“I am not placing you under arrest, but I have some questions and I am going to read you your rights.”
That was the first thing the prominent Canadian MRA, whom we must now refer to as Mr. X, was told when he walked into the police investigators office. He had been phoned at work the day before by police officials, who told X that an allegation had been made against him that involved the MRM, stockpiling weapons and threats to do harm. They asked him to come in to “answer some questions.”
Those questions were largely about his personal life and beliefs, focusing on whether he was a violence prone individual. There were questions about the MRM and MRA’s, and it became clear to him during the course of the interview that significant prior effort had been invested by police officials into studying his beliefs as well as the overall mentality of those in the movement.
He admits to being a little rattled. Making threats of violence of any kind is a very serious matter in Canada. And something like this coming nearly to the day on the anniversary of the “Montreal Massacre,” was a bit more chilling. December 6 marks the day that Marc Lepine murdered fourteen women and wounded ten women and four men at the École Polytechnique, an engineering school affiliated with the University of Montréal.
Anyone, and this includes police officials, who has read Mr. X’s blog articles or watched his YouTube videos, knows him to be a level headed, intellectual sort, not given to violence. But it is clear that someone reported otherwise to Canadian law enforcement. The question remains why, but that is likely to never be answered because he was not made privy to where the complaint originated.
He was informed, according to my conversation with him last night, that he was not a suspect and the police found nothing in his writings that caused them concern. They were, in effect, following up on a complaint and after speaking with him determined there was no need for further inquiry. So they said.
But even in the best case scenario, there is an object lesson in the thick of this that must be addressed. The men’s movement is a growing phenomenon. We are, as were we destined to do, starting to scare some people. That is what happens when insight meets ignorance. Those who cling to the status quo, in this case feminist governance, get uncomfortable. They react. Over react. Although over reaction may be the wrong word. These people were full of hate and lies long before anyone started speaking back.
It is possible that this was orchestrated, that more than one person conspired to set our associate up for trouble. It is also possible that this was one reactive person acting on their own. Again, we will never know.
But we do know enough to know that for MRA’s, especially those that live in Canada, that there is a need, not for panic, but for caution.
We are documenting the fact that these events transpired for the sake of public record. If other MRA’s are called in and questioned in similar circumstances we will document that as well. On the outside chance that we are seeing the police manipulated into some sort of ideological McCarthyism, we want to document it as it happens.
Regarding AVfM, there have been times when I have banned people from this site for making even non serious suggestions of violence. I have gotten complaints and nasty emails for doing so. Now you know at least one reason why I felt it was necessary.
Personally, I would be flabbergasted to know there are any MRA’s out there that would take their beliefs and use them as an excuse for violence. And truth tell, I am more than happy with their being removed from our ranks, and even from society, if they are out there.
The only weapon we ever needed is the truth, and I do believe that we can see through Mr.X’s unfortunate experience, that the truth is indeed a potent weapon that causes irrational reactions from the very people we would identify as the problem.
But a word of caution. As we know all too well, lies are powerful weapons, too. They can take a terrible toll in terms of lost reputation, as even lost freedom. Unfortunate then that our stock and trade is in dealing with liars. We see people like David Futrelle and others trying to cast us as pro-violence in any way they possibly can, often treating the truth and integrity like minor obstacles to their ambitions.
So, the question becomes, how are we going to react to what has happened here? The answer is that we are going to move ahead full steam. We won’t slither into private forums with our beliefs. That is the province of those we oppose, as you will soon see detailed on the pages of this site like never before.
Just like Mr. X, the people at AVfM are simply telling the truth and looking for justice. There is no need to slow down or change course. But these events remind us that on whatever level you can imagine, there are those that would do most anything to shut us up. Or, as we have said around here before, we are getting flak, so we must be over the target.
But, it is official now, people. They are watching us. We must remain aware of that, even though it changes nothing that we do. AVfM will continue to enforce its no violence policy, just as we have from the day we launched. And we will continue to confront hateful ideologues, corrupt public officials and the plague of misandry wherever we find it and FTSU.
Sometimes the ride will get bumpy, so we are all better off to strap in securely.
