Remember Paul Elam, the would-be Men’s Rights king whose assholish personality and obvious hatred of women (and, to be honest, most men) helped to derail the very movement he was trying to lead, ensuring that its time in the media spotlight would be a brief one?
I haven’t written about him in a while, because, honestly, there’s not much left to say about a man who will be but a historical footnote. But YouTube vlogger and Manosphere critic Kevin Logan has finally gotten around to doing a video about Elam, and it’s a doozy.
While I don’t agree with the way Logan has framed some of the issues in the video — I think most of you will see what I’m talking about — he does manage to capture just what an odious and angry character Elam really is. Elam’s writings are abhorrent enough, but the video and audio clips of Elam that Logan has worked into his video are stomach-churning, driven by a wide assortment of grudges and a barely controlled rage.
I’ve written a lot of stuff about Elam, obviously, but I’ve only rarely watched his videos. He’s such a toxic human being that it’s deeply draining to listen to him for more than a few minutes at a time. Logan, who obviously has a stronger stomach than I do, has taken a hit for the team by watching countless Elam videos and pulling out particularly revealing moments, despite the toll this much exposure to Elam took on him. So thanks!
I make a few cameos in Logan’s video. Apparently Elam doesn’t like me very much.
Here it is!
Oh, wait, that’s not the video. That’s a video of expert pimple-popper Dr. Sandra Lee draining and removing an inflamed cyst, which is actually much more pleasant to watch than Elam is. (And Dr. Lee is probably the most charming doctor you’ll ever run across ever.) Here’s the actual video.
Ugh. I’m not sure I’ll ever feel clean again.
@fiona, licrece: interesting bit about the packing. I haven’t been keeping up on the surgical literature. Maybe I should update my knowledge base on the topic…
Still way more interesting than Paul Elam ?
I had a pilonidal cyst removed in 1983. I also had it drained and packed before that when it got infected.
The draining and packing (5 days worth) was the worst; very painful. The first time they pulled out the packing, I passed out! When that was all over and the doc said it could happen again, I scheduled surgery immediately!
I’m a cyst farm; I’ve had subaceous cysts removed from my chest (same one 3x), head, neck, and I’m developing a new one on my right upper arm.
I’d still rather deal with all of that than MRAs. The most unfortunate thing is that those are actually not either/or.
@Kat
That sounds like it. It seems like everyone who experiences it thinks that they’re the only one! Growing up, I never talked about it to anyone because I suspected it was somehow shameful (whee, Catholic guilt FTW!) I think that part of the sudden interest in it as a phenomenon is that it actually has a name now and people are realising they’re not the only one…
There does seem to be a link between the two. I don’t have synesthesia personally but a lot of people seem to have both.
@eli
I think so, because a lot of the ASMR videos on YouTube are role-playing being at the hairdressers’ or having some other kind of intimate examination (when I say intimate, I don’t necessarily mean sexual, but involving someone else being more in your “personal space” than is usually considered polite). Not my thing as it happens as I’m terribly phobic about being touched (lifelong weight problems and the aforementioned Catholic upbringing 🙁 ), just give me 20 minutes of someone scraping a stick across the corrugated lid of a protein supplement container and I’m tingling… 😀
@Alan
Makes sense. I still experience synesthesia, but IMO that’s only because I remember it from my early childhood. I could have let it go — but I found it too fascinating.
They’re so amazing.
As is the blind guy who can “see.”
@Cat Mara
Now that I think about it, my boyfriend is the only one I’ve told about it.
Evangelical guilt FTW!
The fact that it has a name is somehow reassuring.
More new news! Thanks.
Cat Mara:
I must have got Catholic guilt without ever being religious, which seems unfair. Long before I knew that ASMR is a recognised thing which other people experience, I had the vague feeling that there was something sexual about it, even though the physiological reaction doesn’t extend beyond my scalp. I imagined people’s incredulous reaction: “you get a head-gasm from the sound of brushing? Bloody weirdo!”