Claiming the Liberty of the Sector --
Fidelbogen Is Not An "MRA"
I am not an "MRA." I am active on behalf of the human rights of males, in various ways.
That liberty will only exist for us if we proactively reach out and build it. And if certain ones refuse to acknowledge this liberty, we shall judge them accordingly. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. By the way, MRAs too are welcome to claim the Liberty of the Sector.
But I am not an "MRA".
I am an agitator against feminism, and in favor of a Male Renaissance.
But I am not an "MRA".
That is not a word which I apply to myself as a label. I formerly did, but I no longer do.
I am on good terms with many people who do apply the word MRA to themselves as a label. But I do not apply that word to myself as a label.
That word has picked up more baggage than I can honestly claim to be carrying. I mean that it has picked up other people's baggage. And it would place an unwanted burden on me personally, to carry a shitload of baggage which I do not own -- or which is worse, to have other people assume that I am carrying such baggage. So if you want to call me something, call me:
A counter-feminist....
A non-feminist. . .
An activated non-feminist. . .
A non-feminist partisan. . .
A partisan of the non-feminist sector. .
A pro-male agitator. . .
A pro-male partisan. . .
A Male Renaissance Agitator. . .
Or other names that might occur to me later.
And if certain ones insist on calling me an 'MRA', it is in contravention to my own stated wishes.
Finally, I invite others to crystallize around the suggested list of terms above, in order to create a distinct brand that will gradually come to be differentiated from the 'MRA' brand. We ought to create many, MANY such distinct brands if we wish to claim the liberty of the non-feminist sector. Or for short: the Liberty of the Sector.
That liberty will only exist for us if we proactively reach out and build it. And if certain ones refuse to acknowledge this liberty, we shall judge them accordingly. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. By the way, MRAs too are welcome to claim the Liberty of the Sector.
Some day, I hope to organize "Non-Feminist Be-ins" at such venues as college campuses. It might be nothing more than a crowd of silent people at some popular location, standing stock still like the guards at Buckingham Palace and wearing identical t-shirts that say, "I am not a feminist". And maybe holding up signs, too.
posted by Fidelbogen at 1:16 AM
16 Comments:
LOL The motto could be, "Give me liberty or give me death" - hm, maybe not, the feminists might be too happy to oblige.... Glad to see that you are making the distinction.
Whatever works for you, man.
I'll still call you this, though:
modern-day philosopher.
It suits you.
Much respect, Fiedelbogen.
What baggage has MRA picked up that Feminists didn't put there? Or white knights and other Feminist helpers? And won't they just do the same to your new brand?
@Trent:
In reality, there is not a thin dime's worth of distinction between me and X percent of people who call themselves "MRAs". Yet there is a considerable distinction between me and Y percent of such people.
But irrespective of all that, I do not choose to apply "MRA" to myself as a label.
I have thrown in the towel, you might say. There is a critical semantic distinction between labels and descriptors, but I have understood the futility of educating the broad public about this. No matter how many times you explain it, people will use the descriptive acronym "MRA" as if it were a label on a bottle referring some infallible list of ingredients.
So I have decided that a person who is chiefly occupied with opposing feminism would most simply and logically call him/herself a non-feminist.
Actually, I decided this almost 4 years ago.
"Non-feminist" is a term which inherently repels the semantic baggage effect that "MRA" is prone to.
"MRA" was never meant to be anything but a 'big tent' word, but in the popular mind matters have developed otherwise.
So on the one hand, we may lament that people are such incorrigible suckers for semantics. Yet on the other, we may resign ourselves to this but craftily turn it to our advantage.
Call this tacking to the wind of human nature.
So yes, I have thrown in the towel, but not because I am giving up the fight. Rather, I am moving the fight to a different ring.
Too bad that "non-feminist" is such a boring, vanilla-sounding word.
But then, that is its paramount virtue. That is what makes it deadly. It is like a fog which offers no point source. You cannot meaningfully go on the attack against it.
Plus, it frames the conversation exactly as it should be framed: non-feminist v. feminist.
And it makes possible a big tent effect which has eluded the term "MRA".
@Trent:
If the feminists are "happy to oblige", then let them do their worst. But our side should be well prepared to document the evidence.
@Trent:
I know that you, as a Catholic, understand what is meant by the expression that "the blood of martyrs is seed."
@Anon 7:35:
I am glad that you mentioned the word "philosopher".
I've got a feeling that I will be turning to subjects other than just feminism, in order to make this whole business more "philosophical". ;)
@Anon 10:24:
You ask a short question. Unfortunately, it requires a long answer.
It is true that feminists, collaborators and white knights have "put" a lot of said baggage in place.
It is also true that so-called "MRAs" have shot themselves in the foot in many ways, and in so doing have assisted others mightily in loading that "baggage".
Anyhow. . the non-feminist "brand" is actually a kind of anti-brand because it inherently resists branding.
A word like 'MRA' fairly BEGS to be branded.
But a universal vanilla word such as "non-feminist" is like a fog --as I mentioned elsewhere.
How do you "brand" a fog?
Trust me, once you claim the Liberty of the Sector, the moral burden will shift entirely to the feminists.
All I can say is, stay tuned for details. Or...dig through the archives, where I talk about such things quite a bit.
If you are up for a long, heavy read, the following will keep you busy for quite a while:
CLINK HERE
http://counterfem.blogspot.com/2008/04/notes-toward-efficient-political-world.html
I remember at one point you did a point using the label anti-feminism (a term I thought quite handy and so co-opted). As you say non-feminist does sound vanilla-like, at least more so than non-feminist. Its neutrality is misleading, which could be a good or a bad thing. Good as in it's foggy as you say, but bad in the sense that it fails to project the true sense of rejection which is inherent in "the movement" - in which case it could call many people who do in fact believe in the benign form of feminism so prevalent but think they don't (aachm, certain SoCon types). And then you would end up with as much baggage attached to that label as the other.
I guess what I am saying is that "anti-feminism" seems more of a pro-active thing rather than simple negation. It takes a stand, and even if every anti-feminist disagreed about how we are going to get there, we can all agree on being pro-actively against feminism.
Probably semantics, but in my book semantics are important.
@Trent:
Remember that "anti-feminist" is a subset of "non-feminist".
"Non-feminist" is a fallback position.
But in this case, I think that attitude is the key.
The key is to stubbornly declare yourself 'non-feminist', and then ask them what they plan to do about it. That is where the tension ratchets up, and things get interesting. ;-)
Just imagine Clint Eastwood's
'Man with No Name' character saying "I'm a non-feminist".
Couldn't agree more with every word in this post.
I only considered myself an MRA for about a month or so before a Real Man quickly changed my stance.
@forweg:
I gotta say, I never got a Real Man's (tm) opinion on that subject.
I just looked at the landscape, and decided that "MRA" was politically inefficient as terminology.
You have my humble apologies for making that identification. I will remember in the future to not use that term when quantifying you.
@Mastenship:
Apologies humble or otherwise not necessary. After all, the change was not in effect yet.
And actually, if you DID refer to me as an MRA. . it wouldn't be the end of the world. But I don't call myself that -- as any feminist who calls me that will quickly learn.
FYI - this post got manboobzed...
He no longer considers me on his boob roll - >>sigh<<
I feel so left out.
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