Why does the establishment and mainstream media want to paint us as far-right nutjobs?

Pasolini123 · 2022-06-02T08:19:25+00:00

That's because feminism no longer is an ideology. It is a religion. The main dogma of this religion is that women are always oppressed (even when they aren't and even where actually men are disadvantaged). And that all universal, human problems have a gender aspect, which makes them actually women's problems (you know: men are dying at higher rates from COVID, women most affected; men dying, losing their limbs and being forced to stay in a war zone, women who flee the war most affected etc).

Whoever wants to speak about men's issues is dangerous, because he or she may make people question the dogma.

politicsthrowaway230 · 2022-06-02T18:12:41+00:00

Isn't it obvious? Look at the Ministry of Truth a while back, several outlets highlighted that it was conservative backlash. Obviously it wasn't only conservatives, but this emphasis withdraws credibility to the criticism in the eyes of a progressive reader.

There is a similar deal here, if we paint MRAs as necessarily far-right white supremacists, it is very easy to discard to progressive readers, because those two things are very potent bad things. Were they to acknowledge that there is a significant body of progressives advocating for men, suddenly it becomes much harder to dismantle, because their criticisms are necessarily more nuanced and less sloganistic.

The tactic then is to focus on conservative MRA content as much as possible, so people think that's what men's advocacy is about. Several well-meaning people then see that all the men's advocacy in their spaces are on the far-right, and so draw conclusions about men's advocacy as a whole. It's an example of progressive disinformation.

Though it's not entirely deliberate I guess - the reluctance of a lot of vocal progressives to advocate explicitly for men means that the main explicit advocates for men lie on the right and have less of a gender egalitarian outlook.

MachoManShark · 2022-06-02T09:29:35+00:00

its 4:30 am here, sorry if this reads like shit and doesnt make sense

tbh, i think y'all are largely right about the association of mras with the right being spurious and unreasonable, but i think we should acknowledge that the groups that are most fervently anti-feminist are far right ghouls who support harmful traditional gender roles, and that the extremity of their opinions gives them a lot more attention than groups that support a more measured pro-equality message.

this is to say, for many folks who think 'whackjob who want gi tradwives' when they hear 'anti-feminist', that association is born from genuine ignorance, and does not make them an enemy at the level of spirit.

this comment is, to a large extent just spitballing, and i don't really know how to go about mending the image of mras. as someone who is generally very progressive (trans rights are human rights and all that) the reason i don't consider myself a feminist is because the movement is dominated by unreasonable narratives and a hostility to any challenge to them, and i think we should try to be better by recognizing the potential points of agreement between us and the general feminist tendency of the liberal left.

some of my optimism in this regard may be because i am a marxist and see more radical left than liberal left, and the radicals tend to be more reasonable when it comes to gender; those of you who engage primarily with libs may have a very different (perhaps more accurate) view of the way feminism at large operates.

TonguePunchMyPooHole · 2022-06-02T09:25:39+00:00

Right want to stop abortions. Abortions are a ‘woman’s problem’

Therefore pro men are pro right because culture wars make money.

MazerTag · 2022-06-02T10:45:15+00:00

If you can call someone an -ist of any sort, you can reject everything they say without putting any effort into your argument.

Racist, sexist, mysogynist, Bunburyist... even Oscar Wilde knew it would come to this.

MarcusAITA · 2022-06-02T06:41:04+00:00

I don't think it's that deep. Every narrative needs an overarching enemy that can be blamed for everything. In mainstream media it's "far-right" which for their use can be whatever they don't like.

Aimless-Nomad · 2022-06-02T10:14:27+00:00

Because why on earth would you want to give up on a tactic that has worked and will work so brilliantly?

Watch it, you'll understand perfectly.

Grow_peace_in_Bedlam · 2022-06-02T17:15:10+00:00

They like to have one half of us ordinary people fighting the other so that we're too distracted to fight the real enemies at the top. And if they can make some people participating in their manufactured gender war think they're being righteous and progressive while doing their bidding, all the better to keep them from questioning things.

Suddenly_Sisyphus42 · 2022-06-03T04:13:03+00:00

Seems like more divide and conquer, keep the feeble masses and plebians fighting amongst themselves lest they peek behind the curtain and see who really runs the show.

KochiraJin · 2022-06-02T06:02:18+00:00

nah, it's actually really simple. Right wing = evil in their minds.

Interesting_Doubt_17 · 2022-06-02T11:03:31+00:00

Because "man = right-winger; woman = left-winger"

MRA_TitleIX · 2022-06-03T16:16:13+00:00

Painting us nutjobs is a way to enforce the status quo. When they first get started in making changes, no civil rights movement is ever met with open arms by the government and oligarchs that control media. The government doesn't give hugs to high impact activists of a new civil rights movement. They actually have a track record of killing them, jailing them, smearing them, etc. It's a theme that has spanned the rise and fall of nations.

When it comes to individuals, I haven't received much hate for the work I do, but I have received a little hostility. That hostility is usually calmed when I get to talking about what underpins my activism.

Just as you said OP, people jump to thinking I am some right wing trad con women hater. I start by explaining that I am effectively writing alerts of civil rights violations to the federal government. The federal government will investigate if what I allege is a violation at face value. If they find a violation they get it corrected. It's really hard to argue against enforcement of civil rights law.

As a leftist I want to see more civil rights laws, and structured in a way that they are easy to chase court enforcement. Since I live in capitalist america, that would mean less hoops, and larger penalties that make attorneys rush to grab the cases (even for poor people).

I could rant all day on the topic of how opaque and difficult it is for normal people to enforce their rights. Poor people are straight up fucked and locked out of the system, yet need it most.

Skirt_Douglas · 2022-06-02T16:21:51+00:00

There is nothing more scary to a feminist then men organized and empowered.

TisIChenoir · 2022-06-03T09:26:44+00:00

I think because there is an element of truth in it, but they see it the wrong way.

The far-right is the only one saying to men "listen, we hear you". So while feminism and the left in general has adopted a very firm standing ground on women's rights being the only ones that matters, and men should not voice their own issues because muh priviledge, there is a part of the political spectrum that says "we know you face issues, we know it's not easy, come here you will be heard".

Unfortunately, the far-right is a bona fide brainworming machine.

But if the left was to open their heart just a bit and tell men"hey look, we get it, it's hard for you too. Women might have it a bit harder, but that doesn't mean your issues aren't worth adressing and we'll get to it", you know, with afucking bit of empathy, I'm almost certain that the far-right would lose its strength overnight.

Because polarization is never a good solution.

And I get it. You don't want women's issues to be drowned out by men's ones. But drowning out men's issues with women's ones is not good.

So while I'm a leftist, a socialist, and basically advocate for beheading the billionaires and redistribute their wealth I can't deny the left has a massive responsibility in the state of politics, and should confront it. Because you can only so many times try to discuss in good faith the issues you face and get insulted before turning sour.

tiredfromlife2019 · 2022-06-02T14:41:03+00:00

Cause society has been conditioned to abhor, ignore and suppress the Far-Right.

Hence why the smear.

OopsiPoopsi75 · 2022-06-03T13:48:41+00:00

Because let's be honest, far right nutjobs often scream the loudest about everything, including men's rights.

We have to be honest and admit rightoids have taken up a huge chunk of space in this sphere.

McGauth925 · 2022-07-07T20:17:42+00:00

Answer: because it makes it a lot easier to discount anything we have to say. It makes us more wary of saying anything not currently seen as politically correct, it makes it easier for women to continue to hold viewpoints that are completely sexist, and it makes people less willing to listen to a person or group already labeled as, in so many words, evil.

Title	Why does the establishment and mainstream media want to paint us as far-right nutjobs?
Author	ADHighDef
Upvotes	55
Comments	23
Date	June 2, 2022 5:54 AM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/v31zy5/why_does_the_establishment_and_mainstream_media/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/why-does-the-establishment-and-mainstream-media.1117603 https://theredarchive.com/post/1117603

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