Paul Elam

GenderNeutralLanguag · 2015-07-06T13:31:17+00:00

Paul Elam is a necessary evil. Civil Rights movements don't happen in a vacuum. There is a larger context going on around them. While it is the non-violent well spoken Politically Correct leaders like MLK and Gandhi that get credit, they wouldn't have achieved anything without rabble rousing rebels. The Black Panthers and Bengali Tigers where the unreasonable alternative to MLK and Gandhi.

What Men's Rights Advocates like Warren Farrel have been lacking isn't sound rhetorical arguments in favor of men's Rights, but an unreasonable alternative. What is getting Men's Rights noticed isn't the sound reasonable sane logical arguments we make. What is getting Men's Rights Noticed is Paul Elam and his "Bash a Violent Bitch Month" and PUA and TRP non-sense.

davidrexs · 2015-07-06T09:42:12+00:00

Bit of both. Done a lot of good raising awareness, and I don't think he has any awful or bad ideas, but he often presents them in a very brash way and doesn't stop to consider how he presents things. For example, with "Bash a Violent Bitch", I think most people (who read the original article that makes it clear) would recognize it as a gender swap satire to demonstrate how awful it is to brag about beating your boyfriend. However, somebody a bit more PR minded may have been able to weigh up the pros and cons of the approach and may have decided that it would do more harm than good to present the argument in that fashion.

Overall I think he is a positive presence, although he possesses a subtlety matched only by the Westboro Baptists.

Lobstermansunion · 2015-07-06T13:10:43+00:00

Some of Paul/AVfM's tactics are so obnoxiously stupid it boggles the mind, but on balance, Paul is a positive figure. We actually need "not nice" people as standard-bearers because "nice" has never worked on these issues. I would not call him a shining light, though, and I don't even think he would want that characterization.

subarashiisekai · 2015-07-06T09:30:53+00:00

I think the controversy about Elam is blown way out of proportion. Apparently one of his biggest sins is writing an article about how it's okay to hit a woman in self defense? Though I'm no pHD in Elamology.

TRPACC · 2015-07-06T09:23:06+00:00

Shining light ... before Paul did avfm the men's movement really was struggling , it seemed hopeless at times - it was nothing but a few blogs and there was no media attention .

What he did was find a way to use feminists silencing tactics against them and adopt the same controversial tactics of feminism and other social movements and now we are breaching the mainstream .

Many people do out of naivety, think the best policy is just being nice and polite (doesnt work)and therefore elam is a liability .

baserace · 2015-07-06T09:47:57+00:00

In my brief dealings with him he's been an utter cock, and this is when on the same side of an issue. I can imagine how he gets his opponents riled up. Discussion on AVFM is also extremely vitriolic verging on zero wiggle room for even slightly opposing views.

I do understand his general tactics though, and from what I can see he's been one of the people keeping raising the profile of the MRM.

Leinadro · 2015-07-06T15:36:01+00:00

I think Elam is s hero that lived long enough to become a villain.

He makes good points and valid observations but i think in his desire to be firey to bring attention to valid issues he has become a detriment to the MRM.

PeteyMax · 2015-07-06T21:30:24+00:00

The main issue I have with Elam is how he runs A Voice for Men. It is not a charity but rather a private corporation and he refuses to disclose his finances. In other words, your donations to AVFM go directly into Elam's pockets. Most of the people working there, incidentally, are volunteers. It is suspicious to say the least. For this reason, I will no longer be making donations to AVFM.

ghebert001 · 2015-07-06T11:58:26+00:00

Shining light. Most people who are against him are the same idiots who think we should all play in the same sandbox as feminists and not say anything out of politeness when they kick sand in our faces, then cry and tell everyone we're the ones kicking sand. These idiots then say we're "bashing feminim" when we try to point out projection, hypocrisy, etc. by feminists.

eaton80 · 2015-07-06T14:27:16+00:00

Paul himself evolved over time. He used to run a very PC publication called Men's News Daily in the early 2000's. The publication was having difficulty getting much attention. That's when the rise of the Manosphere happened. Groups as diverse as PUAs, MGTOWs, and Survivalists started comparing notes. About the same time PUA's like Rollo Tomassi decided to go Red Pill, Paul decided to go more militant as well. That's when he shut down the old publication, and started AVFM. His ballsy posts would get coverage from the likes of NY Times, and he would have a banner waiting for their googling readerships the same day "Welcome NY Times Readers" etc. Whatever your feelings about him, the results speak for themselves with the active MRA population reaching 150,000's.

aussiehank · 2015-07-06T13:34:30+00:00

Elam is just a front man. If anyone should be brought before the International Court of Justice, in the Hague, it's Esmay .

Title	Paul Elam
Author	wombatinaburrow
Upvotes	8
Comments	33
Date	July 6, 2015 9:19 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3ca96n/paul_elam/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/paul-elam.976105 https://theredarchive.com/post/976105

Comments