Men's Rights Memes Episode 16: Chivalry Is For Losers!

Hello and welcome to episode sixteen of Men's Rights Memes, the show where I correct the misinformation about feminism spread by the pathetic failures that make up the majority of the Men's Rights Movement. Without further ado, here is this episode's offending image.

Welcome to what is debatably the most common MRArgument. Heh. Do you like that pun? I do.

Anyway, the degenerate fucks in the MRM have a tendency to run their mouths off about how lady feminists call differential treatment of the sexes chivalry when it suits them and sexism when it doesn't. There are a couple of reasons as to why this is fucking stupid, and I'm going to tell you a few of them now. Down the rabbit hole we go!

Firstly, I'd like to tackle the most common example that MRAs bring up to support their assumption that chivalry is a female privilege. Namely, that of the Titanic, and more broadly the idea of 'women and children first.' It is true that women and children on the Titanic survived disproportionately to men, it is also the case that that people in the first class had a better survival rate than those in the third class. Thus, this issue probably relates to class more so than gender. Nobody's talking about that, though. It doesn't fit the MRA narrative!

But even in the context of gender, the MRAs are still incorrect. The study linked here suggests that the Titanic was the exception rather than the rule in maritime history.

Also, doesn't the very idea of 'women and children first,' and indeed chivalry in general, stem from the fact that women are regarded as the weaker sex? The only reason that men are expected to pay for dinner and do things of that nature is because of the outdated perception that women cannot take care of themselves. If feminists had their way, women would be on equal footing to men, and this idea would go away.

As for why women expect men to pay for dinner, well, I think it stems from the fact that the patriarchy has hammered the whole 'women are weak,' thing into our heads from birth. The idea is so culturally pervasive that it's difficult to escape or even notice it. The goals of feminism are to break down oppressive power structures, which would allow women to make more money and generally have more control over their own lives. How radical!

What I'm trying to say with all of this is simple: "Hey MRAs! If you want women to be less dependent on you, GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!"

Objective Morality

As some of you may know, I do not believe in an objective sense of morality. But more than that, I know that there is no objective sense of morality. There are a number of reasons for this, so let's go over a few of them today.

Because I do not base my morality on anything objective, everything I do, whether I think it's right or wrong, is entirely based on how I feel about it. Anything that does not conform to my standards of morality, I consider to be immoral. As far as I'm concerned, the only morality in this world is mine. It's really just that easy.

Well, it's easy for me, anyway. But the fact that there are so many people, from all around the world, who seem to disagree with me, only confirms the fact that there is no objective morality. If there was an objective morality, we would not be arguing over whether or not it was okay to kill children, or circumcise baby girls, or rape women. There would be no debate about whether or not it was okay to stone someone to death, or to own slaves. We would all just know, instinctively, that these things are wrong. We wouldn't have to fight about these things, we just wouldn't do them.

Now, there is a form of morality that rests outside of me, and in some cases differs from my conception of what is moral. I'm talking here about societal morality. But even then, from society to society, we all believe different things. The Nazis believed that it was moral and just to exterminate the Jews. Even during World War Two, within Nazi Germany, there were people who stood up and fought against this idea. Shouldn't the Nazis have just known that it was wrong to kill millions of people? Perhaps. But there was a certain percentage of people who did not know this, and therefore, objective morality cannot and does not exist.

This is further evidenced by the fact that there are those who operate outside of morality entirely. Stalin is a perfect example of how somebody can exist without a moral code, and still live with themselves. That's how sociopaths work. 

There is no objective morality.

Just something to think about.

Men's Rights Meme Episode 15: Do You Feel A Draft?

Hello and welcome to episode fifteen of Men's Rights Memes, the show where I take a sledgehammer to the arguments made by so-called 'Men's Rights Activists', or MRAs, where 'sledgehammer' is logic and 'arguments' are incoherent, paranoid ramblings. Without further ado, here is this episode's offending image.

Ah, yes. The draft argument. This archaic bit of tripe will be brought up by any MRA who is in a tight spot. Someone will have boxed them into an intellectual corner, and they will realize that they've got no way out. Then, given that most of them have about the same mental capacity as apes, they'll do what they do best: start flinging shit. This particular ball of verbal feces will often go something like this:

"ONLY MEN ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE DRAFT. WOMEN AREN'T ELIGIBLE FOR THE DRAFT, THEREFORE FEMINISM IS EVIL. MEEH!"

The MRA will often scream his points, as if the volume of his voice is directly proportional to the veracity of his claims. This, unfortunately for simpletons everywhere, is not the case.

In order to argue this point seriously, you have to ignore an absolute mountain of evidence to the contrary. Luckily, MRAs aren't all too concerned with such trivial things as 'fact,' or 'historical data.'

But there's always the off chance that I'll get through to one of these fucktards someday, so let's go down the list of reasons why the existence of the draft isn't a valid argument against feminism.

First of all virtually every instance of any all-male draft in the history of the world has been voted on by a mainly or entirely male legislature, and has been enforced by a mainly or entirely male police force. It has also been conducted by a mainly or entirely male military hierarchy.

Yet somehow it's feminism's fault. Just try to wrap your head around that one!

Further, you'd have to just conveniently forget that it was feminists who argued against the draft on both sides of the Atlantic, and that feminists have argued against the barring of open homosexuals from serving in the military. This, too, has occurred in both America and Britain.

The implicit assertion made by the MRA is that only men die in wars, and that's why the draft is a bad thing. This is patently untrue. Many women also perished, especially after the industrial revolution flipped the ratio of military to civilian deaths. Even still, rape has been used as a weapon of war, largely by men against women.

But yeah, you crazy brave keyboard warriors keep clunking away.

Further reading:
http://male-feminist.tumblr.com/post/32522679726/why-using-the-draft-as-a-weapon-against-a
http://www.taphilo.com/history/war-deaths.shtml

Men's Rights Memes Episode 14: No Call For Equality

Hello and welcome to episode fourteen of Men's Rights Memes, the show where I expose the Men's Rights Movement for what it is. That is, a hate group made up of a bunch of whining assholes who will do just about anything to turn themselves into victims. How fun! Without further ado, here is this episode's offending image.

Oh, boy. Here we go with the old 'feminists are weak,' straw-man argument. This one is rather popular among some of the slower MRAs, by which I mean all of them. They claim that the feminist movement isn't really about equality, because they only call for change in the diversity of quote-unquote comfortable fields, such as politics, business, and STEM. According to these simpletons, this means that the feminist movement isn't really concerned with equality, just power. After all, if those dirty feminazis were really interested in furthering equality, they would encourage women to become garbage men or construction workers. Not only are they evil, conniving harpies, they're also too weak to perform the difficult, labor-intensive jobs! Checkmate, mangina!

In a world devoid of facts, history, or logic, that argument might actually make some sense. But we live in this little place known as reality, so this is not the case. Look, feminists do want power. The whole point of the movement is to empower women, for fuck's sake. That's why there's a call for more female CEOs, and more female politicians. The people who work in these fields have real clout. They can actually advocate for policies that elevate the standing of the female gender.

And, also, it's not particularly inspiring to see someone who looks exactly like you picking through trash all day. That's sad, and I'd very much like to have conversations about the relative powerlessness of the working class as opposed to the elite. But as it stands, there aren't enough women in  roles that people actually respect. The way to elevate the standing of a particular group is to put them in positions of power. That way, members of that group see that they, too, can succeed. Thus begins a self-sustaining cycle of equal opportunity.

That's what feminism is really about. It's about choice, and it's about opportunity.

It's got nothing to do with taking your fucking porn magazines away, you insufferable douchebags.

Men's Rights Memes Episode 13: Back to the Patriarchy

Hello and welcome to episode 13 of Men’s Rights Memes, the show where I sink my teeth into the twisted rhetoric of the reactionary children who make up the Men’s Rights Movement. I do that, so you don’t have to! Without further ado, here’s this episode’s offending image.

Now, this is one area where I actually find myself sympathizing with the Men’s Rights Movement. The suicide rate among men is substantially higher than that of women. That’s not something that the majority of people know, and I think it does need to be talked about more often.

The MRAs lose my support when they assert that feminism is somehow to blame for that being the case. Women are not evil harpies whose only goal is to make your life a living hell. I know this might shock the MRAs, but women are just people. In fact, that’s yet another problem that is caused directly by the patriarchy. I’ve written about this ad nauseum on this blog before, but I think it bares repeating here.

Almost from birth, men are taught that they must be these strong, stoic robots. Showing emotion is often considered a sign of weakness, and God forbid you cry. Then, you’ll be told to ‘man up.’ Repressing emotion is almost a prerequisite for being considered manly.

This, of course, results in a huge problem. When men or boys do have problems, they can’t talk about them. This results in them feeling as though they are trapped, and the only way out becomes suicide.

So if the Men’s Rights Movement really cared about helping men, they would advocate for a more open society in which discussing feelings is normal and accepted. But that’s the thing, they don’t care about men’s issues. Their ‘activism,’ and I use the term loosely, is nothing more than an excuse for them to harass women on the internet. It’s time we start treating them that way.

Men's Rights Memes Episode 12: Third Degree Burn

Hello and welcome to episode twelve of Men's Rights Memes, the show where I refute the paper-thin arguments made by misogynists on the internet, because I have a lot of time on my hands. Without further ado, here is this episode's offending image.

Okay, I've finished puking all over my floor, so I'm ready to take this thing on. This is a fairly common idea that I hear MRAs bring up. According to them, gender studies degrees are useless because there are no jobs that directly require you to have one in order to apply. That might be true, but I think the assertion that they are useless presents something of a falsehood. Even if there are no jobs specifically for gender studies majors, a degree in that subject does indicate to a prospective employer that you are less likely to make off-color jokes or sexually harass your female coworkers. It also signals that you have a good standard of English, given all of the reports required for classes. Those reports, by the way, necessitate a hell of a lot of research, and the interviewer will likely know that. Having a degree in gender studies shows work ethic on top of everything else.

All of those things sound like uses for a gender studies degree to me. Isn't that just so weird?

Also, there are plenty of people who go into fields completely unrelated to their university background. Education helps to deepen our understanding of the world, and there's nothing wrong with education for its own sake. Broadening our horizons is the most important thing we can do, and gender studies courses help in that regard. Frankly, it's not at all surprising that the MRAs haven't thought about this. They're not exactly known for caring about depth or, if we're being honest, reality in general.

Men's Rights Memes Episode 11: Slurring Your Words

Hello and welcome to episode eleven of Men's Rights Memes, the show where I subject myself to the insane bullshit spewed forth by the barely-human members of the Men's Rights hate group. Why do I do it? Well, my teachers always told me I could be anything I wanted, so I became a masochist. Without further ado, here is this episode's offending image.

That's right. In a first for the series, I'm featuring the same meme twice in a row. Last time, I used it to disprove the existence of a secret feminist cabal that runs the US government. But there's just so much more that's wrong with this, I can't let it go just yet.

There's a lot of misinformation about feminism contained within this meme, but I think the most insidious claim it makes is that feminists want to remove consequences from intoxicated women. No bullshitting here, reading that made me physically ill.

Feminists are not advocating that women have the right to drive drunk with no legal repercussions. What we do champion is the right for women to have fun at parties and not be sexually assaulted when passed out. Is that really too much to ask? That women not be raped?

So if you're ever looking for a way to judge the general character of the Men's Rights Movement, look no further than A Voice For Men literally blaming women for being raped. But remember, it's totally not a hate group.

For the slower members of my audience, who are more than likely MRAs themselves, that last bit was sarcasm.