It’s not exactly news, at least to long-time readers of this site, that A Voice for Men’s tinpot dictator Paul Elam can’t take criticism — especially when it comes from fellow Men’s Rights activists.
But who knew Elam was so allergic to criticism that he would declare that MRAs who expressed any sort of uneasiness with that embarrassing video he posted to YouTube earlier this week, featuring a drunken Elam and a small group of equally drunken acolytes making crude sexual remarks about two prominent feminist writers, were a bunch of “cowards, cunts [and] concern trolls” who would no longer be welcome at AVFM.
Elam first responded to critics of the video with another video of his own, a 43-minute long rant mostly aimed at MRAs who dared to suggest that his earlier video might not have been a great PR move for the Men’s Rights movement. (I will likely have more on that in a future post; in the meantime I’d recommend checking out Laughing Witch’s two long but rewarding videos on the subject.)
But he wasn’t done. And so, on Saturday, he put up a followup post telling his critics that he was excommunicating them from the Men’s Rights movement, and would be banning them from AVFM forthwith. Naturally, Elam being Elam, he phrased it a good deal less politely.
The time for AVFM giving a platform, even in comments, to spineless prigs, feminists and pearl clutching “MHRAs” who want to play nice with feminists, is about to come to a very abrupt end. To put it more clearly, this is now hostile ground for cowards, cunts and concern trolls — the living refuse of digested gynocentrism. … this is not a place for pussies of either sex.
As Elam sees it, there’s only a tiny handful of real MRAs in the world; the rest are pretty much useless “deadweight.”
I estimate (very roughly) that there are about 300 actual MHRAs in the world, not including the very high numbers of activists in India. I also estimate (less roughly) that about a third of those 300 people are either on AVFM staff, write for us or are financial supporters. I also know a handful of people who actually cannot work on our staff and cannot afford to subscribe who nonetheless give moral and brotherly support that makes them as valuable as any working activist.
Here’s the deal. We have thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of people every day come to this website. If 2%, or even 1% of them either subscribed or volunteered, we would be ten times as powerful and effective today than we are.
Apparently the quickest way to become one of these “actual MHRAs” is to agree with Elam about everything — and write him a nice big check.
Instead of trying to win the hearts and minds of the MRAs who disagree with him, much less the broader public, Elam has decided instead to tell them all to fuck off.
And if they don’t get that not-so-subtle hint, he’ll just ban them from his site outright:
The sad fact is (and don’t be offended if this does not apply to you), our comments and emails reflect a way too large population of slacktivists who whine about the free beer not being cold enough and who think that sanctimonious armchair quarterbacking of the service others provide makes them an MHRA.
It does not. They are just people who agree with the actual activists but prove it by droning on about how “we” should do things differently, like we are some sort of fucking juke box that does not require any coins.
Yep, he’s really steamed that people aren’t handing over their unemployment checks to him any more. (Allegedly.)
Most of their suggestions tend to be around toning down and being a little less hostile, especially to feminists. They call it diplomacy. I call it gynocentric cowardice.
These clowns have been given free room and board at AVFM for far too long.
Therefore BAN. Elam hasn’t worked out all the details, but
gynocentric cowards who come here to tell us how “we” should be doing things better be damn sure that the word “we” actually includes them. If not, their armchair wisdom, along with their IP, will get shit-canned on the spot.
Not only will they be banned from comments; they’ll also be forbidden from reading all the articles, with “access to some, a good bit actually, of site content … restricted to activists.”
Huh. Seems like just the other day Elam was announcing that he was trying to broaden the appeal of the site by reposting articles from Examiner.com on “men’s interests” like eyewear of the future and the evolutionary history of the yeast.
Elam declared that the new outward-looking strategy was a sign of AVFM’s great success in changing public discourse, and “the future for how AVFM pushes the counter-theory.”
Now he’s done a 180 degree turn … and is promoting an inward-looking strategy as AVFM’s future.
AVFM’s strategic about-faces have gotten as dizzying as those of the US Communist Party in World War II.
So what’s behind this new approach besides Elam’s anger at the widespread criticism he’s gotten from other MRAs for his drunken video?
A cynical person might suggest that Elam is doing his best to put a positive spin on the fact that he seems to be reaching the final seconds of his 15 minutes of fame. His narcissistic rage-fits have alienated most of his potential allies and followers in the Men’s Rights world. And traffic to his site seems to be dropping, at least according to the highly imperfect metrics of Alexa.
Elam is already doing his best to spin a drop in traffic as a really good thing, honest, youbetcha.
Seriously, take a look at this desperate spin:
AVFM is taking another major, visible step forward toward the completion of our mission. We will see that evidenced by a drop in traffic to this site.
No, he really did write that. Comparing the future AVFM to a party after “the free beer dries up,” Elam declares that his new approach
will mean a drop in traffic. We don’t care. To repeat, AVFM used to live and breathe by Page Rank and Alexa. We worked by drawing in as many people as possible, regardless of who they were and we performed well at it. …
Now we are moving into a new mode, not caring so much about drawing in people but in drawing in activists.
With Elam’s version of”activism” essentially defined as “agreeing with him and sending him money,” it’s becoming even more clear that former AVFM Number Two Dude Dean Esmay was telling the truth when, in an unintentionally revealing slip of the tongue, he told one feminist that AVFM was “a group of volunteers dedicated to a cause, and the cause is Paul Elam.”
Best of luck with your little cult, Paul, as it becomes littler.
The guy’s an outright sociopath. Every fiber of his being is dedicated to furthering his own interests and his own causes.
His way of dealing with dissent is to bully people into submission rather than attempt to understand the points they are making and take on board some of the concerns of his followers.
Surely they must start to wake up now. Surely!
Paulie has already stated that the only activism the MRM does is scream at people on the internet. I’ve never heard of an MRA who doesn’t do that. So what’s Paulie’s problem?
Off topic, this Ahmed/clock thing has finally made me swear off Real Time/Maher for life. I’ve been hatewatching it for years just because I like the format, but this was the nail in the coffin. Of all the dumb things Maher has said, this has to be one of the worst.
Also, I feel reassured when reading through comments from Maher’s fans on youtube and twitter. It’s just full of sexist and homophobic slurs, with straight up Nazi stuff mixed in. This reminds me a lot of when Thunderf00t started his feminism-related meltdown and his comment sections suddenly were indistinguishable from an Alex Jones video. In fact, his fanbase now has a huge overlap with fundamentalist Christians and conspiracy theorists of the lizard people kind.
It makes me smile on the inside, knowing that a self-professed “liberal” like Maher must know that his fans are hateful bigots because those are the people he appeals to. And a self-professed “rational thinker” like Thunderf00t appeals mostly to people who believe in magic. I love it.
…All these languages equate female genitals with cats? …Why? What connection do vaginas and cats have, to have so many cultures associate them with each other? Is it because they’re naturally fuzzy and nice to stroke?
Or are vaginas known for their ability to hunt and kill small birds and rodents? My vagina has certainly never displayed that capability before. Apparently there are all these people who have vaginas that can hunt mice, or be used like hands, or can provide literary critique, and I’m stuck with an orifice that just spits blood all over everything every month? I want a refund.
skiriki, I’m pretty sure the etymology of “pussy” (meaning cowardly or weak) is misogynist.
I do love seeing the trope undermined.
“I never understood why people say “grow some balls” ???? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. ???? Those things can take a pounding.” –(stand-up comic Sheng Wang, sometimes incorrectly attributed to Betty White)
-also-
http://obeythekitty.blogspot.com/2008/06/chairman-meow-says-fight-like-pussies.html?m=1
The plot thickens! Somebody should make a movie (hehe…) or write a book about this! That would be exciting.
Off-topic, who is that kid that whose face is plastered everywhere David?
@Catalpa
” Or are vaginas known for their ability to hunt and kill small birds and rodents? My vagina has certainly never displayed that capability before.”
Pfft, gurl, you have to let it practice! Start it out on some of those little furry play mice. If it shows any aptitude, encourage it. Before you know it, you’ll have to put bells on it to protect songbirds!
@Lady Mondegreen
Not to sound like #Notallmen (although i sound just like that) but i have a feeling that saying pussy stems from cats (kinda like bitch, a female dog) and has (or probably had) nothing to do with the nether region.
But that was probably not what Elam or many others are thinking :/
@Catalpa, just spitballing, here, but I would guess that it started with one dominant culture (white and colonial, most likely), and the association between the two got translated and spread to others.
@Catalpa: Well… um…
http://chaoslife.findchaos.com/snogging-snafu
@Lady Mondegreen: pretty sure about that as well, but dudebros keep swearing up and down that it isn’t. Who do I believe, them or my lying eyes totes telling lies?
It’s just like Spinal Tap!
@spacelawn,
(Puts on Serious Hat) I don’t really know. I do know that a lot of younger men don’t associate it with vaginas. But knowing how ubiquitous the association between “women” and “weakness” is, my guess is that that’s where it came from.
Wikipedia is no help here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy
But IIRC I looked it up once before and found that the connection with “cowardly” is uncertain.
Internet activism is what we do! We don’t need to build no shelters or change no laws!
But all y’all coming here to just read and not do anything, fuck off! This isn’t your site!
@regarding the pussy discussion: there is a similiar thing in Germany, strangely enough.
Also, every few days I have to rescue my wive’s vagina because it climbed a tree and couldn’t get down.
“AVFM has been an enormous, inarguable success” Heh.
And what brought these amazing advances? Well apparently AVFM invented anti-feminism six years ago and now titans like Milo and Sargon are kicking it to overdrive.
An AVFM superfan in the comments is all in when it comes to fanciful history of made up triumphs:
My word, I did not mean to not post here for quite this long but um… oh well.
While reading the various nonsensical rantings of Paul “if the site traffic is down that means we’re winning!” Elam. I thought of a couple of amusing things, specifically from his comments about “slacktivists” and people who criticize or suggest but don’t donate or work, and his declaration of massive banhammering for the future. These things are noteworthy mainly in light of how these people (and others who support their ideology) tend to interact with feminists and “SJWs”.
One: the “slacktivists” comment. The implication is “don’t come at us and try to talk about what you think we should be doing unless you’re ready to be BOOTS ON THE GROUND out there doing aggressive activism and advancing the cause! Or at least donating!” I find this funny because of how often anti-feminist types respond to feminists by demanding to know “what have YOU actually done to improve the lives of women in (some non-western country, usually in the middle east)?? You’re just sitting here on Tumblr pretending to be an activist!”
Apparently MRAs throw that shit at each other too!
Two: with the promise of massive banhammers, the subtle (not really, actually) implication is that what this is REALLY all about is Elam saying “don’t criticize me or my friends/main allies in any way or you go on the shitlist.” This is again amusing in light of the tactics they use when arguing with feminists and social justice activists on Tumblr. Think of how many times you have seen the accusation of wearing ideological blinkers and just shouting down those who “hold a different opinion” and being part of an “echo chamber” etc etc lobbed toward feminists.
Then again, blatant hypocrisy from this crowd really shouldn’t be surprising.
I am still pretty new to commenting here, but I have not been blockquote monster’d yet! We’ll see if that changes…
@dhag85 – wait what, what did Maher say? Not that I’m any fan of his, in fact I don’t watch/listen to him much at all, but I’m curious. Especially with how disturbing that whole situation with Mohamed and the clock was in general. Racism and Islamophobia don’t get much more blatant.
I looked up the Maher thing. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh.
It doesn’t matter if it “looked like a fucking bomb” or not. The school and the cops clearly did not – DID NOT – actually think it was a bomb. Period.
Or, alternatively, if they truly DID, then it was the worst handling of a suspected bomb incident in the history of the world. No evacuations, no bomb squad, no safety measure of ANY kind taken by ANYONE. I’d love Maher or any other fuckwad defending the actions of the school and cops as “reasonable” to explain that.
HOWEVER, possibly far worse was the display of Islamophobia he displayed. He practically blamed Muslims for all the death and destruction in the world. By his logic, all Christians should be regarded with suspicion and hostility because of the actions of pe-
Wait, he’s an atheist who views all religion as destructive, so instead I’ll say, by his logic, all atheists and agnostics should be regarded with suspicion and hostility because of the actions of people like Kim Jong Il and Jeffrey Dahmer.
I used to just mildly dislike him. But now, fuck him. If anyone needs a demonstration of the concept of the harmful, not-actually-progressive “white liberal”, there you go.
HAHAHA! The only way any of those guys’ dicks are getting sucked voluntarily without money changing hands is if they meet a poor soul who’s been lost in the desert for 3 days and just happen to have a dick full of cool, spring water with which to quench a mighty thirst.
Well make it four days. Still would have to be extra desperate. Because fucking GAG!
I like to imagine that this was written in the following manner:
“Okay, time to list all of our illustrious allies: ‘…people like Milo Yannup…’ wait, something’s wrong here. ‘Yianolu….’ Gah. Greek is hard. ‘Yeahno…’ Oh, screw it. ‘Milo Y.’
“All right, and there’s that other guy. What was it, Sargon of Arcades? Sargon of Archimedes? Sargon the Archbishop… You know what? Never mind. ‘Sargon.’
“And next, of course, we’ve got Owen and Aurini—well, wait, I guess they’re not a good example right now. What about those folks from Airplay—no, that was a catastrophe, too. Whatever. I’ll just put ‘members of #gamergate’.”
I mean, overall, not only is this a list of questionable allies, it’s a lazy, shorthanded list of questionable allies.
@moviebuff and anyone else. Yes indeed there is a group in India. I know it’s wiki put I attached it anyways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Indian_Family_Foundation
One of their complaints is against criminalizing marital rape as that will apparently cause the breakdown of marriage.
I think a little adjustment to a Beatles lyric is in order regarding Paul Elam
“I’m a loser
And I am what I appear to be”
‘There will be no time, patience or tolerance for non-hackers.’
So, is Elam admitting that being an AVFM activist involves hacking? Isn’t that illegal? Should he be so openly admitting such activity?
sn0rkmaiden. Should he be so openly dense, yes.
This has been going around Facebook and says it pretty well:
I said: it’s sad they thought that kid had a bomb.
She said: they didn’t think he had a bomb.
I said: yes, they thought he made a bomb and even called the police.
She said: They just wanted to humiliate a little Muslim boy. They didn’t think he had a bomb.
I said: Don’t be a conspiracy theorist. They might be a little prejudiced, but I’m sure they thought he had a bomb.
She said: OK.
But they didn’t evacuate the school, like you do when there’s a bomb.
They didn’t call a bomb squad – like you do when there’s a bomb.
They didn’t get as far away from him as possible, like you do when there’s a bomb.
Then they put him and the clock in an office, not like you do when there’s a bomb.
Then they waited with him for the police to arrive, and then they put the clock in the same car as the police.
Then they took pictures of it.
I said: Damn…..
They never thought he had a bomb.
Then: “Whining on the net is not a bug, it’s a feature – the ONLY feature – it’s what AVFM is FOR! Now give me your money!”
Now: “How dare you just sit and whine on the internet? Get your boots on the GROUND or get OUT! Now give me your money!”
Talk about a 180, except for the part that’s ALWAYS the same with Paulie
This commenter looks so close to reaching a revelation — that every advance feminism has made has been questioned by *someone*, every step of the way — but they’re too caught up in pride at being the current roadblock.