By David Futrelle
I’ve got a piece up on the HuffPost today on incels. An excerpt:
At this point, it should be clear: The entire manosphere ― from the faux-respectable Men’s Rights Activists to the anonymous Twitter trolls who threaten and harass any woman who dares express an opinion they don’t like ― is irredeemably toxic. The incels are the most hateful of them all. We need to start regarding them with the same revulsion and disdain that most decent people feel for those who inhabit the resurgent fascist movement known euphemistically as the “alt-right,” to whom misogyny is almost as central as white supremacy.
The time for 101 explainers has long since passed. Misogyny kills, quite literally, and we need to shut it down.
You can find the piece here.
hee! I saw this before this post came up. You must be super busy over there, David. Good job. and you’re absolutely right.
Thank you, David. I cannot express how angry I was reading Pharyngula this morning with all the sympathy in the comments towards incels and the, “how do we make things better for them?” handwringing. Not to mention all the numerous sympathetic articles.
Another stellar piece.
Thank you.
Great piece, Dave. Take care of yourself. <3
Seconding Fishy Goat – both parts.
Great, and unfortunately necessary, piece David.
I guess this incel stuff just hits too close to home for a lot of men. Incel doesn’t come out of nowhere. It only takes our culture’s attitudes towards women and puts them on a hell of a lot of steroids. Most straight men at some point in their lives feel and express aggrieved entitlement when a woman rejects them. Because they see themselves in incels, they want to help them. Because the news media is still centered around the male perspective, the default position is that misogynistic mass violence must be the result or either mental illness or feminism going too far and giving men a sad.
I understand that to an extent. Everyone grows up in patriarchy. Even the men who consider themselves progressive and enlightened. It’s natural to feel a knee jerk defensiveness and empathy for them. But guess what, men? You’ve had plenty of time to work that out. You could have done it with Elliot Rodger. You could have done it with the start of MeToo. If you haven’t done it yet, do it now. Get over yourselves, work through your shit, join us in condemning these entitled dingleberries. Do it unreservedly. There’s just no excuse anymore.
I usually do a Sunday breakfast with my folks at the nearby Sunset Grill, and that’s kind of our “chat about current events” time. Having to explain the logic of these butt-whistlers out loud to–in their parlance–“normies” is no easy task. Thus I see these explainers as necessary, but they really should have been written four years ago after Isla Vista, and ideally that should have been the end of it. An explainer confirming that these people are dreadful, an explainer so damning and decisive that admitting being an “incel” would be tantamount to admitting to being a stalker, and viewed by society in the same way.
But no, apparently we’re supposed to fret over their tortured mental state and devote mental time and energy into their rehabilitation. Sorry, takin’ a Serenity Prayer on this one: I’ll act as an example to others as to how to get over one’s hangups over virginity, but the underlying misogyny need to be changed from within, so all the rest of us can do is contain it as best we can. That’s where I think our efforts should be.
Thanks for the article, it is exactly what is needed.
I do agree with WWTH on that incels hit too close to home.
Way to keep this topic in the news! A lot of my friends aren’t evwn aware if this.
@ kupo
We need to update an old adage.
“You can lead a horse to clean water, but if it keeps kicking you and running off to drink from the septic tank, you might be focusing on the wrong problem.”
Thanks for this article, David.
I feel like I’m being asked to feel sorry for incels and Nazis these days. No. Nobody can make me feel sorry for groups who think I should be raped or murdered. I’d rather feel sorry for zombies.
Damn, I think those zombies get better dental than many live people!
@Jesalin
Can’t have zombies who can’t chew their food, y’know.
@Victorious Parasol
Neo-nazi and the zombie in that song have similar ideas when it come to compromise. The zombies want their victim to open up the door so they can come inside and eat his brains while neo-nazi want everyone else to respect their free speech while advocating killing and/or enslaving everyone they don’t like
We listened to everything Nazis had to say at the Nuremberg Tribunals. They got their fair hearing; we don’t owe them another one.
@Fabe
Yep, you got it. The only difference between incels/Nazis and zombies is that zombies aren’t real.
Zombies don’t tend to choose their existences either; neo-Nazis and incels made a conscious decision to be monsters.
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, when an incel attempts to put his toxic ideology into practice, we should knock him down first and pity him afterwards.
The second part is entirely optional. The first is not.
BOOM,mic drop
Thank you for this insightful piece, David.
I hope you’re getting paid for all these pieces you’re writing.
I read so many articles about contributors to publications not getting paid.
@Victorious Parasol:
Exactly. Besides, these assclowns all feel more than sorry enough for themselves as it is. They don’t need me. Or anyone else.
(Also, what Alan said. If Germany can’t have Nazis anymore, ain’t NOBODY can have Nazis anymore.)
@Bina
High-five.
@Alan
I will very likely steal that line.