Something weird is going on.
Yesterday, A Voice for Men’s Facebook page was temporarily suspended. I’m not sure how long it was down, but by the time I discovered Paul Elam’s announcement of the suspension late last night, it had been restored.
Elam — who apparently decided to come out of retirement for the occasion — declared that the suspension
appears to be the work of censorious feminist ideologues working in a modern Facebook environment that favors their agenda.
Mike Buchanan — the head of the UK’s ludicrously unsuccessful Justice for Men & Boys party and a longtime AVFM pal — declared in a comment on AVFM and in a post on his site that the censorious feminist ideologue responsible for this dastardly deed was a woman named Rose S Garston, a self-described “thorn in the side of MRAs” who had taken credit for the suspension in a post on her own Facebook page.
As proof, she posted a screenshot of the note she got from Facebook informing her that her complaint had led to AVFM’s suspension. Garston also took credit for getting the Exposing Feminism Facebook page taken down.
So, case closed then, right? Well, not exactly.
Because “Rose S Garston” does not seem to exist.
True, a Google search of the name shows there was a woman of that name born in 1903 in New Haven, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this almost certainly dead person is not the one posting on Facebook.
The rest of the Google results link to “Garston’s” Facebook page, to several comments “she” made elsewhere using “her” Facebook account, and to and assortment of MRA and Alt-Right sites that picked up Buchanan’s post.
“Garston” scrubbed “her” Facebook page of most of its contents sometime last night, but an archived version of the page — linked to in Buchanan’s post — raises even more red flags.
The page portrays “Garston” as a “fat acceptance” activist as well as a feminist. But to my eyes it doesn’t look like the page of a real feminist or fat acceptance activist. It looks like the work of a troll.
For one thing, there’s the matter of the picture purportedly of Garston that sits atop the page — showing a young woman holding a sign explaining why she supports fat acceptance. I don’t doubt that the person in the photo is a real fat acceptance activist; a Google image search shows that the photo was originally posted two years ago on a Tumblr blog devoted to fat acceptance.
But it’s also appeared on a zillion other pages since then, including a number mocking fat acceptance. It’s on Know Your Meme. It was used in a Youtube video called “The Fat Acceptance Movement is Bullshit.” Internet-famous fat-shamer (and fat person) Matt Forney used it in a post on “Fat Acceptance, Cultural Marxism and Identity Politics.”
It’s literally the first image that shows up if you do a Google image search for “fat acceptance” — making it the obvious pick for a lazy troll looking for a picture of a fat activist to pretend to be.
Then there’s the Facebook post from “Garston” in which “she” sets forth “her” views on the subject.
Stop the fat shaming. Fat is beautiful. Fat is healthy. It is the patriarchy that has dictated women must all be skinny as rakes for the viewing pleasure of men. Fuck that. You want that donut? That chicken burger and fries? That 15inch pizza? Then, go for it. Get it down you. Enjoy 🙂
Word of advice though. Being fat wont stop men catcalling you. At my heaviest I was 717lb and men would still catcall me when I was in my mobility scooter buying groceries.
Really? Really? If this was written by anyone other than a troll, I will eat my cats.
Assuming “Garston” is not the honest-to-goodness feminist fat acceptance activist “she” purports to be, then who is behind the account?
Could it be Elam himself or some other AVFMer trying to gin up some attention and sympathy?
I doubt it. Not that Elam wouldn’t stoop this low. He would. But I don’t think that Elam has the imagination to come up with something like this. And I doubt he would risk getting his Facebook page permanently banned in order to stir up a fake controversy.
No, I suspect it’s the work of someone who doesn’t much like feminism, or fat acceptance, or AVFM.
Could it be the work of some longtime fat-shamer like Forney or Roosh? In addition to using the same picture that Forney used for his post dissing fat acceptance, “Garston” also posted a screenshot from a Dr. Oz show about a 700-pound woman. As you may recall, Roosh made a bit of a spectacle of himself during an appearance on Dr. Oz to discuss his own fat-shaming campaign.
So … maybe? Probably not, though.
Regardless of who did it, if the point of this apparent trollery was to cause a headache for AVFM and to stir up animus towards feminists, well, it’s succeeded at both.
Over on the Men’s Rights subreddt, the regulars worked themselves into a self-righteous frenzy over what proved to be a very short-lived suspension.
Someone called NixonForBreadsident got 97 net upvotes for a comment decrying what he saw as
a co-ordinated effort to render anything against feminism on Google, Facebook and other social media. As in they’ve literally had meetings to push this agenda.
This is a major fuckup on their side though, the world has been steadily getting pissed off by feminism and the one thing that unites people is when you censor content.
NOTHING is too big to fall. Remember that.
Our old friend ThePigmanAgain declared that
this is very bad news. The hammer is starting to fall all over the place and one has to wonder how long it will be before the PC fascists who run FB start to ban ordinary members who also happen to be MRAs.
r4ks4k was a bit more succinct, saying only
Well then f**k facebook.
The original comment did not contain the asterisks, of course.
I have no idea how this whole thing is going to shake out.
Your move, troll. I guess?
No edit button so I should just add that I’m not especially gunning for such offenders to be harmed, I’m just indifferent if it happens.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gfXupHOEhH0/TMB9Jdd-TaI/AAAAAAAASZc/unRibO-KPeQ/s1600/Kittens-Puppies-11-05-ccnan.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f-GivX8mjG0/TxGXA2IQLuI/AAAAAAAACWg/7-8Nbb4luwg/s1600/Kitten+and+Puppy1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/g4LDJkM.gif
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6pf7fgS4O1rqsyz6o4_250.gif
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8bsp6mIQc1qbji6ao1_400.gif
Exactly. Asking for triggers is not asking for said thing to be removed, only that you get a warning before you take it in, so you can either decide to decline to participate or you can mentally prepare yourself first.
And the people who are claiming that asking for warnings is the same as asking for censorship are disingenuous little shits, because we already have a system for trigger warnings in place and it’s used regularly.
Not just on TV, but YouTube has a system for this as well, and we also have a rating system for movies that also lists reasons why it’s rated that way, usually with things like violence, gore, and sexual assault included.
Remind me why dudebros go apeshit if you tell something about Big Blockbuster Movie That Just Came Out without some sort of ***Spoilers!*** warning and ample space so their delicate eyes and minds won’t be spoiled by advance information?
And why trigger warnings/content notes are so bad, as often said by the same crew?
Melissa McEwan made the point that trigger warnings (she calls them “content notes”) keep her from self-censoring. By giving people the information, she makes it possible for them to make an informed decision on whether to click the link.
Hey, Kale, I hope you feel better soon. It really is a tough subject!
Stephen Fry: I have to admit I’d never heard of him before. And now I know that he’s a lazy, possibly malicious, thinker. And he seems to be beloved. Maybe a little less so now.
Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who experienced it–when you’re a teenaged girl and you have a sexual encounter with an adult with whom you’d been infatuated with for most of a year*, it’s very hard to see it as abuse. I mean, it’s what I’d been wanting, right? Though, being a dumb kid, I thought it was going to be everlasting love, not an awkward, confusing, brief experience, after which he cut off all contact with me.
Hell. I’m a grown-up and I’m still confused.
*Which is a very long time to a kid.
^Well that sucks. I can’t relate, but I hope you can sort your feelings out!
As for the topic at hand, who would be convinced by the “fat acceptance” post above? You’re not fooling anyone, except maybe yourself. No one writes like that. Also, a chicken burger and fries sounds quite yummy, who would turn that down unless they’re vegetarian/vegan/are otherwise obligated not to?
On viewing CP VS acting out: I have a relative who assaulted several underaged girls, and to him, porn was used to reassure himself that what he wanted to do wasn’t so bad. By watching it until it felt familiar, he normalised and validated child abuse, dulled the shame. I’m not close to him, but I know him enough to tell he’d have never acted without an external permission.
Schoolgirl porn had more weight in rationalising his behaviour though: his reasoning was that if one of the most popular porn genres disguised actresses as children, then most men secretely wanted children and he didn’t have a problem.
Kat:
I’m moderately surprised by this… he gets about a lot, and has been about for quite a long time. Still, it is nice to know that not all slebs are omnipresent.
He has been described as “a stupid person’s idea of a clever person”.
Dammit, Stephen! Is there no end to the seemingly cool TV dudes who will disappoint us?
Yeah, well, he’s my idea of what a future child rape scandal sounds like. ¬_¬
http://i.imgur.com/r4Q8Fsl.gif
I was reading the Wikipedia page on fennecs and found this
Females fennecs are misanderers who sit around eating fox bonbons while the male hunts the mammoth for her.
Mwuah ha ha!!!
@Pie
It turns out I saw him in Gosford Park. But I had to look up “slebs.”
I think that Stephen Fry is omnipresent in the UK. Not so much where I live, in the United States.
In the United States it’s said that Newt Gingrich is “a stupid person’s idea of a smart person.”
Godammit, Fry! You were supposed to be the awesome one! You were destined to bring balance to the Force!
Sigh.
I try so hard not to have heroes, and yet when I do I still get burned.
EJ (The Other One):
I’ve sort of resigned to thought that “all of my fan faves are horribly flawed people, and what matters when they eventually blunder is what they do afterward — do they dig down, or apologize and try to get better/fix whatever problem they caused”.
Oh,please. Shitlords similar to these ones were thrilled they got the Muh Men’s Rights facebook down and have been trying to do the same with the new one. When they did it, it wasn’t ”censorious mra ideologues”, it was ”we brave souls fighting against the eeeevil feminazi agenda”….by doing exactly what they accuse feminists of doing.
”This page is pretty racist, sexist, homophobic, I’m gonna report it”.
”EVIL FEMINAZIS! CENSORSHIP! MY RIGHTS! Look, this feminist page has a funny picture of a man! MISANDRY! REPORT IT IN SWARMS!”
And when some people complain about the actions of these people, they go on and on about how sensitive sjws’ are…
The brain bleach did wonders after reading the post though :3
@LG, @ThatBear –
I kind of think that Labyrinth can be read as a “coming clean” of that whole scene as well.
I mean, a teenage girl is enticed by exotic, powerful older man who then pursues her and attempts to leverage all that he has in order to control her. She is nearly seduced by his glamour but ends up exerting the one thing under her control – her will – in order to defeat him and gain her freedom.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s25/zainox/You-Have-No-Power-Over-Me-Jennifer-Connelly-Gif-In-The-Labyrinth_zps94ad8e23.gif
https://youtu.be/_MolWhOGhRc
Hell, you could also read that the main thrust of the film – that she regain the child that he took from her at her insistence* – further drives home the point.
*Again, reading deeper: Her “insistence” in that she thought that she wanted something to happen but wanted to take it back / undo it once it was done.
Oh, oh! I also just noticed something: “You have no power over me!” is the line that she kept forgetting when practicing the scene.
And to clarify, I don’t mean that in a victim-blamey way.
I meant her “insistence” that shouldn’t have been taken seriously by someone with the power to do so given that it was a throwaway line (“I wish the Goblin King would come and take you away…right now!”) spoken in the heat of the moment by a child (especially intellectually, especially when compared to the person to whom she was petitioning) prone to role playing.
Sorry for the teal deering.
I’d never looked at Labyrinth in those terms until our earlier discussion after Bowie’s death*, but it jumped up and slapped me once I considered it.
*I never thought about it explicitly in those terms, but I grew up watching the movie and it was legitimately empowering to young mockingbird.
“Yeah…I have the power to say that I don’t want something even if I said that I wanted it before…I have the power.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean that someone will listen if you say that, but it at least does convey the message that “you, the girl / young woman / young person” don’t have to “go along” in order to please those trying to please you.
It also makes the villain of the piece a person who seems to genuinely think that he’s “serving” the object of his desire, but does so through manipulation, fear, and the insistence that she submit completely to him.
I mean, damn. If that’s not priming young people to spot coercive abuse and call out its bullshit, I don’t know what is.
@mockingbird
While I think it was supposed to be about abuse, I doubt that casting Bowie was intentional. Jim Henson went through several other people before him, and mostly picked him because of his popularity at the time.
I believe that I have reconciled myself to the fact (as I see it) that life is very disappointing. People too, including my favorite artists.
For example, I used to live in the same city as my very favorite artist. One day, I saw her in the grocery store!!!!! People, her face showed her attitude toward her companion–condescending in an amused sort of way. I was sorry to observe that she was a jerk!
All that said, love is eternal. And art is too, even if its maker is an immature, self-centered jerk.