So last night, shortly before going to bed, I decided to watch some dumb videos on YouTube to clear my head of all the manosphere nonsense I’d been reading about for much of the evening. Scrolling through my various Youtube subscriptions, I happened to notice one with a rather intriguing title:
David Futrelle: Trying to Get MHRAs Killed
It was a video by the self-described “Men’s Human Rights Activist” Paul Elam, who needs no introduction to readers of this blog. Happily, it turns out that only a portion of the hour and a half video was devoted to me; I found that segment of the video and watched — well, listened — to several minutes before I had to turn it off. (I’m not going to link to it.)
Apparently, Elam is convinced that, by writing critically about him and his colleagues, I am whipping up hatred towards the Men’s Rights movement.
His specific complaint: a day or two ago, someone apparently doxxed Elam’s colleague Jack Barnes on Twitter. Needless to say, I don’t support doxxing and I have no idea who did it; indeed, I only learned of it, last night, from Elam’s video.
But apparently Elam holds me personally responsible, because I wrote a post about Barnes a few days ago, a response to a post he did about me that was filled with ridiculous accusations and rather puerile attacks on my weight.
In Elam’s mind, evidently, when I point out the terrible things he and his colleagues say and do, I’m giving them a bad reputation and therefore “trying to get MHRA’s killed.”
Paul, do you want to know who is responsible for the bad reputation of Men’s Rights Activists? You are. Your allies at AVFM are. The Men’s Rights Activists who fill the internet with angry misogynistic screeds are.
Hell, you did more damage to the Men’s Rights movement with this two-minute video than I could do in a year.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Paul, but most of what I do on this blog is to simply chronicle what you and other internet misogynists say. Sometimes I make jokes about it. Sometimes what you and your pals say is too horrifying to make jokes about.
Oh, and sometimes I post pictures and videos of cats.
You won’t find any threats, much less any incitements to violence, on my blog — except in the quotes of the people I write about.
And as long as you and other internet misogynists keep on saying terrible things, I will continue to point them out.
I just want to say that I am extremely grateful for the work you do in wading through so much vileness to write this blog. Especially hoe you somehow manage to bring levity to the subject matter when possible/appropriate. Thank you David.
@promisedlandpastor:
Plenty of other people have already said we aren’t rejoicing in the doxxing.
MRAs do a lot more than doxx people. They threaten women and they are really bad at biology.
Sweet cinnamon roll too good, too pure for this earth.
TIL how misogynists think: if you aren’t a misogynist, you’re wrong.
Color me surprised. turns into Harlequin
everything flatpossum said, david!
criticizing-you-is-not-equivalent-to-inciting-murder
good thing too, imagine if movie criticism worked like that, watch out Micheal Bay is all i’m saying.
This Paul Elam psycho seems to be losing it. I wonder what his official mental diagnosis is?
Arianna Higgins, we don’t do that around here. We don’t call people “crazy,” “psycho,” “nuts,” etc. and we don’t allude to psychiatric diagnosis. Mental illness does not cause misogyny or overall horribleness – a decision to be misogynistic and overall horrible causes these things.
Paul Elam has the emotional IQ of a twelve year old. Sometimes I wonder why we pay him any mind at all (as it seems a sort of validation of him), but then I remember all the hate filled garbage he spouts and how many young men actually take him seriously.
Arianna Higgins:
His diagnosis is “sane.” That’s part of the problem.
The only way throwing beer on someone would be attempted murder is if that beer is made of acid, some cyanide that they don’t ingest or whatever while their face/whatever is being dissolved by the acid, and oh it can’t be beer either. Because nobody wants to drink beer that’s really a caustic chemical.
so the usual DOXXING IS BAD UNLESS WE DO IT from the scumbags.
There goes that MRA-projection again.
Arianna
Mentally ill people including me do not act like this.
kyla ball
“Paul Elam has the emotional IQ of a twelve year old”
people choose to act, it has nothing to do with age.
You’re really making them squirm just by telling the truth and repeating what they themselves have been saying. You’re doing a lot of really great work exposing it all. =) Keep it up!
I see that Barnes & Co are trying to blame you today (Sunday) for something you had nothing to do with. The viciousness and irrational thinking in the comments is typical. It must be hard to absorb these attacks caused by your success in calling out their hate. A lot of us are fully supporting you and appreciate what you’re doing very much. The KKK has the SPLC. AVFM has you and you do a great job. As for Barnes being doxxed, thisis a bad sign means AVFM’s main technique for harassing women is being adopted by others. We may be witnessing the start of an allout escalation. If I were doxxed I would dox the parties who did it. I understand why others may disagree, but that’s what I would do. Frankly I wouldn’t know what else to do, because I can’t think of any other way you could stop them increasing their doxxing.
Has there ever been a case of a feminist actually going off and killing MRAs? The reverse, of course, has been a regular occurrence, from the Ecole Polytechnique massacre to Roger Elliot.
DaveL: No, nothing similar*. I won’t say it will ‘never’ happen, because humanity has long ceased to surprise me in a negative fashion. But it would obviously be both an outlier and not a result of actual feminist rhetoric.
*: A few MRAs will try to insist the woman who shot Andy Warhol was doing it as an expression of feminist outrage, but really, it’s a pretty weaksauce complaint. It was a personal grudge, not a political statement.
Also, it was 47 years ago and nobody died. The MRAs who try to BOTH SIDES!!!11 it always forget that part. =P
“Has there ever been a case of a feminist actually going off and killing MRAs? The reverse, of course, has been a regular occurrence, from the Ecole Polytechnique massacre to Roger Elliot.”
“People killed by feminists: 0.
People killed by MRAs: [I lost count several murder sprees ago].”
David, why do you allow abusive lies to be posted on your website and with no rebuke from you?
There are no MRA murder sprees, just ones feminists have LIED about being MRAs. There is literally ZERO evidence that elliot rodgers had even HEARD of MRAs let alone was an MRA himself.
His manifesto never mentioned “MRA” “mens rights rights” “MRM” “feminism” or anything to do with MRAs. He wasn’t subscribed to ANY MRA youtube channels.
He had bloody bugger all to do with MRA!
“Has there ever been a case of a feminist actually going off and killing MRAs? The reverse, of course, has been a regular occurrence, from the Ecole Polytechnique massacre to Roger Elliot.”
regular occurrence my arse! its never happened
what does the ecole polytehnique killings have to do with MRAs? the guy didn’t like feminism so that makes him an MRA?
Because if we didn’t allow MRAs to post, we’d never have any fun! *rimshot*
MRAs: Constantly whining that MRAs, PUAs, MGTOWs, incels and #GamerGaters are totes different you guys!!!1 despite having exactly zero practical differences, while simultaneously grouping any woman who thinks that sexism might exist after all in with radical feminism.
Bro, if you spent less time stomping your feet about NO TRUE MRA with your fingers in your ears and more time, y’know, speaking out against the violence in your silly little “Movement,” you wouldn’t have to stomp your feet about NO TRUE MRA with your fingers in yours ears. (But, of course, you’d have to be against the violence for that. And you’re not. No MRAPUAMGTOWWTFBBQ is. You’re only against having to face the well-deserved repercussions. Proof: The fact that you’re even here.)
Okay. Anti feminists have killed many, many more people than feminists. Happy?
Whether or not any of these guys identified as MRAs isn’t so much the point. When misogynistic spree killers and MRAs have such identical views on women that they can be mistaken for MRAs, that should be a bigger concern to you than us calling them MRAs. It’s kind of like an Aryan Nation member getting mad at someone for calling Dylann Roof a Nazi.
*Your ears, not “Yours ears.”
And the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies have nothing to do with each other, despite having identical agendas, similar names, and similar methods.
I’m sure all of these peaceful people have absolutely nothing in common with MRAs like Paul Elam who host terrorist manifestos urging men to burn down courthouses.
Riiiiight.