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Welcome to the first episode of MEME FAIL, a new series of posts in which I look at, well, memes that fail. It’s kind of all there in the name, huh?
Today, we look at a meme aimed at former Star Trek: The Next Generation star Wil Wheaton, who has apparently committed the egregious sin of expressing his opinion about #GamerGate on Twitter.
The MEME. (Click for a larger version.)
How it FAILS: There’s really no way in which this meme doesn’t fail.
Let’s start with the most obvious problem: Calling #GamerGaters stupid pieces of dog poop is not actually racist or sexist. Apparently, #GamerGaters feel that because there are some people in their little movement who aren’t straight cis white dudes, any insult directed at their little movement is therefore racist and sexist (and homophobic and transphobic)?
Yeah, that’s not how it works. It almost seems like #GamerGate is trying to use women and people of color (and GLBT folks) as, well, a way to shield themselves from criticism while being complete assholes and bigots?
Then there’s the whole “Eulogy” thing. Wheaton is not actually suggesting that #GamerGate should go die, literally or figuratively. He’s actually quoting from the lyrics of a song by Tool called, well, “Eulogy.”
The song in question, as best as anyone has been able to figure out, is a snarky takedown of a self-righteous, self-appointed martyr who “had a lot of nothing to say.” Tool’s drummer has suggested that it’s aimed at L. Ron Hubbard. But, as Wheaton notes, the song very well could have been written about #GamerGaters, if #GamerGaters had been a thing when it was written.
You sure could yell.
You took a stand on every little thing
And so loud.
Standing above the crowd
So loud. So very very loud.
BONUS IRONY: I ran across this meme being mocked on r/gamerghazi, but did a reverse image search to find a larger and more readable version of it. I found one in a thread on FunnyJunk.com in which one of the commenters refers to “Wil ‘Captain Mangina’ Wheaton” as “the gayest faggot in Fagtopia” and, well, let’s just say that the commenter also suggests that Wheaton enjoys anal sex.
Oh man, NetHack! I lost so much time to that, back in the day. Now I want to see how it has developed in the past twenty-odd years. There goes my weekend.
You might be disappointed, it hasn’t had a release at all in the past decade. I’ve switched to Dungeon Crawl now.
I’ve seen the hair sentiment a lot. It’s relatively simple, I think, and it has not a lot to do with attractiveness.
They tend to cast it in a light of false rebelliousness. You know, they think of it as people taking images from fiction to brand themselves, but really, actually they’re just consumer whores falling for a line.
The problem being that they don’t quite get that their attitude makes it more genuine rebellion. The moment stupid assholes start telling you what to do, defying them for defiance’s sake becomes a respectable position.
Delurking b/c Tool
@Jason_the_Cripple
Isn’t it “we need the wood and stakes”? Oh who knows, it wouldn’t be the first time I sang the wrong lyrics to Tool lol.
@Melyanna
Welcome to your new and improved life!
On the hair thing.
We’ve discussed round these before about the fact that manospherians tend to fixate on young attractive feminists for most of their hate and harassment. On the one hand, they hate women. Especially women who don’t want to bow down to their manly superiority. On the other hand, they’re young and conventionally attractive so they want to have sex with them.
A lot of young, stylish and attractive progressive women dye their hair in various dramatic colors. So naturally, these guys are going to fixate on it. It represents people they both loathe and want to fuck.
@ cassandra – I know what you mean; feminist hair could be a sort of evolution of lesbian hair (which was a Thing when I was socially active), or it could be something deliberately distinct.
I still think this is why there are no prominent gay MRAs. There are gay men who’re misogynists, but it takes a combination of misogyny and a frustrated sense of sexual entitlement to create an MRA.
@kirbywarp – whoa that Storify needs a NSFW label, holy crap. Anime porn bombing and lots of surprise penises, great way to start my day lol
I think one of the trends that’s come out with those who support GG is that part of the reason they do support it is that they don’t have the attention span or intellectual ability to understand anything more than the most simple and surface of ideas, so not only are they genuinely baffled why other people hate GG but they actually think these campaigns, like the tumblr campaign before it, are clever and subtle ha ha!
Thus Spake ZaraMoggie:
Yup. I’ve seen more than one MRA/PUA rant against women with dyed hair. It seems to come most frequently from the evo-psych and BioTruth fans in the manosphere: “The Purpose of Woman is to Look Pleasing, therefore showing her value as an Incubator for my Manly Seed!” When they start slopping around that bucket of swill, bloviation about Sexual Market Value and Genetic Superiority isn’t far behind. (Probably with a hefty dose of racism thrown in for good measure.)
Thus Spake ZaraNewt
Rejoice, sibling! The Dev Team has hinted a new release might be pending… sometime kinda-maybe-possibly-soon-ish. (They don’t give release dates, ever, but they’ve dropped some hints that work is still ongoing.)
@ DJG
There are still some haircuts that work pretty well as an ingroup tipoff, honestly, but I think these guys may be thinking more of Andrea Dworkin type hair. Given that these are the people who think that tattoos on women are misandry, though, who knows what they might mean?
Also this is making me want to dye my hair Manic Panic colors again, just to annoy them.
@cassandra
Ditto. Mine’s undyed right now but I’ve been thinking of going back to bright green anyway.
MRA really don’t understand the power of reverse psychology, do they?
I’m not sure if it actually works as an MRA repellant or not. Intellectually honest statements is not one of those defining MRA characteristics.
Sorry about the NSFW storify everyone, I didn’t browse through it long enough before I posted it… Yikes. Still hilarious though.
On dyed hair:
I think it’s just a matter of association and confirmation bias. Misogynists hate hate HATE women that are any sort of transgressive, social-justicey, or otherwise not docile little lambs waiting for a man to adopt them. Some of the more well-known women of that sort have dyed hair, and dyed hair is very noticeable. Thus, it becomes a “thing” for the misogynist who thinks all women act and think the same anyway.
The same dipshits who complain about dyed hair are fans of anime. Oh, the lack of self-awareness.
I love my dyed hair. It’s fun. I think it suits me. Hubby thinks it’s super cute. My hairdresser says it’s “sick”. My kids help me pick out colors. I enjoy it on so many levels and it is such an easy, simple thing. But, once I found out it scares the hell out of douchebros, I liked it even more. It takes a certain amount of confidence and a fuckitall attitude to try a new shade of brightly tinted hair. It takes maintenance and that says to them, “I think I’m worth spending some time and attention on”. They hate that. They hate everything about that. When I started dyeing my hair, I had no idea. I just liked it aesthetically and I liked trying something new. Now, I hope it gives shitheads nightmares. I’m all, “Boooo! Women don’t care about what you want them to look like! Look away before my self satisfaction burns you!”
Meanwhile, it’s so telling that they think criticizing a woman’s appearance makes them look like anything but stupid, misogynist assholes with no valid arguments. Women like Rebecca Watson, Anita Sarkesian and Zoe Quinn are badass. They’re smart. They’re skilled. They’re confident. They’re right and they have withstood a tsunami of hate and kept on keepin on. The haterific misogynists know they can’t hold a candle to them. So, they grasp at anything they think might hurt their feelings. It’s pathetic really. Simple and pathetic.
@cassandrakitty:
I’m not sure that’s it. I think they truly believe they are representative of ALL MEN, so whenever they talk about something not appealing to them or driving them away, they’re really talking about ALL MEN being driven away, even the nice ones (which they are most certainly are how dare you suggest otherwise).
They think they hold a bargaining chip, when it’s really just a badly painted, greasy Lay’s crisp with a bit of mold.
The absolute conviction that they have in the idea that women will feel threatened when they declare their lack of interest in us is both sad and hilarious.
Part of me wants to switch from contacts back to glasses just because they hate those too.
Tempting, but the lack of peripheral vision with glasses annoys me, and they give me headaches.
Saturday night I’m going to put on a tight top, a short skirt, my biggest, brightest hair and my highest of heels and I’m going to go to a party where I will meet new people and talk to them instead of trying to make myself invisible. I will not drink. I will not smoke. I’ve given that up forever so that I can be the healthiest me. I want to live as long as I can because I love my life and my family and I don’t want to do anything to cut it short. I didn’t always feel that way. This is good and good for me. But, there’s another reason I want to live, step outside my boundaries now and then and enjoy life as long as possible.
I want my existence and any joy I get out of it to piss off assholes. If that’s the only mark I leave on the world when I’m gone, that’ll be OK. Fuck those fucking fucks. I dance in their tears.
I never got used to wearing contacts.
I currently wear huge glasses with a thick black frame… the ones I get for free through my health care.
WWTH,
I got some rounded cat eye glasses the last time I got new glasses. Next time, I’m getting a more dramatic cat eye. This time I’m going to look for some vintage frames, complete with rhinestones. I have to wear glasses. They may as well make me smile.
Well! I already have the glasses, with a weird frame, thankyouverymuch! It would be a bit of a pain to start doing something with my hair, though. I like the wild bush lady crone thing I’ve got going on, and the bits of silver are starting to contrast nicely with the dark brown! In the early 90’s though, I rocked a crew cut, spiked sort of thing that I dyed flame red. Can I rest on my laurels, do you think? Or, as a lady who ‘hit the wall’ a long time ago, would the manoshpere even notice if I shaved my head bald?
Feminazing is hard.