Sunday, December 7, 2008

Passing on an excellent manifesto...


Via Counterfeminist:
PRINCIPLES AND GOALS: UOMINI 3000 - MENS MOVEMENT (Translated from the Italian by R. Randazzo)

Uomini3000 is a movement of opinion characterized by the following principles
and objectives:

• PRINCIPLES
Uomini3000 recognizes and affirms:

1. The existence of natural differences between the genders.

2. The extreme immorality of certain social forces, and at the same time, the very real opportunity that these forces have to deny, ignore, compromise, and repress these differences and any expression of them.

3. The necessity of cooperation between the genders, and at the
same time the inevitability of opposition between them.

4. The scientific inconsistency and dubious morality of any claim by
one gender to describe the state, condition, needs, experiences, or the value of the other gender.

• THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS


Uomini3000 defines the current situation in the following terms:


1. For two generations masculinity and the male gender have been
subject to an all-out attack covering every sphere, from the world of images and symbolism to that of common everyday existence, applied systematically and consistently in every manner and through all means of communication and cultural diffusion.

2. The term male-bashing extends itself to aesthetics, opposing their
attainment by men which includes the male body and men's physicality.

3. Every level and gradation within contemporary culture, and every
unit that elaborates on or transmits that culture, without a single exception, is a tool of this program.

4. This phenomenon is the fundamental cause of
psychological/emotional harm in individuals and social dysfunctions of an ever-increasing gravity, hindering the entire male gender and in particular the younger generations.

• THE VALUE OF FEMININITY


1. Uomini3000 rejects any kind, however indirect, of denigration, of
offensiveness and devaluation, of the ethical, aesthetic, and intellectual worth of the female gender; it repudiates any diminution of the symbolic importance of the feminine, and of the historical importance of female endeavors visible and invisible, past present and future.

• UOMINI3000 PURSUES THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES:


1. The promotion of the essential value of masculinity, specifically
with regard to personal dignity and the irreplaceable role of the masculine in the world of image and symbol and of the male gender in every area of life, spiritual and material, for the benefit of present and future generations.

2. The identification and condemnation of any instance of malebashing in every context, form, or style, and any expression of malebashing, direct or indirect, open or veiled.

3. The moral opposition to male-bashing—to the denigration and
demonization of men, the denigration of male sentiments, attributes, opinions and needs, the denigration of male contributions and comportment—in the media, literature, the arts, political discourse, historiography, scientific tracts, text-books, advertising, and in every form of expression and means of communication.

4. The restitution of the value and dignity—as well as the historic
role—of past generations of men, by means of the deconstruction of feminist historiography.

5. The struggle against the cultural ideals of a Feminist Society and its
basic values— therefore against the following:
  • 6. the principle of the moral, aesthetic and intellectual superiority of the female gender;
  • 7. the denial of the existence of anti-male hatred;
  • 8. the criminalization both direct and indirect of the male gender;
  • 9. the planned inhibition of the development of male consciousness;
  • 10. the psychological and chemical emasculation of the younger generations;
  • 11. the domestication and docility of men;
  • 12. the use of the male libido for purposes of speculation,manipulation, intimidation and blackmail;
  • 13. the demand for reparations, material and moral, for the wrongs, real or imagined, sustained by the female gender;
  • 14. the legal commercialization of sexual relations and relations based upon affection;
  • 15. the presumed permissibility of an autocratic imposition of behavioral rules upon the male gender;
  • 16. the principles of political correctness and the imposition of its vocabulary.
• TOOLS AND METHODS the movement operates through:

1. Devising creative ways of protest, for the purpose of denouncing
the politics of male-bashing and anti-male discrimination, and then implementing these ways of protest.

2. The use of every means of communication, both new and old, to
oppose male-bashing.

3. The publication of essays and books of an historical, sociological,
psychological, ethical, and philosophical nature for the purpose of moving forward our objectives.

4. The promotion of activities, measures, and political organization in
order to spur male consciousness with regard to the moral conflict underway.

5. The development, either independently or in combination with
public organizations and private entities, for the study, research and elaboration of statistical data for the support of these goals.

6. The organization of conferences, exhibitions, courses, seminars,
and other cultural activities as well as projects and educational programs both in and out of the school system, with the aim of divulging the knowledge of tools to fight male-bashing, together with an independent view of statistical data, historical data, and news items. ................................................................................... ~~ U3 singlemindedly pursues a political objective. It does not engage in any kind of commercial activity or any other form of profit-making either directly or indirectly. ------------------------------- I can get behind this 100%

After several years of observation....

Quite a while ago, I got into a debate on an MRA blog with a feminist. This particular debate centered around the idea of Feminists being much more "refined" in their posts, and nowhere near as "man-bashing" as this feminist contended MRA blogs were in the reverse.

Does that make sense?

Anyway, she invited me to have a look around some feminist blogs and dared me to find any as belligerent as the blog we were on (which, I admit, was pretty belligerent).

So I poked around, and at first they did indeed seem to be much more "civilized" places. The language was indeed more "refined" looking. The subject matter was more "in depth" as well, arguing nuances and semantics, ideas and social methodology.

I was admittedly, begrudingly impressed and I began to wonder about the future of the MRM, and how we would evolve. But then, while thinking about this, I began to notice some things.

These were hardly revelations, mind you. Just a lining up and "clicking into place" of several things I knew but didn't connect. It was all a facade.

There was no dissent (or not much) because people were banned outright almost immediately if they held an opposing view. Dissent was to be limited to those feminists that "dissent" with the others over minor qibbles. Those who disagreed with the basic premise of feminism (that men were/are shit heads that deserve to be punished / held back so women can "take their turn") were shown the door, in most cases without warning or reason given.

Some feminist blogs are more "open", although even these heavily censor the posts of those who disagree. This may not be done to limit debate, or to block the spread of information and ideas. This may truly be a method to keep on topic. One must only look to see who tends to get censored to see if there's a bias. Since it's such an easy experiment, I invite the reader to try it out.

So, the civilized aspect can in part be explained through censorship, but what about the rhetoric. It seems so Academic and smartypntsish. And that's because it is. They have whole areas of study built up around their central, sexist thesis.

But strip it down, or better yet demand the feminist speak English (if she knows what she's saying instead of parroting her professor, she should be able to do this, if not - well, you know she's a mindless follower anyway), and what do you get?

Patriarchy theory = We assert men had everything handed to them in the past, we demand you hand everything to women now.

Questioning Patriarchy Theory = tantamount to denying the Holocaust in a feminists' eyes.

Another reason why these blogs seem so civilized? They have, quite literally, almost nothing left to complain about. They have to MAKE SHIT UP to justify their existence now. Which is why they obfusticate whenever possible, position themselves as the only ones that truly understand gender differences (all the while hoping nobody notices the only thing they know about men is that they're to blame), and rag on MRA's all the time. Hey, it must be scary seeing a group with legitimate, socially sanctioned and legally enforced discrimination being perpetrated against them....and it's YOU they're coming after to rectify it.

Damn scary indeed I would imagine.

Which brings me to the hateful part.

These sites are hateful alright. Not in the same wailing and gnashing of teeth way MRA sites are. There is far more passion on MRA blogs. There is far more pain, and far more genuine shock at the way they were treated. A lot of MRA's are dealing with seeing "women" in a negative light for the first time in their lives.

But feminist sites?

Cold, dispassionate, and loathing. These people casually view men as subhuman, broken, in need of serious "fixing". These people hate men, make no mistake about it. They've INSTITUTIONALIZED the hatred of men. The blaming of men, and masculinity, is a Central tenet of feminist thinking. This means that you CANNOT BE A FEMINIST unless you blame men for women's failures.

And they do. All of them do in one way or another.

Hell, they blame men for the state men find themselves in. It's called the Patriarchy Hurts Men Too argument, and it, like Patriarchy theory itself, is utter bullshit invented to justify doing terrible things to men.

And all you have to do to prove this to yourself is visit a feminist blog for a while.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Something positive.

I was at a friend's place the other day, helping to cart out the Christmas decorations, and moving the day to day nicknacks downstairs. It took quite a while.

There were boxes of stockings and garland and lights. There were boxes of ornaments and snowmen and stars. There were boxes with 3 foot tall dolls. And topiaries (little fake trees shaped all cool).

Now you have to keep in mind, this was the extent of my help. I was not allowed to decorate, because I wouldn't do it "right"...a fact fully explained to me before I wasted any effort.

So I sat and watched her put things where they go.

You have to keep in mind, her house is very small, and she's artsy, so it's full of nicknacks and clutter. All in all, a very homey place.

And here she was, placing what seemed like thousands of little snowmen and decorations all over her house.

And every once in a while she'd stop....say "No, now I remember" and move a couple snowmen, or put a hat on a cup, or change the places of a couple things.

I couldn't help but think to myself "If women wanted to know what men love best about them, this is it right here".

I mean, here she was with thousands of little things to put out in her cluttered house, and SHE KNEW WHERE EVERYTHING WENT! More to the point, she had a place for everything, and actually cared where it went.

So it could be the same as last year.

Because it's tradition.

As men, we typically eschew things like this as "petty" or "unimportant" or something we put up with cause it makes her happy.

But really, these touches of familiarity, these groundings in tradition, give men a sense of place....of belonging. The expression on her face as she put the things out, as she showed me favourite snowmen, or the candle set she has for a centrepiece, was one of contented happiness as well.

Christmas is a great time of year to appreciate the little things. This year, my friend gave me a few hours to feel like part of a family again, and for that I'm grateful.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Beating a dead horse...


For Immediate Release:

The Institute for Correcting the Woefully Distorted View of Feminists as Hairy Legged Man Haters is proud to announce their new billboard campaign, entitled "Feminism, it's All About You!". The billboards aim to illustrate the continuing relevance of feminism in our daily lives. Bitsy Narcisse, director of I.C.W.D.V.F.H.L.M.H kindly donated some of her time to us:

Talking Head: Thanks for your time away from...your organization. MY but that's a lot of letters!

Bitsy Narcisse: Yes, it sure is TH. We tried to make up a catchy acronym, but, well, you can see the difficulty. We had an all day meeting about it, but even after three bottles of Wolf Blass the best we could come up with was to call ourselves "Yummy Mummies" for short. So it's still kind of up in the air what to call us.

TH: Well then how about I just say "You guys", would that work?

BN: Sure.

TH: So tell me then Betsy, just what are you guys trying to achieve with this campaign?

BN: Well Talking, I don't think it's any secret that Feminism has sort of lost it's shine with the public. Women are even taking the term Feminist as an insult, and that's just not right. We've been doing good works, and we still have a long way to go, so we need women to support us more than ever. We have to do something to counter the propaganda.

TH: Wait a minute, propaganda? That's a pretty serious accusation. Who would be trying to undermine feminism's image?

BN: The Patriarchy of course! One of our members hacked into her husband's secret eMale account (surprisingly, most women don't even KNOW about the Men's Internet), and got on the Patriarchy's mailing list. We know everything they're going to do in advance now.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that....

TH: ...er, so what types of advertisements do you have to counter the propaganda campaign?

BN: We prefer the term "Backlash" actually, it's sort of a code word, plus it sounds so much more dramatic. We styled the ads like a recruitment billboard, and in some of them we highlight our successes - like the one for the Justice System for example - while in others we show continuing challenges like sexual objectification, and the fact that some men that have children still aren't in Prison.


TH: Serious issues indeed. It's amazing that in this day and age women continue to suffer under such conditions. It must be challenging, and rewarding, work.

BN: Sometimes it's hardly work at all. When I started the organization, the first thing I did was hire some of my best friends with the grant money, that way I knew I would have a team that could work together. We're so collaborative, we multitask for each other!

TH: Women are so great! So which billboard is your favorite?

BN: Awww, talking, that's like asking me which daughter I love best. I guess if I had to choose, I'd say the one with Rosie the Riveter on it. Feminism has been re-educating people for a long time, whether we needed to or not. And that billboard makes my heart swell with pride, knowing Feminists will be dictating public policy for a long time to come.

TH: Thank the Mother Goddess for that I say! Bitsy, it's been a real pleasure getting to the heart of this crisis for women with you. Even though women are hit hardest, it'll be no small reassurance that my tax dollars go to support institutes such as yours.


The billboards can be viewed in attachment...

Antifeminist ad 2

Antifeminist ad 3

Anti feminist ad 4

antifeminist ad 5

Well, I'm doing something....

I'm not sure if that something is right or not though. I'm now officially "moderated" on both sides of the gender debate. Hilarious.

All of my posts seem to be "awaiting moderation", regardless of content, at both PunkAssBlog (a feminist blog) and Glennsacks.com (an MRA blog). Ah, the perils of being a loose cannon.

I don't wish to seem unduly harsh in my "criticism" of this behaviour, since there have definitely been times when I've deserved moderation. I just find it funny that I'm now "under suspicion" from both sides.

This could be stemming from an artful piece of editing on PAB, on a thread in which I mildly criticised Glenn, found here.

The salient quote:


Glenn has been trying to get a discourse going on, specifically to influence the men’s movement with some mitigating influence from “the other side”. I see value in this approach, and try to do the same, only I’m not quite so concerned about appearances.

There are a LOT of MRA sites around that think Glenn is a pushover, a pansy, a Fifth Columnist to the Men’s Movement.

The way I see it, you have a choice between the Glenn Sacks’ of the world, or the guys more extreme than me.


To which Glenn replied:


“While [Glenn] can’t deny the success of F4J, he denounces their actions every time.”

Actually, I have praised and promoted F 4 J’s nonviolent protests countless times in newspaper columns, on the radio, and on my blog, going all the way back to 2003.

However, I have stated a tactical difference with them when they protest at judges’ or government officials’ homes. I believe it’s counterproductive, for reasons I explain at http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=2923.

Best Wishes,
Glenn Sacks
(Pushover/Pansy/Fifth Columnist)


Obviously, Glenn takes offense at the characterization. To clarify, I responded in a rather lengthy post, which was summarily "hypnotoaded"....


Hmmm.

Anyway, that's where that whole thing stands in case anyone's interested.

For the record, I personally don't think that of Glenn at all. In fact, I'll even go on record right here and say the man is admirable, and I wish I had a 10th of his character and integrity.

Unsurprisingly, that won't stop me from differing in opinion from him, nor will it stop me from vocalizing that difference to advocate my own position. After all, the man's not God.

And frankly, it's further testament to the man's character that he extends the platform on which his critics may stand. The fact I've been doing so for going on 2 years (I think) is a testament to his patience as well.