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MRA Jack Barnes is trying to silence me with increasingly explicit threats

Jack Barnes, in a screenshot of one of his YouTube videos
Jack Barnes, in a screenshot from one of his YouTube videos

Jack Barnes, the notoriously hotheaded Men’s Rights Activist and longtime contributor to A Voice for Men, has escalated his attacks on me. In a post on AVFM, Barnes addressed me directly:

I’m a junkyard dog with no owner and no collar. …

Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you shouldn’t piss off a redheaded country boy from the backwoods of Tennessee? I promise you David that for the rest of your life there will be nights you cry yourself to sleep in anger and frustration over me.

In a followup post on TwitLonger, someone claiming to be Barnes — and it seems abundantly clear that it is in fact him — threatened to drive from Tennessee to Chicago to confront me in

a face to face in person discussion … No cops. No lawyers or prosecutors. No judges. No jury. No hiding behind a computer. Just me and you. …

I don’t know of any parent that would blame me for stomping a mud hole in your fucking ass and walking that motherfucker dry for what you have done!

What I have done is, in fact, nothing — nothing beyond letting the world know of some of the disturbing things Barnes has posted online.

But as Barnes sees it, I am responsible for putting his family in danger. How? Well, not long ago, someone apparently doxed Barnes, posting personal information about Barnes and his family on Twitter.

Of course, I had nothing to do with the doxing and only learned about it later from an AVFM video. I don’t know who did it, and I have publicly condemned it several times.

I will condemn it again, right here: the doxing of Jack Barnes and his family was wrong and a deeply shitty thing to do; whoever did it is a shithead and no friend of mine.

But Barnes is convinced one of my “cult followers” did the deed and bluntly warns me that ” I hold you personally responsible for this occurring.”

Even though I did not dox him, don’t know who doxed him, did not tell anyone to dox him, and have publicly denounced doxing in general and the doxing of Barnes and his family specifically.

The TwitLonger post declares:

You have crossed a line David. This is no longer about the MHRM vs feminism. This is no longer about AVFM, which I have no affiliation with, and your website. This is no longer about Paul Elam publisher of AVFM vs you as publisher of your website. You have made this personal. This is now about me vs you.
I don’t care that your little cult follower doxxed me. But when he/she doxxed my wife and little girl it became personal.

The author of the TwitLonger post, almost certainly Barnes himself, says that he will only come to Chicago for the promised “face to face in person discussion” if his family members come to harm.

But I do not have the luxury of seeing the threats as conditional ones. There are no conditions listed when he writes:

I don’t know of any parent that would blame me for stomping a mud hole in your fucking ass and walking that motherfucker dry for what you have done! Hell, I bet even Gondi would be like “he did what to you family? Fuck him up!

He is not saying that he would only be justified in “stomping a mud hole in [my] fucking ass” if something were to happen to his family; he is saying he is justified in doing so now.

Because some person who is not me, and who is unknown to me, did something I only found out about later and that I have publicly denounced.

And a possible “stomping” is not all I have to worry about: in his AVFM post, Barnes made sure I know that he

live[s] in a state with more guns than people, where a side arm is as common as a cell phone and where it is legal for 10yr olds to hunt with high powered rifles and without adult supervision.

So I can only assume that if he ever decides to pay me an unwanted visit he will be armed.

The author of the TwitLonger post — almost certainly Barnes — declares that his obvious threats against me are not in fact threats but “simply a statement of fact.” I think any reasonable person reading these posts would see them as clear threats, and I am treating them as such.

And it is plainly obvious to me that Barnes intends to terrorize me into silence with his threats — as his “promise” on AVFM that “for the rest of your life there will be nights you cry yourself to sleep” thinking about him makes abundantly clear. His threats are consistent with the threatening language he uses against feminists online, particularly on Twitter, which are clearly intended to shut his opponents up. As he put it in one notorious Tweet

https://twitter.com/Jackbarnesmra/status/559761561028669440

Adding to the surreality of this all, Barnes and his allies at A Voice for Men are so committed to their bizarre caricature of me as some kind of cartoon supervillain that they not only blame me for things I haven’t done but for not doing things that I have done. In this case, their eyes seem to have blurred over when they’ve come across the things I’ve written condemning the doxing.

In his AVFM post, Barnes wrote that while other feminists had denounced the doxing,

there was one person who has remain eerily silent about all this. That person is David Futrelle. Seems odd since all of this doxxing was done to avenge him. There is not a peep from Futrelle about this on his site or on social media anywhere that I could find. As a parent I know my kid is up to no good when she is quiet. Wonder if the same goes for adults (assuming the word applies)?

In fact, I had condemned the doxing two days earlier in a post that Barnes has publicly acknowledged reading.

On Twitter, AVFM’s “Chief Public Relations Officer” Suzy McCarley did Barnes one better, somehow managing to miss my denunciation of the doxing in a Tweet of mine that she was literally quoting at the time, leading to this rather surrealistic exchange:

Suzy McCarley ‏@SuzyMcCarley Suzy McCarley Retweeted David Futrelle Boobz had to know it and he didn't make a peep until he was called out. @DavidFutrelle STILL hasn't condemned it. Suzy McCarley added, David Futrelle @DavidFutrelle . @Jackbarnesmra I DID NOT DOX YOU OR YOUR FAMILY. I DON'T KNOW WHO DOXED YOU OR THEM. WHOEVER DOXED YOU/THEM WAS WRONG. RETWEET 1 LIKES 3 Bob LorinczMike KlengenburgMel Liflora 9:19 PM - 8 Nov 2015 Reply Retweet Like More Tweet text Reply to @SuzyMcCarley Who's in these photos? David Futrelle ‏@DavidFutrelle Nov 8 @SuzyMcCarley I called it out as soon as I heard about it. I condemned in in a post and in the tweet you just fucking quoted.

It is almost as if they are so committed to seeing me as a monster that they cannot handle it when reality defies their expectations.

Another longtime AVFM supporter, so-called “Honey Badger” Hannah Wallen, has added a decidely Kafkaesque series of Tweets to the Twitter dogpile, including one that puzzled me greatly until she explained her “logic” in more detail:

Eventually, I was able to understand that she was taking my concern over Barnes’ threats … as proof that I was planning to harm his family.

She explained her “logic” in a blog post I discovered later. Utterly ignoring my denunciations of the doxing, and of doxing in general, she declared that if i didn’t immediately “admit”that my worries about Barnes’ threats were “a completely irrational overreaction to being held responsible for the effects of his dishonest shit stirring on his followers” I was essentially admitting that I was planning some sort of attack on Barnes’ family:

[H]is current response indicates .. that he intends for harm to come Jack’s family as a result of his shit stirring, that he DOES encourage his readers to engage in this type of behavior, and that he DOES intend for one or more of his readers to respond to his writing by engaging in violence against HIS political opponents.

After all, “If X, then Y” only infers Y on the condition of X… so responding to “If you X, then I’ll Y” as if the individual has only stated “I’m going to Y” is an admission that you’ve planned on X happening.

This, I have to admit, is pretty ingenious. Kafka would be proud.

But just in case anyone thinks there is anything to Wallen’s sophistry: I do not support doxing in general, and have made this clear on numerous occasions. I did not, do not, will not support the doxing of Jack Barnes or his family, nor do I have the slightest idea who did it. I do not “intend … for harm to come [to] Jack’s family” or to him. (Indeed, I don’t even know where they live; not only did I have nothing to do with the doxing of Barnes and his family, I didn’t even know about it until after the doxing tweets were deleted.) I do not support violence against my political opponents.

All of this is obvious to anyone who actually reads what I write on this blog without their perceptions distorted by MRA-induced prejudice or preconceptions.

That said, I will not apologize for taking Barnes’ threats seriously.

Nor will I apologize for exposing misogynistic Men’s Rights activists to the light of day — not by “shit stirring” or engaging in Wallen-esque sophistry, but by quoting their own words and reporting their real deeds.

And when people harass and threaten me — whether that’s Barnes, those at AVFM who have aided and abetted his threats, or anyone else — I will take every legal step I feel is necessary for my safety and the safety of others.

This post is one of those steps.

 

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hippielady
hippielady
8 years ago

We’re with you Dave. Oh and if you’re reading Barnes, I’m a PROUD feminist.

misseb47
misseb47
8 years ago

Keep fighting the hood fight, David. And I am proud of being a femisist3 too, Jack Barnes!

Marinerachel
Marinerachel
8 years ago

Oh jeez, David.

Are you compiling evidence or have you notified the authorities already?

Regardless, I’m terribly sorry this is happening.

misseb47
misseb47
8 years ago

*feminist*

crassenti
8 years ago

Here offering my voice of support. This Jack seems to just want a target for his rage, correct target or not, and it sucks that he’s so blind that he’s going after you

Argenti Aertheri
Argenti Aertheri
8 years ago

David, count me among those who’ll back you in this! I may occasionally disappear from the site, but that’s got fuck all to do with their scare tactics and doesn’t mean I’m not a proud feminist and loyal mammother in my absences!

You have my email, my inbox is open if there’s anything I can do, be it sending (used) cat toys, wordpress stuff, or anything in between! Stay strong dude, sunlight really is the best disinfectant!

/ abuse of the exclamation mark

FierceMild
FierceMild
8 years ago

Another feminist standing with you, Dave. Thank you for all of your work it is appreciated.

Jimmyjames
Jimmyjames
8 years ago

Doesn’t this jackass claim to be a Christian?

darkstatistic
darkstatistic
8 years ago

I can’t even. What is wrong with these people?

Username
Username
8 years ago

It is hard to reason with people who have no self actualization skills, no cognitive ability to look at what they are doing. Because they are always right, and will never admit to being wrong. After a certain stage it becomes a personality disorder. These are the guys that snap and kill when they perceive themselves to have lost face.

Moocow
Moocow
8 years ago

Congratulations David for still being alive and well. I hope this douchebag’s threats are empty.

Congratulations AFVM, you are now supporting a harasser who resorts to using threats of violence. The internet will not forget!

Also, I managed to confuse Kafka with Kefka throughout this post. Whoops.

weirwoodtreehugger
8 years ago

Hugs, David!
http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Kitten+hug_1cd878_3940668.jpg

I hope these shit stains get bored with this soon and move on.

It’s inexcusable to threaten someone when they have no evidence you’ve even done anything. Pretty ironic for a group that claims to be against false accusations!

For any MRAs and/or concern trolls who are reading this, you should know that in the two years or so I’ve been posting here, every comment that is a threat, a wish for physical harm to someone, or glee over harm coming to someone has been admonished and deleted. No matter what side that commenter is on. Can the MRM say the same? No they cannot.

I guess the silver lining is that this little melt down can be interpreted as evidence that you are, in fact fucking their shit up. Without ever having to stoop to their level.

Kav P
8 years ago

David, you don’t deserve any of this and this post further cements that legally. You have my support. Any signal-boosting you need done, I’m here. Take care. 🙂

contrapangloss
8 years ago

David, I don’t have used cat toys, but you have my email…

You are one of the best (if not the best) person I’ve met strictly via the interwebs. Do what you need, and we’re here for you.

In the meantime:

http://i.imgur.com/mESvYkL.jpg

Argenti Aertheri
Argenti Aertheri
8 years ago

Seconding WWTH, and adding a rescue turtle. The little one will spend a few years growing and then get released into the wild, there’s one little loggerhead to help boost their numbers!

Lady Mondegreen
Lady Mondegreen
8 years ago

Hey, Jack Barnes? Congratulations, dude, on putting your moral and intellectual cowardice on display.

You obviously can’t read for comprehension, can’t think for shit, and have violent tendencies. A real trifecta of an awful human being.

.

(Imagine a child growing up with a violent man who describes himself as “a junkyard dog with no owner and no collar.” What a godawful shame. I hope Barnes’s daughter grows beyond her father’s influence, to lead a happy, healthy life.)

magnesium
magnesium
8 years ago

These people are garbage. Stay safe, David. At least MRA’s continue to remind the world what violent, hate-filled scum they are. They’ve been excellent at turning people on to feminism.

AbsintheDexterous
8 years ago

David, I hope you’ll be safe and that this guy is just being an asshole. Take care of yourself.

dhag85
8 years ago

I sincerely hope that these constant threats will eventually get one of them in serious legal troubles. They need to wake the fuck up already.

Auntie Alias
Auntie Alias
8 years ago

I don’t blame you for taking the threats seriously because these assholes are unpredictable and hateful. In spite of their false bravado, they are losing the battle against feminism, they know it, and it pisses them off no end.

In the two years I’ve been reading/posting here, you’ve consistently denounced doxxing as well as violent words and actions. I can’t even imagine someone doing this in your name. I’m inclined to believe Barnes and/or AVFM made up the threats themselves to gin up anger for profit just as I believe Elam manufactured the threats in Detroit for the same reason.

I support you 100%, David. I’m glad you’re taking steps to be safe.

Inez Milholland
Inez Milholland
8 years ago

THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE.

Also, this dude is *married*? With a *child*? With anger issues like these, he totally beats his wife and daughter, right?

katz
katz
8 years ago

Take care, David. This is rough.

Myoo
Myoo
8 years ago

Jeez, I’m sorry this is going on, David, stay safe.

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