Arthur Goldwag of the Southern Poverty Law Center has, somewhat belatedly, jumped on the most recent bandwagon of feminist disgraces by stepping over the dead body of Earl Silverman to carry water for rent-seeking gender ideologues.
In doing so, he blatantly mischaracterizes and misrepresents Earl’s life and experiences. He quotes individuals who were frustrated by Earl’s efforts at every turn as though they were reliable informants about the man’s state of mind and his intentions. Goldwag quotes Maria David-Evans, the deputy minister of Alberta Children’s Services, a target of one of Earl’s lawsuits, as a person who “knew Silverman.” And he uses her words to paint a picture of Earl as a man wearing a tinfoil hat and talking to Elvis.
Using Maria David-Evans as an assessor of Earl Silverman’s state of mind is like depending on Denise Richards for a clear picture of Charlie Sheen. Or for those of you unfamiliar with Hollywood, it is like asking the snake to tell you about the mongoose.
That is how Goldwag rolls. A degree in law is the only thing separating him from a plaid suit, a cheap cigar and a lot full of shitty used cars.
What else we should expect from someone who participated fully in converting a legitimate civil rights activism organization into a band of thugs that would smear their own grandmothers as Nazis if there was a buck in it?
Goldwag’s latest round of playing step and fetch for his feminist cohorts is no different than what he has been up to for a long time now. And given the fact that he has few real battles to fight — and still a need to justify his share of the SPLC take, I fully expect his disingenuous, yet thankfully impotent attacks on the men’s movement to continue. Even if it gets people killed.
Like I said, that is how people like Goldwag roll.
Let’s face it, though. If the best target you can come up with is AVFM, then you aren’t a social activist, you are just desperate for something to do.
That leaves us with a simple question. Why should we care? The answer is just as simple. We shouldn’t. Arty Goldwag is now to human rights activism the equivalent of the guy in the night club full of young people who is just too fucking old to be there but too fucking stupid to go drink at home. He just sort of sits there at the end of the bar with his scotch, trying and failing over and over to get someone to listen to him. You will see him there from time to time talking to himself.
No one is going to listen to him, or the SPLC. They lost all credibility some time ago when they made it clear they were more interested in attacking political enemies than hate groups. They have become a joke in most circles that used to respect them, which leaves Goldwag as a low end flunky in a group of has-beens. They still make money, mind you; largely by fundraising on the irrational fears of aging, senility-prone liberals. But it has left Arty with the need to make busy on his own. He has chosen to do so by playing step and fetch for cutting edge think tanks like Reddit/SRS. Imagine that. The organization that brought down the Klan is now struggling for relevance by attacking a three year old website that supports men’s issues.
Way to go, Arthur. You’re an impressive guy.
But what was I saying? Oh yes, there is not much point in caring. And henceforth, we won’t.
I have to admit that when Arthur and tagged us as a hate group, and then later ate his own words, I was pretty impressed. The SPLC was a well-known entity. The hubbub he caused drew a ton of traffic to the site and increased our financial contributors. Arty is part of the reason why we now outperform most feminist websites in terms of traffic and content.
However, that was largely because of what we did with his bullshit, not because of the bullshit itself. We cashed in on his fear-mongering. We showed a lot of people a close-up of Goldwag’s foot, directly embedded in his shopworn mouth, and made good of it.
Unlike the modern SPLC, we are not a one trick pony.
The fact is that at this point in time, the SPLC and Arthur Goldwag are of little use to us. We have bigger fish to fry and the law of diminishing returns dictates that the benefit of giving them the attention they are seeking is pretty much at an end.
In the early days of this site, we used to write a fair amount about David Futrelle. He was a nice, soft target; pudgy actually. He talked about us so incessantly that even some of his regular readers questioned whether he had some kind of weird fixation. He sent a few visitors our way.
I even had a debate with him that so frustrated the poor boy that he ran off crying. As I say sometimes, though, that was then and this is now. We don’t mention David anymore except as a passing joke. He is just another low-end blogger with a small audience of neurotic women who talk more about cats in his comments than what he writes. It is as close to physical intimacy as the guy will ever get. And he still sends us traffic because he can’t help himself.
This is where Arthur Goldwag and the SPLC belong; not with credible targets for activism, but with with people of wannabe importance whose only real use is sending people our way. Some of those people, as they always do, will figure out they’ve been lied to and will stick around to help. Arty is also of utility for a joke. It helps us and fits with the joke he has become in the eyes of the sane world.
At this point, if Art and crew want more attention, they will have to earn it by actually upping the ante. They will need to do something bigger and better than exploiting a man’s suicide or just spinning bigger lies. I am betting they are not that creative.
So Arthur, your time here being taken as even remotely serious has come to an end. I am sure given the reality of your life, the value of what you do in the world, that is hardly unexpected. You may see your name from time to time, though…
…when we need a laugh.
