshit.
Travis, can you show us the MRA’s that actually care about people? Nobody can seem to find them.
Now, I don’t believe this is necessarily true. If you need a label like MGTOW for “I’m not going to date or get married, ever”, you’re probably expecting people to care what you’re doing with your personal life. That takes a pretty big ego. And what do people with large egos do when they’re confronted with the reality that no one actually cares? That’s right, they get angry. Angry men, especially when taught by society that violence is an acceptable method for men to solve their problems and defeat their “enemies”, may get violent.
And yeah, I’d like to see what the MRAs are actually doing about male issues. So far, all the head honchos seem to be focusing on is how it’s the fault of women that men have problems.
@lindwormlady & sparky:
Kitties! So adorable!
MGTOWs are angry and hate women. ‘Nuff said.
I keep hearing this tired old canard that they’re not one and the same.
I keep seeing evidence to the contrary.
The onus is on MGTOWs to go their own damn way and shut the fuck up about it, already. Only then will I take them seriously as anything other than violent walking freak scenes.
Well congratu-fucking-lations. I guess now we can all be best friends.
Can we all take a moment to thank dog Travis showed up in this thread? Because holy glitterballs, this thread needed a Travis.
Anyway, Travis, no-one here has anything against MGTOW’s, other than the fact they never seem to get to the GTOW part.
:: Channels Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy ::
Stop acting like you’re doing us a favor by not being violent! Normal people aren’t violent!
And more to the point: Stop acting like we owe you any favors just because you’re not being violent. (And yes, respect for a bullshit POV is one of those.)
I bailed the other night rather abruptly, I apologize.
I have reasons for going, some personal, some petty, and just a general need to get this toxic stuff out of my life. I will say that I’m not comfortable with the feminism I’m seeing lately, and I don’t think a discussion would be productive, so I’m going to show myself out.
There’s more than a few people here I’ll miss. If you’d like to keep in touch, just add gmail.com after my nym.
I’m sorry to see you go, hellkell. Take care.
Will shoot you an e-mail, hellkell.
And, lol, not violent therefore not contemptible. That is funny, Sir! Most of the homophobes I know aren’t violent. They still suck and are Part of the Problem.
My problem with “you people” by which I mean MGTOWs is you keep lying. These guys who hate me not because we’ve ever had a negative interaction or anything but because I have a vulva and they don’t like people with those because irrationality keep saying they’re so sick of me they’re going their own way and I get super pumped because that’s exactly what I’d like to see AND THEN THEY NEVER DO!
Glad to see a followup message from you, hellkell. It makes me feel better.
You have cracked me up on several occasions. Take care.
I’m going to contribute one last time before I take my leave because, yeah, I think a few too many people are upholding a really paternalistic attitude that’s resulting in others feeling they can’t discourage hurtful and potentially toxic ideas from being challenged based on who they come from. I’m not comfortable with that. I get it. I believe it comes from a kind place. I think it’s inhibiting the discussion I believe needs to happen though so I’m at the point of giving up. That’s OK. I’d hate to see this place suffer and die. I really consider the compassion and genuine kindness I’ve seen from many of you invaluable. I don’t like something I see happening here though and I’m afraid exactly what I see happening prevents the discussion that needs to happen from happening because ideas when they come from certain people are sacrosanct. That’s why I’m at that “Not worth it” point. I’m leaving for the time being with a heavy heart.
This will be my last contribution for the time being:
My mom was telling me about a great sermon at her church which by all accounts was wonderful and very informative for her. The problem is the group who gave the presentation are associated with holocaut denialist groups. I kindly but firmly told her “Mom, please be careful who you talk about this presentation around. This organisation is associated with Holocaust denialist groups and some people will be really hurt if they hear you promoting this group.”
I wasn’t calling my mom a holocaut denialist or nazi sympathizer or anything. I was informing her of unintensd implications of what she was saying, that unpleasant people use some of the same ideas albeit to a very nasty end. That’s it. No accusations. No comparisons. Just informed her and asked her to be careful.
And that’s why I don’t think accusing anyone of having compared anyone else to a rapist or called them a rape apologist is fair. It’s just saying “As I understand it your argument is hurtful to me because I have seen it used by others to a terrible end.” That’s it.
Folks who’re on the forum and want to stay in touch can send me a message there so I can get in touch via email, or if hellkell doesn’t mind playing intermediary maybe through her. Since I already have one creepy little internet stalker I can’t post my email, unfortunately.
I haven’t read the conversation here for the last few days and I’m not going to – sorry, but when someone’s calling me an asshole for being concerned about their arguments not only potentially being able to be used to facilitate rape, but already having been used that way? And for not feeling safe in this space any more? Nope, I’m not engaging with that kind of crap.
I had a great time here for a long time, and will miss quite a few of you, but seeing even a little of what happened after I explained why I felt like I needed to leave? I’d love to stay in touch with some of you, but it can’t be here. Which is actually really sad, but such is life.
Love and kisses to everyone who’s been a friend to me over the years, and take care of yourselves.
I’m sad. I’ve only been able to keep up with the open thread for personal stuff lately, and I don’t know what’s been happening in the rest of the threads, but it’s clearly been tense.
I’m very sorry to see you go, hellkell and cassandrakitty. Take care of yourself, and I hope I see you around elsewhere.
I will say that, every time this community has had heated discussions in the past in which the majority were on one side and cassandrakitty was on the other, cassandrakitty had the right of it every time. I think her instincts are dead-on, and I think she shows great patience and kindness in explaining her views to people who are often obtuse, myself included.
Cassandrakitty, I think that you have been a big part of why this community has always been such an internet haven for me, and I think we’ll be the poorer without you.
I am really truly going to miss those who are leaving. Everyone needs to do what is going to be best and safest for them. I wish everyone the best.
I want to ask: Do people want to try to hash out some of the issues being brought up, or do we want to let it die? I truly do not know what would be better. Not hashing things out could result in bad blood festering. But there’s also not much to be gained from continuous arguments either. I just don’t know, which is why I’m asking.
If we want to hash it out, a separate thread with an understood “be courteous” policy would be best.
No accusations leveled at specific community members.
No name calling.
No assuming what other people say means they’re saying ——.
Say what you feel, Lots of I type statements: not ‘You make me’ type.
No group generalizations within the thread, unless the group is specifically defined.
It seems like this issue just gets way too heated, too fast, and then suddenly people are reading subtexts everywhere and bad feelings happen where no bad feelings should exist and badness error 10583… Badboxes, error overflow.
If we can’t do it that way, I’d really rather we just moved on from here. I love you all, and I know these things are good to talk about, but…
… I really don’t want to lose more of you. These fights feel like they’re tearing little bits off my heart.
Cassandrakitty, hellkell, I’m gonna miss you so much. Marie, fade, you disappeared last time we argued like this, and I miss you two as well. So much.
I don’t always agree with you all, and sometimes I disagree a hell of a lot, but I still miss you all when you leave.
Even people who leave after saying mean, heated things, like in past arguments…
… Big hole.
🙁