The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam celebrates the simple pleasures of
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread-and Thou
Reddit’s MGTOW contingent has a somewhat different notion of what constitutes the good life. It involves a motorcycle in one’s bedroom.
Last week, one Man Going His Own Way proudly posted the photo above to the MGTOW subreddit, where it received more than 80 upvotes and pretty much universal acclaim.
“People always ask when I would leave this ‘narcissistic immature lifestyle’ behind and just man up and get married already,” he wrote. “Why would I want to wake up to anything other than this in my bedroom???”
Replacing the wine, bread, and poetry of Omar Khayyam’s little scene we have:
- An air mattress
- A motorcycle
- A bigass flat-screen TV
- A Playstation 4
- Two video games
Replacing the tree, a Minecraft poster tacked to the wall.
Replacing “thou?” Whatever … that is on the bed, I guess.
You go, boy.
Eh, good for him.
As long as he’s really happy with that and the rest of his posts aren’t a trail of “LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME, WOMEN!!! I’M IGNORING YOU!!! DON’T YOU FEEL BAD?!?…ˢᶫᵃᵗᵗᵉʳᶰˢ…”, Go Your Own Way, dude.
If you’re actually doing that and not just slinging hate, no harm, no foul.
I mean, hell, that’s not probably not too far off from how I’d live if I wasn’t doing the whole “adult with children” thing. It actually bears a strong resemblance to my pre-kid lifestyle, though I had a few more games, more books, and no motorcycle.
Decades ago I was considering renting warehouse space to live in, and one of the attractions was that I could display my antique motorcycle, which I rode pretty regularly, in my house, man, which would be like totally awesome and super-trendy. Until I choked to death on the petrol and motor oil fumes, or tried to cook something on a gas stove. So maybe not.
Nothing worth defending here, but the bike is some variety of Buell Lightning, which are generally regarded as fine bikes. (Just mentioning since the first comment calls it trash)
I’ve never disagreed with you on something mockworthy to post, but this one comes close! I mean, I know what you’re going for, but… if he’s happy like that and he’s not loudly declaring the superiority of himself above other people (I admit I haven’t looked at the Reddit thread yet) then he’s welcome to it.
(Also, sleeping with a motorcycle, well, I don’t judge 🙂 )
Yeah, it doesn’t seem like he’s hurting anyone with his basement-dweller bedroom, so who cares?
Checked the Reddit thread – the responses are far more baffling than the original post ever was!
Also, I should probably (belatedly) apologise to Itsabeast for the bad timing, since it kinda looks like I was calling them a troll. By “Troll,” I meant to allude to Femac from the Facebook icon thread or Mad Cow Sock #409213. ^^;
@Wren – Harley or go home. 😛 Either way it doesn’t look like it’s in the best condition but that’s hard to judge from a picture. Either way it’s in the room he -sleeps in- which is just… yeah no.
Missing from this list is a hand gun.
I almost felt bad for heaping scorn on the man, then I read his Reddit comments:
If you can affort a ps4, a huge TV, a motorbike and games, you’re not poor.
But I’m sure we should totally have pity for this guy, I mean, he’s only a raging misogynist that is bragging about it. Mocking him would just be mean.
Think of the misogynists for once!
@Miss Andry eeeyep, this is a man who should have nothing to do with women again ever or at all.
re: “a few minutes of what others shame you into thinking is enjoyment”:
Dude sounds like he’s Ace & is bitter/defensive about trying to live up to external definitions of masculinity.
As to the rest, yech.
He’s calling his lifestyle “narcissistic and immature”, but proud of it, for being, er, minimal, yet women are narcissistic and immature for wanting more posh surroundings (to him), and we should be ashamed. Unless he was scare quoting his reference to himself as narcissistic? So who’s narcissistic again, and who can be proud of it?
… Wowzers. David, you need to add that gold star winner to the post, because again, wowzers.
David’s not boasting about his apartment while calling women cunts though.
And how do you know whether or not he’s single by choice? Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. I don’t know, he never talks about his personal life on this site. Just the kitties.
It probably could have been clearer in the post, but I don’t think the point was to mock having a not so glamorous lifestyle. And mocking his relationship status doesn’t make you look too good here either.
had to be said, fwiw, that’s a futon couch, not my bed. Hey, it works for me (and the cats). Admittedly, my bed is also a futon (or, rather, a futon on top of a futon), but that’s because I genuinely find futons more comfortable than regular mattresses/box springs. So sue me.
I have nothing against the Going Their Own Way part of Men Going Their Own Way. It’s the misogyny I’m not so fond of. I mean, even this way the dude presented this pic of his bedroom is misogynistic. It’s not, “hey here’s how I live, I like it, it works for me,” which is a perfectly reasonable sentiment. But no, essentially this guy is saying “ha ha married people are suckers, I can afford a giant TV and this motorcycle, why would I ever want to share a bed with an icky woman.” And the rest of the guys there are cheering on his misogyny.
Snorkmaiden!!!!! m/ Moomin love.
NARCISSEPTION!
So, OT – Any Mammothers in Belgium?
There’s a fair-to-middling chance we’ll be living there (south of Brussels) before the Holidays.
We have some friends around there, I have VERY extended family around Ostend (one of my Great-Grandfathers & his family came over when it looked like the Germans were getting restless post-WWI & one of the Flemish contingent made a point of tracking down all of their decedents and making a FB group), but it’s otherwise all new to me (especially the Francophone bit).
Any suggestions?
Tips & tricks?
Oh, one question already: Our friends said that all of the clothes washers and dryers are tiny & that they go to a laundromat.
We have three kids & I might be working again once we’re there…that’s a lot of laundry. Are there…ah…”normal-sized” sounds awful, but, you know GREAT BIG OL’ ‘MURICAN washer/dryer sets to be found in rental homes?
Or should I skulk around the NATO base and see if I can find any that people have left behind when moving?
*looks at WWTH’s quote*
Where is that?
*lifts up cushions*
I don’t see that post.
????
@Johanna Roberts
I hate to say it, but Buell has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of HD since the early 2000s 😛
Aaaanyway, not my favorite bike or maker, and the owner-base might skew a little bro-ish, but not automatically worthy of contempt. And actually, it almost does look rusty in the photo, but I can’t tell for sure.
@mockingbird
Had to Be Said said it because…it had to be said.
Some men seem to have valorized the idea of “not gonna live my life to please no woman, nosirree,” into an actual way of life.
Now, actually being happy and satisfied with the way you live your life is a wonderful thing. My husband told me that one of the things he found most appealing about me was that I didn’t feel the need for a boyfriend / spouse to “complete” my life, but was confident enough to share my life with him. But this guy (the OP) doesn’t really seem to have that. Look for indications in his posts that he is simply and sincerely happy with his life; I didn’t find any.