The Honey Badger Brigade — the all-female-except-not-really gaggle of antifeminist YouTubers — has been raising money, and quite a lot of it, to pay their possible legal bills as they seek “legal redress” against the Calgary Expo for booting them from the event.
So far they’ve raised nearly $14,000 of their goal of $40,000, which they say “will be used for legal costs and costs directly related to our ejection from the Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo,” whatever that means. That gives them some wiggle room. As “victims” go, they’re pros.
On the group’s fundraising page, the Badgers accuse the Expo of tossing them out
due to our Men’s Rights Activism and unpopular view of modern feminism. Therefore it is our belief that the actions taken by the Calgary Expo staff were of a political nature and contravene the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in particular freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and freedom of association.
Apparently this is one of the most important civil right struggles of our time.
While the Expo hasn’t given a clear reason for why the Honey Badgers were evicted, I’m guessing it’s not for the group’s “view of modern feminism” but because the group came to the expo flying the figurative flag of GamerGate, a loosely organized but highly virulent harassment campaign disguised, not very convincingly, as a campaign for “ethics in game journalism.” Oh, and possibly because they seem to have gotten into the expo under false pretenses.
Even if we were to assume that the Honey Badgers were booted for being Men’s Rights Activists, there is a teensy bit of irony to their complaint. You see, the HBB is closely tied to Men’s Rights hate site A Voice for Men. Indeed the two most visible HB’s — Alison Tieman and Karen “GirlWritesWhat” Straughan — are volunteer staffers on the AVFM masthead, as is HB hanger-on Sage Gerard.
Last summer, most or all of the HBB attended AVFM’s first conference, held outside Detroit; Straughan spoke at it. Here they are posing with their AVFM comrades.
You know who wasn’t at that conference? Feminists, whom the event organizers made pretty plain were not welcome. Indeed, as journalist Jeff Sharlet noted in his remarkable account of the conference in GQ, attendees seemed to be obsessed with defending their little event against an angry mob of feminists that never materialized.
They keep saying, “No feminist better try coming here!” Local police have dispatched four officers, and the conference attendees have deputized even more security from their own ranks. “Security” wears black polo shirts, and there are a lot of black polo shirts, but since the line is slow, security decides to sweep us all in with a request to return for a “check.” Nobody does. Only one feminist later attempts entry, an activist who goes by the handle “Dark Horse Swore.” The black shirts eighty-six her.
Only a few of these dastardly feminists made it into the event, posing as journalists. Oh, wait, they were journalists. Somehow I suspect that security at AVFM’s planned conference this year will be tighter.
I also suspect that the Honey Badgers will be there, recounting the story of the terrible injustice done to them by the Calgary Expo.
H/T — @idlediletante on Twitter, who’s been keeping tabs on the money so many #GamerGaters are raking in.
At what point do they have to stop and think…why is everyone against us? Is there something in that?
I understand that the most popular way is not always the best way, but in this case you have bucket loads of intelligent, well read and educated people telling you that the way you think is outdated, archaic and regressive.
I just don’t understand what makes women like this tick?? Is it an overwhelming desire for male attention? Are they masochists? What is it about these women that makes them hate feminism so much and to make them turn against the emancipation of their own gender? Stockholm syndrome maybe?
Eh! I just don’t’ understand…
@Leisha
Ever heard the saying “What you hate most is your own shadow” (or something like that)? Call me crazy but I think it’s projection of their own dislike of themselves.
Leisha Young
“Why should I work hard when I can just get men to do everything for me including giving me attention and money!” Is my guess
Or what Suzy Q said
That I would LOVE to see!
I just don’t understand what they think they could be sueing for. I mean, the argument on their side would be something like: “We lied and violated their policies to get in and then… they noticed!”
I’m sure this makes no difference legally, but the HBs say that the Calgary Expo received some government funding. Therefore, it should be subject to the same rules as a government institution, not a private entity.
They get everything wrong, so this is almost certainly wrong too, but I’m not a lawyer. Or Canadian.
Wow, I would *love* to see them try a lawsuit.
While we do have a few ambulance chasers up here, every lawyer I’ve met takes their bar oath very seriously. The Alberta bar oath puts loyalty to the court *way* before loyalty to their clients. (Seriously – the oath goes something like loyalty to the Queen, to the law, then justice, no bringing frivolous cases, no prejudice, and then mentions protecting the clients’ interests as the *very* last thing.)
I’m pretty sure that after any lawyer finds out they’re members of a hate group and that they publicly admitted to engaging in fraud order to obtain entry to a private event, and that they want to sue over being kicked out _because of that fraud_, would just tell them “you have no case” and bill them a couple hundred bucks for the consultation.
Presuming they still push it, that means they’d be representing themselves – with all of the popcorn-worthy moments that would entail.
And once the judge discovers _why_ they’re representing themselves (that a lawyer told them they were idiots), they’ll find themselves having to pay lots of money for the Calgary Expo’s lawyers.
@MGS: I imagine they just want martyrdom. It’s very likely that they know they don’t have a leg to stand on, but are willing to go through it anyway to stand up for “Truth” (out of spite of facts), “Justice” (for white, cishet dudes), and the MRA way.
I do like how Canada is technically a monarchy, sharing a Queen with the rest of the Commonwealth. That, and they’re technically a sane country (except for First Nations issues) despite being next to the most belligerent nation on the planet.
The news of how their desperate attempt to game a fair and just system fails will be thoroughly reported here, and for that I am also grateful.
Couldn’t resist.
@brooked:
Can a mammotheer more artistically talented than I design the superhero Observing Libertarian? (Let’s be honest, since they’re a Honey Badger, they’re more likely to be a supervillain.)
It isn’t. Getting some government funding ≠ being a government institution. There are private publishing houses up here subsidized in part by government grants. The government doesn’t own or operate them. It merely provides some money for them to run on. Same applies to Calgary Expo.
In short, the Money Badgers don’t have a case.
I Googled the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and unless it was the government at any level denying them their freedoms of conscience, thought, or assembly, they don’t seem to have a case. Any word on if they plan on refunding any monies not used on legal fees? Is it a violation of the terms and conditions of the fundraising site they’re using if they don’t use the money as intended or refund unused money?
I will not be surprised if they try and make like Billy Joe and Bobby Sue and take the money and run
*snrk*
Two theories:
I know it’s just a movie quote, but remember what Beni said in ‘The Mummy’? “It is better to be the right hand of the devil than in his path.”
For fear of being targets, they start by identifying with their oppressors, saying they’re “not like the others,” they’re the “cool” ones that totally don’t mind all the oppressive shit. Then they go further and internalize all that hatred and eventually, they start to believe it. In exchange for not being targets, they align with their oppressors and do their bidding.
OR
They are simply women who hate other women. I like to think of Honey Badger Women as caricatures like Uncle Ruckus from the Boondocks (an Uncle Tom analogue). They hate for the sake of hating. They may even hate themselves, but hate other women more, so, who knows…
o_O It is way, way too easy to con these men’s rights people out of their money.
@sparky
Like taking candy from a whiny, 20 year old baby.
The only suggestion in the comments is for them to use the unspent money to go to another con! Activism! Selling gg t-shirts will from a booth will… mumble something mumble censorship!
I thought Honey Badgers don’t care. How things change.
I really wonder what justification women have for joining forces with AVFM. Granted AVFM are real picky about which men they choose to defend the rights of but one thing they aren’t for is the rights of women in any way shape or form.
@ Karl
The best bit of ambulance chasing I saw was when I was walking to a train station with a solicitor friend. We encountered a bunch of police officers who’d just chased and caught some guy and were now sitting on top of him as he was trying to kick off.
My mate just walked over, said “excuse me” and slipped one of his business cards into the arrested guy’s pocket.
Pita- they can’t claim breach of contract because they promised to the con that they were there to promote Tieman’s webcomic Xenospora. They even had donations to fund their trip going to a paypal account called “[email protected]”. Tieman’s been banned from all the cons this group holds indefinitely for misrepresenting the purpose of the booth.
If they claimed the expo was in breach of contract, well, so we’re they.
What are “costs directly related to (their) ejection?” That’s pretty vague. If they’re going to start demanding that the Expo reimburse them for fees and expenses, then they owe similar restitution to the attendees whose time and money they wasted by intentionally derailing the panel.
This will never happen, but I’d love to see the donors file a countersuit for fraud when the case gets thrown out of court and no refunds or transparent cost accounting are forthcoming, necessitating yet another legal defense fundraising appeal, followed by another lawsuit, and on and on in a circle until the whole thing collapses in on itself in a kind of suckers’ singularity.