Last week, Mayor Robertson banned infamous blogger and pickup artist, Daryush Valizadeh, better known as Roosh V, from coming to Vancouver to head a meeting with his organization Return of Kings. Return of Kings is a pro-male, anti-feminist collective that offers pickup artist tricks, a return to “masculinity” as well as musings about the dating and sex in Western culture.
Roosh V has been banned in several countries and has had to cancel meetings all over America. The mayors of Winnipeg, Toronto and Calgary all banned Return of Kings meetings, and the last time Roosh V was in Montreal a young woman threw a drink on him and yelled at him to leave her city.
Everyone applauded Mayor Robertson’s decision. #TurnAwayReturnOfKings ran through Twitter followed by an array of celebration emojis from Vancouver residents alike.
Roosh V really made his mark with a piece titled, “How To Stop Rape”. In the article, which held a disclaimer warning the reader of the satirical tone and to not take his ideas seriously, Roosh V argues that rape should be legalized on private property. Of course, he is not literally suggesting that rape be legal on private property, but is making a comment about personal responsibility during courting and sex. He flips all the responsibility of sex crimes from men to women, and by doing this he argues how the over-powering feminist narrative has not leveled the playing field of sexual responsibility, but simply reversed the blame from one gender to the other. He’s really just commenting on the controversial, complexity of North America’s rape culture and the distain he, a man, feels being blamed for it. However, this is not what was regurgitated by the media and therefore, not what most people took from his piece. Roosh became the “pro-rape” guy almost over night. It is really not surprising that this is what happened. People are too lazy to finish reading anything over 500 words, and, moreover, form their own opinions about something so hateful and controversial. It’s easier to read the headline, shake your head in disgust and retweet. Research and reading takes away from Instagram time.
Roosh is angry about his position in this increasingly politically-correct culture, and one quick read through of his other articles such as, “Men Are Nothing More Than Clowns To Modern Women” or “Ten Reasons Why Heterosexual Men Should Leave America” details an undertone of how powerless, insecure and agitated he feels. No one is this hateful without reason. This does not make him “evil”. (As one of my favorite writers once said, "Anybody who uses the word evil is a moron. It's a dumb way to describe anything that threatens you. It's funny how that in war, no one declares that they are the evil side. No one says that. The other guy is always the evil one, and that is the pretense for killing them.”) Return of Kings is the personification of the confused, pissed-off heterosexual male who despises his sudden loss of entitlement. It’s the rantings of someone who suddenly realizes they are no longer winning.
The original Pick-Up Artist bible was “The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists” written by Neil Strauss nearly a decade ago. I’ve read this book many times. It’s one of my favorites. Unfortunately, the book was often used in a way the author did not intend. Half the readers only digest the beginning of the tale, the section with all the PUA tips for landing chicks, and neglected to read to the second half, when all the PUAs seemingly flawless tricks are nothing but a veil on their failing, lonely, loveless lives. (I mean, it was a bunch of man-dorks in pageboy hats living in a house that Courtney Love frequented when she was high on cocaine. Would you want that life?)
Pickup Artistry clinics are nothing new and teach socially awkward men misguided confidence and “game”. I think they are stupid, but just like any other group, they have a right to exist. Besides, when did wanting to get laid make you anything but human? We all make really pathetic attempts at sex. I am not offended by pickup artists. I think the tactics they teach are idiotic and seldom work. However, these PUA leaders are staunch entrepreneurs who were smart enough to capitalize on the human need for sex, companionship and self-confidence. The greasy suit in me can respect that.
I understand why Roosh V is allegedly dangerous. He, himself, may have never committed any crimes against the sex that upsets him so greatly he’s devoted his adult life to griping about it, but Return of Kings is excellent fuel for that 10 per cent of demented, damaged men whose mistreatment by some female figure early on in their developing years has left them thinking women are inherently “evil”. These people are dangerous and, regardless of Roosh V’s writing or not, will always be. (But that’s why I carry a knife in my purse and you should too.)
When I read any article posted on Return of Kings I see a club of misguided men who I desperately want to debate with. I want to understand why they are so mad. The only way men this distanced and disassociated from, yet still desperately attracted to, women are only going to understand them by having a breakthrough with one.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” Evelyn Beatrice Hall once wrote. I do not like Roosh V or his ideas because they are the opposite of mine. However, I care about free speech more than silencing someone who I don’t agree with. I can live in a world where Roosh V writes this laughable garbage, but not one where even he is censored.
