A MGTOW Manifesto
Written by Techpriest Enginseer
-- Men Going Their Own Way is the rational response of sane men toward an insane society --
A Raw Deal
We hold to the view that men are systematically and individually pressured on a regular basis to accept a "raw deal" from women and from institutions. This is done via the manipulation of the male ego: redefining honor and shame on a regular basis to hook men into eternal, ever-increasing service to fulfil inexhaustible demands.
From institutions, this firstly means taxation coming from the man, going largely to women, and being made to feel guilty that paying up to half his income into such a system is not enough. Indeed, a significant fraction of his own money is sent directly toward organizations that promote open hatred of men, such as feminist organizations and the women's studies departments of universities. As many feminist men learn too late, it is impossible to win approval from institutional feminism; he will be eternally subject to the carrots and stick to drive his ego to greater and greater service toward a system that does not love or care for him.
From women, men are individually asked on a regular basis to cater to women roleplaying the "damsel in distress." This can best be described as times when a woman is perfectly capable of doing something on her own, but feigns helplessness to get men to do the work for her. Alternatively, a woman may shame a man for not catering to her whims and views.
On one end of the damselling spectrum, a spendthrift wife may shame her husband to work excessive hours (and perhaps also using sex as an extra weapon of manipulation) to buy a house, possessions, and vacations to make her look superior to her friends. On the other end, there is a general expectation that if a man needs help with anything, he is on his own, wheras if women need help with anything, men must not only drop what they are doing and help because it is "honorable," but they also must simultaneously affirm that the women they are helping are "equal" or in many ways "better" than they are.
We hold that the above are but a tiny fraction of the multitude of ways that men are manipulated through their ego to willingly accept, and want, a raw deal. We hold that such a system is not just, and is not a fundamentally sound society. Finally, we hold that the primary means of manipulating the male ego begin imbuing men with the notion that their value as a man is measured solely in terms of women's approval.
The MGTOW Response
MGTOW, before it was a movement of any sort, was a philosophical observation of the raw deal, and a prediction of what would come next. Namely, the original MGTOW rightly judged that not all men would deny the truth and buy the raw deal. Instead, men would start "opting out" or "going their own way" without regard for the carrots and sticks directed at their ego. An influential writer from that time, the Zen Priest, put it this way:
Men have lost as much ground as they have in this war because they were intimidated into
silence by the millions of fembots and their near-male syncophants screaming the BIG LIE in
unison.
The fundamental weakness of the BIG LIE strategy is that it only works when it IS a lie. If men
had ever hated women as much as the feminidiots claim men have, the femdroids would have never gotten
to first base. It is has been men's desire to maintain some social honor that led to them being
silenced by accusations that any criticism of feminism equated to "hating women."
So, now freed from the fear of being called "woman haters" which silenced them for so
long, men must now begin to speak the BIG TRUTH!
Since that time, the prediction of MGTOW has now manifested as actual men, who have shrugged off the manipulation of their ego, and are now choosing to live in the manner that is most consistent with what they consider to be the best outcome for their own life. For MGTOW, manliness is therefore intertwined with personal freedom, taking leadership over one's own life, and masculinity as it has long been understood, as opposed to the twisted versions that have come out in recent history.
Activism
The dividing line between MGTOW and Men's Rights Activisism, or MRA, is the perspective on the need for political activism.
MRA requires (or at least, highly encourages) all members to start or continue building activist organizations, and lobbying for various changes in the laws so that men have special rights, much like other groups. MGTOW, being focused on individual men first taking individual actions, does not require political activism. Instead, the main form of activism, should any exist, is the simple encouragement of more men to Go Their Own Way, and for men to individually act.
MGTOW action can best be summed up as a doctrine of non-contribution. By actively minimizing contributions to society by simply living a contented life, individual MGTOW can in fact reduce the extent to which they must work and spend, thus reducing revenue that comes from forced transfers of wealth from men to women. One further, optional step is for MGTOW to do business with each other, reducing societal contributions further.
The main reason for the non-contribution approach is again a recognition of the male ego being an avenue for exploitation. By not having a monolithic organization, there is no organization head to insult, manipulate, or blackmail. When there are a million men speaking truth, attacking any one man will not substantially impact the mass. MGTOW may of course join and influence other organizations, but the nature of MGTOW is that a "MGTOW Organization" should not exist, and any such organization claiming to be such, has in fact excluded itself.
Relationships With Women
One observation by MGTOW over the years is that manipulation of men by women is a universal or near-universal female quality, and as such, any binding commitment with women will open a man up to manipulation and abuse. This view, the "separatist" view,calls for a general withdrawal from relationships with women, and is very much part of the "non-contribution" doctrine.
Another observation put forward by some of the first MGTOW is that in other times and other nations there is a healthier equilibrium between men and women. In this, the "restorationist" view, it is possible for men to find or build an environment that holds 3 basic values: masculine men, feminine women, and limited government. Given the MGTOW perspective on activism, the goal of a restorationist is not to "bring back the good old days" through a ballot box, but to find or build an environment that is consistent with the 3 values. However, unlike the MRA, the restorationst MGTOW pursues restoration by mastering himself, and inspiring men to do likewise.
Next, there is a group tangential to MGTOW, known as the pickup artists or PUAs. These men avocate for men to learn certain 'skills' or 'secret codes' that will give them mastery over women. While social skills and understanding female value is useful, there is one critical difference between MGTOW and the PUA community. PUA still carries the notion that "not getting any" is shameful and makes a man much less of a man. MGTOW is predicated on the rejection of female approval as a standard of manliness, therefore PUA will remain at most tangential.
An additional tangent group is the "traditional conservatives," or tradcons (in reality, they are neither traditional nor conservative). These are people who are superficially antifeminist, who want to coerce all men and women to live in very carefully defined lifestyles and roles. These are distinctly different from the restorationist MGTOW because the restorationists first understand that a successful form of living between men and women may involve more than one kind of lifestyle. Further, the tradcon does not hold to the value of limited government interference (a fundamental value for MGTOW), and further continues to define men's value in terms of winning the approval of women, albeit in a different form.
Final Word
A number of outsiders will often accuse MGTOW of "hating women." This is false. MGTOW merely rejects the notion that a man's value is measured in how quickly he bows down to serve women. MGTOW can feel whatever way they want about any particular woman or women in general, and perhaps most terrifying of all (to women and institutions), with cool, dispassionate reason.
Some may also ask if MGTOW has any kind of demands or conditions that would cause them to "lay down arms." MGTOW is an equilibrium or force of nature, there is no magic formula to make it disappear. Indeed, some men have been so jaded by widespread shaming of manhood that there is no solution at all. However, if one really, really needs to be told what to do, this quote from an observant MGTOW should point them in the right direction:
You know the sad part about all this? All it would take for women would be to cut their financial expectations by 30 percent, hold down a part time job, and treat men even half-way decently. Most guys would hold on until death if women just met these completely reasonable (and might I add, trivially easy to pull off) conditions.
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