I'm not happy to be wasting time on this clown, when there are bouffons to enjoy at manipulate 2016 to enjoy. But Roosh V is all over my feed again and I am in a right temper with him now.
The thing is, there is nothing I can do about him. I won't sign on-line petitions (until someone shows me that they are effective). I won't support any new legislation about hate speech (how does a country 'ban' any speech on the internet, which is supra-national? And who do you think is going to benefit from the state's ability to decide what constitutes hates speech? Really?).
But Roosh V claims a version of masculinity that alienates and annoys me. On that bloody website, Return of Kings, there is a bizarre mash-up of philosophies, from innocuous dating advice, through twisted Christian theology, via obnoxious critiques of films, to stuff that is pretty much an example of what I would call hate speech.
Best of all, his idea about 'alpha males' is a horrible misapplication of scientific research that has been undermined by other scientific research, anyway. Roosh V doesn't just insult women, he insults men, scientists, religious believers... and let's not forget the racism that turns up in articles about Indian men and women.
The answer is not ask the government to make a new law that condemns hate speech... if it gets passed, there is a good chance that it will adopt gender neutral language, and become a stick for both MRAs and feminist writers.
The answer is not to remind Roosh that he's a knob. He doesn't care. He makes the money. Do you think he cares what anyone thinks of him?
The only thing I can suggest is a persistent and reasonable campaign to demonstrate how his thinking is faulty, how he only encourages the decay of civilisation and morality that he pretends to support.
Attack the scientific basis of this predatory thinking: humans are not wolves.
Answer the ethical questions he poses. Take them at face value, as serious questions.
Undermine the culture that alienates men from their own life experiences, and provides Roosh and his pals with a receptive audience.
Don't go threatening to kick his teeth in. That's called a threat, and will probably come under that 'hate speech' legislation some people are proposing.
My previous post provided links to some of the research that has debunked the alpha male stuff. Can someone else get those links out and about - I have some visual theatre to watch, eh?
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. I am not sure I am able to reply to your comments: I don't think in categories like 'American Women', since it seems a very big group of people to make assumptions about. I'm not American myself, and worry that engaging in debates around American issue is not terribly helpful for me as an English-born-but-living-in-Scotland man.
ReplyDeleteI also don't like using 'is': I know I do use it as a convenience, but if you google 'e-prime' youcan see where my problems are with 'to be'.