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Thursday, February 04, 2016

What are your thoughts on "Roosh" worldwide meeting to call for legalizing rape?

Details: See article: 'Pick-up artist' slammed and ridiculed online over notion of ‘legal rape’
This uber-manhood group, lead by a "pick-up artist", is calling for the decriminalization of rape laws, and making WOMEN responsible for such actions.

Gabriel Seah's answer to What are your thoughts on "Roosh" worldwide meeting to call for legalizing rape? - Quora

What would your thoughts be on a meeting to call for legalizing the sale of poor families' children for rich people to eat?

Would you call the police?
Refuse to associate with anyone who attends?
Boycott the people or institution supporting such a heinous proposal?
Pelt participants with rotten tomatoes?

Such a meeting occurred on 16th November 2015 in Florida International University (HEARTS Book Club - Honors College).

It was a HEARTS Book Club meeting to discuss Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels.

There are more parallels between a Jonathan Swift book club and the planned Return of Kings' International Meetup Day On February 6, 2016 than are apparent at first glance.

I can't find the place  where Roosh is alleged to have, coming from “the best of motives”, argued "that legalizing rape would significantly decrease its rate forcing women to “take better care of their bodies”".

I have, however, found the article which other media sources are presumably using to justify their claim that the group "believes rape should be legalised on private property"  ('Legal rape' group leader announces he will come to Australia).

For one, How To Stop Rape was not published on the site Return of Kings but on Roosh's personal website.

More importantly, it is clear from reading the article that it is not entirely serious.

Take the following extract, for example:

Thankfully, a man only has to be told the phrase “rape is bad” at some point after puberty by an overweight feminist to definitively stop his future brutal and bloody rape career. It’s a miracle that more men have not raped their mothers, babysitters, and sisters before being taught in college that rape is actually not a good thing.

I knew from an early age that rape was bad, as was all forms of violence, not just against women but men as well. I also knew that killing, stealing, and having sexual interest in relatives was bad. I don’t remember if someone specifically taught me these rules, but I also don’t remember being taught that the sun rises and sets once a day, or that I will go splat if I jump off a tall building

Compare the serious tone in this article to the following equally serious extract:

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.

A discerning reader would at least suspect that neither of these essays is not meant to be read literally.

This is especially obvious when comparing the former to Roosh's usual writing.

Of course, I don't think that "How to Stop Rape" is as finely crafted a piece as "A Modest Proposal". For one it mixes satirical and serious points too liberally for the satirical intent to shine through.

Yet, a bad poet's poems are still poems (even if they are not as good as a good poet's).

I am not the first to note the article's satirical intent, or even to make a parallel to A Modest Proposal.

In February 2015, a full year before the current hooplah, the Raw Story reported on this alleged call to make rape legal (Misogynist blogger: Make rape on private property legal so women can have ‘learning experiences’) and noted that "Some of Vörek’s commenters immediately likened his column to Jonathan Swift’s satirical “A Modest Proposal.”"

The Raw Story tucked this at the very end of the post, but at least they put it in somewhere.

The current media circus, unfortunately, did not even pick this qualifier up.

Now that we've established that Roosh did not call for rape to be legalised on private property, let us move on to the meetup itself.

The purpose of the meetup is to

allow masculine men to regularly bond and converse with each other while providing support in the case conflict or disturbances affect their city or nation
(About | Tribal Meeting)

This might sound ominous to some people, so let's unpack that. Past meetups, on which this is modeled, were

an enjoyable male bonding session where we could have locker room banter, ask for advice, tell stories, and share ideas for a couple of hours before heading to the nightlife district for an additional drink or two

So in other words, it's for (heterosexual) men to meet up, talk and have a beer while discussing something broadly termed "neomasculinity" (a worldwide definition of which is not imposed; http://www.returnofkings.com/785...).

This sounds like what people used to call a "male bonding" session.

Anyhow, if you don't believe a word that I wrote above, note that even Snopes, that stalwart granddaddy of Urban Legend and Hoax Debunking Sites rates the claim that "Men's rights activist "Roosh V" organized a "make rape legal" event across 43 countries on 6 February 2016." as  "Mostly False" ('Make Rape Legal' Event in 43 Countries?)

I don't agree with much of what Roosh V writes, but even if you don't agree with any of his views at all, the best thoughts come from Richard D:

Although I do not agree with most of the things you write, I will be at the Brisbane event this weekend to hear you speak, and to help ensure that you are heard.

Freedom of speech only has value if it applies to everyone, especially those who think differently. The people who threaten you with violence to try and silence you are criminals against a free society.
(http://www.returnofkings.com/793...)

Sadly, the meetup has been cancelled (ANNOUNCEMENT: The Meetup On February 6 Is Cancelled) due to the media circus and threats (including those of death and physical violence) to both Roosh and attendees (Roosh on TwitterRoosh on Twitter), and even government officials were talking about banning it (Don’t ban Roosh V – criticise and ridicule him).

Apparently the best response to imaginary pro-rape views is to make death threats.

Go figure.

This is yet another worrying episode in the liberal attack on free speech. As Reason.com notes,

a government allowed to whimsically ban someone from entering the country or ban a group of people from associating based purely on dislike for the content of their beliefs is sure as shit not a government that's going to stop with pickup artists

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