We’re through the looking glass, people!
At least according to one ever-so-slightly paranoid Reddit MGTOW, posting in the MGTOW 2.0 subreddit (a supposedly smarter spinoff from the original r/MGTOW), who is convinced that the COVID pandemic is turning men worldwide into pathetic, woman-worshipping simps.
“Is it just me,” asks Alpha9302, “or does the ‘pandemic’ massively increased [sic] the simping done by men globally?”
Consider his, er, evidence.
I got a feeling that simping is starting to be a new standard of interactions between men and women, especially online. And in combination with the rise of onlyfans accounts, continued isolation and a lack of human contact, I fear for a change in society where the genuine attention and contributions from men will no longer have any value and women on a large scale will use men like toys in a toy store and dispose of us when we are no longer needed and go to the next one. Instead of appreciating us for who we are and what we can give and show their respect. Like now it feels like massive hypergamy. This is just how I felt online before I deleted several social media apps recently.
And he thinks the Chinese have their fingerprints all over this pandemic, which is also (in his view) totally fake. Responding to a commenter who took issue with him using the word “pandemic” at all, Alpha9302 declared,
The only reason that I used the word ‘pandemic’ instead of something like ‘plandemic’ is because I was afraid Reddit would flag it as inappropriate or because it may have attracted some negative attention in this group. I actually don’t believe in the common narrative that the mainstream media is trying to make us believe. Its utter nonsense. Its very clear that China uses COVID-19 as a tool to gain more control over the west with the goal to become the most powerful country in the world in terms of resources and economically. Many parties are involved.
Onlyfans, hypergamy, the Chinese government — this conspiracy theory has it all.
Follow me on Mastodon.
Send tips to dfutrelle at gmail dot com.
We Hunted the Mammoth relies on support from you, its readers, to survive. So please donate here if you can, or at David-Futrelle-1 on Venmo.
@ Full Metal Ox, lol, I’ve read the novel and seen both the old and newer movies (I didn’t like the new one). I’m just not great at picking up on allegories!
@Bookworm in hijab:
Of course you did, since your comment implied familiarity with the story; my apologies for any offense I may have given.
Full Metal Ox, no offense taken! ? I’m hunting for my Watership Down copy now…hoping I didn’t lend it to anyone…
@Bookworm in hijab,
I read that sentiment years ago in an Amazon review of Tales of Watership Down, back when that sequel first came out. This one reviewer made the claim that the original WD book was actually a disguised Cold War parable, with Hazel’s group the US/Western powers and Woundwort’s group the USSR, and that the sequel book was horrible because none of its stories continued that theme. And I’m sitting there thinking ‘dude, if you really can’t enjoy a fantasy book staring rabbits on its own terms, then why were you reading it to begin with?’ Then again, some people can’t just let themselves enjoy things just to enjoy them; they have to layer on a bunch of morality lessons about How Life REALLY Is first. *shrug*
If you haven’t already, you may want to hunt the sequel book down sometime. It’s a bunch of short stories (about 20, I think) divided into three groups. One set is the further adventures of Hazel’s group, including an attempt by Adams to correct WD’s setup to something closer to real life (evidently if you do a gender flip on all the rabbit characters you come up with something a lot closer to how RL rabbits set up their warrens). Another set are the kinds of stories the rabbits tell among themselves about other rabbits not El-ahrairah, including a funny nonsense tale I found worth the price of the book, at least. The third set are stories of El-ahrairah himself, including the full versions of some tales that we saw in the original book only in bits and pieces.
My main complaint with the sequel is that General Woundwort is not mentioned at all. Given the fact that he was able to install genuine fear in The Thousand (or at least those who were close to rabbit size, anyway), his fearsome legend should have been referenced by the others somehow.
@ Redsilkphoenix, you just cleared something up for me. Years ago I found a DVD called “Tales from Watership Down ” and I just assumed it was a tv spinoff of the movie; I didn’t realise it was based on a book. I will look it up, though I agree with you that Woundwort should have shown up in later Rabbit legends. He’s a terrifying character.
I have a second Adams book called (checks bookshelf) Shardik. It’s about a bear. I have never gotten past the first few pages; just was never in the mood for it, I guess. Have you read it?
Shardik is what I call a “read once.”
It’s a decent enough tale, but neither charming nor deep enough to merit a second reading.
Try The Plague Dogs, instead. That’s a multi-read.
Waitaminnit … wasn’t there a bear called Shardik in one of Stephen King’s Dark Tower books?
Yep. It were a tribute to Adams.
King’s done that a couple times – Stu Redmond had a small conversation in The Stand where Watership Down was discussed.
Yeah, that kind of shout out is all through spec fic (less so in mystery/detective stuff and I don’t know other genres well enough to say). On which note, if you encounter a character named Joe/Joseph Buckley it’s almost certain that something horrible and probably fatal is going to happen to him, and guys named Platt are nigh-invariably useless assholes (and likely destined for an unpleasant end).
Don’t know if you’ve ever delved into the depths of complete tat that are house author series, but one gun fondler series – Deathlands – had King as uncredited writer for a couple of the first books (I want to say the first, but the clawed mist description could be from someone else … ). It were back before he got big in his own right, and after he left, the books started putting in nods to him – a Pennywise mention here, a standpipe mention there. It’s quite sweet.
@Bookworm in hijab,
There was a Watership tv series that ran from 1999-2001 in the UK; maybe that was the dvd you saw? Based on the Wikipedia description of said series it sounds like a loose adaptation of the original book with new characters and warrens added it to flesh the setting out more. Don’t know if anything from the Tales collection made it in, though. To the best of my knowledge it was never officially released in the US, though it may have had a Canadian release.
As for Shadrik, for some reason I never did get more than a few chapters in before stopping. Something about it didn’t really grab teenage me.
@Full Metal Ox,
True. I guess a better way to say it is in general the format of Watership Down – a big thick ‘adult’-sized book with tiny type and no pictures inside it – might make it less appealing to younger readers, while the 12+ ones wouldn’t be put off as much by that. On average, at least.
I like how we’ve moved off the boring miggie’s stupid idea and onto the much more interesting subject of rabbit religion.
@ Bookworm in hijab; @Redsilkphoenix:
One detail from the Netflix series I did like was General Woundwort’s backstory: he’s a domestic rabbit gone feral; that would explain his looming size, particularly if he’s a meat breed.