Skip to content

This Aint No Upwardly Mobile Freeway…

This Aint No Upwardly Mobile Freeway… published on

From Chris Rea, here is “The Road to Hell,” a prophetic song about where we were headed in 1989 and where we are now. Like the man says, “You must learn this lesson fast, and learn it well.” Apparently we didn’t.

This is the extra-creepy version, with his old mom (so old she’s dead) giving him some advice from beyond the grave. This preamble to the actual music is a bit dull, but it does make the meaning of the song clearer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abZlWqVeLzg[/youtube]

Laying It On The Line For The Oligarchy

Laying It On The Line For The Oligarchy published on

We all know that exercising that rather dubious “male privilege” of going to war has its many risks — becoming dead, becoming legless in the not-so-much-fun definition of the word, trying to wipe your ass without any hands, having the kind of face that makes women faint and small children run away screaming, etc. Another unfortunate effect of all this privilege, at least now that medicine can keep you alive even after you’ve been blown up, is literally having your genitals blown off so that the aptly named Dick Cheney and his mates can get their hands on someone else’s oil.

Since 2005 more than 1500 American pieces of cannon fodder have been carried out of the slaughterhouse with some sort of genital trauma, and since the bastard in the White House launched a surge in 2009, the number of such injuries has virtually doubled to about 300 a year. Does Obama care? Probably not — we know he doesn’t care about the poor, we know he doesn’t care about men, and these poor bastards are both so I don’t think he’s losing much sleep.

Personally I found this quote from the linked article rather sad, speaking as it does to a rather skewed set of priorities…

“I remember lying on my side, dust everywhere, and I looked down and saw my arms were split open and squirting blood and I had just two bloody stumps above my knees,” said Marine 1st Lt. James Byler, 26, …”My first coherent words to my Marines were, ‘Hey! check my nuts!'”

Call me crazy, but if my legs had just been blown off and my arms broken apart, my first set of words would be “Oh shit, I’ll never run or walk or do the Lambada ever again!” My second would be “Oh fuck, I hope I don’t lose my arms!” Some time after that I would idly mutter “Mmm, wonder if my nuts are still there?” And frankly, if I had to choose between losing my penis or my arms or legs, it would definitely be the less glimpsed of those five appendages getting a memorial plaque. That said, the Pigman won’t be putting his porker in a food processor any time soon.

More in this surprisingly sensitive article in the HuffPost

 

 

The Southern Poverty Law Centre — Home of Irrationality

The Southern Poverty Law Centre — Home of Irrationality published on

Yesterday, the cabal of escaped circus pinheads in charge of the SPLC decided to lump several men’s rights websites in with those charming folks from the Westboro Baptist Church and the KKK.

While the SPLC article stopped short of stating outright that these sites are hate groups, the implication is there — after all, why would an organization famous for calling out hate groups call you out if they weren’t trying to imply that you are a hate group?

I will ignore the Ringmaster at the top of the ladder, a chap by the name of Morris Dees, who has been accused — by the right-wingers at least — of being little more than a con-man, and focus instead on the sheer dumbassery of the article in which the manosphere is attacked.

Referring to the “hundreds” of misogynist sites, the writer tells us..

“Although some of the sites make an attempt at civility and try to back their arguments with facts, they are almost all thick with misogynistic attacks that can be astounding for the guttural hatred they express.”

Note the “almost all.” That’s “almost all” of “hundreds”, so we must be on the verge of being regaled with quite a long list of offenders. Apparently not…

“What follows are brief descriptions of a dozen of these sites.”

I see. In a supposed sea of misogyny they are choosing to focus on a dozen drops, so I guess these must be really, really evil sites — you know, like the MRM’s equivalent of Stormfront? We shall see. As an aside as to the intellectual credibility of the writer, here is what he recommends as a source of information…
“Another resource is the Man Boobz website (manboobz.com), a humorous pro-feminist blog (its tagline is “Misogyny: I Mock It”) that keeps a close eye on these and many other woman-hating sites.”

Not much I can say about that, except that this is the first time I have seen Dirtbag Dave’s work described as humor, and that the site’s tag should instead be “Misogyny : I Search For the Exception Then Portray It As The Rule.” But back to the dirty dozen. Partly because I don’t want to bore myself to death pointing out the same fallacies over and over and partly because a couple of the sites they list are — unless the SPLC is lying to me, and surely they wouldn’t do that, would they? — rather offensive, I will home in on three examples of what they unjustly consider “misogynist” sites, and the “evidence” they present to justify their judgments.

First up in front of the firing squad is The CounterFeminist…

”Its tagline probably won’t be set to music any time soon, but it does capturethe flavor of the site: “The female-supremacist hate movement called ‘feminism’ must be opened to the disinfecting sunlight of the world’s gaze and held to a stern accounting for its grievous transgressions.” Recent headlines, like December’s“More Proof That Feminism is a Social Cancer,” reflect the same sensibility. “Fidelbogen,” the otherwise unidentified Washington state man who operates the blog, also runs the False Rape Task Force and Women Doing Lousy Things blogs and is heavily involved in the Counter-Feminist YouTube Channel.”

Yes, that’s it. That’s all they have on Fidelbogen — he thinks feminism is a social cancer. Where, I ask these Kentucky fried charlatans, is the evidence of misogyny? There is evidence of anti-feminism, but clearly women and feminism are not the same thing, so ultimately there is no evidence presented to support the conclusion.

Next up we have the False Rape Society, the inclusion of which I find especially offensive due to the last reason given…

“The False Rape Society is an Internet news aggregator, subtitled “Community of the Falsely Accused,” that features stories about allegedly false rape accusations and “feminist”-crafted “anti-male” legislation. While the site focuses heavily on news stories about false rape allegations, it frequently veers into such posts as the New Year’s Day item attacking a female supporter of then-presidential aspirant Michelle Bachmann for telling a reporter, “It takes a woman to get things done.”

Let that last one sink in. The SPLC, a group claiming to fight prejudice and bigotry, has just justified FRS’s inclusion partly by pointing out that it objects to prejudiced and bigoted statements implying female superiority! That is what it has come to, it is now “misogynist” to refute claims of female superiority. Needless to say, you won’t find a feminist site branded this way for criticizing a statement like “It takes a man to get things done.”

Here is the one that really got me pissed off, regular reader and commenter that I am — the Men’s Rights Reddit…

”A “subreddit” of the user-generated news site Reddit, this forum describes itself as a “place for people who feel that men are currently being disadvantaged by society.” While it presents itself as a home for men seeking equality, it is notable for the anger it shows toward any program designed to help women. It also trafficks in various conspiracy theories. “Kloo2yoo,” identified as a site moderator, writes that there is “undeniable proof” of an international feminist conspiracy involving the United Nations, the Obama Administration and others, aimed at demonizing men.”

Again, notice the complete lack of evidence for inclusion in this list. Apparently being “angry” at women getting all the gravy in an Anglosphere where it is men and boys most in need of help makes us misogynists. By this measure, a feminist complaining that it would be wrong to focus on helping male victims of rape in a world where most victims of said crime are female would also be a “hater.” That of course is not a claim that is going to be made by the SPLC, as it clearly has one set of standards for its fellow travelers, and another for its enemies. The second pile of cowdung in this entry is that Kloo2yoo’s conspiracy theories are — whether true or not — simply irrelevant to the claim of misogyny. Think of it this way — feminists are a subset of women, so even if he had stated that he hated feminists, that does not equate to a hatred of women any more than a white supremacist’s hatred of black people adds up to a hatred of the entire human race.

Given the lack of evidence, then, one  must ask, if the standards for being tarred and feathered by this once respectable organization are so low why are certain feminist websites not attacked in a similar way? Here is what the SPLC claims makes a hate group…

“All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people,
typically for their immutable characteristics.”

By this definition dozens, if not hundreds, of feminist websites would qualify as hate groups, yet a search on the site yields no articles with titles such as “Misandry ; The Websites.” Clearly, anyone who is honest in seeking out hate groups would be out there researching not only men’s rights sites but also women’s rights sites, it is after all hard to think of one without thinking of the other — but as we can see from their “evidence,” honesty isn’t
exactly the SPLC’s strong suit.

The slanderous article is here.

One Million Homophobic Harpies Go After Archie Andrews!

One Million Homophobic Harpies Go After Archie Andrews! published on

In possibly the most moronic display of conservative panic since speculations about Spongebob Squarepants and his little pink friend Patrick Star,a group of right wing mothers has launched a campaign against Toys R Us over their selling of a recent issue of the comic book “Life With Archie”,
the cover of which depicts gay character Kevin Keller marrying some other guy!

I personally see the whole gay marriage thing as yet another convenient smokescreen for the world’s real problems — why tackle class issues when you can make yourself look “liberal” by allowing gays to do something which at least 50% of them will regret ? — but outside of that I really don’t care. Let them get married, poor fools. In ten years they’ll be launching a new campaign to have that dubious right taken away. Frankly, my idea of marriage equality would be to make it illegal for straight people as well as gay ones, that way everyone would all be much happier. But back to the hysterical screechings of the loonies at One Million Moms…

“These comic books are sold at the front checkout counters so they are highly visible to employees, managers, customers and children. Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in a toy store. This is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand. “

This is of course balderdash. If the kid asks, just tell them some idiots want to marry people of the opposite sex, some idiots want to marry people of their own sex, either way it’s an idea they will live to regret. See, not so complicated is it? What is really driving these protests is not concern over kiddies asking awkward questions, but rather the need so many people seem to have to hate on some group or another, and the right wing’s rabid desire to crush anyone who opposes their hate-mongering in any way, especially if they are part of the popular culture industry. Would it be too much to call this clan of pinheads a hate group? Probably not, as the One Million Moms group is a branch of the American Family Association, a group well known for, surprise, surprise, its promotion of homophobia! Apples really don’t fall very far from the tree, do they?

 

In defense of the book John Goldwater, one of the big cheeses at Archie, had this to say…

“We stand by Life with Archie #16. As I’ve said before, Riverdale is a safe, welcoming place that does not judge anyone. It’s an idealized version of America that will hopefully become reality someday. We’re sorry the American Family Association /OneMillionMoms.com feels so negatively about our product, but they have every right to their opinion, just like we have the right to stand by ours. Kevin Keller will forever be a part of Riverdale, and he will live a happy, long life free of prejudice, hate and narrow-minded people.“

 

Er, yes, thank you Martin Luther King. What Goldwater means of course, is that the series’ recent focus on social issues has increased its sales and they will be damned if they let a few loons mess with their bottom line, so to speak. Motive aside, Goldwater and Co are doing the world a favor by keeping the issue on the racks, and the One Million Moms are doing the world a favor by showing everyone what a bunch of lame-brained maggots they are. Why, next thing you know they will be whining about this classic issue of  Betty and Me…