[quote]If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State. ~ Joseph Geobbels[/quote]
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is a great deal happening with men’s issues groups forging their way onto university campuses across Canada and the U.S.. As we have reported here recently, Christopher J. Thompson, Campus Ambassador for the National Coalition for Men has formed a men’s rights group at Montana State University.
The Men’s Awareness Group sponsored by the Canadian Association for Equality at the University of Toronto has been the focal point of a lot of attention. Their hosting of a lecture by Warren Farrell on the Boy Crisis resulted in a violent protest from feminist demonstrators allied with the University of Toronto Student Union.
That protest had a profound impact on one Toronto college student at Ryerson University. Sarah Santhosh, watched the video of the protest and saw a lot of “closemindedness” and “hate,” She was also joined by fellow Ryerson students Anjana Rao and Argir Argirov, all moved to seek ratification from the Ryerson Student Union (RSU) for a men’s issues group that would focus on some of the many issues faced by men in modern culture, including misandry, the hatred or fear of men and boys.
The Board of Directors of the RSU has moved preemptively to stop them and anyone else with such ideas.
In a staggering act of bigotry and hypocrisy, a motion was passed by The Board that makes it official policy that misandry does not exist. Neda Hamzavi, a representative on the RSU Board of Directors introduced the motion, which was passed, according to theeyeopener.com, “without any debate, discussion or dispute.”
The rationale offered by Hamzavi was as clear as it was chilling.
There’s been a lot of work across campuses not only in Ontario but also across the country that have been working sort of [as] anti-women’s rights groups.
We want to acknowledge that the additions that we added here are regarding the ideas of misandry and reverse-sexism, both of which are oppressive concepts that aim to delegitimize the equity work that women’s movements work to do.
Her sentiments were echoed by Marwa Hamad, vice-president equity at the RSU, who also clearly outlined her vision of the future for that organization as it relates to gender and sexual politics. She said, according to TEO, “the policy will preserve space for discussing misogyny and institutionalized gender imbalances.”
So, the message from the RSU Board is simple. Misandry, even as they blatantly practice it, does not exist. Any attempt to claim it does exist, or to attempt to gain academic support for men’s issues will be summarily and officially regarded as misogyny and opposition to women’s rights. There is no “space” for such discussion at RSU, or in Marwa Hamad’s mind.
They have earned kudos on the efficiency of propaganda. The points of the motion wove in the denial of misandry with great fluidity, as follows:
4. Groups, Meetings or events [that] promote misogynist views towards women and ideologies that promote gender inequity, challenges women’s right to bodily autonomy, or justifies sexual assault 5. The concept of misandry as it ignores structural inequity that exist between men and women 6. Groups, meetings events or initiatives [that] negate the need to centre women’s voices in the struggle for gender equity.
Note how the concepts of misogyny, ideologically driven gender inequity, justification of rape and negating the rights of women to speak to their issues, none of which were supported by Santhosh or her fellows, are all wrapped around a convoluted and unsupported interpretation of misandry that directly imputes malice upon anyone who believes it exists.
At this point it is difficult for me to find words to describe what has just happened at RSU. The Geobbels quote was as close to treading on Godwin’s Law as I care to. But the temptation to go further is definitely there. In a culture with a 5 to 1 ratio of male suicide, an ever decreasing population of male college students who are subsequently falling from the work force, the official response from RSU is to demonize anyone who wants to talk about it or pursue solutions.
The RSU Board apparently feels quite justified with this take on things.
Hamad, without any explanation as to what she was actually talking about, claimed that the measure will help RSU protect women’s issues, which ironically according to her, “have historically and continue to today to be silenced.”
It leaves one to necessarily wonder just how a group manages to be silenced when they are the only ones allowed to have the floor. The only women at RSU that are being silenced are the ones that are trying to speak to the issues faced by men.
In a time of the greatest human technological advances in history, as well as the highest standard of living ever seen in western culture, our universities have become bastions of an increasingly institutionalized mindset of hatred, bigotry and oppression. We are, even at the pinnacle of human human history, proving once again the ongoing failing of human ignorance.
We can only hope people like Sarah Santhosh, Anjana Rao and Argir Argirov will not be easily bullied into silence by the edicts of corrupt and dishonest ideologues who are threatened by the slightest voice of dissent and clamoring to hang on to their privilege with any disgraceful option at their disposal.
Source: http://theeyeopener.com/2013/03/new-rsu-policy-challenges-new-mens-issues-group/
Addendum and correction: In this and the previous article on the Ryerson matter, I conflated Ryerson Student Union (RSU) with Ryerson University, which are two separate entities. The efforts to censor the discussion of men’s issues emanate solely from RSU and not Ryerson University. Corrections have been made to the content of this website accordingly, and apologies are extended to Ryerson University. PE
