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The ongoing tragicomedy that is the Honey Badger Brigade’s Calgary Expo lawsuit continues to get even more tragicomical! Well, not so much the “tragic” bit, just that “comical” part.
The last time we checked in with the Brigade — that GamerGate-loving, feminist-hating gang of mostly lady YouTube blabbers — they had filed some sort of legal document charging the people in charge of the Calgary Expo with some kind of bad wrongness for tossing them out of the aforementioned Calgary Expo back in April.
They also charged The Mary Sue, a website in the United States that actually has no power over the staff of any expos in Calgary or indeed anywhere else in Canada, with somehow contributing to or causing the expulsion.
Well, The Mary Sue has responded to the Brigade’s legal filing, and the response is a doozy. Happily, the Honey Badgers have put it online for us all to enjoy.
The Mary Sue’s lawyer begins by pointing out that they are — ahem! — headquartered in New York, which is pretty clearly not located in Alberta, Canada, where the lawsuit was filed. (I am reliably informed that Canada is actually a whole other country from us.)
Then The Mary Sue’s lawyer gently reminded the court — and, more to the point, the Honey Badgers — that TIME MOVES FORWARD, not backwards, and that an article that appeared after the Honey Badgers were tossed from the Expo could not have caused them to be tossed from the Expo.
In regard to breach of contract, this claim is not just unfounded, but it is simply impossible based on the timeline of events. The Mary Sue could not have induced the Calgary Expo (“the Expo”) to evict Plaintiff because the aforementioned article was published after Plaintiff’s eviction.
Yep. Apparently the Honey Badger’s fancy disbarred lawyer got the dates mixed up. But hey, the law isn’t about these little details.
There’s more to The Mary Sue’s response, but that’s pretty much the best bit, in this Time-Space continuum at least.
Yesterday, Hannah Wallen of the Honey Badgers — she’s the one who isn’t Karen Straughan or Alison Tieman — posted their official response to the Mary Sue’s letter. It did not mention what we can only call the Honey Badger Time Paradox, but instead tried to distract readers with some new charges against the dastardly Mary Sue.
Mary Sue claims a lack of involvement in Calgary Expo’s choice to expel the Honey Badgers from the event. However, in response to questions on twitter following our expulsion, the expo’s staff referenced The Mary Sue’s article about the event.
Ok, but the Mary Sue article was published after the expulsion, so it could not have caused the expulsion.
The Mary Sue’s prior and existing relationship with Calgary Expo is further demonstrated by an April 15th article promoting the Mary Sue sponsored cosplay contest which was to take place at the event.
Ok, but the Mary Sue article was published after the expulsion, so it could not have caused the expulsion.
Mary Sue weekend editor Sam Maggs was the first person to respond to Britany le Blanc’s first tweet objecting to “MRAs in the audience” at the women into comics panel.
Ok, but the Mary Sue article was published after the expulsion, so it could not have caused the expulsion.
Sorry, Ms. Wallen, but your little sleight of hand is no more effective than this dude’s not-quite-flawless disappearing act.
Just a reminder: the Honey Badgers raised more than $30,000 to cover the legal costs of their patently ludicrous lawsuit.
In my last post I noted that
MRAs and other antifeminists … have wasted literally hundreds of thousands of dollars on causes and projects and people that have pissed away their money without accomplishing anything of value … .
This would be one of those causes.
If you’ve got money burning a hole in your wallet, here’s a much better option:
The Honey Badger Brigade has three people listed as “Founding Hosts”. (The “Co-Hosts” section just says “coming soon”, and all the other names on their “the team” page are listed as artists, producers and animators, with only one exception.)
So, the HBB essentially consists of three active writers/speakers:
Karen Straughan, Contributing Editor at A Voice for Men
Alison Tieman, Assistant Managing Editor at A Voice for Men
Hannah Wallen, regular contributor to A Voice for Men
But they’re totally not associated with AVfM, you guys.
Excellent point, Moocow.
I think that MRAs can’t ever be concise and also insist on making a fuss about details (while continuing to lie, of course) and repeat themselves (after telling you that they are going to repeat themselves) because they have nothing to say.
And that’s because their so-called ideology lacks depth and lacks coherence. They believe that stringing lots of words together will hide that fact. They can’t post “I hate women for ridiculous reasons.” That’s not click bait.
Why would MRAs bother to say stuff when they have nothing to say? As Antisocialite points out,
And the followers are either haters or in it for the lulz.
Next they’re going to be telling us that Leigh Alexander published the same article elsewhere on the same day. That’s how it works, right?
@orange tango drinker:
The best test for whether two political groups are in fact subsets of one another or whether they’re distinct groups, in my opinion, is to look at recurring faultlines.
Let’s take the example of white supremacists versus white nationalists: they agree on lots of things, they socialise together, and they’re just as hateful as one another; but all it takes is a look at a couple where he’s white and she’s Asian, and suddenly the two groups are at one another’s throats and are calling each other horrible names. That faultline may get papered over now and then in order for the two groups to socialise, but it’s larger than simply different leaders and members: they actually have different goals. They can thus be described as different political groups.
Can you give me an example of a similar ideological faultline between the Honey Badger Brigade and AVFM/MHRM/The Church of Elam/whatever it’s called this week? Because if not, they’re not two different groups, just two different chapters of the same larger group.
(I have now achieved semantic satiation for the word ‘group’. Winner!)
@Kat:
Your point is a good one; however I think it’s also at least partially due to the fact that the reactionary blogosphere is just a place where volume is considered more virtuous than pithiness. Look at, say, Curtis “Mencius Moldbug” Yarvin. To quote one anonymous internet wit, he has done for words what bitcoin has done for electricity.
It’s what their audience want, and so they deliver.
If they keep on providing content for hilarious headlines like this one, I wouldn’t consider the money “wasted”. Hell, they probably cost the same as your average shitty sitcom episode, and this is way better.
@dhag85
There are a lot more than 3 people in the honey badgers. Karen, Alison and Hannah started it thats why they are called founders.
Karen and Alison don’t do anything at AVFM anymore, Hannah is the only one out of those 3 who is still involved with AVFM.
@EJ when I said groups I meant organisations, they are separate organisations and always have been.
@orannge tango drinker:
The word you’re looking for is “synonym.”
Really? I’m looking at the HBB team page right now, and I call BS.
Other than Tieman, Straughan and Wallen, they list the following:
A “radio producer”
A “podcast producer”
An “animator” (same person as the “podcast producer”)
Two “artists” (one of which is the same person as the “radio producer”)
None of the above are speakers or writers.
There is ONE other writer listed on the page, other than the three “founders”, but this writer goes by “Observing Libertarian”, i.e. we have no idea who it is or if they’re an AVfM staff member like all the others.
—
What exactly do the HBB members do or say through HBB that they do not already do or say through AVfM? What exactly is the difference between the two groups, other than a label?
(Does anybody else keep reading Kool-Aid’s username as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?)
https://www.patreon.com/honeybadgerradio?ty=h
“What exactly do the HBB members do or say through HBB that they do not already do or say through AVfM? What exactly is the difference between the two groups, other than a label?”
the honey badger radio. 24-26 shows a month.
“Sunday: Ragening- Alison and Mike rage at the machine
Monday: Rantzerker – Karen and Alison take on the neo-puritan of the week.
Tuesday: Nerdrevolt-covers the latest happenings in nerddom
Wednesday: Nerdcast-reviews of comics, movies, tv shows, etc.
Thursday: Honey Badger Radio: Social issues from a unique perspective
Friday: Fireside Chat- Introducing new perspectives to the show.”
from their page
I also think the honey badgers are more high brow than AVFM
http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/121615/mens-rights-larp.gif
edit: i seem to have no ability to HTML properly here
No no, magic spell LARPing is sovereign citizens! MRAs prefer brute force. Silly [your nym here]*!
* replace [your nym here] with your nym. Silly Pie has its own separate meaning that isn’t what I’m trying to say!
What exactly are they saying in Honey Badger Radio that is not already being said through AVfM?
How does HBB differ from AVfM in any way?
“What exactly are they saying in Honey Badger Radio that is not already being said through AVfM?”
I dont know.
Your honesty, and your willingness to not simply refuse to answer, is to your credit. Well done.
thank you EJ
In conclusion: we have managed to find no difference between HBB and AVfM, other than the names of the groups.
I never said they had a different ideology, just that they are separate groups.
Also AVFM only does one show, called the voice of europe but the HBB has a different one nearly everyday. Different types of shows about different topics.
They have a different name, but it’s the same exact people with the same exact views and ideas. Okay.
its not the exact same people, some people are involved with both groups but its not the exact same people.
To sum up:
If two groups of people whose memberships overlap heavily produce ideologically identical content through different outlets, can we still say of them that: “the honey badgers are NOT part of AVFM. They are bloody bugger all to do with AVFM,” and refer to the statement to the converse as a “lie“?
To me, bloody bugger all is a strong term, but then I’m a scientist and I’m used to rigour. To use an analogy from my field, Pluto may not be a planet, but it doesn’t have bloody bugger all to do with planets. Most statements made about planets also apply to Pluto. Likewise, most statements made about AVFM also apply to HBB. They are fine-grained distinctions within a broad field, which as you say has no differentiation in ideology or membership.
Terms like bloody bugger all should be used more for the distinction between, say, the Honey Badger Brigade and the electroweak force.
Like you, I care about accuracy. That’s why I’m disagreeing with you here.
Alison and Karen are not anything to do with AVFM anymore. The reason it still says so on the AVFM website is because Paul Elam is a liar. They both said they are not involved with AVFM anymore and dont talk to him anymore. Its in the video that I posted.
@EJ okay that is fair enough, bloody bugger all was too much.
…that’s a strong and convincing argument, actually.