Another HUGE VICTORY for Men’s Rights! Some guy on the internet told a woman that the term “mansplaining” is mean to men! And then he used the “c-word” a couple of times!
At first glance, this might not be seen as the HUGE VICTORY that it truly is, men’s rights-wise, but get this! The guy in question is the guy who made Minecraft! A VIDEO GAME that LOTS OF PEOPLE LIKE. Which makes his opinion on this subject really really super important, for some reason.
Naturally, the fellas who hang out in the Men’s Rights subreddit understand what a TRIUMPH this is for men’s rights. There are currently three posts on this WORLD HISTORIC EVENT in the subreddit’s top ten.
Over in KotakuInAction,the main GamerGate hangout on Reddit, the regulars are if anything even more AWAKE to this monumental achievement for all mankind. They’ve got FOUR posts on it in their top ten.
So let’s check out the Minecraft dude’s carefully reasoned argument, which he Tweeted out yesterday.
You can tell he’s totally right about this, and also quite BRAVE, because he got 3700 likes and retweets for it.
Persson went on to explain his PERFECT MANLOGIC in more detail.
Ha ha! Because this explainy thing that men do to women constantly but that women do to men pretty rarely is equivalent to calling car crashes “womendriving” because, ha ha, women can’t drive and are responsible for 90% of all car crashes no wait, that’s not even remotely true; the demographic group that is responsible for far more than their share of accidents is teenagers.
When one Twitterer suggested it might perhaps behoove him to listen to women on this issue, Persson quickly saw through this MISANDRIST OPPRESSION of men who want to talk pretty much constantly.
Actually, Mr. Persson, as I have learned from years of doing this blog, there is no possible way to shut up men who want to inform you at great length of their opinions about feminism and what women are doing wrong. You can ban them from your comments, sure, but some of them will keep trying to post comments for months if not years afterwards.
And certainly Mr. Persson felt no need to shut up. Instead, he kicked his MANLOGICAL STEM LOGIC up a notch by unleashing the ultimate tool in the MANLOGICAL STEM LOGICKING toolkit. I refer, of course, to the c-word.
Here he applied the MANLOGIC STEM LOGICKING directly:
But don’t worry, gals! He’s totally got your back! He’s an EQUALITYIST who’s all for equality between the genders and not for sexism at all!
Huh. Apparently being into “equal rights and against sexism” requires one to go around calling women the c-word, which is TOTALLY NOT SEXIST because sometimes men get called “dick” which is TOTALLY the equivalent of the c-word., I mean it’s not like the c-word is widely considered the worst possible insult in the English language or anything.
Luckily, we have a KotakiInAction commenter called DaedLizrad to Gatersplain to us why it’s totally ok to refer to women with that special word.
Why is calling a man dick acceptable but dropping the c-bomb(seriously your too cowardly to use the word outside a quote?) is so reprehensible?
Its likely to be because of gynocentrism, even if you feminists refuse to accept(or even entertain the possibility) that society cares more about women than men you cannot convince me that feminists, both female and male, don’t clearly value women more than men, that is why treatment of a woman in the same exact way as a man is considered more abusive, because you don’t care about men as much as women.
You sit there and defend a sexist word designed to shame men for speaking to women about any topic, it is only used to tell men to shut up, like it was being used to there against Notch.
You sit there using and excusing gendered slurs against men while clutching your pearls screaming “think of the women” to the same treatment aimed at women, you feminists are all gynocentric and you c*nts can f*ck right off with your double standards.
Meanwhile, fellow KiAer Saddex took a moment of his time to let us in on what “mainsplaining” ACTUALLY is:
The thing with mansplaining is that, just with religion, it’s an unfalsefiable hypothesis. There is really no way to prove that it’s actually a real thing. Sure, might be a couple of assholes out there, but isn’t that same with women as well? Are you sure that if a man, or woman talks condescending to you, that it must be because of your gender? What about your personality, or the actual context? Did you say something just before that would be considered stupid by other people?…
I am going to treat people who tries to convince me that mansplaining actually is real thing like I treat people who try to convince me that god is real. You can believe if you wish but I rely on proof, and the burden of proof lies on the believer. It’s so satisfying to know that these people act just like religious extremists, should be compared to those and that you can use very similar argumentation to debunk what they’re saying.
Yes, what better way to debunk those ladies who get mansplained constantly than telling them they’re irrational fanatics who are seeing things that aren’t there, and that they probably brought this totally imaginary thing on themselves anyway by being such, well, the c-word thing.
All in all, an outstanding victory for the forces of Men’s Rightness and Ethics in Guys Who Make Video Games Calling Women the C-word.
That was top notch.
… yes, I just did that.
Which, just for the record*, is also basically bollocks. In a few states, sure, it’s “Only” as bad as the usual complement of curses, but in other states – like mine – it’s just as bad as it is in the US, or possibly even worse. Growing up, my parents never cared if I said “Shitlicker” or “Fucknugget,” but just thinking the c-word got me grounded for a month.
Down Under ain’t your bloody shield either, mate.
*Aimed at the trolls, not at Scild.
I know I’m late to the party here, but I really don’t get why STEM is being used in a pejorative sense by some commenters. OK some of these blokes say women can’t STEM or logic and then display an astonishing lack of critical thinking skills that would be handy in STEM, but that doesn’t make science, tech, engineering or mathematics a bad thing or something worthy of turning into a pejorative.
I also accept that STEM is trendy in the same way that business degrees were trendy when I was going through the education system and that embracing the trendiness didn’t solve productivity, skills or social problems. But that doesn’t make good business skills bad.
I don’t think it’s good to kick any set of worthy skills or to attach them particularly to the manosphere. I say this as a woman with a STEM degree who is now trying to nurture a tech startup which addresses social problems.
rugbyyogi:
I don’t think that’s what people are doing. Take your line: “OK some of these blokes say women can’t STEM or logic and then display an astonishing lack of critical thinking skills that would be handy in STEM,”
So you are with me up to that point. Now to go further, I’d say they think “STEM” and “Logic” as male traits. That by being men, they are by default superior in that regard. And so often they seem to truly think what they’re saying is logical or scientific when it’s laughably not. Sooooo the commenters here are kicking that up to ironic levels. Well everything they do is automatically logical and backed by STEM because man!
TL;DR It’s ironic because it’s anything but logical nor based on STEM.
It’s interesting that even I, a person (not a Persson) who has never lived outside of Finland, though I have traveled quite a lot, know that the c-word is incredibly offensive in English. English language media is so pervasive all around the world (though especially in Europe) that most people of my generation (80s represent, yo!) have some understanding of the US way of thinking or at least the way it’s represented in media. What do you mean that all cops in Florida don’t drive a white Ferrari and wear outrageously pink shirts and loafers to work?
Also, the Finnish equivalent of the c-word is such a common curse that it’s quite possible to make a coherent sentence just by employing said word. So versatile! Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a swear word and you’ll get long pointed looks if you say it too loudly in public (and you’ll get in trouble at school), but it’s not the end of the world. Long live that little difference that separates our cultures, eh?
I see this sort of worldview described a lot, but I don’t buy it. Yeah, our physical bodies are real, but any categorisation we apply to them is purely social. Do we define sex and/or gender by ability to impregnate and/or birth? Well, there’s plenty of folks who can’t do either, so that’s inadequate. Do we go by hormone levels? Those vary considerably, regardless of other factors, and, further, are subject to change.
Do we define it by chromosomes? I don’t even know what my chromosomes are, and I daresay most people don’t either – it’s not something we’re in the habit of checking. There’s enough variance in how chromosomes are expressed that it would just be taking an arbitrary system and applying it, equally arbitrarily, at the level of DNA.
Ultimately, I’m happy to treat sex and gender as equally vague synonyms, and to take an entirely descriptive approach to the whole affair – people’s gender is what they say it is, and everything else is detail.
I think there’s a distinction between:
“STEM fields and methodologies are valuable and contribute to humanity.”
And:
“STEM fields and methologies are the only things that are valuable and that contribute to humanity.”
I meet a lot of STEM people who believe in the latter, or who will react to a challenge to the latter as if it’s a challenge to the former. It’s dispiriting.
Weirdly, the place I’ve found it the most is in economics, which isn’t even a science.
@EJ
What was that?
I’ll tell you what: if you can get the Austrians to design an experiment by which Hayek can be falsified; and then get the Keynesians to agree to abide by the results of that experiment; then I will gladly shut my physicist mouth on the matter and take back all the smack I’ve talked.
Until then, I’m going to hang out with the humanities folks. They’re cool people. You’d like it here.
PoM, PoM, PoM – Maybe we have him all wrong.
Maybe Notch meant that the default Minecraft player is physically / genetically intersex. We don’t know what’s underneath that blocky, blocky clothing.
/s
@EJ –
Word.
I think that everyone, especially everyone who can vote, should be as conversant in science as they’re capable – at least so that they can elect representatives who aren’t eye-bleedingly ignorant *stares despondently vaguely northwards to DC* – but there are some real fundamentalist a-holes out there about SCIENCE! being the only worthy human endeavor, the only valid lens through which to view life.
I swear some of these people would hold an Inquisition if they could.
@Monzach – So, you’re saying that that word’s pretty much like the English F word (linked so it doesn’t embed).
And here’s some classic Carlin for shits and giggles.
Both links are NSFW.
I mean, they might be – I don’t know your work environment – but I wouldn’t play them around clients or customers.
Cultural differences indeed. I bet his sexist dudebro culture was part of the reason why Persson slipped the slur so easily, perhaps on poor consideration. It’s hard to argue credibly on anything, let alone English SJW language, when your home language is Douchebagese.
I like how Sweden has been the scourge of the alt right lately, and SJW and Muslim filled hellscape! Until a Swedish dude says some misogynistic things and uses a slur. Then, said slur is just part of their, apparently less PC than the US culture. Which is it? Is Sweden a place where casual misogyny is perfectly socially acceptable or is it a place where the SJW menace has taken over and ruined everything?
Finally caught up to the threads.
As another person from Sweden, let me just state that IP where correct. We regularly watch tv shows, movies and a lot of my friend circle at least also consume literature in English. Usually American. Heck, people usually just give me a weird look when I accidentally switch to English mid sentence. Sometimes my elder relatives asks me to explain a word or phrasing, but that’s it.
This entire thing makes me truly upset though. As scildfreja pointed out, as a student of game programming, he naturally became kinda a hero figure due to the massive indie success that minecraft was.
I hate to ask, but if anyone would have a spare interwebs hug laying around I could really use one of them about now.
*offers internet hug* Don’t worry – we still respect the hell out of Sweden for its many, many contributions to world culture, science and society, not to mention its charming and delightful residents!
Many internet hugs to you, Lanariel.
@Lanariel
Oh, you came to the right place, cuz
http://cdn.smosh.com/sites/default/files/2015/11/internet-hugs-mabel-dipper.gif
http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Barack-Obama-Hug-and-Pick-Up-Florida.gif
Hugs are a naturally renewable resource. We always have extra, and we’re more than happy to pass em around 🙂 🙂 🙂
@Lanariel
Many internet hugs, and maybe skype hugs soon? 😉
@ lanariel
I was chatting to some friends last night and the ‘never meet your heroes’ (or even read about them ) thing came up; so net hugs heading your way.
(We all agreed though that the more you hear about Vin Diesel, the more you love him. So please don’t spoil my illusions anyone)
@EJ
…And earrings back on
Hopefully, you’ll forgive my defensiveness. Too many ‘phys/bio/chem only’ types. Respectable opinion, you got there. Just making sure you had an actual reason beyond the ‘they ain’t even got labcoats, bro’, of the folks that this blog tends to focus on
Greatest apologies, good sir, and good day
And just for fun:
@Mockingbird
You summarized my point in a way that I couldn’t have, thank you! ^_^ It’s weird how difficult it is to find a clear yet succinct expression for your own thoughts sometimes.
@Lanariel
Internet hugs from the eastern side of the Gulf of Bothnia as well. I hope you will find this a supportive online community.
@IP
That sounds like a good idea
@Everyone
Thanks a lot.
@Axecalibur:
Physicists being assholes to economists is a common enough thing that I don’t blame you for coming out swinging. Things outside of the sciences still have value, and your discipline is not a dishonourable one by any means.
I have only recently realised (since reading here) that people who aren’t from England (and probably some who are but I’ve never met) use the c-word misogynistically.
I’ve always seen it as synonymous with ‘dick’ or ‘asshole’ but slightly stronger and harsher (as it is the worst swear word). People use it more flippantly these days as the edge seems to have come off it somewhat through overuse, but in my youth it was only used if you wanted to convey that someone was genuinely a ‘nasty piece of work’ and you were serious. I also only ever saw it leveled at men; there was almost a kind of misplaced ‘chivalry’ that led to it being deemed far too atrocious to be directed at ‘delicate women’. Not that rubbish like that isn’t problematic in itself but it was a shock when I saw it leveled at a woman in the brief bit of Saturday Night Fever I saw (before skipping channel) where I surmised its meaning to be ‘the sum of your value is your vagina’. I then realised it used to have a different meaning and understood moreso why my mother and other women much older than myself seemed to have such beef with it and how it had come to be the worst word we have. I didn’t realise the meaning hadn’t entirely changed everywhere and so now I’m adjusting to the fact that it can be a massive red flag. I do, however, usually assume it is innocuous when Brits use it, depending on tone and context ofc.
I’ve wanted to mention this a few times but I didn’t want to be a contrarian and I do respect that everyone here has valid, most likely even more extensively and reliably founded, opinions on this. I just wanted to explain my experiences, I don’t mean to say it’s a justifiable word to use but that it isn’t always intended how it is often recieved
That said, ‘c**tfusing’ as an equivalent to ‘mansplaining’.. you can piss right off with that shit. That argument just shows exactly how sexist you are. *facepalm*
@SFHC, I’m so glad to hear that not all of Australia is on the same page regarding that insult! We sadly don’t get a lot of news about Australia up here on the other side of the planet. I’m glad!
@Lanariel, <3 hugs! Even if Notch turned out to be a sort of terrible person, Minecraft is still a wonderful thing, and really shows how games can bring people of all ages together. Also, Notch was less influential with Minecraft; it was mostly Mojang after 2011, which is when a lot of the character of the game came around. There’s still a lot of good in the game and its development, just not from its public face.