The Internet Is My Best Friend: Men Against Assholes and Misogynysts, A Good Old Fashioned War on Men, The Saga of Je Shirt Company

By Robin Hardwick | December 3, 2012

I become irritated when people dismiss twitter as “a lot of noiseâ€ and people posting what they had for lunch. Sure, people do that, but it’s an ignorant view. Follow the right people and twitter becomes this amazing, real-time, capture of the exact zeitgeist of our time. Sure, it’s difficult to have a decent, respectable debate over politics in a hundred and forty characters or less. Some of the best comedy comes from twitter, as well as the best discussions. Lately, issues of sexism, feminism, and misogyny have been blowing up.

First, the story of one Jenny Johnson, a news producer and writer from Dallas. Johnson is one of those twitter anomalies who managed to amass a couple hundred followers on content alone, and not on some predetermined fame. lately, her most popular tweets have been those aimed at celebrities.

Seems Chris Brown is reading his at-replies, because he released a barage of insults at Johnson, and I’ll paraphrase, including defecating in her face. I guess his publicist wasn’t baby-sitting him that day. Brown then deleted his twitter account and Johnson was hailed as the official “heroâ€ of twitter. It’s an underdog story with Johnson likely getting a book deal and Chris Brown becoming more vile, if that is possible.

Here’s the thing: Johnson is NO WAY deserved to be talked to that way, over twitter, in person, ever. It’s gross and violent and is the actions of an animal, not a human being. However, much of Johnson’s popularity comes from her constant insult of celebrities. Hating on the Kardashians? Come on, that’s just low-hanging fruit. It’s like she kept baiting them and then is surprised when they DO read it and reply. We’re not taking a hero here, we’re talking about someone who hurled mean insults at celebrities and acted surprised when mean insults came back. My intent is not to blame the victim here, but what is really going on is just people having a useless shouting match for the world to see.

Comedian, Jen Kirkman, on the other hand, was not hurling insults but was still receiving them. As a comedian on Chelsea Lately, her tweets often contain smart quips on pop culture, but she is also someone who is outspoken about being a woman who chooses to be child free. However, she often gets many replies about she should “shut up and just look prettyâ€ or “stop being so hysterical.â€ She was tired of her male friends telling her to shake it off, or ignore it. She actually did something about it, taking a twitter hiatus and asking her male counterparts to show their support by declaring their support for women and feminists by posting their stories on the MA’AM tumblr (Men Against Assholes and Misogony). Both well-known comedians and other men have taken her to task, and there’s some very inspiring stories.

From Jen Kirkman’s tumblr:

As if these past few weeks weren’t shitting on women already, the fair and balanced foxnews.com published a the piece “The War on Men” claiming that “women aren’t women anymore.â€

Look, it’s okay to publish opinion pieces, even on issues such as this. But, when you post it on a “newsâ€ site, it is basically branding it as “truth.â€

Luckily the amazing an always interesting Vice Magazine published a reaction piece called “You’re a Pussy if You Think There’s a War on Men“. Writer Harry Cheadle uses just enough insight and mocking of the people who agreed with it.

You can guess who had a field day with this article and the Vice piece: the Men’s Right’s subreddit.

Meanwhile, while the internet makes us think, it can also make us just plain laugh. Thus, you should be following the saga of Je Shirt. Created by director/writer Jason Woliner (the off-camera member of Human Giant, among other things) created a shirt company based on his “Jay Gueveraâ€ tee shirts; the iconic face of Che Guevera superimposed with Jay Leno’s face. The tumblr and twitter are chronicling the trials and tribulations of running an independent tee shirt company. This is the sort of bit that is so detailed and intricate that sometimes it seems as if…it may actually be real.