Men: Failing, flailing, or fleeing? Nope.

Dr Helen over at PJTV asks: "Why are men silent?" and suggests one possible reason...

Perhaps this is why only women seem to be speaking up. It’s safer and they typically have a feminist bent anyway. Come on–The End of Men? Seriously? That’s easy. What’s hard is speaking up about the war against men in our culture, especially if one is a man with a career.

 Dr Helen has had her eyes open wide to the MRM for years.  I've seen her participate on MRM forums, and I know she has few, if any, illusions as to what is going on.  Judging from the comments to that article, neither do the commenters there.

But it's an incomplete picture.  The complaints about Affirmative Action, the Female Imperative in the workplace, herd mentalities...all of it, is simply complaining about the symptoms, not describing the illness.  Declaring 'Feminism' responsible is analogous to declaring, upon hearing the list of symptoms, the name of a disease...it doesn't imply in the slightest an understanding of the underlying cause, it just gives the unknown a name.

The Proper Manosphere Attitude Toward Women...

A Warning to Take Seriously

An article up at Breaking the Glasses gets to the heart of the matter:

This is one reason among many why the men's rights movement must not fall for the claims, often made by individual feminists, that the two ideologies are opposite sides of the same coin, one benevolently fighting the good fight to end discrimination against men, the other fighting the good fight to end discrimination against women. It's not true - mainstream, active, real-world-affecting feminist groups do not give a rat's ass about ending discrimination against women. They care about political issues, and they're willing to be as ruthless, heartless, and sexist as it takes to further those goals.

If MRAs start losing sight of that fact, and begin trusting this two-faced, backstabbing, pathological frenemy that keeps trying to invade and control the evolution of the men's rights effort, we'll allow into our midst the equivalent of Tolkien's Grima Wormtongue; a living poison whose only goal is to subdue and control the movement's activism for its own gain, ready and willing to turn on any ally the moment our efforts are in even the slightest conflict, or even just whenever we cease to seem useful to them.

Economic collapse? What for?

What would happen if....:

The Government took a snapshot of all bank accounts in the USA...(the recent 2 1/2 hour '$0 balance' fiasco shows it's possible).

Then walked troops into the Fed, and smashed their printing press.  And burnt the stacks of bills they found.

Then announced the creation of a new currency, backed by a commodity such as Gold....(future devaluation would have to be explicit).

Then told all the banks too big to fail to eat it.

The Blogger Dream Team.

Since my recent decision to branch out in new directions, I've had a few comments wishing me well and all that.  And while I appreciate the sentiment, I don't think I'm the kind of guy to keep his mouth shut for very long, so I have been thinking about what kind of a 'group blog' would be interesting.  While I have been approached for a possible endeavour in this regard, this is a far from done deal as far as I know.  It may or may not come to pass.

But it did get me thinking....what kind of place do I personally think would make a kick-ass site on as many levels as possible?

I gave myself a couple of criteria for this particular thought experiment:

One, it had to be a potentially marketable idea, as in it should be a vehicle for those involved to make money.

Two, it had to serve an educational end to some degree...there's enough pointless fluff out there as it is.

Three, it should be controversial enough to be interesting, even newsworthy in it's own right at times.

Four, the subject matter covered should be as broad as possible.

And Headline of the Year Goes to....

Return of Kings, for their article "Expensive Woman Seeks Retarded Millionaire".  In addition to being a wicked good headline, it's also a damn good (and informative) read.

Click that link as fast as you can...

My Official Resignation as MRA.

I've had it with the whole thing.  I've had my name dragged through the mud, simply for not agreeing 'enough' with certain people, and I have been branded 'extremist' by the people I fought beside for years, simply so they could garner a little more PC cred.

I've suffered enough for this movement, and frankly if it's made up of people like those I have seen emerge in the last few months, then I have done it all for nothing.  The influx of 'MRAs' that are essentially turning the movement into 'feminism for men' have done what decades of abuse and thousands of feminists could never accomplish...I am so disgusted, I am out.

But not only that.  I'm SO out, so pissed off, that I am also making a further offer to anyone who chooses to accept it, from basement dwelling feminists to 'progressive' politicians.

My expertise and understanding are yours to explore, if you should see any value in it.  If you have a website and want truly effective evisceration of the MRM and some of it's leading lights, I am MORE THAN WILLING to accomodate.  I realize I'm just one guy without a lot of power, but I may have something of value to add.....you never know.

But I am officially DONE with this bunch of posturing narcissists and sycophantic slaves.  I've had it with working together with people who will toss others under the bus to score cheap (and fleeting) political points.

Yes, it's the AVfM crew specifically that drove me to this...thanks Paul and Dr F...you guys are real peaches.

Anyway, long and short of it is, since I'm now 'extremist' to these folks, and to be shunned....well, fine.  Let's see if anyone else has a use for my talents.  After all, what's the point of having integrity when no one else does....right Paul?

Advice to the newly single.

Advice for the newly single man, via Peter at SYG:

• stay in good physical condition, even if you do not like sports
• find a new hobby or three
• visit new places around your home time; treat it as if you were a tourist
• write some stories, true or fictional
• visit the local library
• have a long trip to Japan, China or Peru
• cook some really good food
• visit an art gallery, concert; ignore the movies
• unsubscribe to the Mainstream Media, sell your television set
• do what you always wanted to, but did not have the time or permission to do
• have a good sleep near the ocean in a hammock between two trees
• learn some new skills (language, art, craft)
• visit a forest, desert or ghost town

Excellent advice, if you ask me...

Factory's "Official Stance" on Rape, False Rape Accusations, and Legal Approaches.

There is much swirling concern and hand-wringing ado on the fringes of the Mens Movement when it concerns topics touching the third rail of Rape Culture.  Nothing sets a Feminist's hair on fire faster than being dismissive of their favourite pet bugbear, but I am sorry, I just can't drum up even a modicum of concern for the feelings of victims anymore.  The simple fact is, there is a huge swath of rape accusations that are false.

This is an 'open secret'...a truth known but cannot be spoken of.

But it's a simple fact.  And the outright belligerent response of anyone who dares suggest that women just might, you know, act vindictively and play 'Let's you and him fight' using the State as Mr Wonderful positively screams "Hidden Agenda".  It's plainly obvious that a large segment of our Ruling Class doesn't want us to look at this subject too hard, and attempts to clarify this subject are routinely attacked almost exclusively on ideological grounds.

This has led me, as an individual, to sorely mistrust just about every piece of information available on this subject, from Koss to Kanin.  Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Instead, I rely on personal logic.  What is happening, how is it happening, and what could motivate someone to want that outcome?  Simple questions that can be applied to almost any 'intractable' political problem.

The law surrounding sexual assault in Canada, at least, has degraded to the point that if a woman accuses a man of sexual assault convincingly enough, the man must prove his innocence...and failing that he goes to jail.  The Law is written so ambiguously that a man can have completely consensual sex with a woman after having one drink, only to wake up in the morning to find that, in the cold light of day she feels she would never have acted 'like that' without drinking that intoxicant...

Zeta masculinity...what a concept?

I am interested in a collaboration of sorts, in the exploration of the concept of 'Zeta Masculinity', both in the hopes of further defining it, as well as utilizing the concept to give men a way forward.

I particularly want to extend this invitation to those in the Game community, as well as the Traditionalist community, simply due to the probable assumption that this is a 'MRA concept'.

I propose Zeta masculinity will by nature encompass Sexuality and SMV issues, self-worth and -improvement issues, critical thinking skills and logical reasoning skills, and all manner of related issues.  The idea is to identify major obstacles men face, and to give them the tools to figure out how to overcome those obstacles.

There are five main principles that I believe do a nice job of providing a scaffold on which to hang our theories, provided by James Huff.  They are, in James's words:

1) Personal Accountability – An internal measurement of Merit. This is defined through self-sufficiency without resorting to violence and coercion, and the willingness to face natural consequences for your decisions. It is primarily used as an honest form of self-assessment. It keeps unrealistic expectations and narcissism in check.

Who put the 'H' in the MHRM?

I just had one of the more interesting conversations I have had in my long 'career' as a Mens Activist.  I don't think I am stepping on toes revealing his identity as James Huff, who has sent me a document that I think will prove to be a catalyst for major social change worldwide, beginning with the Manosphere, and propogating outward.

But more on that later...

One of the topics that came up was the whole Tempest in a Teapot over the M(H)RM thing.  I personally thought of it as a 'Department of Redundancy Department' sort of move, but if someone wanted to add a letter to an essentially meaningless acronym, who was I to object?

As it turns out, that isn't the only viewpoint on the matter.

It did occur to me that by adopting this additional letter, it would dilute the focus on men and boys, specifically, but my belief was essentially that the issues and articles define the direction, not the label.

What I did not count on, or anticipate in any way, is how this simple 'inclusive' wording change would spur all manner of claims and counter claims as to the legitimacy of views.  Suddenly the MRM was a segment on a spectrum of a much larger 'social movement' known as Human Rights...a world in which men were the antagonist, not the sympathetic creature.  To my astonishment, the warnings of Thought Policing and Identity Politics dominating the MRM as a result became manifest in the strangest of places.  I do not know where this schism came from, or if it will pass into the fog of memory without much ado.

What I can say is that it has exposed a need.  A need for guiding principles, a method of understanding.  A critical base, from which logical structures can be formed.  I understand that part of the reason behind the inclusion of the 'H' is to communicate that the issues facing men, are issues crippling society, and therefore harming women.

And this is laudable.  But in my view completely outside the scope of the MRM in terms of actual mission.  It's great that this understanding of life as a non-feminist female is forming into a viable alternative for women to adopt, but the real problem is that we have focussed on that so much, we have failed (once again) to put men 'first' enough to do the same for them.

We don't provide a plan.  We don't provide a means to learn, other than throwing people head first into the fray.

We utterly fail at the most basic of missions an 'activist' can have...the effective education of Joe Sixpack.  And while I assume the 'H' in MRM thing was an attempt to address this shortcoming, I believe the attempt backfired.  I will leave my guesses as to why that is unsaid.

Going forward, we need to get better.  Because, as my conversation with James made clear to me, this is not just about Mens Rights anymore.  This is a new social awakening, a template we are creating for the world to consider.

That's 7 Billion potential 'customers' for our ideas.  Ideas that are beginning to take hold in the public consciousness, no matter what our detractors say.  This means we have a lot more responsibility to face up to than this movement has thus far been willing to admit.  Myself included.

Now, I'm going to get to work reading this Magnum Opus that James sent.  Give the idea some thought, and we'll talk later.

*UPDATE*

Having read the document James sent me in full, I can tell you right now that this is not only a Game changer, it is what the Mens Movement NEEDS to do.  It is what I would call 'the way forward'.  There will be more forthcoming but for now I will simply say, if this works, we will become orders of magnitude more effective, overnight.

Colour me excited.

The ties that bind.

I think there are a lot of issues that men face, as men, that are often mistaken for other issues, for example Race or Sexual Orientation.  This stems from the simple fact that, in my own interactions at least, most Gay or 'Minority' men tend to respond the same way to a simple question:

"Do you face more discrimination because you're Gay/Black/Disabled, or because you're a man?"

Honestly, I have yet to encounter a situation where the answer is anything BUT 'Because I'm a man."  The first time I asked this question actually shocked the hell out of me, which made me keep asking it when chance allowed.  I continue to be shocked at just how prevalent this answer is.  Why was I so shocked? 

I was talking with a 'Bi Sexual' (his contention, but he presents as typically Gay as you can get...we humor him anyway) friend of mine about the discrimination he faces as a 'Fag' (his description of what people call him), at which point another friend tried to wedge issue the conversation, by jokingly interjecting that I was a 'Straight White Guy Activist' (I clarified I was an MRA). 

Before he spoke again I asked him if he was more discriminated against because he was Gay or Male...his answer actually cut off the tail end of the question itself.

"Male.  Being Gay is actually cool to some people, being male means everyone hates you."

He then went on to say it was about time someone spoke up for men.

Let's just say the experience changed my perspective a bit on things, and has been reinforced since by asking Aboriginals, and Black guys, and Asian, and Indian, and pretty much any guy I talk to where these things come up.

The answer is universal, although sometimes they need to chew on the question for a while first.  One Black guy insisted it was all about Race until I asked him if Black women were treated just like he was, or if they were somehow 'less bad'...

This drove the point home to me in a way that no Study, or Statistics, ever could.  Actual real live humans, 'protected class' men indoctrinated to think their 'otherness' from the so called Oppressive Class was the source of their troubles, realizing that - for the most part, definitely not all - much of the 'racism' they experience is not experienced by female members of their 'designated group' in NEAR the same amount, if at all.

 It is my belief that focussing on these issues, these shared experiences, these commonalities, is the most productive course of action.  I believe that, by showing the many ways in which Black, White, Gay, Straight, Religious, or Atheist men commonly bear the burden of injustice, understanding will be fostered in other ways.  I believe that by including ALL of these voices on an equal footing, and encouraging interaction and discussion between these groups, we will not only strengthen societal bonds, but decrease the dangerous polarity developing in society.

This is the real danger inherent in Identity Politics.  It is the basis for a 'Divide and Conquer' strategy, pitting groups of people against each other, by blaming each other for the very same 'discrimination' that each experiences.  By creating insular spaces, the Politically Correct are 'immune' from criticism, as well as considering the validity of a counter position to their own.  Divisive, destructive tendencies like these are endemic to modern society, fostered by a Political Class so convinced of their moral superiority they feel they can decide FOR hundreds of millions of people, what society should be like.

Social Engineering is an unmitigated disaster on all fronts, and it is high time we as a society threw off the shackles of regimented belief systems, actually sat down with one another (metaphorically) and accepted the possibility that more than one belief system can exist in the world, and we can all learn from each other far better when we stop Preaching long enough to listen.

There appears to be a desire in society at large for an end to the tensions.  An end to walking on eggshells.  An end to the 'Church Lady Hand Wringing' means of controlling the population.  I think society really has had enough, and hungers for some peace and quiet.

It's time to focus on what binds us, rather than divides.  It's time for men to stand together as men, not 'gay', not 'black', not 'white', not 'straight', not anything else but as men.  By talking and working together, I believe we truly can make this world a little more livable.  The question is, will we?

This rings true to me....

THIS is why I hate cops, Hell, it's why I hate the whole sysytem.

Found HERE:

The juvenile, named in court reports as simply “R.R.” and described as “a tall young man,” was appealing the charge of refusal to submit to an arrest. The reason, his counsel claimed, was that there were no grounds to arrest him.

The three-judge appeals panel agreed that law enforcement officials did act properly during a recent arrest, even if it meant using arguably excessive force on an underage suspect.

http://rt.com/usa/arkansas-appeal-taser-beaten-818/

The arresting officer eventually determined that night that R.R. was not up to any suspicious activity and the woman wasn’t endangered, but an attempt to apprehend him that evening for questioning went awry. When the matter first went to court, the presiding judges said “an innocent situation” amazingly “just got completely out of hand.”

.....

“’By all accounts’ R.R. was a fine young man, an excellent student and active in sports, clubs and church activities,” the court found. Because R.R. refused to submit to arrest, however, the police, ruled the appeals panel, were justified in apprehending him.

“Before the evening was over, several other officers were summoned to the scene. R.R. and his mother ended up in the backseat of a patrol car, and R.R. was tasered several times, removed from the backseat, thrown to the ground, tasered again, kicked, handcuffed and arrested,” the report reads.

 Cops are fucking thugs...all of them.
 

Effacing the Male

This essay by Adam Jones is a seminal work, and should be read by everyone who wants to know what sorts of obstacles faced by men, indeed what one of the sources of the Lace Curtain is.

A quote:

The effacing of male victims in mass media is generally accomplished by three interrelated strategies. The first might be called incidentalizing. Modern news, as noted, is a hierarchical creature. It generally "leads" with the dominant theme of the article, which the headline is also meant to convey. Many newspapers, printing or reprinting an article or wire-service report, will include only (a version of) the headline and the first several paragraphs of the story. Thus, to relegate an important theme to passing mention in the middle reaches of the article, or to introduce it only at the end, is effectively to render it incidental and inconspicuous, if not outright invisible.

I highly suggest you give this a read.

Soup is Good Food...

Question....

How is 'training the masculinity out of men' any different from 'training the Gay out of the 'fag' '?  How can Gender itself be a Social Construct, and yet Sexuality is Immutable?

In my view, BOTH views are equally faulty.

The United States is a terrifying Police State.

And there is no way on God's Green Earth you could ever get me to visit that evil fucking hellhole.

This shit makes me sick.