By David Futrelle
A big round of applause for two websites that have featured here on We Hunted the Mammoth from the beginning: A Voice for Men and Return of Kings have both been officially recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups.
The hate-monitoring group announced the news in its latest “Year in Hate” report yesterday. “[F]or the first time,” the report declared,
the SPLC added two male supremacy groups to the hate group list: A Voice for Men, based in Houston, and Return of Kings, based in Washington, D.C. The vilification of women by these groups makes them no different than other groups that demean entire populations, such as the LGBT community, Muslims or Jews, based on their inherent characteristics.
Both groups have more than earned this long-overdue designation. If you need to be reminded just how, take a stroll through the archives here for literally hundreds of examples of hateful rhetoric and actions by both AVFM and RoK, and/or their respective founders, Paul Elam and Roosh V.
You may also notice, in your stroll through the archives, that both AVFM and (especially) RoK have embraced some of the most noxious views of the racist alt-right directly. Indeed, one of the most notorious participants in the racist Charlottesville march last year — a man jailed for his assault on a counterprotester — was a former contributor to AVFM.
Elam’s response so far to his recognition as a hatemonger by the SPLC has actually been somewhat tame, at least by his standards.
https://twitter.com/anearformen/status/966383611841859586
https://twitter.com/anearformen/status/966386487846686725
He also retweeted this lovely sentiment from someone whose Twitter handle is a not-very-subtle reference to the c-word.
https://twitter.com/KruntFrucker/status/966385645743755264
This dude was even more pissed:
https://twitter.com/has_baal/status/966405995999227904
Roosh’s response to his inclusion on the list was a bit, shall we say, ironic as well:
https://twitter.com/rooshv/status/966402313341595652?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Thanks for proving the SPLC’s point, guys!
The SPLC report also notes a number of other discomfiting facts, starting with this one:
The SPLC’s Year in Hate and Extremism report identifies 954 hate groups – an increase of 4 percent from 2016.
Some of this increase, the report says, was due to a resurgence of fringe black nationalist groups — which the SPLC is quick to distinguish from “activist groups such as Black Lives Matter and others that work for civil rights and to eliminate systemic racism.”
But the real danger comes from the racist right.
[B]lack nationalist groups lagged far behind the more than 600 hate groups that adhere to some form of white supremacist ideology – and they have virtually no supporters or influence in mainstream politics, much less in the White House.
Within the white supremacist movement, neo-Nazi groups saw the greatest growth – from 99 groups to 121. Anti-Muslim groups rose for a third straight year. They increased from 101 chapters to 114 in 2017 – growth that comes after the groups tripled in number a year earlier.
Ku Klux Klan groups, meanwhile, fell from 130 groups to 72. The decline is a clear indication that the new generation of white supremacists is rejecting the Klan’s hoods and robes for the hipper image of the more loosely organized alt-right movement.
The overall number of hate groups likely understates the real level of hate in America, because a growing number of extremists, particularly those who identify with the alt-right, operate mainly online and may not be formally affiliated with a hate group.
These groups not only spew hatred; they have helped to spur a frightening rise in racist violence — and murder.
A separate SPLC investigation, released earlier this month, found that 43 people were killed and 67 wounded by young men associated with the alt-right over the past four years. Seventeen of the deaths came in 2017.
So AVFM and RoK are in some pretty shitty company here.
Oh sure, teachers with guns, that’ll go well.
Because as everyone knows, teachers are never violent or abusive toward kids. Why, I myself have been the not-victim of not-violence from not-a-teacher at least once, and have witnessed many more similar not-incidents.
I have a better idea but it runs afoul of the comments policy.
@Sseba,
I think there was more than one seagull-hunter thread, but others might recall better than me.
That reminded me of Miggy, which made me laugh; then I looked back at a couple of older threads and saw Fran posting, which made me sad ?
So. Armed teachers. What could possibly go wrong?!
Just imagine there is another school shooting.
And Mr. Smith, the geography teacher, is patrolling the hall with a rifle, looking for the shooter, when the police come across him.
The police see a man with a gun, during an active shooter situation, and kill him.
Meanwhile, Ms Jones, close to retirement, eyesight not what it once was, comes across someone with a gun and shoot them.
Unfortunately that was Mr. Miller, the science teacher, whom she didn’t recognize due to bad eyesight and adrenaline.
Also, are the teachers supposed to take the guns home with them?
If not, schools will need an armory. And soon there will be people robbing schools for the guns.
Arming teachers is fractally wrong.
It would solve none of the problems it’s supposed to solve and create a whole lot of new ones.
The obvious solution of gun control legislation is against the financial interests of the NRA and weapons manufacturers.
I saw a clearer picture of the cue card – one line was simply “Listen.” On the other hand, I am hoping for changes as a result.
*sigh*
the lovely-named “krunt frucker” establishes that he is not hateful:
well done….
/s
Sinkable John:
That happens, and it sucks that it happened to you. And if teachers are armed, this will get worse. Because you’d be asking teachers to kill their own students, and the good teachers, the non-abusive ones, the ones who change lives for the better, will say “hell no, I didn’t get into teaching to kill a kid I’ve nurtured for years”. And they’ll leave the profession.
I suppose I wouldn’t mind much if Trump had notes to remind him of wonkish details about policy, or crime statistics. But that’s the kind of aide-mémoire he’d never bother with, because he doesn’t think facts matter. Instead, he has notes which remind him to simulate being human. And yet it’s Hillary who’s supposed to be a lizard?
@Sseba
It might be this one. There might be an older one, too though.
https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2016/09/13/whaa-men-going-their-own-way-actually-consider-going-their-own-way
No, it’s definitely the right one.
Oh, Miggy. Hope you’re still making an amazing $27/hr as a software engineer!
The reaction kinda reminds me of that Werewolf riff from Mystery Science Theatre where the ill-tempered villain with ever-changing hairstyles gets called a psychopath by the bland “hero” and his response is to ask “You callin’ me a psychopath?” while taking a swing at him with a werewolf skull. “I’ll kill your whole family!” Crow adds.
It’s times like this I wonder what’ll go through their heads of a Roosh V or a Paul Elam as they reach the end of their lives, looking back on a legacy of meanness and cruelty… do they realize they have only made the world worse for having been in it and they’re destined to be remembered as sad jokes, or do they delude themselves to the end?
I have to imagine that they’ve at least had that vision of a more equitable future where their ideology has been soundly rejected… and I hope it gnaws at them.
As for the subject of teacher’s with guns… the woeful unsoundness has been commented on already, but it’s worth mentioning that teaching is a profession that conservatives have nothing but contempt for to begin with, yet constantly demand they take on more and more burdens for the upbringing of children whose parents are already being squeezed by the system. School boards that have to scrounge for books and teachers that have to pay for supplies out of pocket are now being told they have the responsibility of responding with deadly force to an armed assailant? There’s a glibness to this “Ah, just arm the teachers” line that really rings particularly hollow after assholes like Scott Walker have already tried to tear down teachers unions for their corporate overlords.
I think teachers in America would like a little respect before you start strapping Sig Sauers to their ankles.
Apparently, “arming teachers” would mean that any teachers who already own a handgun with Concealed carry permit are allowed to carry at school for their own and their students’ protection, naturally on their own expense. The logic goes, even if it’s not all or most teachers, some are still better than none.
What could go wrong indeed…
kupo:
I’d forgotten the Olive Garden thing! That’s the sort of haute cuisine available to the $27 an hour elite.
So, the dumpster-fire is going to… what, start funding programs to train ex-navy seals to teach Earth Science???
It’s mind-numbing, the number of people who genuinely don’t know the difference between Real Life and a Rambo movie.
… and, in a Freudian slip that really explains trump…
… “your problem”
Can somebody please explain to why so many pundits are optimistic that Trump will do something, even something small to improve gun control regulations? I’ve been hearing both on CNN and MSNBC them saying this. That’ll he’ll be willing to go against the NRA a little bit because he was moved by the Parkland survivors.
Bullshit. Fucking bullshit.
Trump just spoke again about arming teachers. He used every NRA approved gun fetishist talking point in the book. His speech today was practically indistinguishable from Wayne Lapierre’s speech last night.
He’s not going to shit. Lets be real here.
Typical rich-white-dude-think. “well, y’see, what’d fix yer problem is…”
They never have to think about problems as being things that affect them. They’re all just interesting brain puzzles, and of course they’re good at those so their solutions are worth splatting out, no matter how poorly thought out or incomplete they are.
Ugh.
I forgot about the Olive Garden thing. That was great.
@Weird Eddie
That’s eerily reminiscent of Todd Chavez’s idea of training clowns to become dentists from Season 4 of BoJack Horseman.
…
Todd would be a better President than the one currently in the White House, and Todd came up with this:
Saw this elsewhere (to paraphrase):
“I have heard of a school teacher who owned a gun and had a concealed carry permit. We could ask him what he thinks about this idea.
His name is Philando Castile “
@Robert Walker-Smith
Yeah, a bunch of Wonkette commenters were wondering aloud if Cadet Bone Spurs (h/t Tammy Duckworth) would be cool with arming black teachers.
In other news, Marco Rubio was eaten for lunch on live TV today…
https://wonkette.com/630220/marco-rubio-ya-burnt-by-a-bunch-of-teens-and-we-are-here-for-it
@WWTH
Cos otherwise they’d hafta admit that their skewed coverage in 2016 helped elect (technically, #popularvoteloser) a detached, inhumane, billious collection of void crabs to the highest office in the world… cos the other candidate was a girl…
Big surprise about the SPLC calling these sites *hate groups*. Though AVFM is full of whiny butthurt MRAs.
Well, the SPLC has Maajid Nawaz and Ayaan Hirsi Ali in “hate lists”, so I’d take anything they claim with a grain of salt.
@Axecalibur: Middle Name Danger
Yes you’re back! Nice to see you again buddy.
@Cartman
Casting doubt on the SPLC in the wake of mra groups finally listed as hate groups is suspicious.
re; arming teachers
I swear you would see massive up tick in school shootings if you did that,
I’ve seen so many teachers who would shoot their students and then blame them for it.
@Mish
I posted a pic to my tumblr have a look!
(Also got the sea pig and pill bug plushies for my birthday.)
I posted a pic to my tumblr have a look!
(Also got the sea pig and pill bug plushies for my birthday.)