By David Futrelle
So brain teasers are supposed to keep your brain nimble, right? In that case, after all the years I’ve spent trying to make sense of misogynist nonsense I must be some kind of supergenius by now. I have to say I don’t feel any different, brainwise, but maybe that’s because I was a supergenius all along and I just didn’t realize it?
Anyway,trying to figure out these MGTOW memes may help you all get on my level. Take that first one. As far as my supergenius mind can figure it, the meme maker wanted to say that if guys refuse to get married they can look forward to growing old happily with all their MGTOW buds. But what the meme seems to be saying is that MGTOW is some sort of rapid-aging disease that will turn you into an old codger in, like, a year.
If you have a better explanation, let me know.
Here’s some others that I find equally baffling.
The problem with this one isn’t that it’s in Spanish. I’m pretty good at figuring out Spanish-language memes, at least if they involve someone asking someone else where the library is. This meme is a little more complicated than that, but with a few assists from Google Translate I’ve got the basic idea of what each person in this meme is saying.
The feminists are calling MGTOWs male chauvinists. The PUAs are calling them beta losers. Some dude with his shirt open is calling them, well, a homophobic slur. And the Nazis are saying that MGTOW is a Jewish invention. (I don’t know who exactly that person in blue is supposed to represent, but I suspect you can figure out what they’re saying even if you don’t know Spanish.)
Meanwhile our poor beleaguered MGTOW in the Middle just wants to be free.
So far so good. What I want to know is WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING IN THE MIDDLE? And WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE? WHY ARE THE FEMINISTS JUST A COUPLE OF SEVERED HEADS? WHY ARE SO MANY OF THESE DUDES MISSING THE LOWER HALF OF THEIR BODIES?
I think this is supposed to be an indictment of feminism for causing people to write songs less efficiently, or something? What it really shows is that if you sample another song in your song you have to give the original artist(s) and producer(s) credit and some money.
Also, while Bohemian Rhapsody was basically Freddie Mercury’s baby — and one he’d been working on for more than five years — it’s officially credited to Freddy Mercury/Queen because the other members contributed to it. So that’s four people. The song was a massive group effort that took a month and a half to rehearse and record.
I guess the big question with this one is why the dude in the cartoon is being such a dick.
I must be missing something here because I have no clue what the point is supposed to be. Yes, “manginas” probably talk to women a lot more than MGTOWs do. Of course, MGTOWs spend more time talking and thinking about women than anyone else on earth including gynecologists and the board of directors of the National Organization for Women.
Gendering single-occupancy bathrooms seems really pointless to me. Good way to create unnecessary queues.
There are different levels of incomprehensibility here, aren’t there? There’s ‘inability to communicate’. There’s ‘makes sense only to the in-group”. There’s ‘doesn’t actually say what the author thinks it says’.
The toilet one was probably selected by someone who feels any picture showing a man dominating a woman supports his argument.
The last one is fascinating, because there’s no indication that the man talking to the women is lower in status or in any way disadvantaged by mixing with them rather than with other men. So it must be self-evident that talking to a woman rather than a man is a mistake. Real people actually think like this.
@Redsilkphoenix:
You’re right. Without using ablest language, I tend to be a bit stuck on ‘rules’.
@Dalillama,
For some odd reason I was hoping for a better reason than “#%*%{ you!”. What that better reason might be I have no idea, but I was hoping….
As for the coal rolling, I can see the appeal when done at, say, a county fair truck pull where that kind of stunt is done partially for an effect. But the same thing when done by some 4-Chan ‘edgelord’ on the open road against an unsuspecting motorist who just so happens to be driving the ‘wrong’ kind of car… >.<
Though I wonder if those guys would still think owning a hybrid is horrible if they got the same perks the early hybrid owners got for theirs. For example, back in the 1990’s Washington DC gave out carpool lane passes for single occupancy cars to encourage hybrid ownership. The folks who were fortunate enough to get one consider them almost more valuable than gold.
@RedSilkPhoenix
These are the same people who spend an hour sitting around a tyre fire with all lights blazing and their fridges and freezers wide open for Earth hour.
I don’t think a discount would bear much weight with them.
I always understood it as being about power.
If I ask you not to do X, and you do not do X, then a person who obsesses over power would interpret that interaction as showing that I have power over you. Similarly, if I ask you not to do Y, and you go ahead and do Y anyway, then that person would interpret that as showing that you have power over me.
If you do not exert power over others, then to such people you are of course a cuck and a weakling, which is a state that they fear more than anything else.
To me, this theory explains so much about reactionary thinking. It’s why Right-wing people take pleasure in deadnaming and mis-gendering trans* people; why gun fetishists oppose even basic firearms safety restrictions; why #GGers are so hostile to the concept of social mores; and why people will “roll coal” into the open windows of Priuses (Prii?) This is possibly also why such people often feel threatened by the concept of consent.
Where this power-fetishism comes from, I have no idea. My own hypothesis is that it comes from the founding myths of many western nation-states, which ultimately rest upon a might-makes-right, power-justifies-itself belief that violence permits one to decree morality.
O/T but this showed up as a link on Scans Daily: https://www.thedailybeast.com/comicsgate-how-an-anti-diversity-harassment-campaign-in-comics-got-uglyand-profitable?ref=scroll
It’s sadly nothing new under the sun.
@EJ
I think it’s 180 from your hypothesis. Comes from powerlessness, not power.
Still stupid, immature, puerile, and vindictive, either way.
I think it’s about defying authority – so yes, about power and powerlessness. Demonstrating that they don’t have to follow your rules, mom, I do what I want!
Priodes?
I don’t think it’s always necessarily a negative thing to push back.
Like I suspect there are very few gay couples who were that bothered about PDAs in the supermarket. But if people say you can’t do it then it’s understandable that your might want to organise a mass kissing session.
I say, Up the rebels!
Pushing back is very different from asserting dominance.
Maybe the Rolling-Coalers have watched too much South Park and decided that the worst thing in the world is limiting consumption and being conscientious about their activities, and therefore are determined to stick it to the Wendys of the world.
How pathetic is it that Trump is so toxic that he makes me want to support Amazon? You know that struggling little mom and pop store?
http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/02/investing/dow-jones-nasdaq-stocks-amazon/index.html
I mean, not really. The power giant wealthy companies exert is not good for anybody. But if Trump actually thought that was a bad thing he’d be pushing policies designed to regulate corporations more effectively and would strengthen enforcement of anti-monopoly laws. Chances of that happening? Approximately 0. Nope. He just has a grudge because WaPo hasn’t printed enough pro-Trump propaganda for his liking.
I do like (by which I mean I really hate) the way this article ends though.
Because it’s not like there was a recession 10 years ago after a period of deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy/corporations or anything. Nope! Tax cuts always bring prosperity for all and economic growth forever and ever. EVERYTHING IS ROSY AND BEAUTIFUL. THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE HERE. SHUT UP.
With cars specifically, there’s an assumption that some are tougher than others, and that tough-looking cars are more manly.
Related anecdata: my dad says that he’s noticed more people cutting him off and being road-rude than in his pre-EV days, when he had a standard station wagon. And often the people doing it are those with tougher-looking cars. (Mom hasn’t noticed the same thing when she drives it.)
Mind you, I don’t know if the problem is electric cars specifically or just the design of the thing (a MiEV, which is small and kinda cute). Like, would a Leaf or Tesla be cool? Or only a Dodge Ram or equivalent?
I don’t drive, but my mom notices that men cut her off more often than women. Or they speed up to pass her and then slow back down, forcing her to put on the brakes a little. Like some men can’t take the idea of a woman driving faster than them. Is this something any of the women here have noticed? There really does seem to be a whole dominance + cars things. I think it’s because a car is a primary territory, like a home. People feel territorial but they’re in a public space while they’re driving. Because men are socialized to display dominance, they feel particularly driven while in their car to appear to be aggressive and powerful so no one messes with their territory.
WWTH: I can believe that. I notice when in the road that men are generally the more aggressive drivers, honking horns, road raging, constantly switching lanes to speed up and pass the other cars etc. They’re not the only ones who do it, but I’ve seen them do it far more.
One time I was stopped at a crosswalk, and a male pedestrian stopped in the middle of crossing to kick my car multiple times. I at first blamed myself since my car was on the crosswalk (I was trying to get off a side road onto the main road, waiting for the traffic to be clear enough, and the pedestrians started crossing behind my car after I was already there). But he clearly would never have done that if he wasn’t sure he could get away with it.
re: the Spanish meme – The thing is a huge molasses cookie and the feminists won’t let the men be on/in it (I’m assuming the figure in blue is a feminist buried up to her knees and the other two are immersed up to their necks in it for whatever reason) so the men have to stand behind or in front. The jealous men are trying to burn the cookie with the flames behind it and got distracted calling the poor miggy names and are thus in danger of being burned even as they try to ‘burn’ the MGTOW guy who is safely in front of the molasses cookie because he’s the only one with the sense to avoid the pitfalls of feminist-filled baked goods.
That’s all I got.
@Shadowplay:
I think we’re agreeing with one another. People who have a need for power are often those who feel powerless, or who have felt powerless in the past.
RE: Hybrids. My spouse and I recently bought a used 2014 Ford Fusion. My husband drove it to church, and he said he heard some grumbling about it from a few parishioners. They know he’s left-leaning, and I guess they assumed he was being holier-than-thou…
Really, we only bought it because he has a long commute to and from work, and we wanted to cut down on fuel costs. It does seem strange to plug in a car, kind of like a giant toaster.
@Hambeast:
I thought it looked like a burnt oatmeal cookie, but molasses cookie is a better fit.
@WWTH:
He kind of has the same effect on me. I never, ever thought I would have sympathy for anyone in W’s family, for example.
I hate this so much. I had a “friend” who would get upset with me when I would make positive changes for myself because she assumed I was doing it to be better than others. Nope, self-improvement isn’t about you.
A journey towards what? ‘Cause you all promise to finally journey on away from women and you never seem to.
We’re not begging you to please stay. Really we’re not. Go. Be free! Stop obsessively posting misogynistic rants and memes and trolling feminist sites. Really. I swear. We want you to.
Dormousing_it:
Projection. Isn’t appearing holier-than-thou a large part of why many people go to church?
@kupo
This point cannot be understated. This is the very seed of the “virtue signalling” talking point; people who do things society ostensibly considers unsavoury justify it to themselves by telling themselves that “everyone does it.” Then when somebody merely behaves contrary to that, they think that they’re being judged for not bucking that trend.
Doesn’t matter if it’s something as simple as abstaining from alcohol or going vegan or being polite online; if you’re not conforming to the broader trend, you’re “judging people.”
Although in the case of anti-feminist trolls, I certainly am judging….
@London Pilgrim
See, there’s a real motte-and-bailey (or bait and switch if you prefer) going on with MGTOW that is super irritating. It’s not unique to them, all MRAs do it (as do most right wingers).
When left alone, MGTOW how and rage about how terrible women are, how unfair their life is – every horrible sexist misanthropic trope bubbles away int he festering stew of the MGTOW community.
When in public, being confronted? Why, it’s just men who have decided to not put up with society’s bullshit expectations! Reasonable – why, it’s downright feminist! Why are you giving the poor mans such a hard time, feminists? You’re such hypocrites! They just want freedom from their gendered social roles, after all!
And then as soon as the attention’s gone, it’s back to bloviating about the bitches.
Men can – and in my opinion, should – go on the “pilgrimage” you describe. Society only half builds up men form boys; builds them into angry, hollow shells. They need to fill themselves up and quell the anger that society encodes into their skin.
But calling yourself a MGTOW? That allies yourself with the seething, boiling hate inside that group. Walking under hateful flags allies you to them, regardless of your actual beliefs.
Go! Be free! We want you to be free of what society tells you you have to be! Let the anger you’ve been filled with drain from you, and fill yourself with better things instead of overfilling past the brim with this more intoxicating rage.
I’m reminded of an interview I heard on the CBC years ago… somebody had been working on what was basically an ‘environmentalism for evangelicals’ thing. And what he said was that some people just seem to automatically rebel against anything that smells like ‘collectivism’. If you say something is good for society or good for the environment, they will internally translate that to ‘communists/hippies want to ruin my life’ and then often actively try to do the opposite.
If you want to get people like that to actually do things, you have to pitch it entirely as something that will be good for them, and avoid making it sound like an order. Give them things that they can do by themselves. Point out that this will save them $XXX on their heating bills or gas costs.
The person being interviewed said he’d had a lot of people thanking him afterwards because they’d somewhere felt that they should be doing something, but hadn’t seen any justifications they could relate to.
Listening to that interview was rather depressing in some ways, how people were treating ‘don’t s**t where you eat’ as if it were a politically partisan issue.
@Katamount:
I like the new icon.