Daryush "Roosh V" Valizadeh. Photo by Bartek Kucharczyk via Wikimedia Commons
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Roosh preys on this deluded craving for suffering to engender attitudes which leave women beaten, belittled and marginalised, and sexually frustrated men more furious than ever at women – and thus more likely to buy Roosh's books. Those who buy into neo-masculinist ideology are not lions led by donkeys, but "betas" led by "alphas".Both the Battle of Montreal and the forthcoming meet-ups are framed as acts of pseudo-military resistance. Articles on Roosh's website about the "Battle" refer to "airstrikes", "ground campaigns" and the "information war".Eager to feel part of a bona-fide resistance movement, many fans buy into this rhetoric wholesale. Comment threads about this weekend's meet-up salivate over a "watershed moment in world history" and stress the importance of "maintaining basic operational security". (OpSec 101: publish your security measures on a public forum.)"It's time to go underground in the cities that threaten the safety of my supporters," Roosh tweeted as the media descended on Monday, amplifying his fans' paranoia to the point of absurdity. Roosh knows that his fans are not in any real danger, but he also knows they want to believe that their lives are imperilled by the feminist threat. Those safe from oppression feel a voyeuristic pleasure in imagining its weight upon them, as though they are watching a horror movie that can be switched off at any point.
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