There are two more stops on sleazeball PUA and Rape legalization advocate Roosh Valizadeh’s “World Tour,” both in Canada. He’s scheduled talks in Montreal on August 8 and Toronto on the 15th.
Some folks are trying to make sure he doesn’t enter Canada at all, setting up a petition on Change.org demanding that the Canadian government “DENY ‘Roosh V’ Entry to Canada for the purposes of disseminating hate.”
Here’s their basic case:
Roosh V. is coming to Canada specifically for the purposes of violating section 319 of the Canadian Criminal Code, which clearly prohibits gathering and organizing for the purposes of inciting hatred of an identifiable group. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has identified both Roosh and his website as hate-based, and the hateful misogynistic views that he is coming to Canada to disseminate are likely to breach public peace.
From advocating for the decriminalization of rape to imploring men to sexually abuse women with mental illness to straight up dehumanizing women as an entire group, ‘The Return of Kings’ is part of a hate-scene that has been developing a growing presence on the web. MRA’s and ‘Pick Up Artists’ (PUA’s) alike are attracted to Roosh and his website not only because it, like all hate groups, provides an easy scapegoat to blame all of their problems on, but because it also promises to provide them with an easy guide to sexually abusing women. The most dangerous ideas that Roosh propagates are about what to do with women in the real world: how to treat them, why and how they owe men sex, how to best take full advantage of their fundamental inhumanity. …
As a nation we have already decided that hate speech has no place in Canada. Hate is hate, and it is physically dangerous. We must ensure that Roosh and his following are not allowed to flourish in the dark corners of our society, for the same reasons that we do not allow white supremacy a legitimate place in Canada.
You can sign the petition here. So far it’s garnered more than 2600 signatures.
And move quickly: Roosh says he’ll be heading to Canada well in advance of his talks there, “staying in Montreal for many weeks to find out whether it’s a good city to visit during the summer, when the European cities empty out and become full of tourists.” Indeed, it’s possible he’s already there, though signing the petition still sends a message or revulsion at his actions and beliefs.
NOTE: The petition refers to Roosh as an MRA, though he doesn’t identify himself as one, which will probably cause numerous MRA heads to explode. It’s worth pointing out that, while Roosh doesn’t seem to care about a number of issues that MRAs purport to care about, his misogynistic ideology is in many key ways almost indistinguishable from many MRAs. Indeed, the main complaint that many MRAs have about PUAs like Roosh is that they are allegedly too enamored of women. Or, as A Voice for Men has repeatedly (and quite inaccurately) put it, that PUA’s are “pussy beggars.”
I have seen Irreversible, and I don’t want to be in the same country – hell, on the same planet – as anyone who found it arousing. To say that this wasn’t Gaspar Noé’s intention would be putting it mildly.
@Chaltab & Khane’s Mom
Vacation time differs in Europe by country – as far ad I know, for most it’s July and/or August. Southern Europe seems to favor August, while northern parts seem to take their vacation during July.
You are right that most people travel either inside their own country or inside Europe during their vacations. Cities being empty of everyone but tourists in summer is pretty much a running joke in my country.
@Wetherby,
Roosh was actually bragging about how he wasn’t aroused by the scene in Irreversible and how it proved that he didn’t actually love rape because he feels that he should get praise for meeting a minimal standard of decency. (Although for Roosh, that might be a first.) Of course, he then included a complaint about how he couldn’t get off to any rape scenes after that for a couple months.
But anyway, I’m happy that this petition exists and that Roosh might get banned from Canada.
Are you making your way through Doctor Who? The word “petrichor” and its meaning played a pretty big role in one of the episodes in Series 5.
*Series 6, actually.
Wait, is he trying to say here that one incident of not being aroused by rape makes him not a rapist? As in, regardless of whether he’s raped in the past, an instance of not being aroused by rape turns him into a not-a-rapist?
@Aniksy
…Do…Do Solas Tumblrs count as Doctor Who?
@Anisky,
Basically.
So is he on this ‘tour’ hoping for an expanded pool of the ladies in town who will have the unfortunate possibility of needing to use their pepper spray to convince him they are truly uninterested? We should have built a cock-blocking-implementation network.
Posters with this guy’s face and a caption something like Hey girl – if you see this person, keep proximity distance of at least 25 meters, if you cannot correct course and physical contact however brief is made you must report to the nearest HAZMAT decontamination station; verbal interaction not recommended but this method increases in effectiveness as distance from him increases. Drinking alcoholic beverages without proper precautions such as 1.) his photo loaded onto your mobile device for identification in social settings – if you do not have one but do have access to a printer then print off a copy to carry with you until notice is issued on his exit from your country; 2.) accompanied by attack cat/ferrets/nihilists/your Flying Five Finger One Armed Eight Pole Shaolin Exploding Death Touch skills – at a distance below 25 meter proximity guideline, will increase your risk for lousy conversation and he’s got priors with criminal acts against intoxicated women – share these cock-blocking network tips with female friends/family/neighbors/co-workers to help keep women safe from identified individual(s)!
I suspect the best thing to do may just be to get a huge flying wedge of male feminists to form up around him at all times and ruin the “ratios” of any place he goes.
(That is to say, it may be the best thing to do if Valizadeh can’t be prevented from entering Canada. Obviously first prize would be to bounce him at the airport.)
Canada is a big country, there are lots of places he might go – who is going to tag him with an RFID?
First time I went to Rome was in August. The mosquitos weren’t on holiday, but everyone else seemed to be. It was such a ghastly experience that I’m surprised I ever went back – but when I did, it was in March, and I’ve rarely known a place come across so differently: it’s now probably my favourite Italian city (which is saying something).
msexceptiontotherule, it’s Canada, so don’t they use RCMPFIDs?
Can you sign if you’re not Canadian?
Weirdly, when I signed, all the recent signatures were from the UK. The location of the signatures on Change.org doesn’t affect how seriously the Canada-specific petition will be taken, does it?
First time commenting here, but I’m a longtime lurker and enjoy the blog very much. Thanks for bringing this petition to our attention; this sorry little Roosh thing is an abomination to men everywhere. I suspect he hates himself even more than he hates women. I signed the petition. I don’t want him spreading his codswallop in my country!
I’m surprised no one sought to bar him from London. Searching mainstream media brings up nothing about his time here.
It still cracks me up that six engagements, four of which took place in North America, can be described as a ‘world tour’.
I have a very strong feeling that Roosh and a whole lot of other wankers are gonna call this “censorship” of their ideals (so to speak)
Yup. I think they’d be disappointed in there wasn’t a petition. I wonder if Roosh would refund the ticket money if he was ‘forced to cancel’?
I’m American and won’t be signing a petition to another country’s government. That seems pretty unethical to me, and I’ve got my standards.
Fair enough, ikanreed. I’ll sign it though because I don’t think Roosh should have a platform anywhere.
Signed, sealed and delivered. I’m thinking of starting a petition to build a catapult so we can fling him over to his side of the border.
Would pay to witness that.
If there are any Ottawa residents here, this is something to be aware of on the ‘gross PUAs in Canada’ front: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/women-sound-alarm-about-pickup-artist-youtube-site-1.3158314
On Twitter, the hashtags #corneredinottawa and #lukehoward are being used, and there’s a Twitter account, @corneredinOTT, covering things.
(Hi, I lurk quite frequently, and I may have commented here before once or twice over the years.)