You might think that Andrew Tate’s arrest for human trafficking would lead to a little self-reflection amongst Men’s Rights activists, many of whom have historically had a little bit of a soft spot for the guy.
But a visit to the Men’s Rights subreddit reveals all of zero threads devoted to the arrest–but two threads devoted to the ABSOLUTE INJUSTICE of Greta Thunberg implying that Tate has “small dick energy.” Together, the two threads have more than 1400 upvotes and have inspired well over 500 comments, most critical of the climate activist.
In the first thread, which went up before the arrests but collected numerous comments afterward, Thunberg is described as an “ugly fat chick” with “loose pussy energy,” and, while some commenters call Tate a “moron” who “preys on vulnerable young men” he also wins praise as someone who “sometimes … makes incredibly good and smart statements.” (Fourteen upvotes for that last opinion.)
In the second thread, posted around the time of the arrests, the assembled MRAs do their best to pretend they’ve never heard of the guy.
But evidently, the topic of “small dick energy” gets MRA’s nearly as angry as it gets Andrew Tate, sending the subreddit regulars into a downvoting frenzy directed at anyone calling them out for their hypocrisy. You rarely see comments on Reddit voted much below zero, but in this thread, there are a LOT of them. So much mad!
A few examples:
I understand that body shaming is wrong, but are u just going to ignore the fact Andrew Tate was literally called out and arrested for human trafficking.
Ten net downvotes, last I checked.
That’s plenty of things that people can say about someone else that I would view as hypocritical, but in relation to that pile of trash Tate, this just isn’t one of them. and honestly, we are talking about a teenager versus a grown man that rapes women. I’m gonna give her a hall pass on this one.
Nineteen downvotes.
Lol dude gets arrested for HUMAN TRAFFICKING and you’re mad that Greta said he had a small pp.
You losers are fucking cartoons.
Seriously get some perspective you perpetual victim fetish sadsacks.
Twenty-one downvotes.
Imagine getting offended by a woman insulting a rapist.
Sixty-three downvotes.
Even some Men’s Rightsers are disgusted by their comrades’ behavior. In the first thread, one writes:
I legit do not know what this subreddit has become. Obviously Andrew Tate makes his whole thing about how men should be strong and act tough, wouldn’t that involve being able to take that kind of insult?? Also, projection is a thing. But why are people defending andrew tate here? He’s a prime example of toxic masculinity at its worst. Don’t we all want to be positive role models for other men? Don’t we want to lift each other up and expose societal inequality against men? Andrew tate doesn’t do that; he caters to incels. We aren’t fucking incels. We don’t generalize women or treat them as objects here!
Fifteen downvotes.
I am reminded of a famous tweet.
Well, I didn’t put it in the newspaper; I put it in a blog. Does that count?
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I don’t actually fault Greta. She’s a teen and it’s unreasonable to expect perfection from anyone, let along a young woman who has dealt with as much abuse as she has over the last few years. But, with that said, I think it is still fair to hold higher standards for people who I admire. I don’t want to minimize the abuse Greta has suffered, and I don’t want to minimize the crimes Andrew Tate has committed, but at the same time I can desire that my “side” does not resort to body shaming.
To be clear as well – she did not say he has a small pee pee. She said he has SDE. Nothing about his body and everything about how he chooses to portray his masculinity.
But of course they will try and shift the convo to their misunderstanding of AAVE and not the horrendous crimes of which he is accused of committing.
Slightly tangential observation: it’s more than a little bit frustrating that alleged progressives on twitter are using Tate as a jumping off point, to claim that young men only turn to assholes like him because “teh left” doesn’t offer them anything, and only makes them feel bad.
Vaush is the main offender, but there are others. Honestly, we have an actual sex trafficking case, and these guys are like “yes but can we talk about how womz make men sad”
Steph Tohill: Thanks for that clarification. “Small dick energy” (Greta’s words) doesn’t really mean, or even necessarily imply, a literal small dick; it means the “energy” (attitude) of someone who feels “small” in some way and has to take stupid, outrageous or violent criminal actions to “compensate.”
She’s a teen and it’s unreasonable to expect perfection from anyone, let along a young woman who has dealt with as much abuse as she has over the last few years.
This is certainly true, but I, for one, really don’t think Greta did or said anything that requires any excuse. Her response to Andrew Tate was perfectly appropriate for Andrew Tate, and that’s all we need to know.
@ Raging Bee
I am not really that invested in all of this, but one could easily say certain other terms, such as the R word used for mentally challenged people that is still commonly used to refer to people as being stupid is “doesn’t really mean, or even necessarily imply” they are actually the R word. Would you thusly consider such useage acceptable? Perhaps in reference to an unlikable person as being “perfectly appropriate” for insulting them?
(I am not meaning to pick on you specifically, but I just came back to the blog here and yours is just the last entry on here, caught my eye sort of thing)
.45: First, I’m not trying to make a general rule for the use of epithets anywhere; I am stating that, as I rather explicitly said, “Her response to Andrew Tate was perfectly appropriate for Andrew Tate.”
And second, mental retardation is not something for which anyone can be held responsible; so it’s not comparable to the sort of willful ignorance, pathetic insecurity and messed-up priorities which people like Andrew Tate have shown, and which they can, in fact, change, and possibly could have chosen to avoid in the first place.
Reddit is basically a communal toilet full of talking turds.
I’m glad Andrew Tate is in jail.