F4J: Fighting The Culture of Violence
by Mike Shubov
In the light of the recent alleged plot by some extremists from Fathers4Justice to kidnap Prime Minister Tony Blair's 5-year-old son Leo, I would like to discuss the issues of men’s rights activism and problems inherent in the culture of violence. First I would like to counter the myth that men’s rights ideology favors violence. Prior to the existence of the Internet such myth such myth may have been believable, but as of 2006 anyone can look up men’s rights groups online and find that almost all of us support nothing more then equal rights. A major men’s rights discussion forum http://www.standyourground.com/ has a policy of banning anyone who advocates violence.
Nevertheless, we can not ignore the fact that some extremist members Fathers 4 Justice believe in using violence as a tool of social activism. Given that men’s movement is still in its infancy and rapidly growing, we should look for ways to prevent violent ideology from gaining any ground among us in the future.
Even though men’s movement does not support violence in any form the sad fact is that many of us are contaminated by the immoral and violent society in which we live. For centuries, violence against anyone was considered immoral, but unfortunately with the advent of misandry violence (against men) became both acceptable and applauded. Given that an average American watches TV 1950 hours a year, it should not be surprising that the message of misandry and celebration of violence reaches them much faster then any moral teaching by their religious leaders and/or parents.
Since the 1990s, countless movies celebrating violence against men appeared. Just consider the major blockbusters. Monster celebrates serial killer of men. Sin City celebrates castration. A major turn in our attitude toward violence was the murder of David Harris and his reputation. The murderers of his body and reputation taught many lessons to the American public. Clara Harris has shown that in modern USA a murderer and torturer is good enough to be a hero for 60% of women and 30% men. Connie Chung and countless other “reporters” have shown that they could portray a murderer as a “good person” and a victim – and not their respectability. Joe Farrah has shown that even many American conservatives can still respect an advocate of murder. Almost all victims rights advocates have shown total hypocrisy by pretending not to notice the vilification of a murder victim on most news channels.
Those who hate men to such degree as to advocate violence against us cause all of our society to become violent and immoral. As Kobe Briant, who I believe was falsely accused, said in 2003 - paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King - “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.” Likewise, when a society approves violence against anyone, it will approve violence against everyone. Had everyone who advocates violence against men been ridiculed and ostracized rather then respected, F4J extremists would have realized that advertising their cause by violent tactics can only hurt them and destroy their reputation among the very fathers whom they are trying to represent. But within our immoral society makes it possible for them to raise publicity and attract angry men by such tactics.
What are we doing to stop the culture of cruelty and violence? As I mentioned only, men’s organizations preach legality and nonviolence. Most men’s rights message boards ban anyone advocating violence. But that is not enough. Just like everyone else in our society, the growing number of men in men’s and fathers movement has access to the media which preaches violence. The only way to restore human decency to current generation would be for us to ridicule and eventually ostracize those who advocate violence – including violence against men. When we ridicule advocates of violence and hatred rather then debate them we bring forth a very important message – that hate-mongers and extremists deserve no respect. However, the strategy on countering misandry is a topic for a separate article.
Mike Shubov
Men4Liberty
In the light of the recent alleged plot by some extremists from Fathers4Justice to kidnap Prime Minister Tony Blair's 5-year-old son Leo, I would like to discuss the issues of men’s rights activism and problems inherent in the culture of violence. First I would like to counter the myth that men’s rights ideology favors violence. Prior to the existence of the Internet such myth such myth may have been believable, but as of 2006 anyone can look up men’s rights groups online and find that almost all of us support nothing more then equal rights. A major men’s rights discussion forum http://www.standyourground.com/ has a policy of banning anyone who advocates violence.
Nevertheless, we can not ignore the fact that some extremist members Fathers 4 Justice believe in using violence as a tool of social activism. Given that men’s movement is still in its infancy and rapidly growing, we should look for ways to prevent violent ideology from gaining any ground among us in the future.
Even though men’s movement does not support violence in any form the sad fact is that many of us are contaminated by the immoral and violent society in which we live. For centuries, violence against anyone was considered immoral, but unfortunately with the advent of misandry violence (against men) became both acceptable and applauded. Given that an average American watches TV 1950 hours a year, it should not be surprising that the message of misandry and celebration of violence reaches them much faster then any moral teaching by their religious leaders and/or parents.
Since the 1990s, countless movies celebrating violence against men appeared. Just consider the major blockbusters. Monster celebrates serial killer of men. Sin City celebrates castration. A major turn in our attitude toward violence was the murder of David Harris and his reputation. The murderers of his body and reputation taught many lessons to the American public. Clara Harris has shown that in modern USA a murderer and torturer is good enough to be a hero for 60% of women and 30% men. Connie Chung and countless other “reporters” have shown that they could portray a murderer as a “good person” and a victim – and not their respectability. Joe Farrah has shown that even many American conservatives can still respect an advocate of murder. Almost all victims rights advocates have shown total hypocrisy by pretending not to notice the vilification of a murder victim on most news channels.
Those who hate men to such degree as to advocate violence against us cause all of our society to become violent and immoral. As Kobe Briant, who I believe was falsely accused, said in 2003 - paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King - “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.” Likewise, when a society approves violence against anyone, it will approve violence against everyone. Had everyone who advocates violence against men been ridiculed and ostracized rather then respected, F4J extremists would have realized that advertising their cause by violent tactics can only hurt them and destroy their reputation among the very fathers whom they are trying to represent. But within our immoral society makes it possible for them to raise publicity and attract angry men by such tactics.
What are we doing to stop the culture of cruelty and violence? As I mentioned only, men’s organizations preach legality and nonviolence. Most men’s rights message boards ban anyone advocating violence. But that is not enough. Just like everyone else in our society, the growing number of men in men’s and fathers movement has access to the media which preaches violence. The only way to restore human decency to current generation would be for us to ridicule and eventually ostracize those who advocate violence – including violence against men. When we ridicule advocates of violence and hatred rather then debate them we bring forth a very important message – that hate-mongers and extremists deserve no respect. However, the strategy on countering misandry is a topic for a separate article.
Mike Shubov
Men4Liberty
2 Comments:
In Australia we have "Australia Says NO to Violence Against Women". It's all over the media. I've seen their TV ad placed next to an ad depicting a bloke being belted over the head with a tyre iron. Still no one gets it.
I still think "the plot" was about Matt creating an ending for Matt's movie and book. F4J-UK's ending was "collateral damage" in Matt's plan. But if someone is hell-bent on planting rumors of violence to sabotage a group's efforts, guess it would help if the group had an anti-violence statement & "squeaky clean" reputation to start with.
I reposted this 2 places.. Who knows who'll respond...
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=127010
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1567442/posts
Post a Comment
<< Home