So this is an … interesting reaction to that Buzzfeed piece about Paul Elam. And by “interesting” I mean “WTF?”
Over on The Spearhead — remember The Spearhead, home to some of the crankiest misogynists on the Internet? — our old friend WF Price offers a rather unique analysis of Elam’s life story.
Price admits right off the bat that Elam is indeed as much of an “asshole” as the Buzzfeed article makes him out to be, snarkily commenting that this fact “isn’t exactly news to anyone who has dealt with him personally, or read his articles.” And then he goes on to blame Elam’s assholery on feminism.
Wat.
Well, as Price sees it, Elam hasn’t exactly suffered for being an asshole. The fact that he basically got away with abandoning his daughter proves
that telling your wife and kids to screw off when your marriage goes bad is a better strategy if you’re concerned about yourself than trying to be a niceguy. What could be a more damning indictment of feminism than that?
Um, do you really want an answer to that?
Meanwhile, Price argues, the fact that Elam has had three failed marriages shows that ladies just love assholes. No, really. According to Price, Elam’s life story
proves that being an asshole doesn’t torpedo one’s prospects with women. Quite the opposite, in fact: Paul’s many walks down the aisle are testament to the fact that there’s something about the guy that contemporary women find appealing. Elam’s a major hit with women to this day.
Checkmate, feminism!
Price then works me into the equation, for some reason.
And I don’t write this out of envy; on the contrary, I think his popularity with women has probably been his biggest problem in life (Futrelle wouldn’t understand).
Price concludes with this, er, zinger:
So if feminists were to say to me that Paul Elam proves that MRAs are terrible people, I’d respond by saying “he’s the product of your philosophy, not mine.”
It will take someone more versed in formal logic to explain exactly what logical fallacies Price is committing here, or if he’s somehow come up with a new logical fallacy all his own.
“Notoriously childless?” “Normal fertility?” Is there some quota we’re trying to reach here?
Wait, is Price saying that feminism should be pushing women to have children? The first part of this paragraph he he was talking about how expensive daycare in the U.S. can be. How the hell do you leap from point A to point B in a single paragraph?
I think he’s saying that, if feminism is supposed to be helpful in making childcare affordable, then it isn’t working in Seattle or San Francisco.
I’m not from that region but it seems to me like that’s just cities for you in general… expensive, regardless of ideology. I mean, my nearest city is St. Louis, which is neither geographically constrained by an ocean nor um, notably progressive… but even it is too rich for my blood right now. lol
Jenora — oh Buffalo! Our last storm, before this endless one, had the weather forecast joking “at least it’s not Buffalo”. I’m from CT, spent most of a decade in Pittsburgh (similar weather to Seattle), and now back up in New England snow. I’d take that city heat island effect over the, um, 2’+ and counting we’ve got!
It’s not snow that’s an issue for me as much as cold. Especially with wind
As a feminist, I would love to do something to make child care less expensive. However, the majority of legislators are not feminist. A city doesn’t have the budget to subsidize childcare on a mass level. That kind of thing is done at the state level. Unfortunately, the US is a nation of people who have bought into the bootstraps myth.
“But you can always do home-based sales!
It’s great!
You can guilt your friends into buying whatever you’re selling by reminding them that you bought the stuff that they’re selling!
*breaks into “Circle of Life”*”
Yes, or “Circle of friends”…just passed that thirty around, I’ll give you thirty dollars, then you can give me thirty, and so forth. But look what fun we had kicking the kids out of the house and cleaning all day for a get together for some “free” stuff. Don’t you know multi-level marketing works not just by using your friends for purchases but employing your friends…make them have parties too! Everyone gets a cut! You might even be able, in time and with enough stooges *cough* excuse me, lucky acquaintances, to aspire to be a REAL ice cream cone instead of a self-licking ice cream cone.
Yes, being a working military spouse sucks. Not only are the locations dismal and moves frequent, you surve as single parent a great, great deal of the time.
Oh, forgot to add…you serve as a single parent a great, great deal of the time, but unlike most actual single parents who have some say in their location, you have none. So, no relatives within a thousand miles to help you out, and whatever friends you make, make ’em quick because they’re out of there in a few months.
Bill Price:
“I’m just one guy out of millions, so why the heavy artillery?”
Maybe because you do your best to sound like an a**hole? Have you ever read your own blog (for example)?
You should. It would give you a clue as to why reasonable people respond to you the way they do.
proxieme:
‘You can guilt your friends into buying whatever you’re selling by reminding them that you bought the stuff that they’re selling!
*breaks into “Circle of Life”*’
LMAO! Funniest thing I’ve read today — thanks!