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Men Going Their Own Way tell Paul Elam to go away. BONUS: The terrible new MGTOW anthem

Men Going Their Own Way can't decide which way to go.
Men Going Their Own Way can’t figure out which way to go.

Oh dear. Paul Elam’s attempt to anoint himself King of the MGTOWs doesn’t seem to be going terribly well, mainly due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of those who call themselves Men Going Their Own Way would prefer it if he went his own way off a short pier.

His new ebook on MGTOW — despite receiving rave reviews from people who work for him at A Voice for Men — has not done quite as well amongst the MGTOW masses, many of whom are posting one-star reviews on Amazon.

Their complaints are a mixture of the reasonable and the ridiculous. On the one hand, they accuse him of being a con artist trying to cash in on their little movement with an ebook made up mostly of stuff that’s already been posted on the internet. On the other, well, they think he’s some kind of quasi-feminist supplicator to women who’s committed a sort of treason against his fellow men by not banning all women from AVFM. No, really:

 43 of 62 people found the following review helpful 1.0 out of 5 stars Story of a Shill, January 2, 2015 By  Brad P. - See all my reviews This review is from: Go Your Own Way: Understanding MGTOW (Kindle Edition) Paul Elam is almost universally hated in the MGTOW community and this book is his attempt to hijack and appropriate a fledgeling philosophy in order to make a cheap buck at best, or at worst subvert and pervert it.  MGTOW began as a direct reaction for men to be aware the risks of marriage and relationships with women, including the conception of children, and to either mitigate the risks on their own terms or protect themselves completely by practicing abstinence from sex, relationships and economic engagement in the face of a gynocentric structured tax system that unfairly transfers benefit and subsidy to women at the expense of men.  But Paul Elam is a known supplicator to Feminists as a means of getting a pass as a moderate and promoting his AVFM network and profiting from male suffering. Feminists are the direct culprit responsible for creating a toxic society that is extremely hostile towards men. Paul Elam advocates for traditionalism and insists that married men can be MGTOW too when that is the exact antithesis of MGTOW. In Western developed nations, traditionalism and marriage only serve to compromise male sovereignty, savings, sanity, and safety. Paul Elam's general conduct has alienated the best thinkers and contributors previously at his misguided website, as well as many other former subscribers.  MGTOW is about liberating men without any reservation, apology, or reverence to political correctness.  Between VAWA and divorce law, married men can only think they are going their own way. Only up until Princess Cupcake becomes unsatisfied and calls in Big Daddy Government to rough him up and take him away.  Save your money and time and PASS.

On their own websites, Elam’s MGTOW haters are even more blunt. Here’s what one commenter on MGTOWHQ had to say:

Re: reviews on paul's mgtow book aren't looking too nice  Postby comedian » Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:49 pm Personally, I always thought Elam was an agent of the plantation. Call himself a MGTOW leader, get a bunch of guys under his wing and gradually suck up to the twats towing his supposed MGTOW brigade behind him. That's what happens when you allow twats into your forum. I think it was a deliberate move on his part. To sum up, water down MGTOW to the point where it isn't MGTOW, it's men going Elam's way; back into the grinder.  His book isn't even worth the price of a McHappy Meal.

But my favorite response so far comes from a Youtuber who calls himself TheMadShangi. A few months ago, Mr. Shangi was a loyal AVFMer; indeed, he contributed a post to Elam’s site gleefully recounting how he’d been such a royal pain in the ass to me on Twitter that I stopped responding to him. (Or, as he put it, How I made David Futrelle cry and ragequit on Twitter.)

Well, these days he’s singing a different tune. Literally. Here’s his musical critique of Mr. Elam and his book.(The bit at the beginning is from a video Elam made baiting his MGTOW haters.)

Both sides in this MGTOW civil war are so thoroughly terrible I can only hope that they both go down in ignominious defeat, leaving us, the amused spectators, the only real winners.

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sunnysombrera
9 years ago

Is Ben and Jerry’s hard to get outside of the US?

Britain has it, but in much fewer flavours. Chocolate brownie, cookie dough, caramel cup, phish food, and a couple of those versions with a sauce core.

Skye
Skye
9 years ago

Contrapangloss, I must see this artwork. Paging talented Mammoth artists, please create this.

Also, nutty bars, Ben & Jerry’s, chocolate and hazelnuts, chocolate and walnuts, chocolate and pecans, chocolate and almonds, chocolate and…(I may be overly fond of chocolate) .

David Hughes, in case you’re seriously asking, of course it is fine for a man to be single. Most feminists are for people having intrinsic value regardless of the romantic relationship they’re in or not in.

On Hommen, I’ve always wondered what exactly the threat to freedom such people feel is evident in gay marriage.

M. the Social Justice Ranger
M. the Social Justice Ranger
9 years ago

Indeed. Isn’t banning gay marriage a greater threat to freedom than allowing it?

(Rhetorical, I’ve argued with more than enough super-conservatives to know the answer is “But freedom and free speech only apply to me and people who agree with me!”)

Buttercup Q. Skullpants
Buttercup Q. Skullpants
9 years ago

For conservatives, “freedom” means never having to be uncomfortable, guilty, or second in line.

grumpyoldnurse
9 years ago

@ davethehughes –

Is it a sign of total failure and being a bad person if a guy is single?

Of course not!

Charby
Charby
9 years ago

I think it’s terrifying that in some subcultures Paul Elam would be considered a feminist.

Robert
Robert
9 years ago

I know GroundPetrel isn’t around to answer, and he was full of curious rhetorical tics anyway, but – does anyone know what he could have meant by ‘Neelix wannabe’? It was used at least twice, but by the time I thought to ask, the Mallet of Loving Correction* had descended.

It turns out that Sea Monkeys and X-Ray Specs were both invented and marketed by the same man. What a complete dedication to destroying the dreams of childhood that shows. Although I did enjoy looking at them under my microscope.

*Term used on the Scalzi Whatever blog for the banhammer.

cassandrakitty
cassandrakitty
9 years ago

The Googles are telling me that Neelix is a Star Trek character.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelix

Robert
Robert
9 years ago

Cassandrakitty – thanks for the link. Still seems like an odd expression to use as an insult – “you’re always trying to jolly people up, and you can’t really cook!”

cassandrakitty
cassandrakitty
9 years ago

If I was to try to think of which Star Trek characters people might aspire to be like that definitely wouldn’t be my first choice.

cassandrakitty
cassandrakitty
9 years ago

Nor would it be the go-to thing you don’t want to be like, so yeah, I’m baffled.

Puddleglum
9 years ago

Maybe ‘Neelix wannabe’ is a weird way of saying ‘beta male’? Definitely bonding material. /s

cassandrakitty
cassandrakitty
9 years ago

Maybe he thought people aspire to have literal buttheads?

(Why does Star Trek do that so often, create groups that look exactly like humans except for the fact that they appear to have an ass on their foreheads?)

alaisvex
alaisvex
9 years ago

Maybe we’re overthinking this, and he was just really, really dumb and really, really bad at insults. Or maybe Puddleglum is right, and he was a genius at playing stupid and naive.

Falconer
9 years ago

I thought he said something about Neelix trying to kill everyone on Voyager with his cooking.

Despite the fact that he tried to nerdsplain Star Trek to me, I’m sorry that he turned out to be a tedious little troll.

yutolia
yutolia
9 years ago

I wonder how long it took that MGTOW thread to turn into “my dad used to beat my mom and here’s why it was always his fault.”

Sorry, I ventured into those forums ONCE before I knew much about MRAs just to see what it was all about… never again!!!

yutolia
yutolia
9 years ago

Hmmmmm…. realized there was a bizarre typo in my comment that makes it sound pretty icky and weird! Should’ve read:

I wonder how long it took that MGTOW thread to turn into “my dad used to beat my mom and here’s why it was always HER fault”

This is not to say that I believe this – I don’t. But all I saw when I went on there was them blaming their mothers for the abuse they suffered.

Robert
Robert
9 years ago

Cassandrakitty – regarding the forehead trope on Star Trek, from what I’ve read it was a compromise between the makeup/prosthesis team and the directors. Any significant prosthesis below the eyebrows will interfere with the actor’s ability to convey emotion using facial expressions. So – go ‘head with the fo’head.

Now I know Jude Law did a bang-up job from behind his mask in “V”, but it’s probably a lot harder to do with a television show.

alaisvex
alaisvex
9 years ago

Robert, isn’t that also why Gerard Butler got half of a half face mask in the Phantom of the Opera movie? Because he couldn’t convey emotion with the whole top half of his face covered?

Of course, Gerard Butler is a terrible actor, but it took my a long time to realize that. He’s so good-looking that it didn’t hit me until I saw The Ugly Truth.

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