By David Futrelle
In the wake of every mass shooting, we hear the inevitable cries from NRA types not to “politicize” the tragedy by pointing out the obvious fact that stricter gun laws would make such tragedies less likely in the future. We watch the trolls and shitlords of the alt-right flood the internet with disinformation and conspiracy theories. These reactions are now as predictable as the reappearance of the sun on the horizon every morning.
The internet’s incels — the bitter fringe-dwellers who consider their “involuntary celibacy” to be a crime against their humanity — have their own predictable responses to such tragedies: they mock the victims as “normies” deserving death — and try as best as they can to adopt the latest mass killer as one of their own.
In the case of last night’s horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas — a massacre that at last count left 59 dead and more than 500 injured — Reddit’s incels did not disappoint on this front. In a number of different threads devoted to the murders, regulars on the Incels subreddit celebrated the death of “normies” and “chads” and even tried to claim that mass killer Stephen Paddock — a man with a girlfriend, and thus decidedly not an incel — was “a depressed and delusional former Chad turned to oldcel.”
For many in the subreddit, the news of the mass shooting was something of an inspiration. In a thread offering faux condolences for the dozens of “normies [who] just got fragged in Las Vegas,” several commenters had similar ideas:
Those calling for basic human decency got an earful from their fellow incels.
![lonelyrommel1998 32 points 3 hours ago RIP . Please my brothers, be civil during this time of tragedy. I know you guys hate anyone that isnt you, but they are human beings nonetheless permalinkembedsavegive gold [–]novalueinvictimhoodhttps://goo.gl/2yvNyj 2 points 44 minutes ago they are human beings So? Being a modern human being is the greatest crime you can commit. permalinkembedsaveparentgive gold [–]wandercampEmbracing the sublime terror of incel existance -3 points an hour ago Fuck off normie I fapped to that video permalinkembedsaveparentgive gold [–]fuck-women-everyday23 KV Approachcel Hopecel Knowledgecel -2 points an hour ago Las Vegas is normie heaven. People go there for drinks, socializing, one night stands, and gambling. Incels will never experience that.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/inm3.png?resize=580%2C636&ssl=1)
In another thread, Reddit’s incels lashed out at the “normies” expressing sympathy for the victims on social media — and at the alleged “degeneracy” of Las Vegas.
![BlackPill4831yo bald manlet escortcel 卐 'Self improvement is masturbation' 10 points 3 hours ago I hate all this 'competitive grief' on social media. They don't give a fuck about the homeless, jobless and sexless. permalinkembedsavegive gold [–]Bojack101 6 points 3 hours ago The degenerate las vegas city deserved it](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/inm6.png?resize=517%2C459&ssl=1)
![BlackPillRevolutionWeAreRevolting | Copernicus | ?NormiesCanAllBurn?| Hate 5 points 3 hours ago All virtue-signalling and posting it all over instawhore or fakebook to show how much they "care" just to fit in the rest of the conformitard sheep who do the same thing permalinkembedsavegive gold [–]touchbutt2Women can't be lonely. women can't be depressed. can't be incel 4 points 4 hours ago Exactly. they can call us evil all they want but at least we are honest. The entire degenrate city of las vegas and everyone in it could die and it wouldn't affect my day in any way](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/inm4.png?resize=517%2C724&ssl=1)
The subreddit’s regulars found it much easier to identify with the shooter.
Still, it’s unlikely that Paddock, a 64-year-old retiree who apparently lived with a girlfriend, will be embraced by incels as another Elliot Rodger, the incel mass murderer celebrated as a “saint” and “supreme gentleman” by this despicable crowd. But that didn’t stop some from trying to posthumously recruit Paddock to inceldom, none more ingeniously than this fellow.
It’s a bit of a reach, given that pretty much the only things we seem to know for sure about Paddock is that he was neither a former Chad nor an incel. I guess the Incels subreddit regulars are a little hard up for, er, “heroes” these days.
Surplus to Requirements – various life pressures/motivations arising from a career involving much human contact, marriage to someone wonderful who challenges me appropriately, and parenting two adopted special needs children. Combine this with a conviction that if what I’m doing isn’t working, I need to do something differently, a relentless tendency to observe and analyze my own mental and emotional states, and a willingness to take seriously what professional therapists tell me.
My younger son’s therapist said she’d never met a parent who thought about thinking as much as I did.
That ad… what the hell do they think they’re selling, a fucking LIGHT BEER???
Also a giant “fuck you” to those hurt by the Sandy Hook mass shooting, as we celebrate the manly manliness of the weapon that took the lives of twenty children….
My roommate’s girlfriend had a pink pistol. Only time I’ve held a loaded gun outside a shooting range was getting it for her when she was worried my roommate was suicidal. Fun night.
My first reaction to seeing that pink gun was, “wait, they actually thought of female shooters?”
Then I remembered this scene from Bojack Horseman and thought, is this really what it would take?
I am by no means trying to derail the conversation, but I was recently informed of an old Indiegogo campaign that perfectly exhibits how women are objectified. Seeing that considering “women are things to be consumed” is key to the toxic philosophy that is inceldom, I figured I’d share with you fellow Mammotheers:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/first-vaginal-beer-bottled-instinct-brewery
Read the “Our Story” part (if you can stomach the sexism) for what has to be the epitome of treating women as commodities.
@Alan
The law here in NZ is similar, if less restrictive in a few areas (it’s possible to own a handgun or assault rifle, although a difficult and expensive process to go through)
Possession of a firearms is all but useless in the most likely home defence scenarios. If they’re close to hand, then they aren’t stored safely, and if they’re stored safely then they aren’t close enough to hand.
Oh. It’s made with actual vagina stuff.
I can’t even.
Although people must have complained or something. It says it’s closed.
The gun industry is increasingly marketing to women, including the gun magazines. It used to be that women pretty much only turned up in gun magazines, and the advertising within, either as victims or as sexy props holding guns. Now you see more products specifically marketed to women, and more images of women as users of weapons in advertising. And the magazines are starting to have more women oriented articles, like this Gun World article discussing the pro and cons of carrying a gun in your purse. Not that “Scared woman cowers behind her armed husband” and “Sexy model in skimpy outfit holds our latest combat shotgun” have disappeared. After all it’s still men who are the main buyers of the products and the magazines.
@tim
So they’re selling their product to women, so they can feel safe from the men who are buying their product. Now there’s a self-perpetuating market.
“Here’s to guns. The cause of — and solution to — all life’s problems!”
@Buttercup:
Isn’t selling weapons to both sides what arms dealers always do? :/
@Robert Walker-Smith
I meant more specifically tips for socializing more successfully. Unless those were the tips, in which case “I can’t afford a professional therapist” would have to be my response.
@Ooglyboggles:
Where did you get the image with all the black cats on the orange pumpkin pillow thingy? I ask because I’ve tried twice to right-click-save-as it and both times got a corrupt JPEG file that Windows can’t render. Something’s wonky here.
Is the pink like a security blanket? I’m trying to classify it better. The use of colors and sex is something I want to sharpen my awareness of. The pink/blue thing has been around for a relatively short period of time and why they need to apply the pink is interesting. Or is it like a tag or mark of some kind.
Hillary Clinton is clearly a security blanket to my parents. I’m working over how to make a daily routine of criticizing them on Facebook and have been, I guess experimenting is the right word. Sometimes when I criticize Trump they impulsively bring up Hillary. They need the shield/blanket.
I want to hammer at the color thing better. I never had the courage to wear a Pinkie Pie shirt or use my MLP lanyard where I work. I need to introspect at that one at some point but it’s lower on my list of CBT priorities. However general awareness of color and sex in arguments could be useful.
@Citizen Rat: Okay… I just… Okay. They know that they can’t just grab any old yeast and have it be something good, right? Yeast is… bred? Cultured? To get a specific result. I was talking with a craft distiller who said they had to test a whole bunch of yeasts before they got one they actually liked.
Just using one is…?
Also, how would it not be safe for consumption? You’re just using the yeast strain, I would have imagined. It wouldn’t contaminate anything! I don’t think???
I just have no idea what the hell I read, is the thing.
“Essence of femininity” indeed.
It also has a grip that’s shown to be too small for an adult woman. It’s made to be marketed to actual girls. And the numbers show that having a gun is dangerous if you’re female presenting.
Hope in one hand…
I have seen people talk up pink guns, and while not all of them would necessarily call themselves anti-feminists (hell, some of them call themselves feminist, against all evidence), none were what I’d call feminist. I mean, which feminist would balk at weaponry because it was male coded? (I think this is where Alan might have something to add) The feminists I know dislike AR-15s because of how they’re part and parcel of the toxic masculinity that conflates maleness with excessive violence. Not because they’re matte black.
IOW, pink weapons are a conservative ploy to get people who’re upset over gender desegregated toy aisles to be active supporters.
@Rhuu:
They’re not talking about yeast (which has been used for bread(by a woman, so you know what the response was)), but I doubt that any vaginal yeast would be usable for beer. What they’re talking about is lactobacillus, strains of which are used when brewing sour beer. So their vaginal beer would be of the sort that most people don’t like. Would you wager a guess who(whom? I keep forgetting the rules and find myself being forced to rely on my instincts when it comes to grammar, and my instincts go iffy when I’m drinking beer) they’d blame. (If your guess was anything but “the woman” I’d have to guess you’re new here)
Now, they do say
but I’d trust these idiots about as far as I can throw them. Or rather less than that, given the colours of my budo belts.
@Surplus to Requirements, Observer of the Vast Blight-Wing Enstupidation
Imgur. Weird, the picture was perfectly fine when I downloaded it. If you use Google Image Search it should give you multiple sites to download that image.
Buzzfeed got a hold of Milo’s e-mails and wow. Brietbart was as deep in bed with white supremacists as their critics said.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/heres-how-breitbart-and-milo-smuggled-white-nationalism
@ Feline
I hate the idea of having to fight, but….
If you need a weapon (and the AR-15 and AR-clones are weapons, not “tools”, not “entertainment”, weapons), the AR has a lot of plus. It’s about 6-1/2 pounds empty (using that Bushmaster in the previous post as example), 10-1/2 pounds loaded; it has good sights and is easy to aim, it’s design keeps barrel rise on recoil to a minimum, and uses cartridges which are widely available and adequately effective.
My former partner, who is 125lb and not very strong, can use hers effectively from standing position, and can carry it without tiring. Other weapons in that caliber, even weapons in smaller calibers, are heavier and not as easy to aim and fire, particularly when moving quickly ind firing at multiple targets. Toxic masculinity turned inside out.
Note, I do not consider this a game.
I just had a bit of a flashback of sorts. When I was very young, probably around 10 or so, I frequently visited my Uncle’s house with my Dad (Dad had weekend visitation). Said uncle had kept a loaded revolver on his bedstand and I, being a kid, decided to pick up and walk into the living room where everyone was and ask “Is this loaded?” (I remember very little, although I do distinctly remember it being in a holster and I had carried it out flat on the palms of my hands. It was dusty enough that I think I had assumed it was fake or a decoration of some sort. My uncle collected all sorts of weird knick-knacks.)
I think back to that incident (and btw, YES it was loaded) and realize just how close I came to being a statistic. Or maybe someone else I loved dearly would have not walked out of that house alive. I never really understood the import of that day until quite recently. (My father also owns firearms, and while we disagree a lot on gun ownership, I damn well know he keeps his weapons locked securely away.)
@WWTH
[picture of pink gun]
I’m British and may have missed something, but – skipping away from the pink gun / tiny grip / any other issue – the picture seems to feature a woman’s hand without an index finger. Which surely would make using the trigger tricky.
But what would I know?
The person holding the gun is holding it with their index finger outside the trigger guard. Current gun safety practice is to keep your finger away from the trigger unless you’re about to shoot.
Has everyone been following the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment story?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html
You gotta love how the defense is that the accusations are lies, but at the same time the harassment shouldn’t be held against him because he came up in the Mad Men era and couldn’t possibly have known any better. Ugh. Fuck off.
If any progressive men wonder why progressive/feminist women don’t automatically trust them and give them the benefit of the doubt when we catch a whiff of rape apologia or sympathy for misogynist men, well, Weinstein is an excellent example of why.
Re gender-coded colours: the Pointlessly Gendered Products pages (Pinterest, Tumblr) are hilarious. I use them in sociology classes when we’re looking at symbolic interactionism and gender.
The products aimed at men often make incredibly desperate attempts to avoid any hint of softness, pinkness, or effeminacy. Inserting “man” or “bro” into the name is a popular strategy, or associating the product with bacon. Red and black are ‘man’ colours, apparently:
Somewhat related, I have recently been alerted to “gender reveal” parties. The entire concept is so revolting on so many levels that I can’t even.
Holy crap, Mish, that “Rifles or Ruffles” invite is 50 shades of icky…
@PeeVee,
I know! I must share the pain:
– blue & pink cupcakes with little genital shapes inside them;
– a cake that has “I’m here for the sex” iced onto it;
– “touchdowns or tutus?”
– “guns or glitter? camo or pink?”
– “nuts or no nuts?” (with M&Ms)
It’s saturated with heteronormativity and transphobia.
(I found out about it from the excellent @Eremitpurpur – if you don’t already follow them, you should! xo)