Comments

  1. Sastra says

    Very clever. It might have been improved, however, with a Glenbeckian chart on the wall showing all the worrisome connections. Or would that have been too obvious?

  2. pschoeckel says

    Was his point that his upset because people say he’s an ass who doesn’t listen to what other people say when he’s being an ass and not listening to what other people say? I’m not sure ’cause he lost me about 2 seconds in.

  3. says

    I love how MRAs continue to prove my points for me. The backlash against equality/feminism is based on the fact that the movement brings home, for some men, the very real possibility that they don’t actually deserve and aren’t actually entitled to the ‘status’ they possess. Everything ‘given’ to feminists they perceive as being taken from them.

  4. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Falls over laughing in a most unbecoming way at his choice of headwear.

  5. says

    I hope people realize what this video really is… right?

    “Category: Comedy”

    Seems some comment are taking the video as if it was for real. Kinda like what happened to Edward Current.

  6. says

    headwear

    Is that a fedora or a pork pie? I always thought a fedora had a wider brim and was pinched at the front. My 1939 Borsalino is, anyway…

  7. says

    Poe’s Law again? People actually think this is real and not satire?

    Next you’ll be telling me that Jonathan Swift really did want us to eat babies.

  8. Moggie says

    Kevin:

    Next you’ll be telling me that Jonathan Swift really did want us to eat babies.

    Uhhhh…
    brb – need to clear out my freezer.

  9. kevinalexander says

    need to clear out my freezer.

    Freezer? If you don’t eat those fresh, it’s not worth it. Leftovers to the hounds.

  10. MrFancyPants says

    Yes, it’s parody. He has other videos out there that are a little more obviously satire. You have to admit that this one is eerily close to what we’ve actually come to expect from AVfM, though.

  11. says

    If you don’t eat those fresh, it’s not worth it. Leftovers to the hounds.

    Philistine! Babies should be hung for at least a week, like peasants pheasants.

  12. Monocle Smile says

    erikthebassist, I agree…but in our defense, failing to grasp satire is a little less contemptible than perpetuating things that are wrong.

  13. says

    Monocle Smile:

    I agree…but in our defense, failing to grasp satire is a little less contemptible than perpetuating things that are wrong.

    Protip: Look at the pretty blue tag[s] directly under the post title. This would be called a fuckin’ clue.

  14. René says

    I’d like someone of the the IT smart-asses hanging around here (or, maybe, you youngsters) to make me a videoclip of 1:01 to 1:02, and provide me with a link.

    Brilliant, that was, and useful.

  15. smhll says

    I enjoyed this satire. (The real thing would contain more spittle and invective.)

  16. says

    New England Bob:

    Too obvious of a Poe.

    I’m reaching a point where I want Poe utterly scrubbed from all languages. It’s humor. Remember that word? Humor. Yep, humor of the parody type. Intentional. Enjoyed by those of us with a working brain, especially by those of us who have appreciated Dan’s previous work. This fucking pose of cynical weariness, “Oh, an obvious poe” is tiring, old and stupid.

    If a person honestly has nothing at all to say outside of one line which includes the word ‘Poe’, just keep it to yourself. The internet will thank you.

  17. stevem says

    {warning… step away, right now}
    If someone can’t tell whether it is a satire or serious, then, by definition, it fulfills Poe’s Law.
    There’s no such thing as “a Poe” (other then Edgar Allen…). There’s only “Poe’s Law”; that a (well done) satire post is indistinguishable from a “real” post (and/or vice-verse).
    {over and out… nothing to see here… move along…}

  18. remyporter says

    @Marcus Ranum: a fedora is any hat with a diamond shape. This covers everything from the “traditional” broad-brimmed fedora you’re thinking of (the actual *good* kind), to the hideous dude-bro trilby, to even the Tyrolean hat (the sort of thing you might wear with lederhosen at Oktoberfest).

  19. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    99 & 44/100ths % win.

  20. brucegee1962 says

    #32: I think the point of Poe’s law is that, for certain types of thought processes, satire becomes a useless weapon, because the ideas being satirized are no longer distinguishable from the satire itself. For instance, as Kevin suggests, Swift’s satire only works if you inhabit a society that believes eating babies is shocking and morally disgusting. If the response of the day among the English had been to seriously say, “Actually, just eating the poor isn’t a good idea because they might have diseases — it would actually be better to throw them into the sea,” then Swift’s satire would fail.

    Likewise, I’m not sure how well this satire would work with an MRA — he might just think this guy had a bunch of great ideas.

    Maybe the point of Poe is that satire only works when a society is working from a set of shared values? Not sure, but it’s an interesting question.

  21. says

    It strikes me that those who forget that Poe’s law is, itself, a wryly humorous observation and try to tweeze out its deep philosphicalnessy pointinesses are proving that even Poe’s law can fall prey to Poe’s law.

  22. says

    @Stacy wins #36, that had me crying with laughter, Dan was funny but out-Poe’d …

    Also I find I’ve been pronouncing misandry incorrectly… He says miss-un-drie I say miss-and-drie, which is it! In the extremely unlikely event I meet an MRA in the flesh I don’t want a faux pas like that to undermine the conversation :-)

  23. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    If I never hear the misuse “a Poe” again it’ll be too soon. It’s not a noun synonym for parody.

  24. Rip Steakface says

    @Marcus Raynum

    In addition to what has already been defined as a fedora, a pork pie hat is a brimmed, cylindrical hat with a flat top, like this.

  25. thetalkingstove says

    That was great. Perfectly skewered the ‘but its not fair you don’t listen to me even though I don’t really know what I’m talking about’ whine.

  26. PatrickG says

    I’m reaching a point where I want Poe utterly scrubbed from all languages.

    Quoth the Raven: “Help, help! I’m being disappeared!”

  27. PatrickG says

    Also, I’m tempted to say that anybody who failed to recognize this is as satire did not watch the whole thing. I mean, come on, when he starts almost crying because he’s been called mean names and tells people to like the video: “you know the drill, I’m just .. not in the mood *sniff* .. for this right now *sniffle*”. [paraphrased]

    Of course, the first 30 seconds he’s totally in character, so if people stopped watching there…

  28. says

    Patrick:

    You win this round, Caine, but I’ll be back with a fedora.

    Pffffft, I have several fedoras! :D Perhaps I should have said “scrubbed from all languages unless accompanied by ‘EA’ or Edgar Allen’ and has something to do with the writer who belonged to the name. Heh.

  29. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    Caine:

    You? Fedora? I’m crushed. My image of you is dashed. No cowboy hat?

  30. says

    Ogvorbis:

    You? Fedora? I’m crushed. My image of you is dashed. No cowboy hat?

    Sorry, Ogvorbis. Fedoras go with my men’s suit, which is tailored to fit. I do, however, have a proper cowboy hat, have had it for ages…lessee, it’s at least 30 years old now. After all, you can’t go running about on a horse in a fedora.

  31. ferbyd says

    [Hi, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. Bye, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. –pzm]

  32. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    PZ Myers is so naive that he didn’t get this was a parody. That is just. wow.

    Ever notice PZ has it categorized as humor before making yourself look inane and unthinking?

  33. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    What kind of hat your horse wears is none of my concern.

    Dang, the Hallmark channel has been running reruns of Mr. Ed.

  34. says

    Seriously? Are you really this naive?? I mean, seriously? PZ Myers is so naive that he didn’t get this was a parody. That is just. wow.
    You don’t need to watch it to the end, the first 5 seconds make it pretty clear, and this is the whole point of what the guy is saying, that you all take yourselves too seriously. This was the *point*. Oh brother, you sit around discussing Poe’s and whether it’s a parody or not. Seriously, I heard that Americans could not understand sarcasm or irony. wow. And PZ Myers was trying to be mock it as he thought the guy was being serious. That is just the funniest thing. I’m going to track this guy down and point him at this. He’ll certainly get a laugh out of that I guess.
    I mean, the intent of this was to mock people that take themselves seriously. It wasn’t much of a video, but well, he did a brilliant job, I would not think anyone could be suckered in by that, let alone every person on Pharyngula.
    So I guess you have to take it in good grace, …, or backpeddle furiously to try and save face. Relaxed people do the first, uptight people that take themselves too seriously (i.e. exactly what the guy was talking about in that video) will do the second…

    That is just beautiful. Can we bronze it?

  35. says

    Chris:

    What kind of hat your horse wears is none of my concern.

    :Snort: As if I’d let a horse wear my buffalo fur felt hat. I don’t think so. He wears a Panama.

  36. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    ferbyd:

    Please note the complete title and comment made by PZed in the OP:

    The most persuasive MRA ever

    humor

    by PZ Myers

    Watch at your own peril — a tear of pity started to roll down my cheek, and I thought about becoming a columnist for A Voice For Men.

    Note the part I highlighted. The part where he files it under the category of humour.

    or backpeddle furiously to try and save face.

    Why would he need to back peddle? He filed it under HUMOUR!!11!11!!!!!1

  37. says

    ferbyd, you know, if you had gone on for a couple more paragraphs, we might have been able to add you to the starfart hall of fame, with a special clueless citation.

  38. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    Fedoras go with my men’s suit, which is tailored to fit.

    That makes sense.

    After all, you can’t go running about on a horse in a fedora.

    Yeah. You’d need to cut ear holes in it. ‘Twould ruin the hat.

    What kind of hat your horse wears is none of my concern.

    I’ve always been partial to a horse hat made of thick straw with lots of flowers on it.

    Dang, the Hallmark channel has been running reruns of Mr. Ed.

    And a horse is a horse of course of course,
    And no one can talk when they’re horse of course.

    :Snort: As if I’d let a horse wear my buffalo fur felt hat. I don’t think so. He wears a Panama.

    First, I really want a buffalo fur felt hat.

    Second, does the Panama have flowers?

  39. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    ferbyd, you know, if you had gone on for a couple more paragraphs, we might have been able to add you to the starfart hall of fame, with a special clueless citation.

    Caine, he was way too coherent for it to have blown up into a full-blown starfart (sorry for the repeat (I’m thinking about transferring to the US Department of Redundancy Department of the US Government (USDRDUSG))).

  40. says

    Ogvorbis:

    First, I really want a buffalo fur felt hat.

    They are awesome. Last half of forever, too. Stetson has them, they are expensive, but worth it.

    Second, does the Panama have flowers?

    No. It has a spiffy red leather band.

  41. Moggie says

    Ogvorbis:

    I’ve always been partial to a horse hat made of thick straw with lots of flowers on it.

    Which would promptly be eaten by the horse, or I’ll eat my hat.

  42. Tethys says

    If anyone wants a good laugh, I encourage you to click through the link in Stacy’s comment #36.

    Sadly, it is not satire, and it is longish. Scroll down into the comments for a transcript.

    Even better, the comment left by Agent Orange on the catty blog linked at Manboobz.

    You will either deal with James Hoff the man, or deal with me not at all. You are too fucking blind to even understand what the true meaning of the my words in that video.

    I am blind, but its from the tears of laughter his video induced.

  43. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    They are awesome. Last half of forever, too. Stetson has them, they are expensive, but worth it.

    Oh, I know.

    A few years ago I was down in Florida and stopped in at the Sheplers store in Orlando. There was a magnificent black 10X buffalo fur felt Stetson. Fit me like it was made for me. Silk liner. Gorgeous. A lifetime hat.

    I paid the mortgage instead.

    Which would promptly be eaten by the horse, or I’ll eat my hat.

    I’ve eaten at The Brown Derby. Does that count?

  44. PatrickG says

    @ Caine: Oh, I’m well aware of the Fedora Gap. Hence, my need to arm (head?) myself appropriately before doing battle once more.

  45. ferbyd says

    [Hi, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. Bye, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. –pzm]

  46. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    Damn, ferbyd, why are you so insistent that PZ is clueless? Considering the evidence presented about the OP, why are you deliberately denying even the possibility of the most parsimonious explanation?

  47. says

    ferbyd:

    Yep, he posted it under comedy, then said “Watch at your own peril — a tear of pity started to roll down my cheek, and I thought about becoming a columnist for A Voice For Men.” i.e. as if he’s mocking the guy in the video,

    No, that’s not what PZ was doing, Cupcake. That’s your interpretation, which is wrong. You should get your humor chip checked, it’s malfunctioning. Then again, you seem to have a bent toward thinking the attitudes parodied in the video are perfectly okay and have an ax to grind where Pharyngula is concerned. By the way, Cupcake, I’m not interested in playboy vids, but thanks for the complete lack of effort.

  48. Moggie says

    Ogvorbis:

    I’ve eaten at The Brown Derby. Does that count?

    That place is still around??

    Tethys:

    If anyone wants a good laugh, I encourage you to click through the link in Stacy’s comment #36.

    Is it not awesome? Best comment at manboobz: He’s not allowed to watch Game of Thrones anymore.

  49. R Johnston says

    @36, 61:

    That video made my day. Most hilarious non-parody MRA video ever, by far, mostly because it somehow manages to engage in over-the-top MRA stupidity while being only pathetic without any element of scariness at all. I saw it at manboobz, wanted to post it in this thread, but was beaten to the task.

    I strongly recommend Stacy’s link in 36 to anyone in need of a laugh.

  50. ferbyd says

    [Hi, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. Bye, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. –pzm]

  51. Moggie says

    ferbyd, I’m going to assume that English is not your first language, which would go some way to excusing your difficulty with parsing humour in that tongue. Though, admittedly, not much, since we have regulars from all over who seem more adept at it than native speakers…

  52. ferbyd says

    [Hi, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. Bye, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. –pzm]

  53. PatrickG says

    @ Caine:

    Ohhhh, could we call it The Fedora Disparity? Pleeeeaaaase?

    First I was going to challenge you to the Battle of the Fedoras, then found out there’s some weird youtube video of teenagers in fedoras battling with water guns over pop tarts… or something. I didn’t watch very much of it, and I won’t link it here, much to everybody’s relief I’m sure.

    After that dismal experience, I hereby concede to your request, a long as I get to declaim “We CANNOT afford a FEDORA GAP!” on occasion. :D

    Speaking of dismal hells… Seconding R Johnston. The manboobz link in Stacy’s #36. Just wow. Wow. WOW! I didn’t know it was possible to look that stupid. SO worth it. It’s like that guy tried channeling the Unabomber while listening to Pink Floyd, with hilariously predictable results.

  54. Moggie says

    Wow, this ferbyd has the tenacity of a wolverine which is also a sort of bird in the sky!

  55. Arren ›‹ idée fixe oblique says

    ferbyd,

    Consider a remedial reading course — or ten.

    You’re welcome.

  56. says

    Patrick:

    After that dismal experience, I hereby concede to your request, a long as I get to declaim “We CANNOT afford a FEDORA GAP!” on occasion. :D

    That’s reasonable enough. Okay. :D

  57. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    You’d make a great standup though Ogvorbis ;)

    I was pretty good at it. Even did it semi-professionally (getting paid for it, in other words). I preferred studying history.

    So, I’ll ask again: Why is your interpretation the only possible correct one? Why is it important to you that PZ made a mistake?

  58. ferbyd says

    [Hi, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. Bye, treestump/andywatson/louisemar/etc. –pzm]

  59. Wowbagger, Designated Snarker says

    ferbyd, you fucked up by thinking you had a gotcha! moment against PZ but have been shown to have been wrong right from the very start, since PZ listed this under ‘humor’. What you need to do now is demonstrate some character by admitting your fault and apologising – dig up, in other words.

  60. consciousness razor says

    I think it’s finally dawned on me.

    You actually think your asinine bullshit just dawned on you? What could that mean? Someone wrote your script for you, and you’re reading it cold right now? You’re doing a decent job with the clueless weaseling dolt persona, for what it’s worth.

  61. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    What you need to do now is demonstrate some character by admitting your fault and apologising – dig up, in other words.

    Wowbagger, you are assuming that ferbyd is here for honourable purposes. I strongly suspect that xe is here specifically to get banned. Maybe xe is trying to goad PZ into doxing hir? Or just earning an “I Got Banned at Pharyngula” badge. But I don’t think xe is here for any rational discussion. Especially the declaration that none of us here have a sense of humour. Xe obviously has never heard my fire jokes!

  62. carlie says

    I utterly adore hats. I have been known to spend hours browsing hats online. Sadly, I don’t have the personality to pull one off. Since they’re not all that common, wearing one takes a certain amount of willingness to stand out that I simply don’t have in my personal arsenal. :( But I do have a field hat, which I wear with relish when I’m outdoors doing working stuff. Although I think it fell down in the closet and got crushed last year. :(

  63. Ogvorbis: ArkRanger of Doom! says

    Damn. I was right (see # 84). Far more right than I thought.

    What an asshole.

    Kinda makes me wonder what xe is trying to accomplish here?

  64. says

    Carlie:

    I utterly adore hats. I have been known to spend hours browsing hats online. Sadly, I don’t have the personality to pull one off.

    Nonsense! The Carlie I know has enough personality for a whole rack of hats.

  65. says

    Ogvorbis:

    What an asshole.

    Yep. That’s why I sent an alert. Ol’ ‘andywatson, etc.’ has a particular way of expression, it’s fairly easy to spot. I think he never got over the drubbing he took as ‘andywatson’, so he keeps popping back up, trying to make the same points over and over.

  66. PatrickG says

    Accusations of doxxing by revealing earlier comment handles in 5.. 4.. 3…

  67. says

    I put this vid on my FB. a little bit ago, someone shared it with the following title.

    “I never realized how women had it as bad as the blacks did. Traded like cattle, side by side on the ships, and thrown over board for being ill. All the women lynched and hung for walking on the same side of the street, and making men blush. Never having the privilege of the draft. The public beatings women endured on behalf of men for their crimes. Men getting lesser prison sentences for the same crime because as we all know, he was abused by a women who once didn’t like his shoes. Men have had it too easy, sitting at home with the children while women have toiled in the fields doing dangerous jobs to make lives better for us men. And how we as men have taken them for everything they are worth in the courts, and then using visitation of the children against these women. And lets not forget all the men who’ve had women jailed or beaten on false rape claims. Even how men have begun to claim how the mere act of sex is rape of a man because of a womans body imprisoning our personal member. Dan Cardamon, you have opened my eyes to the “truth”

  68. says

    By the way, I traced this “ferbyd” character back: he has used 20 different pseudonyms since February 2012. 261 total comments.

    There really aren’t as many ratbagging assholes out there as you think — there’s a hell of a lot of sockpuppetry going on.

  69. says

    PZ:

    By the way, I traced this “ferbyd” character back: he has used 20 different pseudonyms since February 2012. 261 total comments.

    :shakes head: It’s ridiculous, doing that. If “ferbyd, etc.” ever had an actual point to make, it might not be so pathetic, but it’s always the same thing, over and over.

  70. Ichthyic says

    Yep, he posted it under comedy, then said “Watch at your own peril — a tear of pity started to roll down my cheek

    Watching an idiot claim someone misses satire… while they themselves miss the satire in the comment of the very person they are criticizing.

    that’s some sweet delicious irony right there.

    mmmm.

  71. melainiecarthy says

    There seems to be something going on relating to this over at this site:

    [Links removed. Do not link to the slymepit ever. –pzm]

  72. says

    Yeah, now he’s still ranting at me, but all of his comments are going to the spam folder. It turns out he’s also an admitted slymepitter. Thanks, andystumpylouiseyjoejohnjackxrodferbydufus! I appreciate the confirmation that I made the right decision booting your ass!

  73. Lofty says

    Caine:

    :shakes head: It’s ridiculous, doing that. If “ferbyd, etc.” ever had an actual point to make, it might not be so pathetic, but it’s always the same thing, over and over.

    There’s something very religious about his convictions.

  74. R Johnston says

    @ Loftty:

    There’s nothing even the tiniest bit not religious about its convictions. Religious faith is religious faith, whether or not the subject of religious faith is a god, whatever “god” means.” Faith that looks evidence in the eye and spits is religious, regardless of other context.

  75. says

    PZ:

    It turns out he’s also an admitted slymepitter. Thanks, andystumpylouiseyjoejohnjackxrodferbydufus! I appreciate the confirmation that I made the right decision booting your ass!

    I wonder why he’s not ecstatic with his badge of bannination. I bet a dollar he actually uses andystumpylouiseyjoejohnjackxrodferbydufus as a nym at some point.

  76. says

    Lofty:

    There’s something very religious about his convictions.

    He’s persistent, I’ll give him that much. It might not have been so bad, thinking he had convictions, but that was a major part of the problem when he first showed up here – no one could figure out just what those convictions actually were, outside of the usual slymer script.

  77. R Johnston says

    Caine:

    English is tough. Between assigning gender, assigning plurality, and assigning moral equivalence to decent human beings, one must make a choice. Plurality is obviously wrong in the case of an individual, and gender has a whole host of problems of its own. Among the possibilities that the language allows, it’s best. although admittedly imperfect. to use “it” in the case of a troll who actively admits a desire to be labeled as an “it” as opposed to a “he” or “she.” If it doesn’t care to not troll, then I don’t care to worry about how it wishes to be labeled.

  78. Louis says

    R Johnston,

    Two words:

    Damage splash.

    Rearrange them to fit the righteous ticking off you are about to receive.

    “It”, sadly, has consequences. Whatever you might think of he/she/them/xe/whatever genderless pronoun you choose, “it” is not in the same category. “It” refers to objects or non-humans.

    Louis

  79. Thumper; Atheist mate says

    But I tried to reasonabilise the discussion! I took time out my day to educate these misguided idiots, and they didn’t even give me cookies for my condescending bullshit! Waaaah!

    Jesus fuck, what a whiny moron. Fucking reasonabilise! As if his condescension wasn’t enough, he’s now making up words.

  80. Thumper; Atheist mate says

    Ah. Having read the comments it would seem I have been taken in by a very convincing satire. Well, now I feel silly :) Very good.

  81. says

    R Johnston

    Plurality is obviously wrong in the case of an individual

    Where have you been since the 14th century? From the easily found Fount Of All Human Knowledge™:

    Recognized writers have used they, them, themselves, and their to refer to singular nouns such as one, a person, an individual, and each since the 1300s.

  82. Stacy says

    Just want to mention that on comment threads over at ManBoobz, flying wolverines are now a thing. :)