# "Classify the Men's Rights Movement as a terrorist group" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 27, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395 "2014-05-27T18:41:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/161 "2014-05-31T14:48:40Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Too many men haven’t figured out that militant feminism peaked long ago and has precious little influence today To be fair, a lot of men don’t care to figure that out. They’re suffering from cultural whiplash and futureshock, and want someone to lash out at. “Feminazis” are a good target, even if they’re 90% straw. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/162 "2014-05-31T20:57:07Z")
> [@andros](#): > > To be fair, a lot of men don’t care to figure that out. They’re suffering from cultural whiplash and futureshock, and want someone to lash out at. “Feminazis” are a good target, even if they’re 90% straw. ## I think most guys are not particularly anti-feminist, though a lot of guys haven’t worked this sort of stuff out yet. When Rush Limbaugh started using the Feminazi term (~1992) , it had some wit and it had a lot more relevance: there were real targets like MacKinnon that could be pointed at. But that generation’s days passed on long ago. Tom Tomorrow wonders whether “The toxic culture of online misogyny”, fueled the killer’s fantasies. Personally I like that construction: rough speech on the internet like rough speech elsewhere can prompt assholes and psychos to act out. Responsible people therefore keep things reigned in to some extent. Reviewing **Kimstu** ’s claims upthread, I see some of this as an aspect of bad online behavior (eg [doxing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxing)): the Men’s Rights movement is just a particular manifestation. But I could be totally wrong: most of what I know about them is based on 25+ year old articles from the Utne reader (“Iron John”) and SDMB pit threads. Dumb naive question: why are telephone death threats a big deal? Phone calls can be traced and public telephones are increasingly rare. Just throw the fuckers in jail. Or do restrictions against recording conversations complicate matters? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/163 "2014-06-02T02:40:54Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Dumb naive question: why are telephone death threats a big deal? Phone calls can be traced and public telephones are increasingly rare. Just throw the fuckers in jail. Or do restrictions against recording conversations complicate matters? 😕 😕 😕 “Why are telephone death threats a big deal?” Um, because they are, you know, _death threats_? Delivered by somebody who has proven that they know at least enough about you to figure out how to reach you by telephone? Because “just throwing somebody in jail” requires a major investment of resources to investigate, document and prosecute the criminal activity involved, and such investments aren’t always available for every threat received, and the police and FBI don’t have 100% accuracy in estimating which threats should be taken seriously and prioritized for investigation? Because when death threats **are** taken seriously, they sometimes result in major life upheavals such as getting police protection, having to move out of one’s home temporarily or permanently, having to change all one’s contact information, and so on and so forth? Seriously, **MfM** , how in the world would somebody going to the trouble of _ **personally contacting you to tell you that they intend to kill you** _ not be a big deal? Sure, most death threats are just spiteful verbal aggression that never actually translates into physical harm. But you can’t ever be totally sure, can you? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/164 "2014-06-02T03:28:56Z")
Oh please. This is Texas. So, a woman whose life is threatened complains to the police… …Who are friends with all of the gun-toting jack-offs and their long-barrel cocksucking from the good ‘ole shootin’ range where they all hang out and talk trash about women who don’t like having automatic weapons shoved in their infants faces. The police then arrest the woman for making terrorist threats against god-fearing 2nd Amendment-obeying male citizens because she called the police on them. Um. You’re not familiar with Texas, eh? This pretty much how things play out. Think these women aren’t in fear of their lives inside and out of their own homes? Start reading up. Welcome to Merikkah. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/165 "2014-06-02T04:32:39Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 😕 😕 “Why are telephone death threats a big deal?” > > Um, because they are, you know, _death threats_? Delivered by somebody who has proven that they know at least enough about you to figure out how to reach you by telephone? > > Because “just throwing somebody in jail” requires a major investment of resources to investigate, document and prosecute the criminal activity involved, and such investments aren’t always available for every threat received, and the police and FBI don’t have 100% accuracy in estimating which threats should be taken seriously and prioritized for investigation? You may misunderstood my question, which admittedly was probably my fault. ISTM that if a death threat by an anonymous person can be documented, that the person should be subjected to automatic civil and criminal penalties, not necessarily punitive. Just automatic. This seems to me to be a pretty easy case to prove, especially if the moron left the message on an answering machine. I suspect part of the problem might touch on [telephone recording law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_recording_laws#United_States), which I would think might justify some legal reform. Which is part of what I was trying to allude to. I didn’t mean to suggest that death threats shouldn’t be taken seriously: quite the contrary. I was saying that when they are delivered by telephone in an era with few payphones that the law might be relatively easy to enforce. Prosecutorial discretion is a game of cost/benefit and was hypothesizing that this would be a judicial action with low cost. ETA: Oh yeah. Death threats can be _mailed_ anonymously. That’s a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/166 "2014-06-11T19:38:01Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > You may misunderstood my question, which admittedly was probably my fault. I think they got it about right. > [@](#): > > ISTM that if a death threat by an anonymous person can be documented, that the person should be subjected to automatic civil and criminal penalties, not necessarily punitive. Just automatic. There are no automatic penalties at law, not in the sense that there’s an automatic penalty for touching a live power line. People have to be wrangled to find the guy, people get trials even if they’re clearly guilty\*, someone has to determine the penalty, someone has to enforce it. However easy and/or simple these things are, they still have to be done. And actually doing it requires more energy on the part of the people involved than, say, typing it out, or reading about it. You may as well say it’s easy to get to the top of Denali, just climb up!" \*Which I approve of, but it’s still a step in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/167 "2014-06-13T04:24:52Z")
> [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](#): > > There are no automatic penalties at law, not in the sense that there’s an automatic penalty for touching a live power line. People have to be wrangled to find the guy, people get trials even if they’re clearly guilty\*, someone has to determine the penalty, someone has to enforce it. However easy and/or simple these things are, they still have to be done. Most cases are plea-bargained out though. What I was saying was that a recorded death threat seems pretty open and shut, and therefore cheap to prosecute. > [@](#): > > You may as well say it’s easy to get to the top of Denali, just climb up!" Well, we’re here to fight ignorance, which is what motivated my question. I grok that professionals don’t commonly ignore the obvious. But I still wonder what exactly is going on here. I mean a $1000 fine gotta offset costs to some extent, right? Or no? IANAL. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395/168 "2014-06-14T07:38:41Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Maybe someday men will only be half of the victims of violent crime, of those killed in workplace accidents, of inmates and suicides, of the homeless… maybe one day feminists will start thinking about normal people, rather than only caring about whether half of every rank of the elite is female. I totally agree with your first sentence, the second line is a bit extreme, but it is quite insightful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classify-the-mens-rights-movement-as-a-terrorist-group/689395.md?page=8)