The subtitle of Elliot Rodger’s manifesto — The Story of Elliot Rodger — being followed immediately by “by Elliot Rodger” should be your first warning, should you decide to read the 140-or-so pages of the essay left by the misogynist, racist, and narcissist who went on a killing spree in Santa Barbara last week. For him, it was many things: autobiography, confessional, cry for help, polemic, manifesto, and suicide note. For the rest of the world, it’s something that we’re going to discuss, debate, and dissect for a long time.
If you you need a quick summary of My Twisted World, Scott Benson’s 40-second cartoon, But I’m a Nice Guy captures the general gist, despite having been made over a year ago:
Here’s Benson explaining the inspiration behind the video. I’ve added a few links for terms that you might not have heard of:
You see it all over the place online in the form of Men’s Rights Activists (of whom there are a few reasonable non-misogynists), Men Going Their Own Way, Pick Up Artists, and dudes touting the “Red Pill”, because The Matrix is a good movie. Look any of these up if you have the stomach for it. These are extreme examples, but watered-down forms of these ideas are everywhere.
In lurking their blogs and youtube channels for a while, I’ve noticed that beyond the standard patriarchal chauvinism there is this deep fear of women – what they will do to me, how they will reject me, how they will use me, how they are changing society in a way that does not favor me, how they are making men into something I don’t like, how they are making themselves into something I don’t like, that they won’t give me what I want, and that they won’t give me what I think is rightfully mine. This goes beyond fear of feminism – this is fear of women at its purest. And that, to quote a puppet, leads to anger and hate. It’s sad.
I am a feminist. I think there’s enough ice cream to go around, but it does mean those of us with 3 scoops might have to give one or two up. Also, The Matrix is a fun movie but probably not anything you should be basing a philosophy on.
He had to close the comments section for the video because guys like the one in the comic below — along with far more nastier variants — were playing the Internet Tough Guy role:
I love that he’s wearing a fedora. It’s a decent hat that got ruined by these guys.
Click the comic to see the source.