By David Futrelle
So this is a thing that exists. Take a moment to soak it in. It’s perfectly fine if you react like this:
The good news? It’s probably a joke — a pitch-perfect parody of incel logic rather than an example of it. At least that’s my guess. The meme (a version of the “ideal girlfriend” meme) seems to have originated on 4chan — the reference to “anon” is a bit of a giveaway — and has made it to Reddit and Twitter as well.
So far the reaction on Braincels, the main incel subreddit, has been a bit muted; some of the regulars are befuddled by it, others see it, as they see every bit of “evidence” that life sucks for them, as “suicide fuel.” Though they may be joking when they say that too.
I haven’t seen it show up on Incels.me — at least not yet.
Weirdly, the meme got a much more enthusiastic hearing in the ProLife subreddit.
“Not gonna lie, this got my all teary-eyed,” admitted someone called TheEmeraldCrusader.
“I’ve seen this popping up in some sections of social media that are probably less-visited by people in this sub,” wrote Yesofcoursenaturally,
and it’s been getting a good chunk of positive feedback.
Obviously there’s a layer of (dark) humor to it. But really, this is making some people think more about the issue in a good, if hard to describe way.
OnAllLevelsIAmBoJack agreed:
Anything that gets people talking about it, honestly. The government has “made up its mind” in my country. Anyone who dissents is considered a misogynist by default… That’s why it’s critical women share things like this
EpistemicClosure thought it might be an effective recruiting tool:
This will be good for attracting “incels” into the pro-life movement. They already lean sympathetic too, so it’s very fertile ground.
But not everyone on the subreddit was thrilled by the prospect of incels joining their movement.
“We don’t want them!” declared leathercanid.
“Yeah I don’t know if men who believe they’re entitled to sex and angry that they aren’t getting it are ones to seek out for a pro-life cause,” justtotossit suggested, noting that women tend to be “even pickier” when sex could easily lead to an un-terminatable pregnancy.
Incels don’t care about that. They don’t think they’re ever going to have sex anyway. They’re happy to support anything that hurts women, even if it (theoretically) hurts them too.
H/T — This tweet from @BenIsYourHero that alerted me to the existence of this thing.
I’d like to put five on each of Kushner and Don Jr.
Trump wants a hard Brexit as his goal is to split the EU which he sees as a threat to US dominance (cf his offer to Macron); and Boris as PM would make that more likely.
So, Trump has Made the Kingdom United Against him. Congratulations.
Just in case someone in Helsinki is reading and making last minute plans, I’m attending this protest tomorrow:
https://www.facebook.com/events/410505832778885/
In case someone wants to meet a fellow mammotheer, I’m the tall (198 cm) skinny 35yo guy with black fishing hat against the sun, carrying water bottles in a black canvas shopping bag. Plans still open for Monday.
The “I could make you a hot meal” got to me even more than the rest of it. That shift you all felt in the rotation of the planet? That was my eyes rolling in a truly epic fashion.
I’ve tried to ungender work when dealing in the family as much as I possibly could. I believe that to be a competent adult, there are certain basic skills that everyone needs and those skills are traditionally both male and female. At the very least, basic cooking is not just a life skill but a survival skill. Are these genius incels and MRAs not smart enough to learn how to make a sandwich or scramble some eggs?
I heard the breathy, little girl, Marilyn voice in my head while reading this too. This makes me not only angry, but sad, sad, sad. There have been some other things this week where it has been brought home again that I am not a whole person in the eyes of men I actually know. Again. And then there is this nonsense.
Not possible with these guys, obviously, but is it really that hard to convince the dominant class that allowing everyone to be human and be treated as fully human actually widens the possibilities for all of us? For history, for posterity, for the planet? That when we dehumanize we waste people? Why is this such a hard concept?
Because it opens up the possibility that they’re not inherently superior to the rest of us, and that maybe they should give something back to a system that has given them so much.
“Brain”-cels seems like an ironic name.
Also, how can one of these pro-life dingbats be a Bojack Horseman fan? They literally did an episode where a character gets an abortion and it’s treated like a necessary, if uncomfortable, thing.
That meme actually has a point. In some countries, sex-selective abortion is leading to concerns that there won’t be enough of an even ratio of men to women.