When I began this blog six years ago, the Men’s Rights Movement was little more than a curiosity. I’ve watched, with both amusement and alarm, as this small movement has inspired, and ultimately has been eclipsed by, a broader anti-feminist, anti-woman backlash, online and off, driven largely by the same white male rage.
Each new iteration of this backlash has been more toxic — and, sadly, more influential — than the last, ultimately culminating in the rise of the alt-right. Which is to say, the newest incarnation of fascism.
Now the openly racist, openly misogynistic idol of the alt-right has been elected president. Obviously, not everyone who voted for Trump was white or male. But his candidacy was powered in large part by the same kind of white male rage I have been writing about virtually every day for the last six years.
While Trump’s election is, without question, a catastrophe — in ways I will be chronicling in detail over the next few months and years — Trumpism isn’t built to last. Trump’s victory was a narrow one — indeed, he actually lost the popular vote — and the demographic group that served as the backbone of his movement (white men) is shrinking relative to those groups Trump has railed against.
In many ways, Trumpism seems to be a classic example of an “extinction burst,” a term used by behavior psychologists to describe a weird and seemingly paradoxical pattern of behavior. As Popsugar summed it up in a post earlier this week:
[W]hen a certain type of behavior or action isn’t really getting its desired results any longer — say, a child’s tantrums failing to get Mom or Dad’s attention — there’s often a period when a subject struggles even harder, makes more noise, and generally throws an extremely loud fit. In other words, extinction burst is that last-ditch ramping up before an inevitable flame-out.
Trumpism, like all backlashes, is doomed to fail. Unfortunately, it is likely to do a tremendous amount of damage before it goes, not so gently, into that good night. In the meantime, I will do my best to make sense of the toxic stew of racism and misogyny at the heart of Trumpism, and to provide support for those fighting against it or just trying to get by). And so I’ve changed the tagline of this blog from “the new misogyny, tracked and mocked” to “surviving the Trumpocalypse” to reflect this broader focus.
Don’t worry: I will still be writing about MGTOWs and MRAs and the other strange misogynistic creatures that I’ve been writing about from the beginning. While I recognize they are but a sideshow in the era of Trump, I just can’t quit them, and I suspect that a lot of you can’t either.
It might be a bit late to comment on this, but I think the alt-right propaganda machine shares a heaping helping of the blame for Trumpism. The likes of Breitbart, World Net Daily, Sean Hannity, Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh stoke the fires of hatred, paranoia and resentment for their own benefit. They shovel out that shit by the ton and the Trump supporters slurp it up like it is caviar. They’ve also poisoned the well so that their followers won’t accept data contrary to their views. Anything that doesn’t back up their own viewpoint is dismissed outright, countered with amateur YouTube videos or attributed to biased media or “the elites.”
In January I embarked on a new solo business, and as part of the process I started watching vlogs and reading forums and Facebook groups on the subject. In this particular business, the more you know the more you make, so I’ve been following many of these people for months, soaking up knowledge. All of them seem like nice, genuine people. Unfortunately these last couple of weeks a lot of them have come out as Trump supporters.
One of them even did some of his videos with a Trump/Pence sign in the background and a “Hillary for Prison” shirt and urged his subscribers to visit InfoWars. I left the guy a comment saying I was disappointed that he followed that Alex Jones kook and I hoped for the future of the country that he was disappointed on election day. His response was to say that “InfoWars can get crazy at times but they report stuff the lamestream media ignores.” Yeah, they ignore it because 99.9% of it is total shit Alex Jones and his cronies pull out of their asses. This totally cool and intelligent guy who has taught me so much has swallowed Alex Jones’ rantings as gospel. I’m sure he’s familiar with at least some of the other propaganda sites as well. I couldn’t convince him Alex Jones is a paranoid fraudster who never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like, no matter how based in fantasy.
Another example is when the guy at the Trump rally brought out the “Republicans Against Trump” sign and the Secret Service hustled the orangutan off the stage a short while ago. In one of the political forums I follow, literally minutes after it happened and before anyone even knew what was going on, there were Trump supporters blaming the “evil leftists” and all but accusing Hillary of putting out a hit on him. A particularly ludicrous accusation in light of his comments about “a second amendment solution” if Clinton were elected. These people attributed any disturbance to people paid by the Democrats to disrupt Trump rallies, as if there aren’t protesters who show up on their own volition.
These people cannot be reasoned with. Logic, reasoning and “innocent until proven guilty” slides off them like water off a duck’s back. I strongly suspect the poisoning of the well by Alex Jones and his ilk are to blame, and I urge David to continue doing the Breitbart segments at least.
My biggest consolation in all this: the climate change that these fascist fucksticks don’t believe in is going to kill them all. I’ll be laughing my head off when we cross one of the positive-feedback thresholds (could be ocean acidification, could be permafrost melt, could be one we haven’t FOUND yet) and touch off an unstoppable self-accelerating shift.
Climate change, as with any other calamity will affect the most vulnerable and marginalized more around the world though. Not as much Trumpkins.
People are proposing a safetypin-in-your-clothes campaign: you wear a safety pin, so those threatened know that someone will have their back if shit hits the fan.
I’m mildly uncertain about stuff like that. I mean, it is too easy for the baddies to co-opt it and then what?
Anyway. More awful.
Really awful.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxEoJPBXcAEd8ov.jpg
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxEntW8WgAAK81S.jpg
“Returning home to Trump Tower from the White House may not be Mr. Trump’s only embrace of the familiar. His aides say he has also expressed interest in continuing to hold the large rallies that were a staple of his candidacy. He likes the instant gratification and adulation that the cheering crowds provide, and his aides are discussing how they might accommodate his demand.
“I think Trump has discovered that these rallies are tremendous opportunities for him to get his message out,” said Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media, a conservative website. “It’s actually sort of old-fashioned, that you want to actually meet people and press the flesh with him.””
Question: Which egocentric leader also liked large rallies and adulation of crowds in early half of 20th century?
Just popping in to give out virtual hugs for everyone here, you’re all great and keep up the good work. I know it’s going to be hell but please stay strong and rise everyone around you up.
I’m all ears to what I can do and become a better ally.
“This isn’t some third world dictatorship; this is the United States.”
Unh hunh.
Remember, she was an American.
Had to sleep.
By working together, I think the name calling has to stop on both sides. It get us nowhere; and it’s honestly starting to look like a grade school lunchroom fight. Second, the media has to be dealt with; they are fanning the flames of hatred. Third, perhaps you guys could dumb things down a little bit. If you want them to understand climate change, then put it in terms that they can understand; kind of like when a doctor has to use normal speak for all of his patients, or when you have to explain a difficult subject to a child. Make it relatable to them, show how it’s hurting them and their livelihood.
I’m going to tell you a story. I have four children, and my youngest daughter (she is 8) is considered gifted. She reads at a high school level, she codes, and yesterday she just asked me if she suffered from seasonal affective disorder (I just thought that was a heck of a word for an eight year old, so I included it). Anyway, she freaks out the school system, and her peers because she is intelligent. They feel threatened by her, and she has come home from school upset because her peers think she is weird and a know it all. I had to sit her down and explain that sometimes when we have a gift of knowledge, it scares people; that our intelligence makes them feel inferior, so they resort to name calling to protect their own ego. I simply asked her to dumb it down a bit for her classmates, and all would be well. She did, and bam…….they stopped. Of course, she can always study coding with her father, and medicine with me, but her peers are not the appropriate audience for discussing disease pathology or PHP.
This applies to most of you here as well. You are highly intelligent people, you are gifted; but, you have got to remember that there is a time and place to be a walking thesaurus. If you want to truly work on a world of peace, you have to learn to get down on others level, and convince them of your side on their terms.
My Native friend likes to refer to the left as libtards. When he gets going, I remind him that I am liberal, and I’m a pretty nice person, and by God, I’m not mentally challenged. That’s usually enough to get him to apologize, focus, and talk about the issues without name calling.
Its pretty amazing to think what America could be if everyone used their gifts and talents for a greater good.Think about it this way, you are the architects of a building project, and they are the laborers. Without them there is no building, but, without you there is no building. Use your gifts of intelligence to get the laborers on your side.
I can see that some of you here are quite possibly some of the most amazing writers I have ever witnessed; how hard would it be for you to use those gifts for the written word to be the next great activist? I don’t mean an activist with just those who are like you, but the activist that can get the common man on your side.
Mass deportations have happened here.
Shut up, Valerie. This isn’t a “both sides” thing.
Re: safety pins, a friend of mine shared this. She asked her friends to take action rather than expecting the victims to seek out the pin wearers. Just a thought.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/victoriasanusi/people-whove-actually-experienced-racism-are-unhappy-about-t?utm_term=.mwMpjgpz0Z#.hokk5nkxLW
I’m one of the ‘laborers’ in this scenario, I guess (small town, rural-raised, blue collar, high school education), and, um, people have their minds firmly made up. Just like your friend who keeps using the word ‘libtard’ does!
Again, working together to do what? Where are we getting to? Whether there’s name calling or not, I don’t want to work with Trump, the GOP congress or Republican voters. Why? Because the policies they want to implement hurt people. The name calling is not the point. You keep saying that if everyone stopped being so gosh darn mean, we can have more substantial conversation, but you are saying absolutely nothing with any substance whatsoever. It’s empty rhetoric. It’s concern trolling. We’re not mad because our side lost. We’re mad that it means marginalized people will be in danger.
Dealt with? I think you’ve accidentally shown your hand here. You see, there’s this little thing called the first amendment. It guarantees the freedom of press. We can criticize the media. We can choose not to consume media that we don’t think is any good. We can’t “deal with them.” Trump doesn’t understand that and neither do his fans.
There’s been plenty of that already. Both on TV and in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. You can’t force people who are willfully ignorant to learn. Explaining something again and again and again is a waste of time. I suspect you are merely trying to guilt us into wasting our time.
Why am I not surprised that you do not understand what the problem with the word libtard is?
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@Hashtag Ravenclaw
I’m in the same boat–whatever happens under Trump will be bad, it will be bad for the country and it will be bad for me personally (I have friends who think that things will be less bad for us because we live in Massachusetts which is more socially liberal and passed protections for abortion and LGBT people at the state level, I am less hopeful that the state of Massachusetts can entirely protect us from the policies of the Federal Government and it’s hard for me to not care about and not to worry about women, people of color, the poor, and the disabled in other parts of the country) but I do have the tiny sliver of hope that if his presidency is so spectacularly awful that it destroys both him and anything and anyone associated with him
@Valerie:
How about no?
How about “stop devaluing intelligence and make it OK to be smart” instead? How about “it’s cool to learn stuff”?
Because there are already tons of “Popular Science” level articles written about climate change, all the way down to kids’ level.
LIKE HEY FUCK RIGHT HERE! https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/basics/
But THAT is not the problem, that is, language.
The problem is that intelligence and knowledge and research are devalued in overall culture.
Right now American culture seems to have a very strong current of anti-intellectualism and heaping praise for bowel cognition. Why is it that universities pour money into sports gear, stadiums, scoreboards and such, but cut it from actual studies? Why is American culture so focused on circuses, bread be damned? Why non-media sexy research stuff gets scoffing about “waste of taxpayers’ money”? Basic research is what makes spectacular inventions possible.
Why are you going for “I don’t understand what you’re saying, what’s wrong with you?” instead of “I don’t understand what you’re saying, what’s wrong with me?”
Hi, @Valerie. Welcome. I’m sorry you haven’t gotten a great reception, but people here are angry that “both sides are bad” won out between a standard politician and a proto-fascist with the support of the KKK.
You sound the same as my parents about this – can’t we all just get along? Surely we can get things done if we all just calm down a little.
I’ll address your points by the numbers. I apologize if I get angry myself, but I am pretty stressed over this situation too.
I’m glad you live in an island of peace and kindness. Not all rural areas are filled with hate. I’m from a rural area as well, so I know. I use “y’all” all the time, in real life and on here. No one bats an eye.
May your island be high enough to survive the tide sweeping over America. And get some god-damn binoculars, ’cause there are people in the lowlands that could really use some help.
We are intolerant of the KKK, of the McCarthy Hearings, of waterboarding, of deportations, of concentration camps. The issue here is that you knew that one of the two candidates supported those things, and you decided to sit it out.
I believe the classy term for this is “Quisling”.
I get it – the future is an undiscovered country, we can’t know what the future will hold, maybe he won’t be so bad, etc.
But when someone tells you who they are, you believe them. Trump and his camp spent a year explaining who they are. They weren’t lying.
I hope that you can at least join us in opposing him.
My dad’s got cancer. I’m not American, but if I were, we’d be on the ACA, and the Republicans have promised to repeal that within the first 100 days. He’d be dead. And his story isn’t unique or special. There are tens of millions of people on the ACA who are going to lose their coverage. How many of them are receiving life-saving therapy right now?
Yes, people will certainly die because of Trump being elected and the Republicans believing they have a mandate.
I hope that you can at least join us in opposing him.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-president-supporters-attack-muslims-hijab-hispanics-lgbt-hate-crime-wave-us-election-a7410166.html
Would you call a “wave of hate crimes” a lynch mob, or do you get off on a technicality?
(That link is from the BBC. It ain’t a perfect news source, but it is a news source. You may not be familiar with them if you only pay attention to American mainstream sources these days.)
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/11/13586156/trump-deport-immigrants
Trump doesn’t have to actually bring in any new laws to start deporting people. The apparatus is already in place. Thanks, Obama. It can’t be blocked by Congress, and it doesn’t require any new laws. And given that Gingrich, first in line to be the Secretary of State, has called for re-starting the McCarthy Hearings? We could see an incredible number of people being pushed over the border. Including the Muslims and Hispanics of your own high island.
I hope that you can at least join us in opposing him.
The worrisome thing is that the KKK endorsed Trump, and that didn’t make you immediately realize that he needs to be stopped with extreme prejudice. Working with Trump legitimizes him and his platform. The platform that the KKK and the Fascists gleefully endorse.
I agree. Let’s work together. Let’s make sure the Apocalypse doesn’t happen. Will we be seeing you and yours in the protests? Will you be writing letters and making phone calls to every congressperson and official you can find to make sure they know that you repudiate the hate of the platform that’s just ascended to power? Will you donate to the ACLU, to Planned Parenthood, to the many non-government bodies that will keep the vulnerable safe? Will you protest when they start shutting down the ACA, for all of the people immobilized from sickness and unable to stand?
Fear is normal. Fear is fine. Don’t look down on people who fear, for they have reason to fear right now. You live on a high island, where peace and cooperation dominates. That is your luxury and your strength. Use that platform to help those who don’t have that luxury. HELP the people who are fearful, don’t tell them to shut up and sit down. Or you’re as bad as the 1% in their gilded penthouse apartments while the world burns.
I hope that you can at least join us in opposing him.
(I see you’ve replied with a new post; I’ll address that in a bit)
Yeah, I’m not close to being the smartest person on this site. I’m probably not the smartest person in my house, even. I’m just smart enough to understand that I was not gifted with a great intellect. But I have read many magazine articles that explain climate change in language that I understand. These were magazines available in any Barnes and Noble. The information is out there. The problem isn’t that people don’t understand it, it’s that there are forces out there (Fox News, the Koch brothers) actively promoting the idea that there is no such thing as human-caused climate change.
THERE ARE NO WORDS. </deadpool>
Or rather, well, I do have loads of words, but none of them are fit to print.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxFG_rbUoAAkBaf.jpg
I do find it telling that Valerie used an anecdote about black and Middle Eastern football players getting cheered. White America is fine with respecting people of color if they are successful at being athletes or entertainers. Athletes and entertainers, even very wealthy professional athletes and entertainers do not represent a threat to the power structure in anyway. Were those people who cheered a black athlete willing to cheer for a black president? I’m guessing no. Cheering for athletes who are not white does not make you not racist.
@Jackie’s Link:
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab96/cagealot/nictiffcaption.jpg
Does…does he know? Is he fucking aware of the people that support The Orange One? Like Stormfront, or those Neo-Nazis that stabbed people in Sacramento?
But now he’s turning these laws on suspected “Terrorists” (anyone who looks vaguely muslim or Islamic) I assume, so that’s fine.
Of course, white people don’t exactly cheer black athletes when they use their celebrity to show support and solidarity with black lives matter. Then they’re outraged that these athletes have opinions and ideals and don’t entirely exist just to dunk baskets and throw touchdowns for the entertainment of middle class white folk.
Um, yeah. There was this whole shitshow surrounding Colin Kaepernick. I don’t follow football, and even I’ve heard of it. There was no such shitshow surrounding Tim Tebow.
So, so much this. That’s the first thing that came into my head when I read Valerie’s comment, but I ran out of room, so edited it out.
People of colour are great if they smile right and are the right kind of talented and are properly obedient. The moment they step out of that line, they’re excorciated for “race-baiting” for wanting to be treated as an equal.
Women are great if they smile right and are the right kind of talented and are properly obedient. The moment they step out of that line, they’re excorciated for being “shrill” and “uppity” for wanting more than a kitchen as a prison.
Poor people are great if they smile right and are working 16 hours a day and are properly obedient. The moment they step out of that line, they’re excorciated for being “lazy” and “greedy” for wanting more than ramen noodles for dinner.
All of humanity are echoes of the ideal form for these guys. Echoes of the straight, prosperous, cis-gendered, male caucasian proto-form.
@PI, I’m not sure it’s going to be used on Muslims overmuch. I mean, it will, sure, but there are millions of those. I think it’s going to be more used on troublesome Muslim sympathizers. I.e. people who sympathize with the plight of Muslims and are vocal about it.
It feels more like an attempt to squelch opposition than rooting out terr’ists. A club to threaten liberals with when they get too uppity. That’s my worry, anyways.
I’ve actually been here a while. I just saw the talk about Gravatar earlier in the thread and thought I’d get in on the action.
Unless you meant about moving here, in which case, thanks! I may not have much to contribute, but the Escapist holds nothing for me any more (I’d naively thought the GamerGate influx would be the worst possible thing, but temporary), and I trust the people and proprietor here more than most other places I’ve seen.
…’cept a couple of blogs on Patheos, but commenting there requires using Disqus (usable, but a pain in the ass). >_>
I cannot possibly downplay the boys athletic ability. Talented boys that also won academic merit awards for holding down 4.0 GPA’s while busting their tails playing football.
Your right, intelligence is not highly valued; our school doesn’t even offer a gifted program, and when I pressed them about allowing her to move up a few grade levels, they refused to even consider it (oh but her social skills they said). Not a big deal as her father and I keep her active in her interests (this week it’s a Mosby’s medical dictionary).
As far as Trump; I’m going with watchful waiting. This isn’t Minority Report, so, I cannot predict what he is going to do. If he’s starts his presidency by doing harm, then I will protest.
You guys do have me curious about my friend though. I’m going to message him and ask him exactly why (as a native american) he supported Trump over Hillary. I know gun rights are a big issue with him as he is a very accomplished hunter, and I know he had a huge issue with his medical costs skyrocketing (they have five children).
Ah, yes, gifted. I remember when I was considered gifted. When I was 8, I could read at a college level; I often read big books about all sorts of subjects, history, animals, people, how things were made, although I still likes fiction best, of course.
That all went crashing down when algebra came on the scene, though, and a shit ton of annoying homework for school. AP classes sure like to give you tons of meaningless paperwork.
Sure, I still got pretty high scores on my quizes I was above average in everything but math for STAR testing, but, damn, if it didn’t help me at all. The education system in America sucks, especially when your mother refuse to get you tested for ADHD.
But, I digress, your kid probably gonna get it even worst than I did under Dump considering the Republican platform wants to get their grubby hands all over the school system. I don’t pity you, but I feel bad for your kid. Not gonna be great.
You know, it’s funny, Bush came into office when I was eight, just like Dump is for her. Super fun.
Wow, your daughter is sounding more and more like me at her age! She’s in for an interesting school career, I tell ya.
I take it back. If Valerie is a sock she is not Gert or MRAL. She is That_Susan. The stubborn insistence on completely missing every point. The pleas for civil debate without saying anything of substance. The both sides do it false equivalencies. It’s like deja vu.