Do the Sarkeesian Effect dudes — now in the midst of a painful and noisy breakup — not realize how ridiculous they look to the rest of us?
Ok, maybe that’s not the right question to ask. After all, we’re talking about Davis Aurini, a sort of low-budget Anton LaVey with a plastic-skull fetish who actually put this picture of himself on his website on purpose:
Meanwhile, Jordan Owen, his former partner in, er, “filmmaking” is a sort of human-bear hybrid who once recorded an hour-long pro-porn diatribe while sitting naked in his bathtub — and then, instead of taking a few minutes to ponder the choices he’s made in his life, he went and put that online.
At the moment, though, the human-bear hybrid is winning the public relations war, largely due to his strategy of not actually participating in it while his former partner spews out an assortment of accusations and insinuations and probably some other kinds of “ations” I don’t even know about.
Yesterday, Aurini — classy fellow that he is — posted an 8000 word log of two private Skype chats he’d had with Owen right before and right after Owen “fired” him from The Sarkeesian Effect. In the logs, Aurini vehemently defends the honor of his “colleague” Roosh V, whom Owen had criticized in a couple of charateristically loooong videos, and demands (among other things) that Owen retract his accusations that Roosh was unable to get laid in Denmark and Norway.
He also tries to convince Owen that he is having some sort of psychological meltdown and repeatedly accuses him of “hallucinating.” After posting the whole log, Aurini tells his readers that Owen is “a man deep in the grips of psychosis.”
Oh, and he tries to blackmail Owen into giving him half of the money left in the budget for the Sarkeesian Effect.
Aurini evidently thought that posting this log would make him look good.
I’ll let you be the judge of that. What follows are what I think are the Top 8 Most Cringeworthy Moments from the Aurini/Owen Chat Logs.
1) In a chat that happened a week before Owen “fired” Aurini, Aurini shows Owen the text of a message he sent to Roosh about Owen’s anti-Roosh video, urging Roosh to “have at” the man who was still at that point his “business partner.”
[2/22/2015 1:36:29 PM] Davis Aurini: I didn’t want you to post this video because I didn’t want you to have a panic attack as your idiocy was demonstrated by others; I need you semi-coherent to finish this documentary. But if you’re going to publicly shit the bed, then so be it. You deserve everything that’s coming to you. I sent the following email to Roosh:
My partner on this Sarkeesian venture decided to post an attack video on you, misconstruing an article of yours. I told him to take it down, mainly because he was making an ass of himself, but he decided that the highest value a man can subscribe to is calling out people on the Right and doing the Left’s work for them.
Link below. Please, have at ‘er. While I’m not going to publicly denounce my business partner, I look forward to seeing others point out the numerous flaws with his video.
2) Aurini, seemingly channeling the spirit of the Charles Boyer character in Gaslight, attempts to convince Owen that his negative impressions of Roosh are based on “hallucinations.”
[2/22/2015 2:09:32 PM] Davis Aurini: You stated that Roosh is spreading STDs; that is false and libelous.
[2/22/2015 2:09:55 PM] Davis Aurini: That is the hallucination; not your disgust, even though you’re making the most uncharitable interpretation possible.
[2/22/2015 2:10:24 PM] Jordan Owen: I’m being uncharitable when he defames all women everywhere and calls for limitations to be put on their freedom?
[2/22/2015 2:10:34 PM] Davis Aurini: You also seem to think that he couldn’t get laid in Denmark, and blamed the country for his own failings. I already explained to you why this is false, but you don’t remember it because you were hallucinating.
3) Aurini tries to convince Owen that he’s also “hallucinating” Roosh’s, let’s just say, extremely cavalier attitude toward STDs.
[2/22/2015 2:16:53 PM] Davis Aurini: You did hallucinate him spreading STDs.
[2/22/2015 2:17:06 PM] Davis Aurini: That’s outright false.
[2/22/2015 2:17:49 PM] Davis Aurini: It’s also actionable libel, though I doubt he’ll sue.
[2/22/2015 2:20:20 PM] Jordan Owen: Everything I was going off of is directly sourced to things that he’s written. He had nine years of unprotected sex without getting tested and openly stated that he didn’t care.
[2/22/2015 2:20:42 PM] Davis Aurini: And you make a leap to “He is intentionally spreading STDs”
[2/22/2015 2:21:22 PM] Jordan Owen: If he’s having unprotected sex with the full knowledge that he’s carrying something (as evidenced by his symptoms) then yes, he’s doing it intentionally.
[2/22/2015 2:21:44 PM] Davis Aurini: Facetious logic.
[2/22/2015 2:21:50 PM] Jordan Owen: It’s kind of like saying “well, I was randomly firing my gun into a crowd but I wasn’t INTENTIONALLY trying to hit anybody.”
[2/22/2015 2:21:53 PM] Davis Aurini: Yellow journalism
[2/22/2015 2:22:14 PM] Davis Aurini: You also think he didn’t get laid in Norway, despite the fact that he got laid in Norway, and explained how to get laid in Norway.
4) Aurini continues the gaslighting, as he tries to convince Owen that his dislike of Roosh is “irrational.”
[2/22/2015 2:24:58 PM] Davis Aurini: You had a panic attack when we discussed Roosh; you wished his parents had aborted him. This is Elliot Rogers logic. And you suggest that the calm and collected person is being irrational?
[2/22/2015 2:25:56 PM] Jordan Owen: Yes, it gave me tremendous anxiety to discuss him. But the “why” for that is tremendously valid.
[2/22/2015 2:26:29 PM] Davis Aurini: If you’re experiencing tremendous anxiety, that suggests that you’re not being rational.
[2/22/2015 2:26:48 PM] Jordan Owen: Well, I’m not experiencing anxiety now and I feel the same way.
[2/22/2015 2:27:00 PM] Davis Aurini: Do you currently believe false statements?
[2/22/2015 2:27:07 PM] Jordan Owen: No.
[2/22/2015 2:27:43 PM] Davis Aurini: So you realize that Roosh did get laid in Norway? And that he did not intentionally spread STDs?
5) At the end of this chat, which mostly consists of Aurini attacking Owen for his dislike of Roosh, Aurini says he doesn’t really care what Owen thinks about Roosh:
[2/23/2015 10:14:03 PM] Davis Aurini: … Listen Jordan, I honestly don’t care about what you think about Roosh (or vice versa for that matter) I just felt it was very poor timing, and insulting to those supporters of ours who came through my channel.
6) And then there’s the blackmail. After Owen “fires” him, Aurini gives him a counteroffer of sorts:
[3/2/2015 11:09:14 PM] Davis Aurini: We can do this clean or we can do it messy. We can both produce separate films and be polite; admitting that we have different views. Or we can do this messy. …
[3/2/2015 11:10:19 PM] Davis Aurini: Give me 50% of the money that we both asked for together, and we will part ways politely.
[3/2/2015 11:11:06 PM] Davis Aurini: The only reason I’m making this offer is because the ‘messy’ option is unseemly; it’s ammunition for the SJWs.
7) After acknowledging that, yes, he used several thousand dollars of the Sarkeesian Effect budget to buy himself a car, and trying to convince Owen that the real reason he’s moving to Las Vegas is to be “closer to Hollywood,” Aurini makes another counteroffer:
[3/2/2015 11:41:11 PM] Davis Aurini: 1.5k – we go forward together. 4k – we part amicably. 0 – I go public with the facts.
[3/2/2015 11:41:30 PM] Davis Aurini: That’s how honest businessmen deal.
8) But it turns out that Aurini is willing to haggle:
[12:01:53 AM] Jordan Owen: If you won’t consider my terms for severing ties then I have no reason to consider yours.
[12:02:01 AM] Davis Aurini: What terms are those?
[12:03:01 AM] Jordan Owen: What I offered- that I pay you for this month at the usual rate and give you credit in the film.
[12:03:50 AM] Davis Aurini: Make it 2.5; and I will be making my own film with a different title. I will also write a glowing review of what you’re doing, and explain it as differences in artistic direction with no animosity – and I will let you review it before I hit publish.
ETHICS!
ETHICS!!
ETHICS!!!!
H/T — @somegreybloke
What the hell is “facetious logic”? Sarcastic logic??? Did he mean fallacious logic?
Note that Aurini didn’t just encourage Roosh to go after Owen, he said, “Have at ‘er.”
*Her.*
I take two things from this:
1) Aurini is very weirdly invested in believing that Roosh did, in fact, have sex with women in the countries he said he did, and that he does not have any STDs or any reasonable suspicion of having an STD. I cannot *fathom* being that invested in the love life of anyone other than your committed partner(s). Davis, why is where Roosh sticks his dick so important to you?
2) At least *some* people in the MRA/Manosphere/PUA orbit have absorbed the idea that there was, in fact, something *very wrong* with Elliot Rodger’s way of thinking. I’m glad that Rodger does give Aurini pause, if only in the “don’t be *that* guy” kind of way. So that makes me feel a little better.
And here is where Jordan starts seeing through the bullshit.
Saying Roosh didn’t get laid in Norway is libel! And misandry! And about ethics in video game journalism!
It’s SOME kind of injustice anyway.
And here, Jordan literally uses the word “gaslighting”, and Davis literally talks about “hijacking” (which I’m guessing describes manipulating people emotionally).
I’m at a point where Davis is repeatedly demanding Jordan choose between three possibilities. Pretty sure that’s a hard-sell tactic, reduce the situation to a small number of easy choices (a few of which seem unpalatable), then try to get your target to decide before they have time to think through each one.
Davis probably assumes Jordan wouldn’t be able to choose to split when it gets down to the wire, so he tries to force the decision in that direction. Reading this is making me practically cheer that Jordan ultimately decided to split, because damn.
So, at this point, all that’s left is for Davis to go public with his huge man-crush on Roosh and propose they move in together and “wrestle” and blog about how many times they get laid with actual girls for realsies..
Seriously, I never expected to see Jordan to ever come off as the reasonable one. Since this was a private conversation, I am left wondering if this is truer to how he really is and what he really believes then what he presents in his videos, which are done mostly just to get attention/funding. If Roosh’s awfulness strikes him strongly enough to give him a panic attack, maybe there’s hope for him yet.
@kirbywarp
I agree its more fluid, but I would say that this isnt a scenario to have any sympathy towards one of the persons.
Because if you look into what he stands for its clear that there shouldnt be any sympathy at all towards him – just take a look into his many scary yt-rants that are really filled with rage towards women (and ppl that dosent fit into his world view)…But sure, if he backs down by taking a stance against his own awful rants at his youtube channel (his twitter is also filled with women hate but Ivent followed it that well) it may be time to change the stanace against him…now, well he is still trying to do “sarkeesian effect”. That alone speaks for itself.
I would say that his kind is the worst mainly because he can get a away with his awfulness with some smooth “musican guy” cluelessness – while Aurini…well he is not so hard to pick apart.
I think anyone would come across as reasonable compared to Mr. “I’m totally not manipulating you, you’re just crazy and can’t trust your own judgement.”
Like I said, Jordan barely says anything throughout this exchange, except when he finally gets fed up and starts pointing out all of Aurini’s bullshit.
And yet somehow the commenters on Aurini’s blog post say that Aurini came across as totes reasonable and honorable. What were they reading? (Spoiler; in a few cases, they weren’t reading at all! They just assumed Aurini did no wrong)
@kirbywarp: It’s a shame that Owen is being subjected to the manipulation tactics that men like Aurini and Roosh use all the time with women, but maybe he’s getting some idea about what it must be like to scrutinized a little like Anita is. I mean, it’s nowhere NEAR the level of that, but to be constantly told your points are invalid, you’re seeing things that aren’t there, and you’re the one trying to manipulate the masses into keeping money for an illegitimate purpose is hopefully giving him some perspective.
The convo sounds weird to me, like Aurini is playing to a future audience. It sounds like a setup to me.
“Admit my friend got laid!”
What is he, 15 years old? Is he going to call Owen a poopiehead next?
@d_dan:
I’m not about to say Jordan is a good person, or a nice person, or really many good things at all about him. I don’t personally expect anyone else to do so either. I just sympathize with the guy in this particular context.
It’s not a matter of some arbitrary boundary on a 1d line, beyond which a person is deserving of sympathy and before which they are not. That’s just as rigid as the belief in “good guys vs bad guys,” except the boundaries are “people who never deserve sympathy vs people who sometime deserve sympathy.”
I have sympathy for him facing what really looks to be psychological abuse and I detest his beliefs. The former isn’t going to change the latter.
Just like Roosh and Aurini himself, I’m guessing none of Aurini’s readers have any empathy. They won’t ever see Aurini’s manipulations as unreasonable until he does it to them directly. I guess some folks just won’t ever get it until it happens to them.
I am just astounded that “Rape is bad, intentionally spreading STDs is bad” is the cross where Aurini is putting this partnership to death. How does one become that much of a scum-bag.
@ssaly88:
One can only hope that’s the case, though I really doubt it. One thing that came up during the chat logs (the context being that Aurini tried to argue with a hypothetical world where he posted a long diatribe about Mundane Matt) was that Jordan believes he knows the objective reality that makes situations fundamentally incomparable.
If you asked him to reflect on how it feels to be constantly told he’s making shit up and hallucinating and seeing problems that aren’t there, he would probably tell you that Anita’s case is different because she’s actually seeing things that aren’t there. So therefore there’s no comparison.
(above comment was in response to this:)
Davis Aurini got his girlfriend to read Roosh’s article on legalizing rape and to say she approves of the idea 🙁
My bet is she knows exactly how annoying he’s going to be if she doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear.
(Or maybe his girlfriend is actually his toy skull? One can only hope!)
Aurini really does have a girlfriend in Canada!
What the. Nobody moves to Las Vegas to be “closer to Hollywood”. If you want to be “close to Hollywood” you move to LA. which is, you know, where Hollywood is. There is no reason to put a tedious drive or a plane flight between yourself and the movie industry. I’m guessing dude either has no concept of how far apart cities are in the US, has no idea how the movie industry operates, or both.
Translated: OoooOOOOooo! I’m telling on you!
Doesn’t Aurini know that nobody likes a tattletale?
@girlscientist:
Maybe he gave her a better framing than he gave Jordan.
Yeah, he thought “that” would make everything sound reasonable.
Or maybe she’s just as bad as he is. Or maybe she’s a skull. I hope it’s that last one.
@kirbywarp: I’m going to assume she’s his toy skull. For my own peace of mind.
Wait, what? Wasn’t one of their beefs with Anita Sarkeesian that she “conned” people into donating money to her? To make a series of videos about sexist tropes in video games that she has made and is currently making? And Aurini buys himself a car with their movie budget?
Ethics! My poor little feeeemale brain just can’t comprehend all those manly ethics!
In the fart dome of the manosphere, Aurini will never become aware of the stink of his own actions.
Owen’s silence is definitely making him look a lot better. Watch him come back in a few days and release the “film”. Aurini is going to lose it. To visualize that, picture him in a diaper jumping up and down shouting “My movie! My movie! My movie!”.