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.
I think I’m starting to see what the problem in now. What was really going down in this thread.
This I gotta hear. You’ve been here for all of a minute and now you’d like you’d like to tell us what our problem is?
Look, I’m sorry I’m in attack mode, but we’re finally having a conversation, and that comment isn’t helping.
@lindwormlady
Since the topic came up, I threw that question in. Trust me that trans issues are not what I was upset about. I’m pissed off about troubling behaviours that have been enabled and excused by too many people.
Don’t worry I understand this is more important for you guys. So I’ll just leave.
I wish you all the best.
Frankly, trans issues were not my main issues with Ally. I resented the fuck out of how she’d make any thread all about her if given any encouragement. That was emotionally exhausting, and seriously diminished my enjoyment of this space.
(Sigh) I knew this wasn’t going to end well.
I’m not seeing the relevance of Tumblr to this either. I’m happy staying in my uninformed state on that, I have a strong suspicion that what I don’t know won’t upset me.
pallygirl: Tumblr seems to be a petri dish for some really…interesting ideas that get released like spores to the greater internet.
Hey everyone,
Selfishly interrupting the conversation for exciting news! I’m hosting a Go room on the KGS server, which should be all live in 10 minutes! If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to play Go, or if you want to play with other mammotheers, come on over!
To play, click on the “Play Go Now!” link on the linked page. This should open a login box. If you type a name and hit “guest” you can join in.
Next, at the top menu bar there should be a “rooms” drop-down. Go there to open up the rooms list and search for “Mammoth Go” under the “New Rooms” category. I’m going to try to make the room private without knowing what that does, so I’ll make another comment if there are weird steps to take.
I’ll start at 8:00pm EST by opening up a demonstration-ish game to explain the rules to people and go over the basics of the strategy, then people can figure out if they want to play games or do other things. There’s chat in the room too, so that’s nice. If all goes according to plan, I may even be able to grace you all with my beautiful voice!
Sorry for the interruption!
Kirby, thanks for the interruption. It was needed. I’ll attempt to join in when I get off work. 🙂
Totally counting down the next 90 minutes…
Won’t let me join because it’s private!
@Viscaria:
What user name are you using?
Viscaria. I wasn’t feeling terribly creative XD
Try joining now. I might have to add everyone manually if I keep the room private… Worthwhile, or should I make it public and make it easier to join?
I think the thing to do to keep it private is to private message me when you log in. My user name is “kirbywarp” obviously, you can find it in the English Game Room user list. I think if you right click on my name, you can send me a message. I’ll add you to the user list when you do.
I would join but I really suck at those sorts of games. I don’t think any training, short of hours and hours, would help me. 🙁
@pallygirl:
There’s a chatbox, so feel free to hang out and watch if you want.
Right now it’s just kirby trying to teach my dumb butt how to play. You could definitely join!
Have fun playing Go y’all!
Lindwormlady — was that meant as “ah, I see what you’re discussing” or “I know what the problem here is”? Cuz the former is totally fine, the latter, yeah, this is about way more than if a penis can be on a female body.
General — I’ll readily say and penis/vagina can be on a non-male/non-female body, but, respectively, they’re medically male and female anatomy. Now, is medicine cis centric? Oh fuck yes. But I don’t think the question is whether penis = male body so much as whether penis = male body part. Cuz, imho, it’d be denying biology to say that a penis isn’t considered a bit of male anatomy. But that doesn’t mean that a trans woman with a penis has a male body, just that she has a body part that’s male, or that she has male genitalia. The latter, I think, is the problem here — that lesbians, in general, are not interested in sexytimes that involve male anatomy. Whether we call a trans woman’s body male (not okay with that), or her penis a male part (meh), or say she has genitals that are traditionally considered male (my preferred phrasing), doesn’t matter as to whether any particular lesbian is interested in sexytimes that involve a penis. If she doesn’t want penis related sexytimes, prolly doesn’t matter who that penis is attached to (I mean, she might find someone who breaks that rule, seems to me plenty of exclusively gay people, and straight people, have the rare exception, but yeah, exception is the key word there)
Wow, slow typing was slow! I guess just go with “enjoy your game” and leave the rest for latter! I should be swearing at JS anyways.
Apparently my Java plugin is out of date. And my DSL is flaky. I’m working on it.
My security settings are blocking the applet.
Argenti, I agree with the way you’re characterizing it. But I definitely cannot and will not agree with misgendering people.
Oh, and good luck with the axolotl. I hope you’ll share pictures.
I’m having the security settings issue now too.
thumbs up to Argenti, thank you for that explanation.
Hum. Isn’t there a way to just hit “ok” on some java dialogue to let it run?
I’m on linux playing on a non-webstart version, so I can’t help too much.