Richard Godwin: Misogynist geeks are a force to be reckoned with

[Deleted]

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/co...-a3149691.html

Richard Godwin: Misogynist geeks are a force to be reckoned with

It's not easy being a male. We’re the minority it’s OK to hate. And before you take issue with me using the word “minority” to describe 50 per cent of the population, consider this. There are actually nearly one million more women than men in Britain, so it’s more like 49 per cent. Which no one seems to have thought of when we gave women the right to vote.

And it’s particularly hard being a white male, I’ve found, never having tried anything else. We may be over-represented in every meaningful power structure, but that’s hardly our fault is it?

And yet we’re blamed for pretty much everything: imperialism, the global economic crisis, Coldplay, climate change, sending creepy texts to 17-year-olds, calling for Muslims to be banned, etc. You might almost say we’re the victims of a blame culture. We may control the media landscape, but we’re clearly not doing enough to centralise the white male perspective.

At least, that’s how a subset of online gallants who call themselves MRAs (“men’s rights activists”) seem to view the world. So you can only imagine the feelings of betrayal and hurt they felt when the new Star Wars movie arrived — finally! — and one of the lead characters was female and another was black. I mean, droids, they can empathise with. Lovely droids! But The Force Awakens, with its implicit message that they should care about other genders and races, was a bit much for them.

The anti-Star Wars campaign has taken root on an American site called Return of Kings, which claims that by raising awareness of “SJW propaganda” in Star Wars, it has cost Disney $4.2 million at the box office. SJW means “social justice warrior” and seems to encompass all the forces who are oppressing white men: mainly women, but also black people, lesbians, drag queens and perhaps even virtue-signalling metropolitan columnists like me as well.

On one level, it is really, really funny that some people think like this. Their outlook combines the most loserish strain of sexism with the sanctimony of “fan-boy”, who sleeps with his C-3PO dolly every night. It’s almost vindicating that it’s gathering momentum just as Hollywood bosses are finally acknowledging that “white male” does not equal “default human”. It shows that something has changed

But then again, the “Gamergate” controversy seemed laughable until it evolved into something a little more disturbing. This weird episode saw a female journalist complaining (quite rightly) about the violent depiction of women in computer games, only to unleash the wrath of millions of male gamers who claimed that women like her were victimising them. It became a sort of proxy culture war, with libertarian “free-speech” misogynists ranged on one side and anything vaguely feminist on the other.

Seemingly, the MRAs have identified the one area white men don’t enjoy free rein — victimhood — and tried to colonise that too. Any legitimate male concerns (say, fathers’ custody rights or male mental health) are secondary to this game of oppression one-upmanship — Return of Kings actually features a post comparing women who start anti-rape campaigns to racist lynch mobs.

It may seem like a niche world-view but we shouldn’t underestimate its potency among the impotent. The likes of Donald Trump are pandering to these people quite effectively.

Had a little chuckle reading this article on the tube home this evening, thought it nicely described a certain few posters we have on these forums.

Also interesting how disconnected mainstream media is from certain communities.

[Grimbold21]

Isnt one tennisace enough?

[Cyberowl]

Holy mother of self-victimizing.

There are actually nearly one million more women than men in Britain, so it’s more like 49 per cent. Which no one seems to have thought of when we gave women the right to vote.

ಠ_ಠ

[Revi]

The same brilliant man who wrote an article called "Jihadists are just proof of a crisis in masculinity" where he said the reason men joined ISIS was that they couldn't pick up women. That the fact that they were men was a more important part of their motivation than them being Muslim extremists.

Sure, he seems like a balanced writer taking an honest look at things?

[s_bushido]

I wonder how many times Return of Kings has to say "we aren't an MRA site" before these "journalists" finally acknowledge it?

And speaking of this brand of glorified blogging that passes for journalism these days...do they not see that constantly lying about Gamergate like this is the reason it got so much traction in the first place? Everyone laughs at Faux News for being ridiculously biased, but as soon as someone points out wrongdoing in games journalism it's "lol, look at those misogynist shitlords."

[Kalis]

The same brilliant man who wrote an article called "Jihadists are just proof of a crisis in masculinity" where he said the reason men joined ISIS was that they couldn't pick up women.

Sure, he seems like a balanced writer taking an honest look at things?

He's taking the piss.

[Rukh]

The same brilliant man who wrote an article called "Jihadists are just proof of a crisis in masculinity" where he said the reason men joined ISIS was that they couldn't pick up women. That the fact that they were men was a more important part of their motivation than them being Muslim extremists.

Sure, he seems like a balanced writer taking an honest look at things?

I'm not sure, but it could be an opinion piece.

[Freese]

Sounds like a majority of posters on this forum.

[Revi]

I'm not sure, but it could be an opinion piece.

I don't mind opinion pieces in media, but there should be some standards of how uninformed and ridiculous pieces they're willing to print.

[Deleted]

I wonder how many times Return of Kings has to say "we aren't an MRA site" before these "journalists" finally acknowledge it?

Pray tell what else is it? It's literally in the name - they think men have been dethroned and want the old days back. It's certainly a misogynistic cesspool.

[Kalis]

I'm not sure, but it could be an opinion piece.

It's in the Comment section, so it is.

[Deleted]

This is the writer. M'feminist.

I almost feel like OP should get infracted for not only posting some hipster's snarky biased-as-fuck and factually incorrect article (gamergate started cos of Anita Sarkeesian now?), but also because it's literally just bigotry against a different group of people. He proves that the concerns (about media and its acceptability of hatred towards men) he derides are legitimate ones by writing this article, but he's too fucking stupid to realise it.

[nôrps]

Sounds like a majority of posters on this forum.

This is what I think about it too.

[Jester Joe]

Considering threads that just bait with insulting feminism aren't allowed, I'm going to close this down on the same grounds. Also posting an article just to insult other users isn't really grounds for constructive discussion.

CLOSED.