By David Futrelle
The Honey Badger Brigade’s infamous lawsuit against the Calgary Expo and The Mary Sue has ended, not with a bang but with a whimper. Well, rather a lot of whimpering, really.
The Honey Badger Brigade, as you may recall, is a collective of mostly female antifeminist weirdos known for their endless YouTube videos and their amazing ability to raise many tens of thousands of dollars from their gullible supporters on the flimsiest of pretexts.
They raised something on the order of $66,000 — as far as I can figure it based on the limited information currently available online — to fund a lawsuit against the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo after said Expo tossed them out in 2015, accusing them of “actively disregarding” the Expo’s efforts to provide “a positive and safe event” for attendees.
In the same lawsuit, the Badgers also went after the online publication The Mary Sue for allegedly contributing to Calgary Expo’s decision even though the publication didn’t weigh in on the Badgers until after they were expelled — apparently forgetting that time, as you probably know, moves forward not backwards. And did I mention that they hired a disbarred lawyer to represent them in the case?
Anyway, given the Badgers’ open support for the harassment campaign known as GamerGate, the expulsion seems pretty reasonable. And while I’m not a disbarred Canadian lawyer, their case against The Mary Sue always seemed utterly ridiculous to me.
Last Wednesday, the judge in the case finally handed down his decision, ruling against them on all counts. This evidently came as a giant shock to the Badgers, who had somehow managed to convince themselves — based on some things the judge had said earlier — that they were on the verge of a famous victory.
In a rambling, tendentious, and often quite baffling statement on the decision, Honey Badger Hannah Wallen complained that the judge had ignored “physical evidence” that the Badgers had presented and made other “errors in … reasoning” that could open the way to an appeal. Maybe a lawyer could make sense of her claims; they didn’t make much sense to me. Among her charges:
The judge indicated that his ruling was partly based on a misreading of the evidence regarding Calgary Expo personnel’s tweeted promotion of The Mary Sue’s claims about us, which he described as if they had come from an uninvolved 3rd party and not the Expo, and had been published on the Expo’s Twitter account by said 3rd party and not the Expo.
Clear as a bell, huh?
In any case, the Honey Badgers haven’t yet decided whether to appeal or not, which I imagine will have less to do with the merits of their case than with their fundraising abilities.
The reaction from their fans has been, well, revealing. In the comments to a YouTube video on the Badgers’ defeat from MundaneMatt — one of the originators of GamerGate and a big Honey Badger fan — various commenters have suggested that there must have been some nefarious conspiracy behind the ruling.
“Miscarriage of justice right there,” declared someone called Yosharian, “and I wonder how much money TMS [The Mary Sue] paid that Judge?”
I’m going to take a wild guess and say zero?
Someone called Bulwark AC declared:
I was thinking … the judge was going to go in favor of Allison and the Honey badgers but that some Form of outside influence pressured the judge … to find for CalExpo. It could also have been political influence from the mayor or governor of the province that nudged the judge to give such a drastic reversal against even himself. Heck it could have been Trudeau’s office that heard an MRA group was in court. You know how profemale he is.
One “Harry Beaver” had some more incendiary accusations:
Judge is another satanist. Wake up people. We are fighting against pedos who rape babies and eat human flesh. That´s why they all stick together.
For chrisrus1965, the problem was a cultural one:
Never underestimate the power of innate gynocentrism to override anything.
Over in the Kotaku in Action subreddit — a former GamerGate hub that has basically continued on GamerGating without the label — a few commenters suggested that this terrible injustice against the Badgers was the sort of thing that could lead to vigilante action or even outright civil war. No, really.
According to someone called crystalflash,
This is how you get Vigilantism. Seriously. The Judge can just say, “nice evidence you have there, too bad I don’t care,” tosses it into the trash bin and goes off to instead (incorrectly) cite “evidence” the judge acquired on his own outside the courtroom. Like, holy fucking shit, why fucking bother with the courts at this point when a judge can just go off, cite his own “evidence” that was never entered officially a part of the trial, and ignore everything that has happened in the court room? Seriously, for the sake of the Canadian justice system, appeal the ruling, because if that is allowed to stand, justice is dead in Canada. When the fucking courts operate like this, how could I fault any Canadian citizen for putting justice in their own hands?
You honestly think it would be ok for someone to, I guess, go shoot people because a judge said it was ok for a game convention to toss the GamerGate-supporting Honey Badgers out for flaunting the policies they’d agreed to when signing up to sell stuff there? (While he Badgers argue they didn’t flaunt these policies, the exhibitor agreement they signed said that the Expo “hall have the full power in the interpretation and enforcement of all contract regulations contained herein.”)
PessimisticPaladin went further:
That or civil wars. If people think the government will let others abuse them, or abuse them by themselves then if you can get enough people they will make a new government.
I don’t like the option but if this shit keeps up so often it may well happen.
Dudes, do you people ever listen to yourselves? This is Special Snowflaking raised to the level of an Olympic sport.
Not all the commenters were on the Badgers’ side. Back on YouTube, some accused the Badgers of looking for an excuse to scam more money from their followers for yet another pointless legal battle. One commenter mocked them for hiring a “DISBARD LAWYER FOR THREE YEARS!!!”
But the most outspoken criticism came from someone who had formerly been a big supporter of the Badgers, especially in their early days; hell, by his account he was one of the founding members. I’m talking about a certain excitable ex-A Voice for Menner who now goes by the name Max Dean Esmay, aka Max Kolbe. Take it away, Dean Max Dean:
As the man who co-created the Honeybadger Brigade, who recruited Karen Straughan and Alison into it (they both hated the name when I pitched it at them) and who was instrumental in bringing in the fraudulent Hannah, all I can say is I’m hoping this is the END of their fraudulent case.
Well that’s quite a start.
They never had one and they’ve been playing their donors on it for two or three years now. The Expo owes them no more than a refund and what the contract specifies, plus maybe some minor damages at most.
Esmay, it turns out, has been railing against the Honey Badgers for months now — making videos of his own attacking his former friends, going on other internet shows to yell about them, and dropping who knows how many comments like this on YouTube and elsewhere.
These women ARE NOT Men’s Human Rights Activists, they’re money-hungry frauds pushing a ludicrously stupid ideology–and they’ve BACKSTABBED countless early supporters and countless current donors. They’re losing popularity because Alison Tieman, Karen Straughan, Hannah Wallen, Mike Stevenson (Stephenson? I forget) ARE FRAUDS. They’re also bullies EXACTLY like … Anita Sarkeesian–they deplatform, smear, lie about mischaracterize, mock, and lie about ANYONE who calls them out–especially anyone who was ever a supporter who began to question or criticize them.
That last bit is no doubt a reference to Karen Straughan’s attempts to rebut his various charges by questioning his mental stability.
Karen Straughan is a ripoff artist. So is Alison Tieman. They may seem nice. They may have even given you good personal advice. But they’re typical Delilahs, typical manipulative women.
The Biblical reference there is no fluke. Esmay has now more or less set aside his Men’s Rights “activism” in favor of promoting his own brand of militant Catholicism, which seems to involve a lot of yelling at and about atheists (and not just this dickish ones like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris).
But anyway, back to the Delilah Brigade:
They serve only themselves and have thrown COUNTLESS men who once supported them under the bus. We have testimonials for many and many of the Red Pill Religion volunteers and supporters are part of our team–because the Badgers screwed everybody, except their most cultish inner circle devotees.
The Honey Badger brigade does seem more that a little culty at times, but it’s a teensy bit ironic to see Esmay of all people attack them as such.
They’re not even the full Honeybadger Brigade that was in The Red Pill by Cassie Jaye. These three women and their male enablers are con artists and have been since before Red Pill Movie was released. And they’ve set back the cause of forwarding men’s human rights by years, with their antics and their VILE behavior towards so many men.
Here’s a thought for the Honey Badgers. Forget appealing the Calgary Expo suit. Sue Dean Esmay instead. And Dean, sue them right back. Fight amongst yourselves, you terrible people, and leave the rest of us alone.
@WWTH
Saw that one. Poor OP’s sister got badgered into it, and with how much money that was I’d be surprised if she didn’t see jail time.
The most incredible part to me was the part where the OP said he didn’t even know how the partner saw the will.
Gif also applies to everyone in the Trump orbit.
They stole $850K and OP is shocked that the man is upset! And he thought it wasn’t a big deal, after all their parents fed the late brother while he was growing up. Dontchaknow that fulfilling your parental responsibilities means that you can steal as much money from the deceased’s beloved? Jeez, the sister sounds like the only decent member of that family.
Wow, that thread was one hell of a read. It’s like the Trumpkins think that since Trump can get away with shamelessly flouting the law, all the rest of the
racist, bigoted, homophobic chucklefuckstrue, morally upright Americans can also just ignore the law whenever it’s convenient to do so.I hope the consequences of their actions land on their heads like a ton of bricks. It’s kind of a shame that the sister and supposedly least-awful member of the clan will be facing the brunt of the criminal consequences for succumbing to pressure from the rest of her disgusting family, but as executor of the will she should have known damn well the consequences of breaking the law to steal inheritance money.
@Virgin Mary:
I’m familiar with Frank Schaeffer; he has a blog on Patheos as well (Why I Still Talk to Jesus – In Spite of Everything) which hasn’t been updated in a year; but as you say, he has rather first-hand knowledge of what was going on at the time.
Sometimes, like Frank Schaeffer, or Megan Phelps-Roper (granddaughter of Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church) the children of such upbringings realize just how toxic the environment is and leave even when it means leaving everything they knew behind. Of course, then you get folks like Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, who is more blatantly a grifter and political hack than his father was.
@WWTH:
As the last non-admin post on that thread notes, wills are public in the state of Massachusets; anybody who knew about it could get access to read it. Even if the man hadn’t shown it to his partner previously (which he probably had), there’s nothing stopping him from getting it.
Most of the comments I read were along with what you said, of the ‘how could you have ever thought this was a good idea’ line. Up to and including one person thinking it had to be a troll post because who would be so stupid as to ask for legal advice in an open forum while publicly admitting to breaking the law as well as any human decency.
Here’s an interesting article about the weaponizing of pedophilia accusations.
I was abused, many of the girls I grew up with were abused. It was not a conspiracy. It was a small town with the typical small town code of silence. It was the low value put on girls and women. It was the ‘boys will be boys’ attitude. It was the notion that fathers own their children. It was the belief that a 12-year-old girl could already be a slut, and that one could do as they please with a slut. It was parents wanting children to be seen and not heard. It was the idea that adults are always right and children are always wrong.
@LindsayIrene:
And given the scale of the “QAnon” BS …
This is really worrying. It’s one more sign pointing to a new Holocaust being possibly imminent.
Stop the world, I want to get off …
@Jenora Feurer thank you, this will become handy in the future.
@Aleph:
You’re welcome. Frank Schaeffer, mentioned above, is another one to look at, because he quite literally was there when a lot of the partisanship was being set up, as his father was doing much of the setting up. (On the down side, I find his writing a little overdone at points because this is obviously very personal for him.)
A number of people both inside and outside have been watching all this build up for quite some time. Unfortunately, as I said, I suspect a number of the people who were always primarily grifters didn’t really understand just how out of control things would get once they’d raised a generation who didn’t really grasp that it was all grifting, and the people they’d scared into a mob ran them over.
Or, perhaps, like a lot of the big corporate looter types, they just figured that they’d already be dead and gone before the problems they’d created bit them in the ass.
Did the H.B.B. suggest that the Mary Sues had access to the Obama Time Machine? (You know, the one Mad Doctor Soros built to put that fake birth announcement into the Honolulu Advertiser in 1961 [fifty-seven years back to the day, tomorrow, as I write this].)
@Cyborgette:
Thank-you for intervening. For what it might be worth, the advice I heard over the radio from an anti-racism activist was to face the receiver of the abuse and not the abuser, to assist the one (‘Are you o.k.?’) rather than to confront the other, the notion being that displayed association with the receiver lowers the readiness of the abuser—predators prefer the isolated.
@Lumipuna:
‘If you want to see who’ s most likely to abuse your child, look at pictures of friends and family…and in the mirror.’
@Katamount:
I’ve agreed for decades about cynicism, since someone I challenged for backing an incredibly corrupt politician said ‘They’re all corrupt, but he‘ s entertaining.’. Politically, this leads to the equivalent of equal treatment of a cop who takes a doughknot freely given by a shopkeeper and one who does hits for the Mafia.
@Scildfreja Unnyðnes et al:
I think the overwhelmingly Calvinist nature of the Religious Right is also in play. Calvinism says that 0.)all humanity is corrupt, too corrupt to even truly want salvation without grace, 1.)grace is given to some, the Elect, and not others, the Preterite, a.k.a. the Saved and the Damned, 2.)these conditions are unchangeable—the Elect can’t lose their Salvation, the Damned can’t be saved, no matter what they do.
The belief in ‘total depravity’ reïnforces the cynicism about corruption referenced above; the fixed membership in Club Paradise and the Club Inferno bolsters the human tendency to treat offences from Our Team differently….
(Apologies for the length; I’ll try to be quiet now.)
Godspeed, honey badger. May you get the justice you deserve, and continue to fight on the side of good against female hegemony and toxic femininity.
Some people use ‘flaunt’ that way, but that’s a straight-up mistake, since that’s the meaning of ‘flout’. One flaunts one’s new suit, i.e. shows it off; one flouts the rules, i.e. disregards them.
By all means carry on with what’s comfortable to you, though. No possible confusion can arise by using ‘flaunt’ that way, I’m sure, and mild harassment by pedants and proscriptivists is a small price to pay for… whatever.
@ Allison
But they did. There’s an article about it at the top of this page.
I’m glad to hear that they lost. They were a pox in the Canadian comic scene as they had nothing to do with comics or entertainment, you know what CCEE stands for (Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. I don’t like the organizers of the comic convention and they don’t like me but they had a right to do what they did at the convention whether or not the HBB agrees with that or not. They had a contract they should have read but chosen not to.
All of this talk about the judge being biased is BS, no one has bothered to read the court documents on this. The only reason why they complained so much and tried to say the judge was biased is that they know they cannot afford another trial and no one in their community who donated to them trust them with more money after the last fiasco with their funds. All they have now are just their whining on Youtube and other media.