The man who would be king of the trolls
UPDATE: Roosh has announced that he is cancelling all the meetups. For more see my post here.
Roosh Valizadeh may be getting exactly what he wants. The scuzzball pickup artist and would-be philosopher of “neomasculinity,” best known for his semi, demi, sort-of-satirical article advocating that rape be made legal on private property, has ignited a firestorm of controversy in the media and online by announcing plans to hold meetups for his fans in 165 locations worldwide this coming Saturday.
As someone who’s been watching Roosh for many years, I can certainly understand the outrage. Roosh is a thoroughly despicable person — a misogynist, racist, homophobe, and anti-Semite who has self-published a series of books of pickup artistry that many observers see as rape manuals.
He teaches his followers that a “no” from a woman is usually just an indication to keep trying; he fills his books with “field reports” of his own sexual experiences that often seem indistinguishable from rape. (That’s why some people describe him as a confessed serial rapist; he’s never been charged much less convicted of rape, as far as I know.)
And then there is that piece of his extolling what he sees as the benefits of legalizing rape on private property. (He now claims it was satire, but was unable to explain to the BBC what exactly he was supposedly satirizing.)
Unfortunately, some of the media coverage of Roosh and his planned meetups has been sloppy and misleading; assorted rumors about the events are flying around online.
This post is intended to give you solid information about Roosh and his meetups and to correct some of the misinformation floating around.
If you need more information about Roosh himself and his beliefs, please take a look at some or all of the posts of mine listed below. The headlines are pretty self-explanatory, and I carefully document every point I make in them.
Pickup guru Roosh V: End rape by making it legal
Are Roosh V’s “Bang” books how-to guides for rape?
Roosh V has a little trouble with the concept of “no.”
Roosh V: “Women Must Have Their Behavior And Decisions Controlled By Men.”
Roosh the PUA dude: Women are “lubricated holes that exist mostly for a man’s sexual pleasure.”
Why pickup guru Roosh Valizadeh is dangerous to women
Domestic violence laws are a crime against nature, according to pickup artist Roosh V
Roosh V: Gay marriage is part of “a degenerate march to persecute heterosexuals” and destroy society
Roosh V denounced as degenerate “muzzie” by white supremacists he’s trying to woo
Roosh V Is Angry That the BBC Has Portrayed Him as the Monster He Is
Oh, and I almost forgot this one:
Roosh V: It’s just a matter of time before one of my fans commits a mass shooting
And these are just some of my posts detailing many terrible things about this terrible man. See even more here.
Now that we know what sort of person Roosh is, we can move on to asking just what exactly he’s trying to do with all these meetups he’s scheduled around the world. I can’t answer that completely, but let me offer several caveats and warnings.
Whether you are planning something to counter a meetup in your area, or simply trying to understandwhat’s going on, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Roosh loves to troll
While it’s abundantly clear that Roosh means most of what he says — including the horrific things he’s said about rape — he is also a bit of a troll, and he’s clearly stoking the fires of the current controversy in order to get more attention for himself ad his noxious ideas. He’s also using the controversy in order to find new “SJW” villains that he and his followers can defame and harass.
Roosh is almost certainly NOT coming to your town
Roosh is planning 165 meetups; there is only one of him.
He originally said, in a FAQ on the upcoming meetups, that he plans to attend the one in Washington DC. But after the Australian media got wind of his planned meetups, Roosh stoked the firestorm by tweeting that he had booked a plane ticket to the land down under. Later, he followed up with tweets suggesting that he might instead travel there by boat in hopes of avoiding the authorities.
I have the funds to get in by boat through one of multiple weak points. Money is no barrier to the operation. pic.twitter.com/5vimqIbpLa
— Roosh (@rooshv) February 2, 2016
He was almost certainly trolling. My guess is that he will indeed be going to the DC meetup, but only Roosh knows for sure.
He is not planning “‘rape should be legal’ meetups,” as the Toronto Sun claimed in a headline
The meetups, as Snopes.com has pointed out, seem to be informal get-togethers for his fans, not demonstrations or seminars or pickup bootcamps or anything much beyond a way for his readers to meet in person. Roosh no doubt hopes that the events will help solidify his fan base and make them more committed to him. They are also pretty clearly intended as a publicity stunt, and in this they have succeeded wildly.
The truth about Roosh is damning enough; there is no need to exaggerate or invent.
Roosh wants his critics to overreact and embarrass themselves in public
In a FAQ for the upcoming meetups, Roosh urges his readers to record any “crazy feminists” who show up
with your camera, upload the footage to Dropbox, and then send it to me at roosh@rooshv.com afterwards so we can tear them up. …
I will exact furious retribution upon anyone who challenges you in public on that date (remember to record them).
Roosh is also planning “retribution” against journalists and presumably anyone else whom he thinks have maligned him
Earlier today, on his forum, Roosh announced the start of what he called “OPERATION BULLHORN,” a “counter-operation” against “lying reporters” who have presented him as “pro rape.”
Where did this worldwide mob get the idea that we are meeting to discuss rape tactics? Through the media. Dozens of reporters have now blatantly lied about all of us being “pro rape” and have a “rape advocacy platform.” They have frothed up a crazy mob that is ready to dox and assault. We must hold journalists fully accountable for their incitement.
For this operation, locate all media articles written in the past week that contained the lie that we support rape and harm against women. Then collect as much as you can of the following information and post it in this thread:
-Name of reporter
-Name of media outlet he/she works for
-Most likely city of residence (don’t publish addresses but save them for possible future use)
-Twitter account URL (if available)
-Their Facebook profile URL (if available)
-Their photo (uploaded to a service like imgur.com)
In the forum thread — now locked to all but forum members, but still up on Google cache — Roosh’s fanboys have started tracking down and posting info on a number of journalists. What Roosh intends to do with this information is not yet clear.
Roosh and his fans will almost certainly try to track down the personal information of any anti-Roosh activists they manage to capture on video as well. Roosh recently announced that he had finally identified the woman who so famously dumped a beer on him during his visit to Montreal last summer. So be careful.
Roosh is making the meetup locations for some of his events private
In a post today on his Return of Kings site, Roosh declared that “the world is moving against us,”and announced that he would be making a number of the planned meetups private.
Since this meetup was never intended as a confrontation with unattractive women and their enablers, I’m moving to save as many of these meetups as I can before Saturday so that men can still meet in private away from a loud, obnoxious, dishonest, and potentially violent mob. …
In the next 24 hours, many meetups will be made private. …
We’re not going to be able to privatize all the meetups that are being threatened with protest, but we’ll save the ones that are in the most critical danger.
For those organizing against Roosh, this may actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Instead of a potentially ugly confrontation with a handful of Roosh fanboys looking to provoke a fight (that they can capture on video), the protests can be reframed not as a protest centering around one guy and his followers but as a public rebuke of the rape culture they embody.
At least that would be my preference. If you have other and possibly better ideas, feel free to post them in the comments below, or share what you’re already planning.
Whatever you’re planning to do (or not do) on Saturday, be prepared.
Be safe! Lock down your social media presence online. Doublecheck your privacy settings, and don’t reveal anything you wouldn’t want Roosh’s fanboys to find. If you’re going to protest in person, go with friends.
Know what you’re talking about! Accusing him of things he’s not actually doing plays into his hands.
Be aware that whatever you do may get recorded and posted on Youtube; avoid tactics that may not play well on camera.
Again, if you think I’m wrong about any or all of this, please share your thoughts in the comments below. Unless you’re a Roosh fanboy; we don’t really need you stinking up the place.