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"The Toxic Appeal of the Men’s Rights Movement"
Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2014-06-08 00:23
Remember those ads on TV years ago: "Read TIME... and un-der-staaaand!". I have a different motto for them these days: "Read TIME and *BLOW CHOW*!!" :) Article here. Excerpt:
'A growing movement driven by misogyny and resentment is pulling in frustrated men struggling with changing definitions of masculinity. A men's fitness columnist on why they should walk away.
Imagine a kid who got a cone with three scoops of ice cream in it. Good flavors, too. Like peanut-butter chocolate, plus a scoop of cookie dough. In a waffle cone. And then this child whines about the lack of chocolate sprinkles on top.
Welcome to the men’s rights movement.
Wait, what? Men’s rights? That’s a thing? Yes, it’s a thing, and while there are certain legitimate aspects to men’s rights activism, or MRA, it’s overwhelmingly a toxic slew of misogyny. This world of resentment and hate speech has been brought to light in recent days as we learned about the vitriolic forum posts and videos left behind by Elliot Rodger, the 22 year-old accused of killing six people in Santa Barbara last week. But it’s hard to comprehend from Roger’s delusional rants how potent the movement’s message can be for ordinary men.
MRAs believe the traditionally oppressed groups have somehow seized control and taken away their white male privilege. They tap into fear and insecurity and turn it into blame and rage. Often the leaders of these groups are men who feel as though they got screwed in a divorce. They quote all sorts of statistics about child custody and unfair alimony payments, because in their minds, the single mother who has to choose between feeding the kids or paying the rent is a myth. They believe passionately in their own victimhood and their creed goes something like this: Women are trying to keep us down, usurp all our power, taking away what it means to be a man.'
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Comments
Why go apeshit?
So often when you see idiots like this guy writing articles like this you have some people who go on and post articles that prove part of what he is saying.
What is the best response? You're not going to change this idiot's mind, if he does actually believe what he wrote and is not just trying to drum up female business, and you're certainly not going to get a retraction. The best thing to do is spread the word throughout any MRA site that every guy should boycott this guy's business. Tell everyone to read what this jerk writes on his websites, www.sixpackabs.com and www.bodyforwife.com.
Spread the word, put him out of business. What is the real power that men have? Our economic power. And who is the true enemy of men's rights? The true enemy is guys who think like this and who are in positions to make laws and policy. We're not going to change anything about radical feminism but we can change how other men pander to it.
I stopped. . .
reading after the ice cream analogy. I've encountered that one before, and was astounded at the level of ignorance it would take for someone to think it is valid. Two can play this game. Let's make the ice cream machine represent government handouts. Who gets most of the ice cream now? Gasp, women!
Articles like this never back up what they say. They are just opinion pieces with no actual facts. Not surprising, considering this guy looks like he has very little going on upstairs.
I lost respect for TIME a long time ago
There was a time, oh, about 40 years ago, when I was in 6th. grade and my teacher subscribed to TIME magazine and we would consider it an authoritative source of news and opinions. That time has long passed, and since at least the 90s, I've regarded TIME and it's cohorts such as Newsweek with disdain for their liberal and particularly anti-male viewpoints.
I can't even muster the effort to read an article like this that treats decent MRA's with such contempt.
Goodbye, TIME, you've long since lost my respect.
"Madonna: Why she's so hot"
Remember that issue in the '80s? Yes, they lost it back then. They moved from thoughtful current events analysis and investigative journalism (i.e., being a real news magazine) to blathering about David Bowie, Madonna, etc., and I believe they made "The Computer" their "Man of the Year" one time in that decade, too. (Of course, now it's "Person of the Year", but that's understandable. No reason women shouldn't be included as candidates for such a distinction from TIME, but alas, it can hardly be said to mean as much as it used to.)
It takes a lot of courage to admit
"MRAs believe the traditionally oppressed groups have somehow seized control and taken away their white male privilege."
It takes a lot of courage for a man to admit the only reason he got the job is because of "white male privilege." To be fair, he doesn't actually say that--he just implies it. And after reading what he writes, it's as good an explanation as any for why he has a job. He's evidently incapable of doing thorough research, looking in depth at an issue, or trying to understand both sides of an issue.
Of course, he's a fitness writer, not a reporter. So why have a fitness writer, not a reporter, do a hack job on MRAs? Perhaps a real reporter wouldn't do a hack job. Perhaps a real reporter would actually research the issue and treat it fairly--which is what reporters are taught to do in journalism school. In the end, Time picked this guy because they wanted a hack job and found someone willing to deliver a hack job.