So here we are, over half way through another quarterly fundraiser. For those of you who are regular readers, you probably know who I am, and after my opening sentence, you’ll probably guess what this article is going to be about, and cringe.
I’ve been around in the MHRM, or MRM, whichever you prefer, on and off for many years. I remember reading Warren Farrell’s Myth of Male Power a couple of years after it was released. I remember being on men’s rights bulletin boards with my 1200/75 baud modem and commodore 64 back in the early 80s.
I’ve had a vision for over a decade. That vision is a men’s movement that consists of a number of huge organisations of men and women, working together to push back against feminism’s domination of gender issues, and the resulting legal ramifications for men.
I’ve watched men’s groups come and go. Mostly torn apart by infighting and pissing contests over every conceivable thing from political views, sexuality, race, religion, even which football team one should support. I’ve watched while men attacked other men, instead of feminism. I’ve spoken to many MRAs over the years about my vision, only to be told again and again that it is a pipe dream, and that the way to go is many individuals and small groups each peddling their own personal views and opinions.
Well, that has not, and will not work. So if it is true that my vision is a pipe dream, then we shall have to wait until there is enough MGTOW snubbing their nose at the system to cause the collapse of civilisation. And long before that happens, many draconian measures will be enacted to force these lone wolves to prop up the system against their will. Man taxes, forced labor, increasing criminalisation of ordinary activities, all are on the radar, and no man alone, or as part of a small group will be able to successfully oppose these forces.
I have also watched these lone wolves and small groups talk much, and achieve little, and they never will, because they lack three things that are required for success, large numbers, cohesiveness, and money.
For those that feel that any sort of collectivism is the problem, let me ask you if you think a civilisation is a form of collectivism? What about a political party, a company, a military force, a football team? Do you think the members of any of these entities must feel the same way on every issue in order to function for their desired goal? Or do you think the members of these entities put aside certain differences of opinions on many issues for the sake of operating as a team to achieve a particular goal?
Imagine we are being attacked by an army (a collective force). This invading army is made up of many men, with many differing views on many things from political to personal. But for the purposes of achieving their goal, they work together, as a unit. Now imagine one of our politicians telling us that we don’t need an army to oppose this invading force because all we need is for each of us to defend our own backyard individually, and only join forces with others that see things the same way as ourselves, everything from political to personal, to which football team is best.
You would say that politician is fucking crazy.
But this is exactly how many in the men’s movement behave. We are in the trenches, with the enemy gaining ground, and many of us are calling for all the leftists, or all the libertarians, or all of those who say MHRM instead of MRM, to get the fuck out of the trenches and go away. This is exactly why the men’s movement has not grown into a force to be reckoned with in the past.
To all the left leaning individuals who think AVFM is not left enough, therefore will not support it, and to all the right leaning, and libertarian individuals who think likewise, and to all those that will not support it because there are some individuals who have differing views on any particular issue, I ask you, what the fuck is it you want? What is your vision? Do you see a massive movement comprised of enough people to bring about change forming, who all have the same views as yourself?
Now that is a pipe dream.
We only need all our members to be united in one thing, and that is the opposition to feminism, and to fight for the rights of men and boys. Sure it would be nice if we could get a few billion people that all held the same political beliefs and agreed on everything from political to personal, but it is never going to happen.
AVFM has achieved a functional men’s rights organisation comprised of individuals with differing political and personal views, more than any other I have been associated with. For all those who just can’t resist knocking AVFM for not fully subscribing to all of your personal preferences and political views, or who believe that the model of a huge amount of individuals operating in isolation and doing their own thing is the way to go, just tell me what that has achieved in the past?
Even legends like Stardusk and Barbarossaa can never bring about and legal changes operating on this model. How many of these lone wolves have achieved things like AVFM have? I’ve watched for years as they come and go, while things like The Plan, VAWA, primary aggressor policies, title IX get enacted and reauthorised. No amount of articles written, or youtube videos recorded have made a dent in the feminism so far. And they never will, unless the fans of those writers and bloggers actually do something apart from read, watch, and give pep talks to each other.
I’ll just list some of AVFM’s more notable achievements over the past couple of years.
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- AVFM has essentially changed the dialogue about sexual politics. It has forced feminists to superficially acknowledge men’s issues and to tone down the misandric rhetoric in their own writings. Feminists everywhere are at least bothering to lie about being concerned about men’s issues. That was not happening before AVFM;
- AVFM has been instrumental in drawing media attention to the fact that a men’s movement even exists. They are even making a movie about Paul and this website;
- AVFM played a big role in putting pressure on authorities in Maine to refer Mary Kellett for disciplinary action;
- AVFM played a pivotal role in getting Gordon Smith exonerated, ending the state terrorism in his life and his wife at least charged for false allegations;
- AVFM forced corrupt Judge Lori Jackson to recuse herself from a case she was running into the ground;
- AVFM forced the hands of hateful feminists in Toronto on several occasions, resulting in media coverage that sided with us and called the feminists shameful. It also resulted in a National Post article about the campus feminists that looked like it could have been written on this website;
- AVFM has joined forces with NCFM and they are working diligently to build the infrastructure to launch men’s issues groups in universities across the US and Canada.
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There is more, and of course none of this means that we have won the war. Progress is very slow, and hard fought, but AVFM is the only progress I have ever seen, and I have been watching this play out for a long time.
We aren’t a political party, we are a men’s rights organisation. Our job is to fight for the restoration of the rights of men and boys, which have been eroded by feminism. Our job, is to oppose anti-male sentiment, legislation, enforced chivalry, misandry, and therefore, feminism. Our job is to oppose legislation like the US VAWA, Australia’s The Plan, and all legislation that treats men as second class, less deserving, or default criminals. It does not matter if an individual is left leaning, or right leaning because this is not a political party.
I oppose the political views of leftists, for example. I will vote against them, I will argue against them, in the appropriate forum, and at the ballot box. Here, in this forum, in the MHRM, all that matters is that that individual is opposing the things we are fighting against here. imagine your house is on fire. You call the fire department and a fire truck arrives to put your fire out. You notice that a few of the fire fighters are leftists. Do you scream at them to get off your property because you are a libertarian, or do you not worry about that persons political persuasions, and concern yourself only with whether they can do the job they are here to do. This person may be your political adversary, he may even support the wrong football team, but for the purposes of putting out your house fire, this person is your ally. And so it is with Christian and Atheist, straight and gay, black and white. Do you get it?
Whether you are left or right, straight or gay, black or white, AVFM is your men’s rights organisation. We won’t fight for your political beliefs, we won’t change our sexual preferences to suit you, and we won’t change the color of our skin to match yours, or support your preferred football team. But all we should have to do is fight for the rights of men and boys. Your right to your property, your income. Your right to due process. Your right to your children. Your rights in your home, at work etc. That is our job. It is not our job to become ideological clones of each other.
When you donate your money to AVFM it does not go to fight for a particular political party to be elected. It does not go to a gay rights organisation, or to the Black Panthers, or the Atheists, or the Church. And believe it or not, it doesn’t get used to buy shoes and handbags for our female staff. It gets used to fund the fight for men’s rights.
Time to cut to the chase. The current quarterly fundraiser is running slower than usual. As a blue collar wage slave who works hard and long for my money, and somebody who is one of AVFM’s biggest financial contributors, and has also funded many other MRM individuals and projects outside of AVFM, I’m granting myself the right to comment on this issue, and tough shit if you don’t like it, and even tougher shit if it strikes a nerve and makes you feel bad.
There are thousands of regular readers of AVFM now. Average daily visitors are well over ten thousand per day, and have been over seventy thousand at times. I realize that there are many MRAs out there who contribute with their work by penning great articles, making great videos, or contributing technical expertise, etc. I also realize there are many who are broke and barely making ends meet. This isn’t directed at you. My beef is with the thousands of so called supporters, MRAs, who do bugger all except add commentary, and quite a lot of complaining really.
With the thousands of readers we have, if each of them donated a dollar per week, AVFM would be secure. And make no mistake about it, the reason AVFM hasn’t achieved a lot more, is not lack of articles, or lack of comments, or lack of videos.
It is lack of money.
Earl Silverman spent years chasing funding for his shelter. He was telling people what he needed for years. There were plenty of articles being written, plenty of youtube vids being produced, plenty of commentary. No shortage of any of these things. What killed Earl Silverman’s Shelter, and Earl Silverman, was lack of money. He was begging for it, and he never got it.
So how many times are you going to let this happen? How long are you going to sit there, waiting for someone else to provide the funding for the movement? And don’t even bother giving me any of this “don’t shame men” bullshit. Fuck that, men have got quite a bit to be ashamed about for letting things get to the stage they are at, and still sitting on their hands waiting for someone else to bail them out. And lets face it, that is most of us. Every fundraiser is the same, out of the thousands of viewers, there is a tiny fraction who cough up anything. Around half the money from every fundraiser is contributed by a handful of individuals.
So here is what I want all you guys who are not writing those great articles, or producing those magnificent youtube videos, or running a well-read blog, or contributing time and expertise to operations, and aren’t already contributing money. And this is most of the readers. Go to the fucking donation button and send in a few bucks. Don’t worry about who else is not doing it, don’t think about how little difference your $5 or $10 will make, just do it.
It doesn’t matter whether Paul Elam subscribes to your political views or not, or even whether you like or dislike him on a personal level. The fact is that AVFM is making the impossible start to be possible. AVFM is putting men’s issues on the map.
We are pushing the issues into mainstream consciousness, in universities, and in the MSM. We have an award winning film crew planning a documentary on the MHRM, featuring AVFM. Why, because like it or not AVFM is the only men’s movement there is. This documentary will be viewed by millions on TV screens over time, and will reach a massive audience of people who don’t even know the MHRM, or MRM, exists.
No matter what your political leanings, or personal views, the first step to making men’s rights an issue is to actually get the message out there and on the table being talked about. Once that happens, it will be a lot easier for anybody to talk about men’s issues without the automatic ridicule and shouting down that usually goes with mentioning it now.
AVFM is the only thing in existence making that happen. Help us carry on with that work.
