By David Futrelle
Found in the Men Going Their Own Way subreddit:
So … feminism is an adult cat being bottle-fed by some random nice dude. But then it transforms instantly into a huge lion — not a lioness, but a male lion with a mane and everything — that eats the dude’s head, without even giving him the chance to change his outfit.
This makes about as much sense as those old Gateway computer ads featuring a cow with a man’s voice.
Elsewhere in the MGTOW subreddit today, a bunch of MGTOWs being racist as hell.
(Oh and sorry for posts being a little light lately; I’ve been under the weather and also my laptop seems like it’s about to die on me.)
Send tips to dfutrelle at gmail dot com.
We Hunted the Mammoth relies entirely on readers like you for its survival. If you appreciate our work, please send a few bucks our way! Thanks!
@Kat
If only there was a movement whose purported goal was to do that…hmm…
@Ooglyboggles
Good luck at your new job!
Thanks, everyone! I appreciate the advice. For now I am going to say nothing as @Vucodlak suggests but will keep everyone else’s suggestions in mind in case there is an opening to say something. Main point: do better in future!
That’s great! I know you’ve been wanting to get out of your family house. I hope you can eventually meet that goal.
Meanwhile, I’m sick. It’s just a cold, or maybe sinus infection, but I’ve mostly lost my voice and I’m on the phone at work, so I can’t really go in, even though I feel a lot better. I hope I don’t get in trouble. And hate the culture around work in the US is such that you can get in trouble for being sick for a few days. At least I was hired on for real (no longer a contractor) a few months ago so the time off is paid.
@WWTH
Yeah, I’ve been there. Got that weird stuffy nose thing I get around this time of year. Just hoping it doesn’t get to full-blown cold, because it always hits my voice hard.
Just out of curiosity, do folks around here get their annual flu shot? I’ve always done it out of habit, but I know folks IRL who think it’s useless. *shrug*
@WWTH
Hope you feel better soon.
@Katamount
I get it every year, and I’ve never gotten the flu. I don’t know if that’s just because I got lucky, and correlation is not causality, but for me it seems to be working.
Is it because these folks don’t trust the vaccine science, or because they don’t take influenza seriously as a threat?
I appreciate the shot because I expect that getting a severe influenza would be outright dangerous (I live alone), hugely unpleasant and a great waste of time, even if the risk of getting it isn’t very high.
Years ago I had a mild influenza, or possibly a severe cold, and it was very unpleasant. Nowadays I tend to get mild colds, or just feel generally mildly sick this time of the year.
Well, here’s a get well soon from me to Dave and anyone else who needs it; also, just clicking on those links made me feel like a bird pooped in my open mouth; the feeling of nausea almost made me retch.
Let’s just hope my Reddit feed doesn’t start sending me more miggie threads, or I’m gonna have a bad time.
@Lumipuna
For the people I know who say the flu shot is useless, they’re all woo-y alternative medicine fans who don’t trust science much or they’re anti vaxxer lites, or both.
@Paireon
Whenever I click the links here, I make sure I’m signed out of Reddit. I don’t use Reddit much anyway, so it’s not a big deal, but it keeps MGTOWs and incels from filling my feed.
The rationale for not getting the flu shot (from those I know IRL) is that it is ineffective and contains Thimerosal. The latter is not the case for single-dose containers anyway and the former is difficult to predict. After all, efficacy varies year to year… it’s free in Ontario, so there’s no excuse not to do it.
Personally, I think the guy who goes on about Thimerosal just does so to sound smart. There’s no indication that the mercury breaks down when used as a vaccine preservative.
@Moon Custafer:
You win the Internet for today.
@Katamount:
I always get the flu shot. It helps that it’s free in Ontario anyway, and the place where I work sets aside a day to bring in a nurse to administer the shots so I don’t even have to go anywhere to get it.
(Work also brings in a naturopath with a ‘natural immune booster’. To quote a friend with bad asthma, ‘Why would I want to boost my immune system? My immune system is what’s trying to kill me!’)
I mean, the flu shot is always a bit of a gamble. The flu virus just mutates so bloody fast, and they have to start production months in advance, so there’s always the chance that the (usually three) flu strains you get vaccinated against don’t include the ones that actually become endemic when the time comes around.
An 80% chance of being protected against whatever strains come around is still better than a 0% chance.
@Katamount
The whole Thimerosal scare is anti vaxxer BS. Like you said, there’s no evidence that thimerosal breaks down to release methyl mercury, and no evidence that it has caused harm to anyone in the doses in vaccines.
In addition, there is no evidence that mercury has anything to do with autism, which is something else anti vaxxers try to claim. This claim is particularly harmful, as it has motivated some parents of autistic children to expose them to actually harmful chelation therapy, which is usually used to treat heavy metal poisoning.
One of the most annoying parts of the anti vaxxer movement to me is how anti autistic it is. They push the idea that autism is the worst possible thing you can have, and then whenever any autistic individual tries to talk sense into them, they either become condescending or start shouting about how I don’t “really” know what autism is like because I can pass for neurotypical most of the time.
/end rant
Here in Finland some risk groups are eligible for free vaccine, and some employers provide it for staff. I get mine injected handily at the campus, but have to pay some 25-40 euro because I’m not university staff.
@Naglfar
Preach. The anti-vax movement is fundamentally “I would rather my child die of disease than be autistic.”
And I’ve gotten SO MUCH of the “But you’re not AUTISTIC autistic” crap. It’s called forty years of learning to act like other people even before I knew WHY I was different from other people.
Katamount:
Get your vaccine! Seriously. I had influenza twice in my 20s, long before the vaccines were available. You do not want that. Trust me. Until the advent of vaccines, 30 to 50 thousand people died of influenza annually, in the US alone.
Ineffective? Nonsense. Even if they misjudge which strains are going to be prevalent in a given year, and more vaccinated people actually get influenza, (like what seems to have happened in 2017-18 season), that does not mean that the vaccine was ineffective. Remember they have to decide which strains are going to be the most common MONTHS before flu season. Each year, the vaccine is their best guess. It’s not optimal but anything to cut down on deaths and permanent disability due to influenza is worth doing. Studies show that in general, influenza vaccines reduce the death rate in children by 2/3.
One more thing. Whenever anyone uses Thimerosal in an argument against vaccinations, you can immediately dismiss the entire argument. They are getting information from bad sources.
Tl;dr: Get the vaccination
The people I know irl who think the flu shot is useless usually say things like, “I got the flu shot one year and still got a cold!” And then they brush off my attempts to explain the difference between influenza and a rhinovirus. The people I know irl who have had influenza as an adult get their flu shots.
Yeah… It’s not like a viral disease would ever leave their child severely disabled.
In the UK, the flu vaccine is only available on the NHS to older people and other high-risk groups, so I don’t get it.
@Otrame
Oh, don’t worry about me, I get it ever year and have since I was a kid. Just curious about others.
I should probably get my flu shots but I always forget due to a mix of bad organisational skills outside work and procrastination. IIRC it’s free in Quebec also.
And as an Asperger’s myself, anti-vaxxers and their idiotic ideas can go to (non-existent) hell as far as I’m concerned.
@ citerior motive
Yeah, considering the NHS is usually all about prevention being better than cure and encouraging, and funding, all sorts of prophylactic action; they’re pretty laid back about the flu jab.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/who-should-have-flu-vaccine/
I know we’ve moved on from @Susan’s question, but I have a similar one.
I work with an individual (not every day or even week, but relatively often over the course of a year). Said individual presented as male when I first met him and used male pronouns (bios are a thing in my job). I still use male pronouns toward this individual although lately this individual has been presenting female. This individual hasn’t changed his bio so I don’t think his pronouns have changed, but I’m not sure. Am I doing something wrong?
My problem with the flu shots is that I’m very lazy. Over the last decade or so I’ve only gotten three, two of which were for the swine and the bird flu, both of which I think had some sort of special campaigns back when I was a student.
The third one I got this year, because my then-employer was giving them one floor below where I worked. They were giving them for that one day only, and it happened to be the last day of my contract, so I took this as a Sign and went to get the shot.
Note to self: next year, plan to get your flu shot; do not wait for divine intervention.
I’m surprised nobody has said the obvious: it’s a bit odd to see MGTOWs lionizing feminists.
At least they aren’t feminizing (the common depiction of) lions.
@Skye
Not at all. The person may be non-binary and simply sticking with male pronouns to avoid confusion or other social discomfort. They may be experimenting with their gender identity. They may just want to feel “pretty” or otherwise explore a more feminine male presentation.
My suggestion would be to continue to refer to them as you have (and as they seem to continue to identify as) until you are specifically told otherwise. You could also split the knot by using the singular “they/them” pronouns when referring to them.
Long story short: I think you’re good.