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.
So, generalization that has potential splash damage for you even though it wasn’t meant to include you = don’t do that, but generalization that has potential splash damage for other people even though it wasn’t meant to include them = totes cool?
This has been discussed quite extensively on a sex worker forum I’m involved in and… honestly it makes me sick. My line of work can seriously warp one’s perceptions and, while I’ve managed to stave it off so far, the discourse surrounding this pushed my limits pretty hard.
As Christy is going to need extensive reconstructive surgery and likely will not be returning to adult work, she needs all the help she can get. https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/qcd5/christy-mack-s-medical-expense-fund. There’s already been some incredible donationsto her medical fund, but she’ll likely need a lot more. If anyone has a few dollars to spare, I’m sure she’ll be grateful.
@ Nova
Do you know if she’s doing OK? I don’t mean medically, more emotionally.
Besides, change it to “male supremacy ideologoues are fucking terrifying” and you get the same picture perfect message across.
Anyhow, this is a prime example of why it took me so long to get back to martial arts. Superiorbros radiate a repulsor field.
I used to do martial arts and would kind of like to get back into it, but yeah, it only takes one person like this guy in a class to ruin the whole experience. I’ve been thinking of maybe starting with tai chi classes since they don’t tend to attract the macho crowd and then seeing if I can find a martial arts class where nobody aspires to be Rambo via word of mouth.
They aren’t equivalent. Generalizing about men is not oppressive because men are not oppressed, whereas using language that reinforces the notion of gendered bodies directly contributes to trans people’s oppression. That term I objected to wasn’t on based on me believing “But some women have scrotums” but rather on me believing “That language is transphobic even though that user is well-meaning.”
In any case, I made it clear that I wasn’t referring to all men. I have also said similar things about white people in the form of “White people are [insert negative trait]” but there are a lot of individual white people I like, many of whom are among the commenters here.
I wouldn’t be too hard on Ally for the “men are terrifying” comment. My observation is that only a minority of us are really dangerous but that it’s not at all easy to know when you might have to / are dealing with a dangerous specimen. Ally’s experiences seem to justify a fairly high degree of distrust.
I am big enough to be pretty scary if I need to be, and I have needed to be scary twice for about a total of 40 minutes in my 67 years. Luckily I was able to pull it off both times — I convinced the other guy that he really didn’t want a piece of me after all — meaning that I was able to avoid actual violence, which I happen to abhor.
So if it’s not oppressive you’re entitled to do if even if people tell you not to? I’m not sure why you feel that it’s OK to say things like that, but again, you are being asked to desist.
I’m taking my first kickboxing class tonight. There’s only three people in it including the instructor, so hopefully no Rambos.
Ally, you’re being a gigantic hypocrite, please stop.
@Ally:
No, saying “men are fucking terrifying” is not oppressive, nor is it equivalent with transphobic remarks. That doesn’t mean its a good thing, or something we should be fully ok with saying.
@nova: I’ll be donating when I get the chance!
Kickboxing sounds both awesome and exhausting. I think I may need to start with something a bit less physically demanding, plus I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of punching people.
(Which I know is weird and illogical, since I used to do kung fu, which is just as capable of causing serious injury. The people, we often do not make sense.)
Honestly, I don’t know. I know a few people that know her casually but they’re not talking and I’m not asking, out of respect for her privacy. I do know that she has a lot of caring people around her and trying to make sure she’s taken care of.
That’s not what I implied. I just said those two things aren’t comparable. And I said that in order to address the accusation that I’m being a hypocrite by supporting one generalization and condemning another.
Anyway, I’ll desist.
I really really didn’t realise using certain dangly genitalia terms was transphobic and I’m very sorry. I try not to use ‘dick’ etc but I just didn’t realise it could have more connotations and I’m sorry again.
This guy is such a shithead that my worry is what damage he might have already done to her self-esteem even before this particular incident happened.
@Ally:
“They aren’t equivalent. Generalizing about men is not oppressive because men are not oppressed, whereas using language that reinforces the notion of gendered bodies directly contributes to trans people’s oppression. That term I objected to wasn’t on based on me believing “But some women have scrotums” but rather on me believing “That language is transphobic even though that user is well-meaning.””
The thing is, this is not strictly speaking correct. Generalizibg about anyone is generally impolite. That’s it. It’s not about the embedded power structures aided by unconscious discourse as it relates to the public perception of virtue, power dynamics and stereotypes. It’s about not being rude.
I get a little “eeeeh” when you do the “white people are x” or “men are y” too, because it’s kind of bothersomely generally untrue. That’s it.
So… Maybe don’t.
Speaking of “terrifying” and language choices, clunky segue into what I thought a pretty damning paragraph War Machine wrote!
Using “terrorize” as an innuendo for sex (I hope) after being jailed for beating up an ex. Fantastic.
Kickboxing is fantastic! Wish they had classes at a time I could attend. It’s bloody exhausting though. Hope it’s fun, Hellkell.
@Nova If the opportunity arises, please mention that lots of people who do not know her are wishing her well. If that…I’d hate to intrude, but, we do.
While it’s clear to me that Gawker threads often become overrun with self-identified MRAs, I was startled by just how many people flocked to the original Gawker thread reporting on this story to surmise that “she must have been cheating on him” and of course, that lovely chestnut, “what did she expect, going out with a guy like that.”
I wish people would be honest with what they mean by ‘masculinity’. They must clearly know that lots and lots of people do not conflate ‘masculinity’ with violence and rape yet they use it as a handy shield to explain their shitty behaviour. If you know what you’re doing is wrong at least be honest about it!
That “terrorize” comment makes me wish my vagina came with a built in zip and padlock.
omg Dawkins has inserted foot in mouth AGAIN. What is that mans problem?