Feminism and the TRP/MRA scene are both composed largely of pathological vermin, as far as I am concerned. I don't hate women as people, but I don't entertain too many illusions about the possibility of my engaging in a decent relationship with one of them, either; although to be fair, that is as much because of my own issues as it is because of theirs. As for Stormfront, they have both pros and cons, to be brutally honest. Yes, as fascists and white supremacists, they have some deeply sick ideas; but the different between the average Stormfag and the average redditor, is that I can disagree with the Stormfag, and he won't try and remove my ability to speak entirely, whereas a Reddit user will. The hard Right actually care a lot more about genuine freedom of expression than the Reddit demographic do, in my experience. Reddit has an enforced consensus, and if you step outside of that, they will generally either use attempts at censorship, or various forms of psychological warfare to bludgeon you back into compliance. The fact that I got sick of that, and started looking for alternatives, was actually what led me here. Back on topic; the way to deal with TRP is to passively marginalise and ignore them. Attempting to engage in activism against them won't stop them, and all it will do is make them feel vindicated, and even more certain that they are right. They are a small and pathological minority; and feminism has made sufficient inroads that there is no danger of them spreading, if left to their own devices.
It's like...I just wonder...could those things be related Feminism...[is]composed largely of pathological vermin, as far as I am concerned.
I don't hate women as people, but I don't entertain too many illusions about the possibility of my engaging in a decent relationship with one of them, either
No. The reason why is because not all women are feminists. Saying that I don't like feminism, is not the same as saying that I don't like women. If you people are going to become horrified by how sick what I'm writing supposedly is, then in my own defense, I can at least realise that I'm not making the sort of generalisation that you think I am. I can remember reading recently, how this common perception has developed, that feminism is somehow a default political proxy for all women, and so if you think that feminism sucks, (which I do) then that must unavoidably make you a misogynist by definition. It does not. I've never met a single woman yet, or even seen one, who identified as a feminist, who I considered psychologically healthy; although I've known plenty of non-feminist women who were perfectly fine. To summarise, some feminists are women, but not all women are feminists.
I think the problem here is that a movement which is (when not in its radicalized form) meant to establish equality for women is one you consider "full of pathological vermin." Judging by the fact that you group feminism and MRAs together, and MRAs are a radical group, I am taking the liberty of concluding that you also believe feminists to be a radical group, or your statement is meant to address only the radicalized portion of that group - at least one hopes. I would also hope that as you assert that you think feminism sucks, and I'd hope that you don't think equality sucks. I'm willing to hazard that most intelligent, well-adjusted women believe that women deserve the same rights as men do, whether or not they identify as feminists, whether or not they have thought through what that statement means and whether or not they accurately act in regards to that statement in their daily life. If you don't mean to refer to feminists as the small, radicalized portion of them that make waves on Tumblr and SJW sites, and indeed you mean "all people who identify as feminist" or, to drill down and get even more accurate, "all people who believe men and women deserve equal rights" in your statement, then it seems clear to me that you have a great reason to believe you would not be able to engage in a decent relationship with a woman. On top of that, by making declarations such as "feminists are vermin" and "I've never met a single woman....or even seen one, who identified as feminist, who I considered psychologically healthy; although I've known plenty of non-feminist women who were perfectly fine," you are not only making statements that self-identified feminists would find problematic, you are also showing a certain proclivity for making gross, negative generalizations about large groups of people; in addendum, you are doing so based on anecdotal evidence. As for judging if people are psychologically sound, I find that people tend to affirm their own beliefs via their interactions with people if they can, and I also find that people can choose to interpret actions as sane or insane based on their attraction (mental, physical, emotional, whatever) to the person (platonically or romantically). Just something worth thinking on.
The best transition you could ask for, imo. Ironic posturing to flat-out anger and finally comment deletion. Beautiful.
Responding to people's rants with "Cool" or "cool beans" really does seem to encourage them to delete it, I'm not really sure why. Maybe because it's a bit of a dismissal. I had a friend who was getting self-righteous on Facebook - I had posted about something I think about a lot; kids who are raised by parents who grew up in a digital world and the parents' history on digital media and the potential of kids to get into it and maybe raise some very awkward questions - and my friend basically said "Well I'm not like that and I will never have that problem because I will just be an awesome parent" - and I just said "Cool" because, like, she was missing the point of my post. I was glad she thought she was going to be a perfect parent, but even if she was the gold-plated sparkling exception who was just better than everyone else at life, it didn't negate my thoughts or wonder on the topic. And yeah, she deleted it. Her post was also at 2 am and I think she may have realized that it came across as really "I'm better than everyone else on Facebook so I just won't have this problem!" (she was like 'I don't post personal stuff on my statuses' - completely disregarding the pictures she uploads all the time). Some fights aren't worth fighting. I'm working on learning that.
In real life I like to address this by calling that person, "Sport" or "Champ", for example the other day I was at work and this guy insisted that to read you simply have to internally sound things out. Now, subvocalizing while reading is a major impediment to speed and also to comprehension, which I have found to be true personally and which is backed up by the teaching methodologies I'm trained in for EFL. Now, dude just would not let it go and I was getting heated so I said, "I'm sure you know best, champ." From a conflict perspective, this is unproductive. Punches to the face are generally also unproductive. But, as has been noted by others during my formative years, if there is a button, I have to struggle mightily not to push it. And it felt good. Anyway, later the dude came up to me with an amended argument and a peace offering, "we're both right" which is bullshit. I am right and he was wrong. Your lips should not move when you read.Responding to people's rants with "Cool" or "cool beans" really does seem to encourage them to delete it, I'm not really sure why. Maybe because it's a bit of a dismissal.
After so long I've learned to pick my fights, yeah. There are too many assholes out there that think their easy cynicism and solipsistic mindsets have got the world figured out. Everyone else is just too stupid to see that everything sucks, man, so who gives a shit. But that's cowardice under the guise of callousness. I don't take people like that seriously. It's people who can remain positive and hopeful and keep doing what they do who are the real heroes. Those are the people worth talking to. Guys whose lifestyles likely consist of band shirts and edgy comic books (see: the Internet at large) are not usually part of this group.
I got kicked off of stormfront for saying that Italians and the Irish are not really white. I can't think of a valid definition that could include them both. They deleted my account.
I've had this post sitting here all day. It's a very concerning post to read. Sit down and take a deep breath okay? Get a cup of water. Go get a book on meditation. When I was a goalie on my high school lacrosse team I learned just how mental the game is. The trick to it is not to be. You cease to exist. There is no conscious you, not in the sense of a thinking human being. There exists a ball. It is small and fast. There is a stick to stop the ball. You do not move the stick. You enable it. You cannot move the stick, you can only stop the stick from moving where it needs to go. The best way to stop the ball is to not exist. Think on this. When you understand what it means to not exist, you will be happy.
