There is an MRA in Edmonton, Alberta. For now we will call him Mr. X. Like a growing number of other MRAs, some of whom were inspired by the incessant and ballsy work of John the Other and KARMA MRA MGTOW, he has taken the AVfM message to the streets of his city, placing AVfM posters at strategic locations.
The results have been more than interesting.
Recently, CBC reporter Nadia Stewart spotted one of the posters and made contact with AVfM News Director, Robert O’Hara, expressing an interest in doing a story on us. In turn, Robert put Stewart in touch with GirlWritesWhat, as she lives within reach of the Edmonton area and would make a fine local spokesperson for this site. We are waiting to see what comes of that.
The posters have also drawn attention in another way. A group of “concerned” Edmonton residents have formed a Facebook page, ever so creatively named “A Voice for Reasonable People,” and are organizing to monitor the AVfM posters going up and starting their own “counter-poster” campaign aimed at painting AVfM and MRAs in general as, you guessed it, violent, hateful bigots, out to abscond with poor wimmens and tie them to train tracks or something. So far, they have managed to muster 77 likes on their page.
Their group description is as follows:
This page is for organizing a reasonable, positive, and non-violent response to the appearance of A Voice for Men in our fair city (aka Edmonton).
Personally, I kinda like the ring it has to it. The term “the appearance of A Voice for Men in our fair city,” is especially compelling. It reminds me a little of “the appearance of blacks in our white neighborhood,” or “the appearance of little red blisters on our genitalia.”
I would recommend, however, that the VfRP group shoot a little higher, and attempt to promote the appearance of honesty and integrity in their little clique of liars and cowards.
Groups like this fall generally into two categories. They are either ignorant, which can be remedied with a little education and communication. Or they are ignorant and disingenuous, which, like little red blisters on your genitalia, can’t be cured with anything, except, perhaps, two red pills and some tincture of FTSU. VfRP quickly demonstrated they fell into the latter category.
Posting on their wall was open, so I took the opportunity to make a comment when I found the page, saying: “It is a good idea that you have organized a non-violent response since AVfM is a non-violent organization.” End of comment, and I made no others.
Of course, the comment was removed after a short time, and the following was posted by their mod:
We do believe some congratulations are in order, lovely reasonable peoples: our little group has attracted the attention of Paul Elam & co. (whom those of you who’ve visited A Voice for Men will recognize as the founder of that charming little piece of the internet).
Unfortunately, Paul’s version of being reasonable has necessitated that we block him from the page. As a rule, we prefer not to block people. However, no where [sic] is it written that our inclusive, open, reasonable, positive, and safe space has to put up with spam, trolling, and abuse. So we won’t.
It is nice to see these people have boundaries, even if they manufactured my violation of them out of thin air.
In fairness, there are some other MRA comments there that have been allowed to stand. Perhaps they saw Pandora’s Box opening and decided to manufacture some inclusiveness. Who ever knows with these people.
As always, we prefer to focus on the larger lesson here. Mr. X, one single man in a large city, has managed to draw the attention of a major media network, and caused a group of citizens to mount a panicked and dishonest campaign of disinformation in an attempt to counter a message they don’t and probably can’t understand. That is one man, by himself, with some simple paper and glue.
Obviously, Mr. X IS tired of this shit. Now imagine ten, or a hundred more, getting just as tired as he is. Thanks to Mr. X for taking a stand, and to A Voice for Reasonable People, for sloppily spreading lies that make it easier for us to let the truth stand out. We will wait and see where the CBC goes with this as well.
In the meantime, never underestimate the power of one.
Mr. X has chosen to identify himself as Eric Duckman. His website is Mensrightsedmonton.com.
