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.
Are we not allowed to link reddit or something? My comment keeps disappearing. I hit post and it just disappears
(sarcasm) I’m shocked, SHOCKED, that President Orange Foolius has moved on from the topic of actual regulation to the “give teachers guns, because MORE guns is the solution to guns” thing. Because there’s no way ever that anything could go wrong there. (/sarcasm)
Also, paying teachers a bonus to carry their guns to school for “student safety” is about the worst idea ever.
Apparently that’s the problem? Anyway. Trump blamed video games for school shootings. Kotaku in action members are fighting with each other about it. It’s hilarious. But I guess people will have to look it up themselves because it won’t let me post the link.
@wwth
I’ve had posts disappear recently. All of them contained links, but to all sorts of different places (and no more than 2 links in a post, know wordpress isn’t fond of more). Seemed random to me. 🙁
@Weird Eddie
Why not? They’re not thick, you know.
Someone was trying to personalize the issue of school shooting by emphasizing that “there will be another shooting, it might even be your kid’s school”.
He was doing it to light a fire under people so they would fight for gun control legislation, but I thought how well that fits into the anti-public school narrative that the Right has been pushing for the last 30 – 40 years.
“Your kids aren’t safe in public schools. Crazies might show up & shoot them. So you should pull your kids out of public schools & put them into private schools – Christian schools or charter schools. Of course, then you will want to divert your taxes from public schools to these private schools. And we of the religious right wing will now have possession of your kids, which has been our goal all along.”
If I was a conspiracy nut, I would believe the fuckers have been planning this all along.
WWTH:
Apparently, he suggested that there should be a ratings system for games, as there is for movies. So I guess nobody told him about the ESRB?
@Cartman
Why SHOULDN’T they be there?
@Makroth
It’s not my job to prove they shouldn’t be on SPLC’s list.
It’s SPLC’s job to prove that they should.
@Cartman
The splc has a statement on why they are now classified as hate groups,
they also have a list of criteria for hate groups in general so run them against that and see what you get.
@Oogly
*hugs*
@TreePerson
Dawww
@Shadowplay
That’s… actually not a bad idea, now you say so. I mean, don’t give em guns, obvs. But, like, everyone whines about unemployed vets and we have a teacher shortage as is. And a lotta military folks get degress/only join to get degrees. Why not education? If Trump/GOP were clever (debatable), they’d push thru a ‘Hero Employment and Teacher Enhancement Redeployment Opportunities Act’ (acronym intended, the base will eat that shit up). Basically a free win 😛
@Makroth
I know it’s rhetorical, but literally no reason
Okay from a different country on another continent.
I remember some jokes that were played on teachers in my schooltime. Some of the guns could very easily get in the hands of students.
Children and guns is not a good mix.
As Tree Person said, they do explain their reasoning.
Now can you explain how I can get my breasts to retract so they’re not visible and therefore inviting stares from creeps? Or am I supposed to cover them in an invisibility cloak?
This is in reference to your comment in the thread about the boob gawking red piller. The one where you said if we showie, you lookie.
I just figured since you were demanding proof of things, I could make similar demands.
Hoo boy, Wayne LaPierre’s speech at CPAC. Irresponsible and divorced from reality. He really seems to be positioning NRA members as an armed resistance against socialism, which he thinks is on the verge of taking over the US. Listen to this, from the Guardian:
And read Daniel Dale’s tweets about the speech. The Democratic party is “infested with saboteurs”, and even the FBI is part of the socialistic corruption of America. LaPierre sounds like he’s hoping for civil war – which would certainly increase sales for the gun and ammo industry, I suppose. A few dead kids at a high school isn’t enough for him: he wants to see the streets running with blood.
@ Axe
If I was more social media aware I’d post some suitable gif. Hope you’ll take a “Oh well played sir” in lieu.
@wwth
Oh snap, now their messiah has become their new Jack Thompson! The irony, it’s delicious!
The Michael Brooks Show recently did an Illicit History of Gamergate and talked to two podcasters that said that they started their podcast to try to talk to gamers “in their own language” about the issues affecting video games from a left perspective, noting that many of the “gamer” dynamics that fueled Gamergate could find parallels in the gun culture fostered by the NRA (the insularity, the gatekeeping, the manufactured identity etc.). While I certainly found this to be true, what bothered me is that they seemed to dismiss Anita Sarkeesian and those doing cultural critiques of games as not speaking the “language” of gamers enough to distinguish themselves from the Jack Thompsons and Joe Liebermans of the past (people that scapegoated video games for events like Columbine) and thus opening themselves up to the “You’re not a REAL gamer” nonsense. Because this is the same shit that the gun-humpers do: wait for somebody asking for a fairly innocuous regulation to mistake a .303 Savage with a .303 British, then jump down their throats and shout “HA! Gotcha! You’re not a REAL gun owner! I don’t have to listen to you!”
The issue isn’t using their language, it’s that they fundamentally want to protect their bubble and language just happens to be an easy excuse to disengage. A 20-year former US service member who spent his whole life around guns to the point he speaks their language fluently and just so happens to back some standard safety reforms gets death threats on his blog for it. I’ll bet some female game developers and journalists can relate.
I didn’t know it was still 1999! Next we’ll have to blame Marilyn Manson.
I’m happy KIA is eating itself, since their God Emperor has betrayed them.
Um, yes…that’s literally their job, and they are doing it.
@Axe
Snork. 😛 Well played indeed. 🙂
However – the point, you has it. There is a rather large bias against veterans going into teaching.
Been looking for teaching work once my retirement kicks in because sitting at home doesn’t appeal, and its been a bunch of hard passes despite being qualified in a subject shortage area. So I asked around. Apparently all the head teachers (principals) watch Rambo too.
@ moggie
I’m so glad I live in a country where there’s no mental illness, video games, or elitist politicians. I dread to think what might happen otherwise.
@Alan
No prollem, fam, I gotchu
And my response:
Ta fellow kid!
I think Wayne LaPierre saw the Manchurian Candidate and thought the Iselins were the good guys.
Tangential and off topic: that artistic portrait of Paul Elam is gorgeous – how was it made?
@WWTH: He probably also likes “The Substitute.”
OT, but…
“Trump dangles greatest imaginable gift to California.”
Headline pre-edited for accuracy.
@Ray
Someone needs to triple dog dare him.