Horrible news: “Skeptic Feminist” Youtuber Aleksandr Kolpakov has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder after allegedly shooting and killing Heather “Ivy” Anable, his girlfriend and one of his cohosts on his Skeptic Feminist Youtube channel.
Some of the internet’s worst antifeminist icons think this is all quite hilarious, positively thrilled to have an alleged murder to lay at the feet of their ideological enemies.
Dr. Randomercam, a member of the resolutely antifeminist Honey Badger Brigade, entered the fray with this grotesque tweet:
Those SJWs aren't that bad really. It's not as though any of them have ever murdered anyone. pic.twitter.com/QEleEtaPKk
— Dr Randomercam (@DrRandomercam) May 15, 2017
Former Gamergate icon and doxing enthusiast Ethan Ralph headlined his blog post on the subject “MALE FEMINISTS STRIKE AGAIN?: YouTuber The Skeptic Feminist Accused of Murdering Polyandry Partner Heather Anable.” In the post itself, he seemed to suggest that Kolpakov’s “male feminism” was the root of his violence, writing
Perhaps Kolpakov was not content with merely sexually assaulting women, like many of his male feminist “allies,” so he decided to go ahead and level up by killing one.
He went on to suggest that a recent tweet from Kolpakov protesting Vladimir Putin’s draconian anti-gay crackdowns showed that he (Kolpakov, not Putin) “had extermination on the mind.”
https://twitter.com/TheRalphRetort/status/864262531598217216
Fellow doxing enthusiast Wild Goose, a former regular, now irregular, contributor to Ethan Ralph’s Ralph Retort, used the murder as an excuse for a string of pitiful jokes about male feminists.
https://twitter.com/WildGooseVEVO/status/864546654338379776
https://twitter.com/WildGooseVEVO/status/864546864003244033
https://twitter.com/WildGooseVEVO/status/864445557099638784
On the right-wing Murdoch rag Heat Street, meanwhile, perpetual Gamergater and professional Twitter-drama critic Ian Miles Cheong supplemented his reporting on the basic facts of the case with weird passive-aggressive insults about Kolpakov’s inability to get many retweets on Twitter for his critiques of Gamergate.
They weren’t the only ones to find the alleged murder hilarious — or at least ideologically useful.
— 🏳️🌈🐸Meme Thief (@leechko) May 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/_EmmaTH/status/864214856488112137
https://twitter.com/sevvierose/status/864210934356725762
https://twitter.com/HarmfulOpinions/status/864189192938688513
https://twitter.com/HarmfulOpinions/status/864198416154361856
https://twitter.com/RealClassixX/status/864417557331267585
https://twitter.com/AzazelZxX/status/864407476460027904
https://twitter.com/Punishedstitch/status/864259336352264192
https://twitter.com/slow17moLIVES/status/864317804694179840
https://twitter.com/GloriousDescent/status/864219513981685762
https://twitter.com/Abraxas_Virus/status/864295336390647808
https://twitter.com/Seismics_Swans/status/864293198062997504
https://twitter.com/RightWingNut92/status/864352618121904129
https://twitter.com/yungjeune/status/864258841046855682
https://twitter.com/Green_Mick_XD/status/864466032383098880
https://twitter.com/Imabigscrewball/status/864530720567345152
https://twitter.com/Whiting1289/status/864433349237932033
Some defended the jokes because “feminists did it first” by pointing out spree killer Elliot Rodger’s misogyny.
When the feminists tried to make Eliot Rogers an MRA. At least the #skepticfeminist is an actual feminist.
— Ferrule Bezel (@FeruleBezel) May 16, 2017
Brace yourselves. They're about to accuse us of doing everything they did with Elliot Rodger *and still do*
This is going to be REALLY gross— Dr Randomercam (@DrRandomercam) May 15, 2017
Never mind that Rodger left behind a book-length manifesto and numerous videos describing his hatred for women in terms that would not be out-of-place on the Incels subreddit. Never mind that it is the incels, not the feminists, who joke about Rodger.
Ralph, naturally, defended those joking about the murder.
https://twitter.com/TheRalphRetort/status/864491542442127360
He followed this up with a 12-minute video thoughtfully titled “Yes, We Should Meme on The Skeptic Feminist After Murder Charge.” I didn’t watch it. Life is too short.
It’s worth noting that as of now we know almost nothing — at least nothing definitive — about the murder. The Skeptic Feminist Twitter account, presumably now being run by the channel’s other co-host, a woman going by the name of another Batman villain, “Harley Quinn,” blames the killing on PTSD.
https://twitter.com/SkepticFeminist/status/864476600926167041
https://twitter.com/SkepticFeminist/status/864487177484460032
While many have accepted this explanation, as of yet we have no evidence that it is true. We don’t know if there was any history of domestic violence, or some other motive. We really don’t know anything for sure.
The only heartening thing in this whole tragic mess is that the Twitter jokes about the murder are vastly outnumbered by heartfelt condolences — including numerous tweets from antifeminists more interested in expressing human sympathy than in scoring dubious ideological points.
I’ll keep you updated; this is a story that will be with us for a long time.
Well all of this is horrible.
It puts Laci Green’s flirt with Fascists somewhat into perspective.
jeezus. even if feminists had cracked jokes about Rodger, one person being a shithead doesn’t excuse your shitheadedness. people are capable of making their own decisions, not just reacting.
@Gussie Jives
I used to enjoy the Armoured Skeptic too, until he started talking about feminism. Then I had to unsubscribe.
I think part of the reaction in the OP is that women, and honestly most men, aren’t real human beings to these guys. They are just symbols.
But let’s not get too hauty about it. One way to make sure that you aren’t doing the same thing is to mentally reverse it in your mind. If Heartiste’s girlfriend put a bullet in his head, what would your reaction be?
Might I feel a moment of satisfaction? I hope not. But honestly, I am afraid I might. He’s been saying horrible things about me and all other women for years.
After that moment though, I think I would be sorry it ended that way for two reasons: a) generic “the bell tolls for thee” reasons; b) I’d really prefer to see him become less and less relevant with fewer and fewer people thinking he was anything but a pathetic asshole, ending up alone and despised, muttering at his computer.
Deepest condolences to all of Ivy’s fans, friends and family.
As for the assholes… ugh. I mean, they might have been closer to a point had they brought up the schadenfreude expressed after the murder of KKK leader Frank Ancona by his abusive wife. Not much closer, but at least somewhat in the universe of relevance.
But no, they’re still upset that people link them to Elliot Rogers, just because they hang out with people who praise him regularly and parrot his manifesto. Self-centered pricks.
… “not a vital organ…”
E.T.A. Apologies, that was snarky and ill-thought-out.
Meanwhile, an abusive guy set himself on fire, tried to take his girlfriend with him on Facebook livestream, and failed.
Bet these guys are bawling and starting “memorial funds” for him, eh?
Our dumpster-fire-in-chief spoke to the graduating class at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy…. Surprisingly, he made it about himself….
lemme get that for ya…
there, fixed that
Like these assholes, I have a thick skin, and all the things that come with it like a high tolerance for dark humor. However, unlike them, I accept–
1) There are many people who do not have such thick skin, who aren’t immune to all the disgusting and crass and shocking things out there
2) It’s absolutely okay for other people not to be so thick-skinned
3) There might actually be downsides to having such thick skin
These are all good reasons, in my opinion, to hold off on cracking jokes about a youtuber murdering his cohost, at least in a public space.
“He had a girlfriend? Who’s the poor schmuckette who was dumb enough to fall for HIM?”
@ Sofia van der Linde
Wait, the sex ed youtuber? What’s the deal there?
Ohhhh those guys do not have a thick skin though.
Yeah, not to derail, but I too would like to know what happened with Laci Green.
A quick google just turned up the tweet she made after the election referring to Repubs as fascists, but that doesn’t seem like what Sofia was talking about.
She recently made a video called “Taking the Red Pill.” I haven’t watched it but I get the sense that though she hasn’t literally gone Red Pill she does engage in some apologism for them.
@Bakunin
The short version.
Laci Green, the sex educator started talking to Rightwing Extremists, They were nice to her and now she is feeling we should all be more open to different viewpoints. Ugh.
Here is an analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd03sPu4MOk
Here is the original vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ1ga8yuM50
WTAF does this terrible incident have to do with Eliot Rodger? The way they are going on it is like ‘you feminists deserve this because you said Rodger was a MRA’. Yes, as usual anti feminists revelling in the ‘punishment’ of women.
If we (feminists and feminist allies) heard that Paul Elam or anyone who has identified as a MRA had murdered Andrea Hardie laughing is the last thing we are going to be doing. We are not going to be happy that an ideological opponent has been murdered. We can still have compassion for suffering, even when the person may have said or done things we hate.
@Ellesar
Gotta disagree with you there, mate. Bad things happening to fascists causes not a single stir of compassion in my breast, nor mourning on my face.
@Dalillama : that being said, we would not rejoice in that.
I personally would feel compassion. Partly because I already feel compassions for thoses poor souls that are torturing themselves.
Then again, they also make the life of other an hell. It’s not like they will be priority one to help if shit hit the fan.
Goddammit, how are people still falling for this Nazi bullshit?
Off topic, but I found a new MRA hero!
http://jezebel.com/wack-dork-sues-his-date-for-texting-during-guardians-of-1795302593
Seriously, what the Hell is wrong with these people? First off I watched some of the “Skeptic Feminist’s” videos before I had a falling out with him, and I’m not even sure he would like to be called an “SJW” but even so, and even if I were to assume that he was guilty of murder, how would that somehow discredit Feminism or social justice activism? Are we to believe that his motivation to commit this heinous act had anything to do with those things?
@Otrame
This thought did cross my mind as I was typing out my initial response and I do recall having some rather brusque things to say at the deaths of Andrew Breitbart and Jerry Falwell, as the two examples that stuck out in my mind. Sam Seder actually had a segment where he summed up the difference quite well: As public personalities, we only know them as those public personalities and we’re going to react based on that. I never saw Andrew Breitbart being a father; I only knew him as an odious drunken right-wing troll who screamed “Stop raping people!” at Occupy Wall Street protesters. Despite the fact that his death likely left a painful void for members of his family, as far as the public discourse went, the world was better without his voice in it. Along those same lines, I have no idea what kind of father Falwell was (although judging by his son, I have a sense of it), his public persona was one that caused incalculable harm to LGBT people in the US and around the world. There’s no getting around that fact and to acknowledge it isn’t a celebration of his death. After all, the same outcome can be obtained by him simply retiring and never going on TV again.
So if your scenario did play out, I’m going to react in a similar matter: a person is dead and that is tragic, but given how repugnant Heartiste’s publicly shared opinions were, the world has probably improved as a result of his exit. Full stop. No jokes, no memes, no cheap political point scoring, particularly with an unnatural death. It happens, we move on.
I am not saying I would be SAD – I guess I meant that we would not have the same gleeful reaction. I don’t feel good about people being murdered – these guys really do seem to be enjoying it.
@ellesar
And you can tell they think that this proves something about feminists, particularly men that identify as feminists. Like “Haha, we knew feminism drove men to kill! Now we have proof that you’re not all as moral as you claim to be! You’re as bad as the rest of us!”
As if the tragic circumstances of this weren’t bad enough, the sad thing is we all just know is this going to be a Manosphere talking point for the next several years, don’t we?
Off topic, but better news. Robert Fisher resigns from NH House:
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/new-hampshire-lawmaker-resigns-amid-charges-of-online-misogyny/?comments=disqus