Seriously. thank you!
The Fourth Quarter 2016 “We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now” pledge drive is entering the home stretch, and I just wanted to update you all on the progress.
First of all, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who has donated! Some of you really came through in a big way; I’m humbled and deeply appreciative!
Second, we are still a bit short of what I need to keep this blog going strong. If you haven’t donated yet, click the little button below and help put this pledge drive over the top!
Donating, as I’ve noted before. is easy. You don’t need a PayPal account; credit cards are accepted, and there are other options as well. If you’re outside the US, PayPal will automatically convert your non-American money into American bucks.You can also set up recurring payments through PayPal if that’s more convenient to you.
What do you get for your donation? THIS BLOG! And the satisfaction of knowing that you’re making a real difference in keeping WHTM going.
I’ve been looking back at some of the more widely read or otherwise influential WHTM posts in this very strange and often quite depressing year. Some of the highlights:
Donald Trump ticks all 14 boxes in Umberto Eco’s list of what makes a fascist a fascist
Rereading Eco’s famous essay on “Eternal Fascism” it’s abundantly clear just how “fashy” our president-elect really is.
Davis Aurini admits he never actually watched any of Anita Sarkeesian’s videos
#Ethics!
Richard Dawkins, Lindy West, and the Cartoon Video of Great Hatefulness
A blow-by-blow account of the time the awesome Lindy West took on Richard Dawkins, who responded like the oblivious little shit he’s become.
What you need to know about Roosh V, the pickup artist holding meetups in 43 countries this Saturday
Remember the Roosh World Tour? This post, one of my most widely read, provided people who had just discovered Roosh with a handy guide to his various kinds of awfulness; I also corrected much of the misinformation floating around on the internet and in press accounts of Roosh.
Where is the pet shop? Roosh V Plans Secret Meetups, Announces Locations on Internet
That one was a bit more fun.
Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos rejected by internet Nazis, who really do hate gay Jews
An account of alt-right opportunist Milo’s attempts to woo the Nazis, and a takedown of his ludicrous and deeply dishonest “Establishment Conservative’s Guide To The Alt-Right,” a 5000-word apologia for a bunch of people who would happily send him to a death camp if they could.
Speaking of the awfulness of the so-called alt-right:
Far Right, Trump fans celebrate murder of UK Labour MP Jo Cox
It was, as you all know, kind of a big year for the alt-right, and I was on them from the start:
Why are the internet’s worst people so obsessed with the word “cuck?”
Trump fans celebrate his N.H. victory with racist cartoons, anime memes, and Pepe
#Brexit disaster: A great night for Anime Nazis, Trump fans, and dudes who say “cuck” a lot
The Internet’s worst people have a new woman to hate: Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones
But we had fun when we could:
Fake sci-fi boys cry salty tears over Puppies defeat at the Hugo Awards
Beware the Pancake-Eating Girlfriends of Doom, Red Pill Dude Warns
Men Oppressed by Sleeves: A Memeday Special Report
Do women really enjoy sex, men who hate women ask
Let’s make 2017 less horrible together!
Wait, let me put that in cat meme form:
And THANK YOU again!
![Nick Reading of Men’s Rights Edmonton: “If they didn’t scream [no], how else would I get an erection?”](https://i1.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/nickreadingcropped.jpg?resize=50%2C50)
Thank you, David, for running this website.
It’s funny to see the articles about Roosh V’s “secret~” meetups on this post because that’s actually how I found WHTM! One was going to be held in my town and I was searching the web for more information on the whole ordeal.
Are these your kitties? They’re adorable!
Suggestion for those who can’t afford to contribute: Just make a habit of clicking on an advertisement every time you come to the page. That’ll get David a bit of money, too, and it only costs you a bit of time. It lets you sculpt your add recommendations, too, which is a good thing to do if you want to avoid looking at certain types of ads. Just a thought!
Thanks!
Also, I endorse Scildfreja’s advice!
Kupo, no, but my cats are pretty adorable, if a bit hard to photograph (one of them always runs away). They were a bit easier to photograph when they were younger. See them here:
http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/?s=meet+the+kittens
This is one of my favorites:
Pantz (the black cat) is a bit greasy there because I had to give them eardrops, which they tried to get out of their ears as quickly as possible by shaking their little kitten heads.
Ha, I have the opposite problem – when I pull out a camera for a photo, Pepper stops doing the cute thing and comes running up to me for attention. 🙂
Here’s a link that might make you smile. 🙂
All hail the rise of cat men, an antidote to toxic masculinity
Yay! And I just donated.
…Oops, my “virtue signal” is more of an “I’m not organized” signal. Ah well. I’m happy to support the blog and David’s work! And cats.
About ads – some of the ones I get here make me curious. There’s one that says Chelsea Clinton’s net worth doesn’t make any sense. Why doesn’t it make sense? I want to know! It is her net worth an imaginary number? Or maybe not a number at all, but a flavour of ice cream?? A super-intelligent shade of blue???
See, clicking would just destroy the mystery! (Apparently I also want to know about Donald Trump’s various children, Ancestry.com, and a “World Famous Titanium Spinning Top”.)
Here’s to you Dave,
And to the people in the comments. They taught me a lot this year, I mean it
Cats wish all Mammotheers well, and lots of donations to David and cat cousins.
@Kupo:
My kids, at least, will preen for the camera, understanding that they’ll get to see the photographs immediately afterward.
My girl’s been wearing ponytails and braids lately. I’ll try and get some photos up. Unfortunately, her hair is tangling something awful, and she hates getting brushed.
@Falconer
I’m not sure what you’ve tried, but I didn’t find a detangler that worked well for my hair type until very recently because I had no idea there was a difference. You may want to try a couple of different brands of detangler on your daughter’s hair if you haven’t already.
As I can’t donate at the moment I want to at least disable my adblock for this site, but for some reason can’t find a way to do that. All instructions talk about a red icon, which I remember having and using ages ago, but can’t locate any more.
Any help (it’s firefox)? And sorry! Feeling really stupid.
I have hair that tends to snarl, and I find fingers to be the best, gentlest detangling tool.
@Imaginary Petal,
Somehow the picture of your cats touched my heart. I now love them. Sorry 😉
Yay! I’m glad the drive is going well!
Also, a bit personal: I have an interview today for a(n unpaid) graphic design internship.
I’m not happy about it being unpaid (I DID MY TIME DAMNIT), but at the same time this might lead to paid work if I work with this place enough, and it’s a great way for me to network, since I’m new to the area and don’t have my contacts I did from Cali.
So, I’ll make a sacrifice here. I’ve also emailed a woman who gave me her business card at work (I mentioned off-hand to a customer that I have a graphic design degree, and the woman behind her was like “Wow, what a coincidence! I need a graphic designer for this field you’re really interested in and good at!”), but she’s out of the office until the day after tomorrow, so I’m going to email her the day after that if I still haven’t heard from her.
Both jobs are on a contract basis (as in I get work when it comes in), but it’s a start!
Oh, and here’s the cat toll: My roommate’s cat, Tabby, has taken to having very involved makeouts/cuddle sessions with my fuzzy slippers. Since I wasn’t that attached to them any ways, and I saw some awesome Charizard ones at the store, I’ve since donated them to her.
@Tahia, you might need to customise your firefox. Click on the button on your toolbar on the far right (it looks like three lines on my firefox) and see if the little red ad block plus icon is there. If it is, drag it up onto your toolbar!
You could also try clicking tools>addons>adblock plus, then make sure the ‘show in toolbar’ button is clicked.
Here’s a link where people talk about more.
Hope that helps!
@Paradoxy, I’d get all “rabble rabble! Don’t do unpaid work! You’re worth more than that!” but I’ve noticed that all the artists who say that are already getting paid, and generally paid very well, to do their art. No one who isn’t making a career of art is saying “don’t do unpaid work”, and none of the paid artists talk about what they had to do to get their careers off the ground.
So you do you! Just don’t accept unpaid for long! Tell’em that you’ll do it to build your portfolio, but don’t let’em take advantage of you. I hope it works out!
@Paradoxical Intention: I hope this pans out into paid work! But more important, some great connections! I’ve got my past three jobs through friends knowing that I could fill a position, so that’s been really good. Not even that horrible networking you’re supposed to do in the arts, just friends working at different studios saying ‘Hey, I could work with Rhuu for this job!’
It is also nice to have that on your resume, and the resulting work in your portfolio.
@Scildfreja: Unpaid work is a sticky thing, because it is something you are told to do (at least I was, at school by my teachers) as almost paying your dues? They’ll regale you with their tales of how they started off doing some sort of unpaid terrible job, and then worked their way up through the company.
Ugh.
But I’m really happy for the connections you’re going to make, Paradoxical Intention! It’s even more wonderful that it’s in an area you’re excited about!
I agree, Rhuu, doing unpaid work is sort of important when you’re starting out – or at least some sort of “doing your time” effort at least. Internship and the like to show that you’re willing to put in effort for the career.
But art careers have a history of being deeply undervalued which sort of throws that for a loop. Even well established artists are expected to do free work, are underpaid or cheated out of agreed-upon payment, and generally treated like crap. Most of the creative careers suffer that to some degree. The prevailing attitude of clients is “but you just sit around and draw all day, that’s not work! You should do it for free.” (Typically they’re conservative business people who are going to make a bunch of money off of the thing you’re making, but they see art as a profitless expense so don’t want to actually spend any money on it)
So I’m suuuuuper leery about unpaid artistic jobs. I don’t have much personal experience with it (Used to paint for commission, a long time ago) but I have a friend who does commissioned pieces for a living right now and she refuses to do any free work. That’s where my perspective is coming from.
Still – I’m totally excited that you’re getting some art work, Paradoxy! Even if it’s unpaid, it’ll help you build a portfolio. Make sure you keep records of your creative process, maybe with pictures? Anything to create a record of work! I hope it goes great.
@Scildfreja: I agree, though I don’t think you should have to do unpaid internships to do your time, because some of us have school loans to pay off! How are we supposed to meet rent, food, transportation, AND pay off our debts when we’re making nothing?
I’m actually in the arts (paid to draw all day WHAT) and I told a new guy, fresh out of school, that he should think about charging his overtime rate for freelance. Because technically, it is. You worked all day, and anything after that is OT. (Unless he’s super invested in the project, then whatever. But he wasn’t, so this was just a job.)
He said that he had, and they had replied that they didn’t have that much money. The other fellow in the conversation said that they couldn’t afford the art, then. I agreed. Art takes time, and expertise. If I draw something in three hours and charge more than minimum wage, the client shouldn’t complain! It took lots of effort to get to the point where I could do that in three hours, and where it would be worth money at all.
I wish people valued art more, for sure. It’s frustrating hearing people talk about how there isn’t any stress in my particular industry, because of the end product we make.
I’m like “IF YOU ONLY KNEW.”
Unpaid internships are straight-up illegal here in BC, unless they’re part of an educational practicum or in a few particular professions that include specific training as part of the internship (real estate, law, etc). I believe it works similarly in Ontario and Quebec.
Which is really, I think, closer to how it should be. I don’t fault anyone for “paying their dues” if that’s how the local industry works, because you gotta play the hand you’re dealt (Congrats on making steps, PI!). But as far as I’m concerned employers who do that are full of crap. Pay your humans. Jesus.
I just want to be super clear that while I’m annoyed at unpaid work being touted as a stepping stone in a career, I’m really happy that you’re getting this opportunity, Paradoxical Intention. I hope you get it, and I hope it helps you make all the connections you could want in your new area. I hope there’s lots of fun projects, and I hope that it leads to paid work.
Good luck!!!
@Rhuu
I don’t even do creative work, but I’d still advocate charging at least your overtime rate for freelance. When you’re employed full-time the employer covers a lot of overhead costs that will eat into your bottom line as a freelancer, and that’s before the traditional devaluing of creative work. It adds up and is tough to factor into the project time, but it can be be factored into the per-hour rate.
Amen. And I hope your art bidness is doing well, Rhuu! That’s great! Super taxing to do creative work for a living, but I’m glad you’re makin’ it work
@Rhuu
Unfortunately not. Tried all that, including deleting and reinstalling the whole thing. No luck.
But thank you!
@Lone Galtian Bootstrapper
They are very lovable and they love every person unconditionally! 🙂
Thanks to everyone who’s donated today! (And thanks again to all those who donated before today! And those who can’t afford it but who want to donate!)
IP, awesome cats! The black one looks a bit like batman there.
PI, I have no great advice on unpaid artistic internships, do what you think is best, and hopefully you will be rolling in $$ soon!
Best wishes on the fundraiser, David!
Things are still a bit wonky over here on the money front. Lots of long-delayed medical stuff, starting therapy (Congratulations, it’s depression!) and refinancing so I have a retirement plan other than “cyanide”.
I’ll have things sorted in a few weeks, and if I can afford it, I’ll toss some money your way. If you start a Patreon, I’m gladly in for $5/month.
You’re welcome, David! And thank you for writing such an awesome and informative blog!