So yesterday was the big day, the day on which the famously repugnant pickup artist Roosh “No Means Yes” Valizadeh originally planned to hold 165 meetups for his fans around the world, only to cancel them after a bit of a public outcry — you may have heard something about that.
While some of Roosh’s fanboys ended up meeting in secret, the only Roosh-related events that took place in public yesterday (besides a sparsely attended press conference called by Roosh himself) were rallies against Roosh and all of the noxious things he stands for.
Here’s a roundup of pics and videos from a number of these anti-rape-culture rallies.
In Glasgow:
https://twitter.com/jonbradyphoto/status/696077539312320512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/jonbradyphoto/status/696080040178671616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And a longer video:
More details here and here; the second piece also mentions a protest in Edinburgh.
In Wellington, New Zealand:
@rooshv here's some in Wellinton. Where is your turn-out?
Oh yeah: zero pic.twitter.com/RxUauEgav4— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) February 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/NathanRoss10/status/695879919880896512
https://twitter.com/PINKYFANG/status/696101569641582593
https://twitter.com/chrissybrown/status/695863971220357120
https://twitter.com/PINKYFANG/status/696048054512652288
Wait, you’re saying to yourself, surely that can’t be the real Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords?
It is. He spent much of yesterday mocking the Roosh fanboys who showed up in his mentions.
@Cernovich no one has ever found a man holding a massive gun less intimidating.
— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) February 7, 2016
Note: one of his conquests in the background. #mumsbasement #okgonnastopnow https://t.co/PPyCYivO1y
— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) February 6, 2016
It takes 5 of you to take me on because you are only each 20 percent of one man. https://t.co/wxOk4WQjdM
— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) February 7, 2016
Point taken. In response: he lives with his mum. https://t.co/DZWYwRYray
— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) February 7, 2016
Here’s a writeup on the protests there.
In Vancouver:
https://twitter.com/ashleylynch/status/696185668679012352
https://twitter.com/ashleylynch/status/696200789275119616
Lynch tells me that after she tweeted these pics she had “Roosh’s followers calling me at 1am and playing horror movies on my voicemail.” Because of course.
In Munich:
Protest gegen Roosh V in München. pic.twitter.com/vBRxDhTaB7
— Dominik Krause (@dominik_krause) February 6, 2016
In Windsor, Ontario:
Rally held to protest Roosh V and supporters of Return of Kings at Bert Weeks Memorial pic.twitter.com/NtZJlCgpZg
— 𝗗𝗮𝘅 𝗠𝗲𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗿 (@DaxMelmer) February 7, 2016
In Albuquerque:
Moments from an anti-Roosh V protest in Albuquerque, NM on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016. Check out my story for more. pic.twitter.com/QlL4Zu234E
— David Lynch (@RealDavidLynch) February 7, 2016
More on that protest here.
There were also protests in Berlin; in Shrewsbury; in Newcastle (where a small contingent of the far-right English Defence League tried to hijack the protest); in New York City (though the only info I’ve found about it so far is from the blog of a Roosh fan) and presumably many other places as well.
If you have info or pictures or video of any of the other protests, please let me know by posting in the comments below, and I can add it to the post.
Here, by the way, is what things looked like at Roosh’s press conference yesterday.
Roosh Destroys Media At Washington DC Press Conference https://t.co/ujAwPWneNX pic.twitter.com/U56Fx2JrJ7
— Roosh V Forum (@rooshvforum) February 7, 2016
I guess I’ll have to watch the video of the press conference and see just how thoroughly Roosh “destroys” the media, huh? He’s certainly done a fine job of destroying his own reputation as a human being.
From the transcript that Auntie linked:
Fucking sleezebag. Oh, and those comments about how “a ten-year-old could see that it was satire!” about his “legalize rape on private property” article were also really disgusting. And blaming the reporters for if anything happens to him? Roosh, please. You brought all of this on yourself. If you had a shred of decency or love for your family, you’d move. Oh, but wait, you supposedly still live in “Europe”, right?
And of course he endorses Trump. Because why not?
And you know what, fuck that reporter he commended as well. She’s out acting like we shouldn’t have done anything and he’s just a “small threat” so no big deal and we’re all stupid and have been “fooled” by him. She can fuck right off along with him. I’m so sick of people seeing this shit and acting like this kind of behavior is no big deal.
So keep being a professional victim and blaming everyone but your morally and physically disgusting ass self, Roosh. Because that’s what “real men” do supposedly.
I hope Roosh steps on all the Legos. I hope they embed in his fucking nasty ass feet.
@Paradoxical
I hope he sits on them and gets Legos tangled up with all the roosh that’s clogging up his rusty sheriffs badge.
Yeah, I know, I have a puerile sense of humour.
This is exactly why challenging is more effective as a movement tactic than “ignoring” their attention grabbing antics.
Let them grasp this attention, let them suffocate themselves in it.
They should be more careful what they wish for
Wellington NZ represent!
(Long-time reader first-time commenter just fangirling ’cause a picture of a protest I helped organise got on WHTM)
That roosh head emerging like a shark fin from the lavatory is bloody scary.
Triple checking the can before I do number 2s now!
I hope he swallows some Legos and then has to poop them out and they get stuck in his Roosh on the way down.
I don’t think this Roosh is gonna be struttin’ his stuff any longer now that more and more people have realized just how he thinks and how twisted his mind is.
I mean, once the musicians and actors start getting involved, it’s pretty much over.
The concept of satire itself, I suspect. That, or the endearing habit assholes have of crying “satire!” every time they get called on something serious, and seriously awful, that they have committed to writing.
“They said I eat my mom’s meatloaf everyday.”
Hahahahaha, this part of the transcript made me lol for real.
There’s definitely information on the NYC rally.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1698449613735373/
And looking at that blog post, no, we did make it to the Dream Bar. One person got arrested, I dunno why.
But a lot of people left the bar when we got there and some, at least briefly, joined our picket line.
We also found one of the few cops who wasn’t a bastard. Forgot his name, but it was pretty cool talking to him, how he wanted to change the system from within.
I just know that he’s our Bull Connor and he’s our Westboro Baptist Church. He’s done a lot to help feminism, just not intentionally.
@Bina
Roosh may have started a new trend today: not only will assholes be crying “satire!” but we should prepare ourselves for declarations of “it was a thought experiment!”
@WWTH
And then his mother will have to help him comb the Lego’s out of his pubes because — as we’ve all learned from @rooshsmom — he can’t even find his own taint in the mirror.
Poor Rooshs mom.
Roosh’s press conference is ridiculous. Remove the manosphere nonsense and he sounds like a drunk guy explaining his incoherent, uninformed politics and views while you try to finish your smoke outside the bar.
I dearly love Jemaine.
I think Roosh should be a colloquialism for steatorrhea: the excretion of abnormal quantities of fat with the feces owing to reduced absorption of fat by the intestine.
You take too many fish oil capsules, malabsorption ensues and, not only do you have fatty wet poops, but, if you’re lucky, between poops oil drips out of your bum. You can wipe a hundred times but there will still be oily skidmarks when you drop your drawers.
That’s Roosh.
I shouldn’t have started reading this thread during breakfast…
But then, why did I think it was a good idea to read about roosh during breakfast anyway?
I know I asked this before but:
HOW THE F**K IS A HOW-TO BOOK SATIRE?
If I spent my hard-earned money on one of those screeds, I would be demanding a refund.
I think the problem is a lot of guys and girls on the Intertoobs were raised by overprotective moms who didn’t let them play sports or get summer jobs because they were so pweshus. Every trophy on the wall is a participation trophy because everything they did was fabulous. They’re the “Baby on Board” generation, with maybe one other sibling max who never had to share their toys or wear hand-me-downs. Parents treated them like their friends instead of instilling discipline.
Result, they grow up into dysfunctional adults with no social skills and because they played no sports are not physically attractive so they have a hard time picking up the opposite (or same) sex. The only thing they know is the computer, the only sex they know is Internet pr0n and the only friends they have are on forums and chatrooms. They have no concept of playing on a sports team or having teammates. They will never be marriageable and will probably die virgins (it’s a lot more common than you think).
When you’re isolated from the real world, alt-right and Ayn-Randian / Libertarian beliefs look really cool. If you have real friends you see the world differently.
PS: I’m talking about guys and girls here, not just MRAs.
@Mortarius
Excellent point! Not that long ago, the mantra was “Don’t feed the trolls.” But we’ve seen some extremely hateful writing and videos on the Interwebz, and I think it’s good we’re calling it out.
@Auntie Alias
Thanks for providing those links. The transcript of the press conference was fascinating. Yeah, he’s big on Blaming Others.
@Stephanie, @Ashkuu
Those rallies look kickass!
Umm… This is neither accurate nor particularly helpful. First, this is a feminist website so blaming the mothers is never going to go over well. Second, as somebody who didn’t play sport as a child or teenager I object to the notion that I am therefore unattractive and incapable of cooperation. Third… dude, just… no. These guys are not arseholes because their mothers spoiled them and the wimmenz won’t sex them. They’re arseholes because they refuse to empathise with others or examine their beliefs.
Those rallies look amazing, Jemaine is amazing, and the links Auntie Alias dropped are amazing. It’s so good to see so many people standing up to tell Roosh and his fanboys just how abhorrent and unpopular their beliefs truly are.
@Owen McLovely
Any kind of writing could be satire, which Webster’s defines as “a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc.” It’s just that Roosh’s screed isn’t. Roosh’s writing isn’t even a clumsy attempt at satire that fails. No, it’s vicious writing, a hit piece on women that is obviously designed to get his followers to think that rape is no big thing.
On the other hand, I’ve noticed that Roosh does drop jokes into his proclamations sometimes. For example, at the recent press conference he said that he has been accused of eating his mom’s meatloaf every day. So he’s inserting a joke into a discussion about a very serious subject. Maybe he thinks this kind of joke gives him plausible deniability, should some country’s legal system decide to investigate him.
“See, I made a joke! So obviously the whole thing is just a joke!”
Except it’s not.
And as far as I can tell, when Roosh feels threatened he never reconsiders and says, “Oh, that was actually satire.” For example, when he was approached by Polish men who wanted to know if he was a Syrian refugee, he was outraged. He didn’t say, “Oh, I’m sure that was satirical performance art.”
This is one step away from blaming the mothers for MRAs. Come on, your whole theory is basically a version of “Millenials, ugh”, which is just the newest iteration of old people (and I include myself in that) complaining about “today’s youth”.
Some of the media has been taking the scenic and over-the-top-to-get-readers-attention route. *Some*.
His ‘press conference’ spewing on the press not reading an article and pushing lies might as well be “Buy my e-books, prove you did your research and then I will still be moving those infernal goalposts but hey at least I get some money from it.”
He’s described situations where he’s acted in a manner that would meet the legal definition of rape, so saying he’s never harmed a woman because he merely hasn’t been formally charged with rape means fuck-all-of-nothing. The planned male-only gatherings don’t have to be officially raping-rallies or even standing around exchanging tips on how to rape – gathering in a group of ‘like minded’ men means if one or several of them were to decide to go off with a woman and rape her, or sexually assault someone their ‘like minded’ friends wouldn’t do a damn thing to stop them – might even provide an alibi if needed. These guys count on a society of bystanders to do nothing, to not believe a victim because they’re accusing such “nice guys” of rape. They like victims to be considered unreliable because they drank or got high or have had many sexual partners maybe even were sex workers – stereotypes and rape culture.
And >wants-a<Goldstarsticker should eat some sugar free gummy bears. Judging someone's story of sexual assault as nonsense only points out how much he needs a walk with all the damn legos.
oops, ninja’d by Imperator Kahlo, who said it much better.
Also, as someone who was “encouraged” to play team sports: yeah, no, that doesn’t foster social behaviour.