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Now is the time for A Voice for Men to ask: “Are we the baddies?”

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By David Futrelle

In 2010, men’s rights lawyer Roy Dean Hollander wrote an inflammatory piece for the men’s rights hate site A Voice for Men declaring that men might be forced to take up arms to defeat what he saw as the tyranny of feminism.

Several weeks ago, Den Hollander took his own advice, gunning down the son and husband of a female judge he had tangled with in the past; the son died of his wounds. Several days earlier he killed rival men’s rights attorney Marc Angelucci.

If you thought Den Hollander’s murders would have occasioned some soul searching on the part of the folks at AVFM, you would be dead wrong. Site foinder Paul Elam and others associated with the site offered no apoligies for publishing Den Hollander’s screed (or for a later post by Elam effusively praising him as a “real man”); instead they insisted to anyone who would listen that Den Hollander wasn’t a real men’s rights activist at all and had nothing to do with them.

On Tuesday, AVFM published a post by Gary Costanza referring to Den Hollander’s murder of Angelucci which somehow managed to avoid mentioning both his name and his previous connection to the site, referring to him only as a “demented person.”

Down the memory hole he goes.

Den Hollander – who killed himself shortly after his assault on the judge’s family – was not the only “demented person” in AVFM’s past.

You may be familiar with the name Chris Cantwell – he’s perhaps better known as “the Crying Nazi,” infamous for a teary video he put out after hearing that there was a warrant out for his arrest for several counts of assault at the notorious Unite the Right rally in 2017. Before going full Nazi, you see, Cantwell wrote a number of pieces for AVFM on such topics as IQ, the evils of gun control, and feminists “who demonize men and white people.” When, at the time he was writing for AVFM, I criticized his online harassment of some of his many enemies, Elam wrote a post defending Cantwell and advising me to kill myself.

Cantwell, not only a political activist but quite the gun enthusiast, has been a busy boy in the last several years; his rap sheet is too long and complicated to easily summarize here, but he’s served time for assault and currently sits in jail awaiting trial on charges of threats and extortion against a fellow neo-Nazi. Given his love of guns and his utter lack of impulse control, I think it’s kind of a miracle he hasn’t shot anyone yet.

Over the years, Elam has befriended and published several other men’s rights activists who frankly seem as unhinged as Den Hollander and Cantwell; thankfully none of them have acted out in the same way.

In Constanza’s post today, he urges fellow MRAs to “redouble our efforts” in the wake of Angelucci’s murder.

I would suggest that fans of the site do some serious self-reflection first. Is there a reason their side – and their site — attracts so many “demented” individuals? Perhaps this is not simply bad luck? Perhaps it’s because, to paraphrase a famous comedy routine by Mitchell and Webb, they are the baddies?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU&t=0s

H/T — to Twitter’s @TakedownMRAs, who inspired this post.

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Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

referring to him only as a “demented person.”

Some ableism there too. Unsurprising.

I would suggest that fans of the site do some serious self-reflection first.

I get the feeling they’re incapable, instead of mirrors they only know how to operate projectors.

Say, I wonder if you-know-who will make another sock to defend AVfM.

skimmingway
skimmingway
4 years ago

I would like to say that the hypocrisy and total lack of self-awareness amongst feminists and other assorted “progressives” is something that will never cease to amaze me, but alas, I am accustomed to telling the truth, and at this point, nothing could be further from it.

What of those of you who elevate terrorists such as John Brown to hero status? Those of you who think that dragging truck drivers out of their vehicles and beating them is some form of acceptable “collateral damage” in response to a Chivas Regal-chugging, PCP-addled thug getting his ass handed to him by some cops he has decided to antagonize? Those of you who think that property damage and raucous rioting are acceptable avenues for those who want an excuse to “get even with whitey” over what are, essentially, acts of self-preservation in the face of being attacked by ruffians who can’t even demonstrate the civilizational awareness necessary to wear a belt? Those of you who valorize communistic bureaucrats like FDR, who interned millions of Japanese Americans in holding facilities against their will? Those of you who have the nerve to associate yourselves with some of the most destructive economic and social ideologies of the 20th century, while refusing to take responsibility or answer for whatever flaws these belief systems might have had (i.e. bread lines, mass starvation, lack of choice in products, etc.)? Those among you who think that punching people of alien ideologies is preferable to spirited and civil debate?

There is not one good person among you all. You demand to have the privilege, nay, the right, to judge without being judged, to force your intellectual adversaries into unflattering associations without having to deal with equivalent treatment on your end. Well, I’m not letting you off the hook as easily as you would have it; like cats getting their sniffers shoved into the piss stains on the carpet, I am going to force you all into the truth. I shall carry you as battering rams, smacking your heads into the hard doors until they yield and allow access to the Royal Throne Room of Truth.

You had best prepare yourselves for the intellectual ousting of a lifetime.

Nequam
Nequam
4 years ago

Hm, I heard the buzz and whine of an insect. Should I light up some citronella candles?

EyeHeartSpiders
EyeHeartSpiders
4 years ago

@Naglfar: Well, that was prescient.

weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee

Those of you who valorize communistic bureaucrats like FDR,

Who the fuck is doing that here?

skimmingway
skimmingway
4 years ago

@wwth:cm

You do so in the spirit; you defend his legacy, the overweening and hyper-regulating hand of the welfare state. The dynamism and manly competitiveness of free markets find themselves constrained by the limp and feminizing hand of top-down socialist planning, albeit of a lighter, more dishonest type. I foresee a day in which the mere purchase of a lighter or a box of matches shall require extensive government-sanctioned background checks of the most invasive and humiliating variety, while your kind cheers and pats yourselves on the back for your progressiveness as you drag us back into the stone age.

David Rose
David Rose
4 years ago

Ah yes, the Stone Age, aka the heyday of background checks.

Miri
Miri
4 years ago

… I’m just gonna sit here and be very entertained by skimmingway’s amazing prose.

Rabid Rabbit
Rabid Rabbit
4 years ago

@Skimmingway:

Does it bother you that you have to reach back to John Brown to find an example, while we just have to reach back a couple of weeks?

You might find this instructive reading: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/us-rightwing-extremists-attacks-deaths-database-leftwing-antifa (To sum up, since 1994, of 900 politically motivated acts of violence in the US, there was exactly one death during an anti-facist attack, the dead person being the perpetrator. Rightwing attacks, however, caused 329 deaths. Since 2010, there was been 21 deaths attributed to leftwing violence in general, against 117 by rightwingers. I leave it to Skimmingway’s superior brain to draw the obvious conclusions.)

Wannabikkit
Wannabikkit
4 years ago

Skimmingway would probably have a meltdown if he came to my country (NZ).

Nequam
Nequam
4 years ago

Saw a curious little pest control device at a surplus store I enjoy: combination rechargable flashlight and bug zapper. Probably in surplus because like many things I’ve seen there it’s a solution looking for a problem.

Has anyone ever found those devices that are like an electrically-charged flyswatter useful? I have frequently gotten the impression that they are more popular for swatting things other than insects…

Snowberry
Snowberry
4 years ago

Who the hell is “John Brown”?

(Checking)

An abolitionist who advocated violence against slavers? Okay then. I know of no one who is glorifying him, because this is literally the first I’ve heard of him. Anyone know if this is a thing in BLM, or if this is a complete asspull?

skimmingway
skimmingway
4 years ago

@Rabid Rabbit

I could easily think up dozens of valid reasons for why that might be the case (not the least of which being that you are citing a leftist rag in order to make what is, essentially, a leftist case), but for the sake of brevity, I shall mention what I think are causes worthy of examination:

1. Though they often make use of large, male enforcers, many leftist movements, especially of the feminized, environmentally-minded sort, tend to be lousy with hags and otherwise choked to the gills with those who are testosterone-challenged; my basic guess is that many leftists lack the masculine oomph necessary to pose a true challenge to anyone, instead preferring to use pugnacious language, nagging, eye-rolling, and nuclear whininess of the most dramatically after-school-special way in order to goad people, especially bureaucrats, into adopting whatever ludicrous agenda they are pushing at the moment. Take further notice of the number of leftists infiltrating powerful establishments and consolidating their stranglehold on our precious institutions and it shall become even more clear why they, beyond sending men to die in wars and committing heinous acts of property damage and arson, do not so often engage in any sort of political violence.

2. Those to whom evil is done often commit evil in turn. I am not here to praise the actions of men who commit heinous acts, only to explain them, and provide those who are sorely lacking in comprehension the necessary tools for understanding what any preschooler could, with minimal effort, discover by throwing an unsolicited rock at someone. I will be perfectly clear that I do not advocate the use of such force, but it seems obvious to me that, as victims of a decadent society, some men feel left with little recourse but to gird up their loins and take action.

weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee

It always amazes me, the hate conservatives still have for the New Deal. For fuck’s sake. It saved capitalism from itself. At least for awhile. Now it’s imploding again. It also received plenty of criticism from the left at the time, so it’s patently ridiculous to go on about FDR being a communist and icon of the left. He was one of our better presidents, but that’s a pretty low bar.

weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee

An abolitionist who advocated violence against slavers?

Not really seeing the problem with this to be honest. Seems like violence against someone holding you captive is just self defense.

Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
4 years ago

I foresee a day in which the mere purchase of a lighter…as you drag us back into the stone age.

Did they have lighters in the Stone Age? That must have made that whole ‘discovering fire’ thing a lot easier.

Rabid Rabbit
Rabid Rabbit
4 years ago

Good Lord. Skimmingway actually just seriously made Mr. Dum-Dum’s argument. https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1999/06/03

Void Smoothie
Void Smoothie
4 years ago

@skimmingway

Are we in a cornfield? I’ve never seen that many straw men before. Most of your “argument” is making up or dragging a very fringe belief and attacking it. There is a hefty helping of slippery slope, too.

Also, have you set a date for that intellectual ousting of a lifetime? I really want to see it.

Dalillama
Dalillama
4 years ago

@WWTH
John Brown was white. He held that the Christian God absolutely disapproved of slavery, and spent his time killing slaveholders with a big sword and freeing their slaves, many of whom joined him. He led them to a military armoury with the intention of siezing the guns therein and using them to arm a servile rebellion in the South. Unfortunately, he was caught and hanged.

skimmingway
skimmingway
4 years ago

@David Rose

I was referring to what would happen should such nincompoops ever get it in their head to take from humanity the power of combustion.

On the brightside, it would be rather humorous to see what the naysayers make of their newfound incapacity to cook meat; I imagine the pale, estrogenized masses of leftist lemmings cheering deliriously at what they perceive to be the righteous vanquishing of yet another social ill (which has made it to such and such year, no less!), until they are soon made aware of the fact that they will be unable to cook their meat, and will be left to adapt to this fact or die.

Oh, there would be gnashing of teeth and much cacophony made from the mouths of the masses should such a thing transpire; no doubt, they will retreat in panic, building pathetic little forts out of their abstruse, professorial reading material, only to crawl inside and cry themselves sick. They will watch with barely controlled envy as real men make a return to the scene, their pale, gray bodies standing in stark contrast to the healthy luminescence of the red-blooded men, radiant as seraphim as they set about, using their hands and the sweat of their brows to restore a once decadent and now decayed society to its former glory, all done with a studied confidence and ease of being that eludes the dull blobs that populate the left. No doubt, some leftists will find the courage now and then to scramble out of their little huts and hurl words of abuse at the great men, only to scurry back to their dwellings with newly browned undergarments.

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

@skimmingway
Oh, it’s you again.

What of those of you who elevate terrorists such as John Brown to hero status?

Nice to see that you are pro-slavery too.

Those of you who have the nerve to associate yourselves with some of the most destructive economic and social ideologies of the 20th century, while refusing to take responsibility or answer for whatever flaws these belief systems might have had (i.e. bread lines, mass starvation, lack of choice in products, etc.)?

Speak for yourself, I’m not the fascist here.

Those among you who think that punching people of alien ideologies is preferable to spirited and civil debate?

Turn off your projection for a moment, right wing terrorists have been responsible for all US terrorism deaths in the last 4 years.

I shall carry you as battering rams, smacking your heads into the hard doors until they yield and allow access to the Royal Throne Room of Truth.

And you think we’re the violent ones?

You do so in the spirit

What evidence do you have?

many leftists lack the masculine oomph necessary to pose a true challenge to anyone

You seem to think leftists are both too weak and also dissembling society through terrorism and protests. Which is it?

it shall become even more clear why they, beyond sending men to die in wars

Ah yes, the left, known for starting WWII, invading Vietnam, invading Iraq and Afghanistan, and keeping troops there…wait a second. /s

I was referring to what would happen should such nincompoops ever get it in their head to take from humanity the power of combustion.

I have yet to hear this in any party platform. I don’t even know where you got this idea. The other stuff you say is bog standard right wing bullshit, but this is something else. Trump can say Biden is “hurting God” but I have yet to hear any right winger declare that the left wants to ban fire.

@Snowberry

Anyone know if this is a thing in BLM, or if this is a complete asspull?

The latter.

@everyone else
If summoning Skimmingway is my doing, I apologize sincerely.

Snowberry
Snowberry
4 years ago

Clarification: I don’t yet have an opinion whether “elevating terrorists such as John Brown to hero status” (Skimmingway’s words, not mine) would be a good or a bad thing. It’s irrelevant either way if no one is actually doing it because it was completely made up by anti-BLM types, so I’m holding off any opinion unless/until that gets cleared up. [Edit: it’s looking like “complete asspull” so far.]

Also the juxtaposition of “PCP” and “Chivas Regal” is bizarre. Who’s using low-class drugs while chugging $250 bottles of whiskey?

weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee

Is PCP even still a thing?

David Rose
David Rose
4 years ago

Of course, old boy, one of the pressing issues of our day no doubt! A regression w/r/t our control over the powers of combustion. A salient point indeed and one worth close examination!

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

@Snowberry

Also the juxtaposition of “PCP” and “Chivas Regal” is bizarre. Who’s using low-class drugs while chugging $250 bottles of whiskey?

It sounds like a revival of the old “welfare queen” myth.

Re: John Brown
John Brown rebelled against governments that protected the right of white people to own Black people. Anyone who is actually in favor of small government would presumably oppose state protections of slavery. I’m not very surprised Skimmingway is pro slavery, but he’s a bit late for that talking point.

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