By David Futrelle
In the wake of the Toronto van attacks, the mods on Incels.me have apparently decided to hide some of the more incriminating discussions on the site. Like this little thread, which they deleted — but not before the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine grabbed a copy of it.
I guess this thread was just a little bit too enthusiastically pro-mass-murder for its own good. 
You may notice that some of the commenters accuse the OP of being a troll from the anti-incel IncelTears subreddit. But if you go to the archived thread (this isn’t visible in the screenshot) you’ll see that several of those agreeing most enthusiastically with the OP are prolific Incels.me posters with many thousands of comments between them. Because of course.
These guys are an insult to the good name of terrorists everywhere. Nelson Mandela deserves better than to be lumped in with them.
Like, the ANC were proper terrorists, but they were fighting for a cause which was just and also achievable. They could, inasmuch as it is ever possible to justify killing people in a war, justify it on the grounds that they might hope to win (which they did) and that their end goal was something that reasonable people could agree with.
Here… what is the goal, exactly, except causing pain? Do they think they can win, somehow? Do they have a plan at all? Do they even think that if they win, somehow, their utopia will be something that will survive the disobedience of billions of women and their allies?
It’s not madness. I don’t even think it’s stupidity. They feel like they’re just hung up on hurting people as an end in itself.
Weird Eddie:
I suspect a venn diagram of Incels.me and StormFront commenters would have a big overlap.
Sorry to do the legal thing. Feel free to skip. Just sort of thinking out loud really; but our 2006 Terrorism Act sprung to mind.
ETA: If any of the posters to that site could be shown to have a connection to the UK I’d consider it worth a letter to the DPP.
We hurt, therefore we must cause hurt in others. That is their sole aim.
When I saw “Becky”, I thought it was a Taylor Swift reference.
There’s also “Yoga Becky” now too, used in yoga circles that discuss cultural appropriation.
I see them as pro-patriarchy terrorists. Whether they are aware of it is another question.
In Nazi news – Andrew Anglin is getting sued. Again. No, this is by someone completely different.
Someone elsewhere on this blog recommended “therapy” for incels. Without net diagnosing or using clinical terms, it may be possible for some types of therapy to help some of them. Some of them may or may not have mental illnesses (we don’t know), but therapy helps people without diagnosed mental illnesses also. Buddhist practices are a form of therapy, in a way. They can transmute their incel to volcel via Buddhism. They need some sort of therapy, or practice, or something, to change their wrong thinking.
Theoretically, that Daily Beast writer did at least go to this blog before dismissing it as “nutpicking.”
Found this Noah Berlatsky article on NBC that actually echoes what I said on Wonkette and reposted here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/don-t-let-incel-misogynists-toronto-killer-tell-you-they-ncna869886
Headline:
I think the article still gives the incel worldview more credence than it deserves, but it gets the point across that this is not some kind of inevitability for spurned men, nor is the banal misogyny it requires any less evil.
Can we talk about how that Becky illustration is actually Rey from Star Wars? Cos that looks like one of those ‘Disney princess as modern girl’ drawings. Like, it’s a good drawing, ignoring all the incel bullshit around it, obvs. And I am ignoring all the incel bullshit around it and focusing on the Rey resemblance, cos… jeez, these people…
Re Becky: That comment from “Panda” in the thread David posted seem to use Becky to mean “unattractive woman”. Seems from the context he thinks that although it’s somewhat understandable that attractive women are gonna sleep with attractive men, at least unattractive women owe it to the incels to have sex with them.
@idli : that would only work if they want to change. At the core, they need to be convinced to change for any of this work.
They’re already ‘volcel’.
Therapy is great. Everyone should get some. Just being able to talk about things with someone who’s non-judgmental and won’t tell others about your thoughts is great. Good for anyone.
I saw a comment on that “Becky vs Stacey” picture on Twitter that was basically “these guys think Becky looks plain? She looks like Audrey Hepburn.” Which pretty much explains the issue. They place their standards so impossibly high that not even globally acclaimed actresses can meet them, so that they don’t have to even try.
There are lots, and lots of people who aren’t getting any sex and would rather that not be the case; that’s not the defining feature of an Incel. The defining feature of an incel is in their hatred of women and their sense of entitlement.
Preaching to the choir, of course!
And yeah, while buddhism (and other philosophies) would certainly help them accept their celibacy, they’d have to want it, first. Incels get absolutely aggressive when you suggest helping them. They have rage-filled threads on how useless therapy is, how terrible it is, how it’s just another way for chads and stacies to keep them down. Same for religion, same for basically anything that would mitigate their hate.
Actually, I want to change what I wrote above. Incels aren’t defined by their hate of women or their entitlement; there are plenty of MRAs that are like that. Incels are defined by the fact that they have made hate and entitlement the core of their identities. They’re no one and nothing without their hate. MRAs and MGTOWs at least pretend that they have other parts of their identity, and often do – male camaraderie or traditional values or whatever. Incels have peeled all of that away – it’s just about the hate.
If they could be convinced to cloister themselves away and shed the robes of evil they’re wearing, well. I don’t know if there’d be much left. The hate’s sunk very, very deep into them.
Well. Goodness me.
My personal image of Stacey was slightly less…pornified. Although I don’t know why I’m surprised, in hindsight. How silly of me.
But really, does the poor girl have to walk around like that all the time? Someone get her a cardigan. And some slippers. Those shoes are making my feet hurt just looking at them.
Also, I really think someone needs to sit her down and have a word about the relationship between tanning and skin cancer.
I hadn’t thought of incels as handbag snobs. I find that very specific designer reference puzzling. Is Gucci the official handbag of Staceys? I mean, when I think about the Stacey-types I know in real life (all of whom are far too classy to be seen in whatever that dress calls itself) personally I would have expected either Chanel or Louis Vuitton.
But perhaps the incels know better than me.
@Violet
I’m guessing they hate Stacey for spending her money on meaningless things like handbags, so they pick a designer name and slap it on there.
Really the answer is to give Stacey some pockets. We just want pockets. Pockets that are big enough to hold things. Pockets that are actually pockets and not just ornamental. Pockets in our pants. Pockets in our skirts. Pockets in our cardigans. Pockets in our jackets. Pockets in our hoodies (bunnyhugs?). Give us all the pockets.
God I hate these “people” so fucking much. Why do they want to make the world harder for everyone, including them, to live in? Even a “more traditional” terrorist org, ISIS for example, would be preferable to this explicit nihilism. Seriously, “say what you will about religious extremism, at least it’s an ethos.” You could, theoretically, convince someone who believes that the only way to have peace on earth is for all mankind to be united in submission to Allah that that isn’t actually the case, but how do you talk someone out of “I suffer, therefore all will burn”? I fucking despair, you guys.
Didn’t that “before sexual revolution” meme originate with Rodger himself? Or did he just expand it? I remember he posted that nonsense with a third panel in which all the women were replaced by gravestones. “After Elliot Rodger revolution,” it said.
This whole situation is a pressure cooker.
You can’t really talk these people down from this. The only hope is to keep smashing their meeting grounds, over and over, and every time they regroup a few more will get peeled away and not make it back. Same as with internet Nazis.
Also, I’m guessing “Becky” is a cute girl’s generic friend, presumably from the intro to Sir Mix-A-Lots “baby got back” where the friend she implores to look at her butt is named “Becky”.
There’s a similar manosphere trope, that somehow Islamic extremism is better than post-modern, post-sexual revolution feminist society. Also that feminists desire Islamic extremist husbands, somehow. Never quite figured that one out.
Re: Becky. She looks cute. I guess she’s supposed to rep the average to slightly above average (but thin) woman who’s more down-to-earth than Stacey. She’s supposed to be relatable enough to commiserate with incels, yet just hot enough to arouse them, but not too hot, which would pose significant problems for the average to below average looking incel who thinks he’s “in her league”. A natural beauty as opposed to glam. Sure, she may not be a virgin (preferable) but her partner count is 1 or 2 max, both nerdy incels like him so he doesn’t have to be jealous.
Also, like Chad, Stacey and Becky, we need a name for the incel.
Does Dan work?
@idli sambar revolution
Why do you want to make up a cutesy nickname for incels?
Couple forced to be incel in developing country previously cited by global-north incels and manosphere denizens as possible ex-pat destination due to “non-feminist women, traditional values and arranged marriage”.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/crime/couple-abused-beaten-for-standing-too-close-inside-kolkata-metro/ar-AAwAdMg?ocid=spartanntp
How about Rex? I think Rex works.