The Counteract a Bigot Fund Drive Final Tally: Get Your Donations Ready!
Posted on December 9, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 209 Comments
Hey, folks! It’s time for the counteract a bigot fund drive tally.
For those just joining in: Earlier in the year, I noticed that a bigot named Theodore Beale (aka “Vox Day”) regularly used my name, or nicknames representing me (“McRapey” is a favorite), to whip up readers on his Web sites. Well, there’s nothing I could do about that, and to be honest I think it’s just fine that a bigot has decided that I am the embodiment of everything he isn’t. But I decided if this fellow was going to get mileage off of using my name, I should get mileage off of him using it as well.
So I pledged that every time this odious twit invoked me on one of his Web sites, I’d put $5 into a pot, and at the end of the year, donate that amount to organizations that fight racism, sexism, homophobia and (as this fellow is also one a proponent of “game”) sexual assault, up to $1,000. Others asked if they could play along, and I said of course, and so these other folks also pledged to donate a money to these (or other, similar) organizations. When all was said and done, over $60,000 was pledged. A friend of mine volunteered to track Mr. Beale’s sites for invocation, which saved me from having to do it myself (I was nevertheless aware of him whenever I did ego searches, and it warmed my heart to imagine money going into coffers).
We’re now at the end of the year — or close enough to it that people are asking what they tally is so they can plan and make their donations. So I asked my friend for a tally of references Mr. Beale has made to me on two of his sites: his primary one, and the one he has concerned with “game.” With that tally I could then estimate how many more times he’ll mention me by the end of the year.
Here’s what we have: From January 1 through today, Mr. Beale has mentioned me by name (or by nickname) on those two sites 145 times. This is defined as references in blog posts; other references — references in comments, persistent sidebar links, or comments by others weren’t counted, nor were Twitter or other social media posts. If you want to do the math, that means Mr. Beale invoked me on his blogs on average once every 2.366 days. Which is rather a lot! There are 22 days left in the year, which means if Mr. Beale follows his average, he’ll mention me nine more times before the ball drops in Times Square. So, for my purposes, I am using 154 times as the official tally number.
I had pledged $5 per reference up to $1,000, which (again with the math) means that Mr. Beale would have had to reference me 200 times over the year for the full payout. 154 times turns out to be 77% of that.
So: If you made a pledge to support the Counteract a Bigot fund drive earlier this year, please donate at least 77% of your pledge amount to the organizations you pledged to fund.
I say at least because, of course, I encourage you to donate the full amount of your pledge if you can. I will be doing so, I have just done so, as well as adding in another $250 to my pledge as thanks to the friend who kept track of Mr. Beale’s sites so I didn’t have to. But even if everyone sticks to just 77% of their full pledge amount, we’ll still have donated at least $46,000 dollars to charities and organizations dedicated to fighting bigotry and/or sexual assault in its various forms. And that ain’t bad.
As for Mr. Beale, well. He’s Dunning-Kruger’s favorite son. As such he’s incapable of imagining himself in anything other than a victory condition, so I’m sure he’ll imagine one here, too. Let him. The rest of us know better. If you doubt it, think to what purposes he’s used my name in the last year, and to what purposes we’ve used it. Which is the better use becomes pretty clear when you do.
With that in mind: Thank you to everyone who pledged along with me for this thing. I am genuinely humbled that so many of you joined in. I can’t actually express how amazed I was by the response. I am forever grateful.
Now, all I ask is that you follow through. You’ve made a pledge. It’s time to keep it.
(PS: Please feel free to share this entry with others. And if you hadn’t previously pledged but feel like joining in, well, it’s never too late!)
Notes:
1. The Mallet is of course out of its warming chamber and ready for deployment. Please play nice with others and stay on topic. Here is the site’s commenting policy. Trolls will be squashed early and often.
2. You’ll note that I gave Mr. Beale his name rather than referring to him by “Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit.” Mr. Beale is all those things in my opinion, however, at this point it’s time to lay aside all the cutesy stuff and just call a bigot by name.
3. If you’ve made a pledge, and you want to let people know you’ve fulfilled it, this is a fine place to do it.
4. Please feel free to link to this piece and let people know about it.
I’ll be making my donation this week. :)
I’m writing this at work so I don’t want to do an internet search, but could you (or someone else) please define what you mean by “game”?
Dunning-Kruger’s Favorite Son is the name of my next acoustic solo act.
(Couldn’t possibly be a band because how would you pick the lead?)
srs:
My definition is pathetic dweebs who think women can be manipulated into sex by a certain set of tricks and behaviors. I’m sure they think differently. Look it up when you get home.
I’ll note “game” is not directly on target for this particular thread, so I’d prefer not to have a long discussion of it here.
Ponied up. I didn’t expect to RSHD to be this prolific. I think it’s the first time he’s exceeded my expectations of him.
I just donated my pledged $200 to RAINN.
Paid. And woo! – good way to use the internet :)
I’d pledged $200, but things have gone pretty well for me this year. So, not only am I awarding a grade of 100% for 77% effort, but I’ve donated my pledged amount to each of the four organizations, rather than splitting it among them.
$200, donated in full.
Matched you fifty-cents-on-the-dollar for the full $1250 as pledged. Glad to be able to help.
–SMQ
Half my donation ($100) down. I’ll donate the other half in January.
Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten about it. I took the full amount of my pledge and split it evenly between the four organizations. I wish it could have been more.
Donated $200 today to charities, next allocation of $200 goes at next pay period.
Now that the year is (almost) finished, do you intend to drop your policy of not directly acknowledging Mr. Beale’s existence/antics on your site? While I know you specialize in Taunting the Tauntable, I’ve found the clear air rather refreshing this year.
I just fulfilled my pledge and made my donation to RAINN.
After the Prop 8 debacle I swore I’d never give HRC another dime but I went and gave Lambda Legal $200 bucks. I’ve been kinda neglecting them and focusing on Freedom to Marry the last few years so it’s long overdue.
I initially tried to make the donation in honor of Mr Beale but the site – for no reason I could figure – wanted a state for him. I don’t know where he lives and “confounding” wasn’t an option so I just gave up.
Logophage:
I find him tiresome and sad and not particularly of much consequence outside of his own head, to be honest, so I doubt he’ll be a topic of much conversation here. He wasn’t a topic of much conversation before he got a bug up his ass about me, so that’s at least consistent. It’s pretty clear I am more important to him than he is to me in any event, which is why when people say there’s a “feud” between us I’m a little puzzled. What there has been is him talking about me incessantly and me basically hiring someone else to keep count of the number for fundraising purposes so I don’t have to be bothered. This is not the usual definition of a “feud.”
Donated 100 € ($140) to Ada Initiative last February, on top of the regular monthly donation.
$100 to NGLTF, and pleased to do so.
Also: amused.
Isn’t it possible that your invocation of Beale drives him a bit nuttier than usual and makes him write more than average about you thus skewing the tally?
And why do you warm the Mallet? I mean polishing I would understand.
Christoph M:
I donated the full amount so I’m covered if he does. And he may, since he does enjoy talking about me.
I warm the Mallet because nothing says love like a nice warm Mallet, and remember it is the Mallet of Loving Correction.
Went to RAINN’s website and saw that, until December 31, donations will be matched. I expect that they will get a large portion of my 10 chai’s pledge.
I didn’t pledge because I never know what my finances are going to be like (tight budget) but I made commission recently which will be paid to me on 20th Dec. So I will be popping that full amount in the account of a charity here in the UK that helps victims of sexual assault before Christmas. I’ll let you know the amount once it goes through. :)
I donated the full amount so I’m covered if he does.
Ah OK, overread that. Anyway it’s not likely that he’ll do (calculates) two mentions a day until the end of the year.
Mr. Scalzi, while you have certainly drawn your own conclusions regarding Mr. Beale, I would say you are incorrect in stating that he is a case example of the Dunning Kruger effect. He is often humble about his ability to design games, write articles, and write books. He has never stated he considers himself great or even good at any of these things. If you are referring to rhetoric I have seen no evidence to indicate he is not skilled. All those who have fully engaged him, a good example would be the ArizonaAtheist, have actually found him to be proficient at rhetoric. From what I have observed only those who do not engage him in discussion believe he is deficient in this area.
I also struggle to see how he has failed to recognize genuine skill in others. There are a plethora of examples of him praising both those he ideologically agrees with and those who despise him. He often praises your ability to market yourself. To me, that does not sound like someone incapable of recognizing genuine skill in others.
On the third plank of the Dunning Kruger effect, fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy, I would not contest as it depends entirely on your metric and perspective.
The fourth part of the effect, recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill if they are exposed to training for that skill, there is no evidence as to this to be applicable to him. I am not aware of him being trained for anything, or his reflections on being trained.
With only one part of the Dunning Kruger effect possibly applying to Mr. Beale I would hazard that you are completely unfounded in saying that he is their favourite son. I can only guess your own contempt for the man has inhibited your ability to describe him.
Thanks, Mr. Scalzi for introducing me to Dunning-Kruger!
[Deleted for being both contentless and ungrammatical – JS]
riccola:
“If you are referring to rhetoric I have seen no evidence to indicate he is not skilled.”
Speaking as someone whose degree is Philosophy of language (ie, rhetoric), I see lots of evidence to the contrary, I’m afraid. He’s not bad at sounding like he knows what he’s talking about as long as you don’t know what he’s talking about, but that’s not the same thing as being rhetorically skilled, except to the limited extent that “rhetoric” means “ability to spew bullshit.”
It’s certainly true I don’t think much of him (both in that I don’t think much of him when I don’t have to, and don’t think much of him when I do have to), but in both cases, based on my experience of having to deal with him, I’m very comfortable with my assessment. And in any event it’s not a checklist; one does not need to fulfill all possible conditions to be fully in the grips of Dunning Kruger. You are of course free to disagree.
Mr. Scalzi, I do not see why you would consider possessing a bachelors degree in Philosophy of Language would given you any indication that you are proficient or familiar with rhetoric. All it means is twenty years ago you sat in at a desk, someone taught at you, and you received a piece of paper. A degree does not make you, or anyone else, an authority on a subject. Do you think there has never been a bad engineer?
“I would say you are incorrect in stating that he is a case example of the Dunning Kruger effect. He is often humble about his ability to design games, write articles, and write books. He has never stated he considers himself great or even good at any of these things.”
Is being humble enough to get you clear? I always interpreted suffering from DK as simply having a higher estimation of your own skills than is merited. Couldn’t one be humble about their own abilities and still believe themselves to be more competent than they actually are?
That assumes, of course, that said humble behavior isn’t actually false modesty. We need a special term for false modesty that actually should be real modesty, I think. Double Secret Dunning Kreuger? Dunning Kreuger in Kreuger Dunning clothing?
$100 to RAINN today. Thanks, John.
Done. €200 as pledged.
My $200 is off to the Human Rights Campaign.
I’ll be submitting my donations tomorrow. The full $200, just in case he gets all frothy in the holiday season.
$200 off to Emily’s List.
I’d not originally pledged, but just gave $100 to RAINN. Not only that, my employer matched the donation.
$100 donated through my corporate matching program, where that $100 magically becomes $200. Win!
Riccola:
“I do not see why you would consider possessing a bachelors degree in Philosophy of Language would given you any indication that you are proficient or familiar with rhetoric.”
And? As I don’t know you or know your capacity to make any sort of assessment of anything (except to the extent that you’ve asserted Mr. Beale is not unskilled, which is an assertion I find dubious for several reasons and does not put you in good stead regarding my assessment of your own evaluative skills), I would say that you not seeing why it matters really is your problem and not mine. Likewise, perhaps your school gives out bachelor degrees as if they were issued from a gumball machine. Mine doesn’t, and in particular did not in my case.
Don Whiteside:
“Couldn’t one be humble about their own abilities and still believe themselves to be more competent than they actually are?”
Yup. And it would kind of suck.
I hadn’t made a pledge, but I’m giving $100 to Planned Parenthood. I figure that’s roughly $1 for each time I’ll use the phrase “Dunning-Kruger’s favorite son” in 2014. With attribution, of course.
It’ll be a mid-term election year, so I might be underestimating a bit.
@srs: I think John’s definition is a bit narrow even for pickup artist usage in general (although perhaps not for Mr. Beale specifically, add he strikes me as more actively misogynistic (as opposed to merely self-interestedly sexist) than the average pickup artist). The way I would put it is this: When you’re interacting with someone that you want something romantic and/or sexual from, there are a lot of factors, both under your control and otherwise, that determine whether they will give you what you want. What you actually have to offer is certainly one, as is (if you’re a despicable, criminal scumbag of the worst sort) your use of physical force or the threat thereof. Neither of those is game, but everything else that is under your control and influences whether you get what you want is – including your ability to convince people of your actual good qualities.
So there’s nothing wrong with trying to improve your game as such – if you’re a respectful and accommodating lover, then figuring out how to come across as such is improving your game. Of course, so is figuring out how to come across as such if you aren’t!
In practice, though, most people who talk a lot about game focus primarily on the deceptive or manipulative (e.g. finding a girl with low self-esteem and subtly insulting her to try to make her feel like she needs to prove herself to you, a.k.a. “negging”) aspects, and mix it up with pop-evo-psych bullshit for good measure. In extreme cases, like Mr. Beale, it devolves further into simply arguing that you should treat women like shit, because that’s what makes them wet, no matter what those evil, misandrist feminists claim.
Back in February, I actually dug into the archives here and read Mr. Beale’s Big Idea offering; I was grateful for the opportunity to read a sample of his unadulterated work without actually having to visit his website.
Definitely Dunning-Kruger’s favourite son. Sorry, Riccola, you’ll have to settle for second-favourite.
In other news, my wife and I will choose our charity now, and donate the full amount: 77% for the Bigot Drive, topped up with the 23% in glee over the lovely expression “Dunning-Kruger’s favourite son”.
I just made my fill donation in honor of you & my daughter to KC Anti-Violence Project whose mission statement reads:
Mission
We provide information, support, referrals, advocacy and other services to LGBT survivors of violence including domestic violence, sexual assault, and bias crimes, focusing these services within the Kansas City metropolitan area. KCAVP also educates the community at large through training and outreach programs.
Values
Respect Recognition of the individual’s dignity, a non-judgmental approach to service delivery, respecting the decisions and personal conditions of the client.
Safety Providing a confidential “haven” from all types of abuse.
Confidentiality Respecting the privacy of clients through maintaining confidential communication.
Equality Equal access to services.
Diversity Be representative of the community we serve.
Vision
Our vision is to end all types of violence in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
A questions:
1) Were we supposed to donate to those 4 charities, or were those just the 4 you planned on donating to? Because I would like to give to Planned Parenthood too.
2) Were we planning on giving with a specific “name” attached? “Because John Scalzi!” OR “Gamma Rabbits Forever”
@Christoph M. : Isn’t it possible that your invocation of Beale drives him a bit nuttier than usual
And you’d be able to tell… how?
I didn’t make a pledge, but today I renewed my monthly donation to HRC, and will send a modest donation to RAINN later. Theodore has no interest to me, nor do his minions. (Nor does his writing, for that matter.)
@Phoenician
Admittely, it’s more of an art than a science.
Are we keeping track here? Will there be a running total of donations?
I love that a blog which gives me so much entertainment has led me to up my donations.
500 each to RAINN, Emily’s List, NAACP and Planned Parenthood.
Peter Cibulskis:
When/if people people report in here, I will run a tally. Probably closer to the actual end of the year.
Just donated 125$ to Freedom to Marry Ohio in the name of John and Krissy. Those two kids should be able to tie the knot, dont you think?
175$ to Planned Parenthood in the name of A, my nieces O and J and in honor of the young woman I was in 1979.
I donated $100 ($25 each) back when the campaign was first announced.
Thanks so much for the update and the reminder. We made our pledge to RAINN today.
Sadly, between my pledge and now, we have suffered an 80% loss of income.
However, put me down for $10 (plus the teeny percentage from my Amazon charity page) to a local organization that supports rape survivors. (Yes, even TEH MENZ!)
I know Gamma Rabbit will understand. He’s cool that way.
I am donating my promised $200 to the Sheriff King Home for Battered Women in my hometown because they do excellent work in supporting women and helping them get their lives back. (they sheltered 300 women and 350 children last year alone)
And thank you John for doing something awesome once again.
Aw, heck. You all have inspired me so I will add another $100 to Planned Parenthood to cover Lurkertype’s reversal of fortunes. Gamma Rabbits gotta stick together.
I just assumed he’d max out, so I have been donating regularly to the Boys & Girls Club, the YWCA’s rape crisis center, and two local churches that go above and beyond in calling out racist and homophobic behaviors in the community. I’ve probably exceeded my pledge, I’m going to keep donating anyway.
Done! Let it Rainn.
I didn’t know about this when I had funds earlier this year, and now I don’t have any even though I really want to donate. :( I think I’ll look into donating volunteer hours instead of money.
But I do want to say thank you, Mr.Scalzi, for being one of my favorite examples of how to leverage your powers as a well-known author for good in this world. I only hope that if I manage to make it big someday myself that I can follow that example.
Project Sister will see my $100 by the end of the year. Planned Parenthood is on my regular donation list. I’ll have to see what I can get out for RAINN if there’s matching.
Donated my full pledge of $50 (sorry it’s not more, still only marginally employed) to Project Safe, our excellent local anti-domestic-violence organization.
Subterranean Press just made its $1000 donation to RAINN.
Bill
$100 sent to Broadway Cares in honor of Theodore Beale.
Thank you John for the impetus and thanks to Ted for providing the motivation, you da man! [dissolves in helpless fits of laughter]…
John,
You may have a degree in Philosophy of Language, but do you have a photo of yourself wielding a flaming sword? I think not.
Q.E.D.
Jonathan Hendry:
I cannot argue with that logic!
I don’t suppose there will be any way to verify the Up to 46,000 in donations, will there?
I hadn’t been part of the original pledge, but I donated $100 to RAINN, which will be matched by their anonymous donor, and I specified that it was in honor of TB, coming to them via your blog pledge. It was time for me to start my holiday giving allocation anyway!
I seem to recall that I was in for fifty dollars, and payday is Friday! I’m thinking fifty to the Southern Poverty Law Center to help out on the racist part of Mr. Beale’s existence, and another fifty to a local shelter woman’s shelter for the “game” part of his existence. I will report back when I’ve made the donations, but I’m still living paycheck-to-paycheck after thirty-two years as a city employee. But at least I still have a job!
thedude:
Nope. People are welcome to link to electronic receipts (with appropriate information blacked out) if they would like, but they are under no obligation to do so. Nor is it my job to make them do so. I don’t suspect that people are lying about donating, however. They would simply just not note their lack of donation.
The only donations I am 100% sure of are my own, and I do have the electronic receipts for those.
My full $50 pledge to RAINN in honor of Vox Day.
I was conservative in our pledge, and I found that we could double the full amount.
$50 donation has gone to RAINN (matched by mystery donor and made in Honor of John Scalzi) and $50 has gone to HRC.
I would like to thank everyone who is donating to their local Rape Crisis Centers as well. I volunteer at one, and there are never enough funds to help in all the ways that are so vital for victims of sexual violence.
@Sarah M: darn tootin’. It’s a cause I support too. My grandma was named Sarah, and she didn’t hold with badness or overweening pride either.
Donated $100 to Emily’s List
Did I miss something? I am sure I pledged something, but can’t find the pledge to know the amount…
I didn’t pledge earlier because I just found out about this so I just went and donated $50 to RAINN, in honor of John Scalzi because I figured that would make it easier to track if you want to do that?
About the Mallet: Do you put the it in the microwave to warm it? Or like, put it on the wood burning stove I assume you have? I guess it’s a matter of scale and temperature, really.
Think I’ll just round up to the nearest hundred mentions to make the number round.
I’ve already donated to HRC, NAACP/LDF, Emily’s List, Planned Parenthood, the Ada Initiative and UltraViolet this year. But those donations weren’t made with RSH Dipshit in mind. It wouldn’t be sporting to retroactively get credit for them here.
I dropped $250 on RAINN in RSH Dipshit’s honor.
PS. Would you please please please please please please please stop talking … about RSHD?
PPS. Did you see what I just did there?
PPPS. Did ya!?
I have donated $50 to RAINN, $50 to Emiliy’s List, $50 to Human Right’s Campaign, and $250 to the NAACP. Thank you again for turning a horrible excuse for a human’s behavior into something positive. Happy Holidays to you.
I have been donating $10 to charities involved in making the world a better place for girls and women since September. Those include Brave Girls Alliance, The Pixel Project, The Geena Davis in Gender in Media and Girls Leadership Institute.
$50 to RAINN.
Donated $200 earlier in the year to a local women’s/family crisis center. I have also pledged to donate $200 to kiva.org, which I will do from my next paycheck. Thank you for the reminder!
$77 to the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Carl Brandon Society, proudly dedicated to Mister RSHD.
Put in my $145 to RAINN.
I didn’t pledge at the time, since I had no idea what kind of money I would have available. Wishing I could give more, I just donated $30 to RAINN, in honor of John Scalzi.
I didn’t pledge at the time, but just gave $30 to RAINN and $50 to the ACLU in honor of this drive.
[Deleted for genuinely uninspired attempt at an insult. Dear other potential jackasses: Save us both the trouble of your posting here – JS]
$100 to Emily’s List – I didn’t originally pledge insofar as I can remember.
I paid Planned Parenthood my chunk back in February, and I’m kinda glad I did, since I lost my job in June and only barely got back to work right around Thanksgiving. But my pledge is already paid for. Whee for planning ahead! (I sent you the receipt, Scalzi, if you want to add it to the total.)
I sent $100 to RAINN. I didn’t pledge earlier, but gladly support your efforts!
I didn’t pledge, but I’m donating $250 each to RAINN, the Human Rights Campaign, and two local women’s shelters – the Harriet Tubman Center and the Sojourner Project. In my mom’s name though, sorry Senior Scalzi :)
matt:
You know, I am fine with that!
I just donated $100 to RAINN in your honor, and once a snafu is straightened out, I’ll get it matched by my company. Keep up the good work!
Back in February, I actually dug into the archives here and read Mr. Beale’s Big Idea offering; I was grateful for the opportunity to read a sample of his unadulterated work without actually having to visit his website.
Wait. He did a Big Idea? When? How the heck did I miss that?
Our pledge was to match at 50% of your contributions, up to $500. So we’ll be sending $100 each to the four charities in your original post this week. Plus we’ll send another $80 each to Planned Parenthood and Emily’s List ($5 x 16 days government shutdown) to honor another commitment.
JDF:
Because it was several years ago. I caught a ton of shit for it, but the book was published by a reputable, small publisher and he asked politely. So I figured, what the hell. It was an interesting experience for everyone involved. At this point bridges are pretty comprehensively burned, so it’s deeply unlikely to happen again.
Just badgered my parents into donating to RAINN. Wasn’t that hard, to be honest.
I continue to be your loyal thrall, inevitably in awe of your unstoppable greatness. Lead on, O Mighty Scalzi! I shall follow!
JDF, it was from a few years back. And it was Captain Dunning-Kruger at his finest.
I wish I could have pledged, and wish I could donate now. I will have to settle for thinking good thoughts for the time being, and when I have a professional job again (assuming that happens) will resume my charitable giving at some level not unlike what I used to do.
You’re all heroes. Thank you.
$250 to Lambda Legal, in honor of Vox Day (because I know he’d want it that way).
OK, I found and read it. My favourite bit is at the end, where he says:
One final irony: I first ‘met’ Mr. John Scalzi when we were on opposite sides of an Internet flame-skirmish. I’ve since come to like and admire the man as well as his work, and we even happen to have a few things in common besides our SFWA membership.
In light of recent events, that made me LOL.
I will make a contribution in the next few days, although I can’t promise it will be the full amount, since there have been some unforeseen expenses this past year. It’s been a tough one. Still, I made a pledge, so it will be at least $50.
@riccola- I’ve read some of Beale’s site, and the most I’d grant of his rhetorical skills would be “marginally competent”. On a basic technical level, he’s definitely one of the better writers in the “manosphere” community- which is why he has an audience. My degree is in economics, and I think many of his posts on that subject are defensible (even if I might still disagree). So when he knows what he’s talking about, he can construct a halfway decent post.
On the other hand, he regularly spouts off on shit he knows nothing about, and what’s worse, he’s terrible at faking it. You don’t need a masters in biology or anthropology to realize that he’s talking out of his ass whenever he brings up “scientific racism” or “racialism” or whatever. Bullshitting is a legitimate skill, and some people are pretty good at it (another “game” blogger, “Heartiste”, springs to mind). Beale is not among them.
$100 each to my local domestic violence shelter and rape crisis centre.
You know, MRAL, I happen to find Voxie fun for trolling. The trick is to wait until he says something REALLY offensive, then spam his blog until he permabans you, then get another throwaway account and try again.
He’s better than that rapist scumbag Roosh V for that, because he’s never actually physically harmed anyone to my knowledge, so you can feel morally secure in mocking him instead of calling the cops on him.
JDF:
“In light of recent events, that made me LOL.”
Times change. People change. Hairstyles change.
MRAL:
“he’s definitely one of the better writers in the ‘manosphere’ community”
As far as I can tell, this is actually (and terrifyingly) a true statement. But I will also be the first to admit I don’t spend that much time there.
I pledged up to $100, and will be donating the full amount to RAINN.
Didn’t pledge originally but just donated $100 to RAINN.
Oddly enough was I found myself wondering (idly .. natch) how the drive was going this morning but didn’t want to spoil the holiday spirit by bringing the subject up.
Times change. People change. Hairstyles change.
All true, sir. Still, it would be amusing to see how Beale would justify having made this statement.
JDF:
Eh. In fairness, there’s nothing to justify. He changed his opinion over time. It happens.
I donated my $100 back in Feb. because I had the money then (Also, forgetting is a thing I do). I wish I had the money to donate again!
Dunning-Kruger’s favorite son is my new favorite insult! It even surpasses fustilarian!
I didn’t originally pledge as I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to commit to. Donated $60 a few months ago to my campus LGBTQA center, and just sent $100 to Con or Bust. Happy to be added to the total, or just happy to be part of the Gamma Rabbit warren…whichever. I did note that my donation was part of the “Counteract a Bigot Drive”.
Eh. In fairness, there’s nothing to justify. He changed his opinion over time. It happens.
You are definitely being the better man in this situation! I salute you.
Donated the 100% amount, half each to Emily’s List and RAINN
Done. 100% of pledge sent to MISSSEY – an Oakland-based charity serving minors rescued from prostitution
Just saw that you are planning to run a tally, so my donation to MISSSEY was $200
Pledged 100.00 but since then, this year I can only manage 75.00. Wiil try to do better next year! Thomas
To whoever wanted to know what Game was: it’s not new. It was around at least 30 years ago. Back then we called it “creepy guys you giggle about as soon as you can get away from them.”. The guys who think Game works are mistaken. What they’re probably doing is spending a lot of money on their target and thinking she fell for their Game rather than their bucks. I read a few of those Game bloggers and I would not allow any of those creeps to touch my arm, much less anything more intimate. Granted I’m way out of their target age range, but I can’t believe girls have changed THAT much in 30 years.
Done! I had originally pledged $50 and ended up doing that amount, split between two charities. I gave $25 to Planned Parenthood of Texas, who need all the help they can get in this state, and $25 to RAINN.
Done and split my $200 between Emily’s List and NAACP. Thanks for the reminder.
I had pledged $400 to the Carolina Abortion Fund. Gave them $250 earlier in the year during their bowl-a-thon* and just donated another $150 to get me to the full pledge.
*did you know that abortion funds across the country hold bowl-a-thons every spring? People join bowling teams, raise money for the funds and then have a big bowling party with costumes. Most fun I have ever had paying for other people’s abortions.
Done. $125 to my local shelter/rape-crisis center and $125 to RAINN. I opted to donate the full $250 I pledged.
@Samurai: The guys who think Game works are mistaken.
Game totally works, Samurai. The more you are into it, the more you can throw around the jargon and impress other losers with where you are on the imaginary hierarchy. You’re no longer exaggerating wildly about banging hot chicks – you’re exaggerating wildly FOR A REASON about banging hot chicks.
As pledged, $200 to my local Asylum Seeker Resource Centre to hopefully mitigate against some of the racist crap in this part of the world. I wish it were more.
I find any woman who falls for the pick-up-artist shtick to be inherently unattractive.
Why? I find personality and intellect to be attractive, and anyone who is capable of falling for that crap has neither.
Also, I will confess that I have a crush on the Borg Queen. She seduces Data, the emotionless android, WHILE BEING LOWERED INTO HER OWN BODY. Without using a single sleazy pickup line. Now THAT is hot.
My full $100 contribution to RAINN just went in.
Floored, I’d be cautious of sweeping generalizations about the victims of the pickup-artist crowd. The underlying idea behind “game” is that of manipulation, and not all women with “personality and intellect” are immune to manipulation – especially when young and inexperienced.
I’d forgotten all about this. I divided up my $200 between the 4 charities evenly. While chuckling evilly at the thought of working against Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshittery. This was a great idea and I’m happy to help support it.
Let’s not wander too far off in the fields of game, please. It’s not on point to this thread.
Also, as this thread will almost certainly sprout trolls overnight, I’ll be turning it off when I head to sleep, probably in the next hour. It will come back on in the morning.
My full amount ($200) just went in to RAINN.
I initially pledged $100 to the counteract-a-bigot drive.
Then I learned that Mr. Beale, for reasons best known to himself, was dragging =my= name through the sewage of his blog, too. (Why? I have no idea why. I never even knew of his existence until after he started doing it.) So I pledged an additional $100, since it seemed like I should double my counteracting-a-bigot efforts, on the basis of having become yet another of this particular bigot’s targets.
So, with $200 pledged to the drive, I have donated $100 to Emily’s List, which works on getting pro-choice Democratic women elected to political office, and another $100 to We Are Ultra Violet, which works to fight sexism and to promote women’s rights.
I hadn’t seen the original post back in February (was dealing with a brand-new diagnosis of cancer at the time, hence not spending much time here), but I am definitely in.
My annual donation of $1,300 through my employer all went to local groups that support LGBT awareness and the rights women have to live their lives free from sexual assault, but that would have happened anyway, so I won’t claim credit for it here, too. Instead, I’ll send an extra $250 to RAINN in memory of my mother, who would have heartily endorsed its mission. She’d have endorsed Mr. Scalzi, too, for suggesting it.
Thank you, sir, for getting snowballs like this rolling. If we had a few more like you, the resulting avalanche would overwhelm the Beales of the world.
I think I forgot to pledge anything on the original post, but I’ll be donating $20 to the Ali Forney Center (for homeless LGBT youth) this week when I get payed, and $30 in January.
Closing up the thread for the night. It’ll be back up in the morning.
Update: Comments back on.
I hope that your cancer is responding well to treatment, Colonel Snuggledorf!
@ Laura Resnick: I think that the Toxic One dragged your name through the sewage because you are a successful female SF/F author–the very embodiment of several of his hatreds. Also, he thinks that being an abusive prick makes his look bigger.
Donated $250 to GOA. Just glad to help.
During the last week of December, will donate the $50 I pledged to the NAACP. So smart of you, John, to come up with a novel way of using racism/sexism/homophobia/bigotry to promote good.
I pledged 1000 pounds which converts to 1644.60 USD as of today. 77% of that = $1266.34 which I will distribute over the next week per my pledge. That leaves $378.26 available and likely not to be distributed… unless, hmmm, idea!… Xopher, I’d be honored to donate it to your choice of charity; let me know what that is — if it’s agreeable with you?
I pledged at least $100. My 2013 was pretty crappy, since I spent almost half of it unemployed, but fortunately, I was able to give $100 twice, once to RAINN and once to the HRC. Because as bad as my 2013 was, I know that other people have had a worse year.
riccola,
I agree with you, for what it’s worth. I think, when you’re the least bit objective, much of what’s said about Vox Day/Theodore Beale (what’s with the two names?) is unfair. The man is clearly competent at constructing arguments and has, more than once, bested Scalzi.
This is, in my opinion, hard to see if you’re ideologically compelled to hate Vox, or tend to accept third-hand accounts as gospel.
That said, I think everyone donating money is great. I’m a big fan of charity, and I’m happy to see folks giving so freely, for whatever reason. My own December donations this year are the same as last, so I don’t know that my figure deserves to be added to the list here.
@ Floored By Scalzi’s Awesomeness:
And here -I- thought maybe it was because last year I came out and admitted I enjoy Elvis movies–and not everyone is ready to see that level of honest in public!
Johnathan Knight:
“what’s with the two names?”
You’d have to ask him; he came up with the “Vox Day” name. Note that it’s a play off of “Vox Dei,” i.e., “The Voice of God,” which is amusing for several reasons.
As for besting me in argument, well, no, not at any point I can remember. Bear in mind I haven’t engaged him in discussion for years now, so this claim is not based on anything recent. With respect to me, I am aware of him not being able to understand what satire is until it was pointed out to him and then compensating for his error by calling me “McRapey” as salve for his ego; I’m also aware that because he doesn’t appear to understand what “up to” means, that he likes to say I lie about my readership numbers here. I’m not entirely sure either of those qualify as excellent arguments, based as they are on weak foundations.
This is not to say Mr. Beale is absolutely incapable of creating a sound logical argument. But in my experience in looking at his arguments, he does it rarely, in no small part because his ground level assumptions are complete shit. If you build your arguments on shit, they’re going to topple over regardless of how you construct your edifice. It’s not his arguments’ only problem, but it’s their first problem, to be sure.
Let’s just say I am not greatly impressed by his ability to argue. Again, you are free to disagree.
So – has anybody reported this rapist wannabe asshole to his local authorities? It might change his mind about “game” if, every time there was a sexual assault in his town, the cops came by and asked him a few questions about where he was on the night in question….
Laura Resnick–I need to read your books more. You make me laugh.
Actually, vox Day means the voice of Theo.
$70 to Emily’s List and $70 to the NAACP.
timeliebe:
There’s absolutely no indication anywhere that Mr. Beale has ever assaulted anyone, sexually or otherwise (or indeed broken any law that I know of), nor do I think this is a particularly fruitful line of discussion, so let’s go ahead and not continue it, please. Just because Mr. Beale is content to label me a rapist doesn’t mean we are obliged to stoop to his level.
Laura Resnick–I need to read your books more. You make me laugh.
You totally should. And I’m so happy that seeing her comment here led me to go look and see if the next Esther Diamond novel had come out yet. And it has! “Misfortune Cookie” is downloading to my kindle as I type this. Woo!
Thanks for providing an entertaining excuse to help some worthwhile causes in true holiday spirit.
Thanks for the reminder, John. Made my $100 donation to RAINN, who will always be associated in my mind with one of my favorite singers, Tori Amos.
Donated $50 dollars to RAINN (which will be matched for a total of $100) and another $50 to a local domestic violence shelter.
@Xopher: If it’s not too presumptuous to share the joy of riling a RSHD with a friend, I’ll consider the donation I’m making to RAINN and HRC to be on behalf of both of us.
Ponied up my $100 last night. Go team!
[Deleted. Go be a downer elsewhere, Flood – JS]
I donated $50 to Freedom to Marry. Thank you for the reminder, and for continuing to show the world how being the bigger person, and turning a negative thing to the positive, is done. Thanks, Mr. Scalzi.
I did my full pledge of $25 (2.5%) based on the maximum $1,000 amount earlier in the year to Kiva.org, which allows you to micro-loan to people all over the world (people whom Beale detests) for their businesses and actually added to it to $35. This money, once repaid by the loan recipient, can be loaned out again to another person through Kiva.org, which means that the actual effect of the money can be much wider.
However, since it was a small amount (a lot of my spare money having to go to female relatives, which is in the spirit of the campaign since Beale regards women as cattle,) we are also giving to disaster relief in the Philippines, where my daughter has several online pals, probably $25 there and probably through the UN, and we’re going to do a donation to Unicef for the holidays, amount uncertain yet until the child decides whether she wants to buy a chicken or schoolbooks or whatnot this year. So I’ll add it to the total later, I guess.
I have to say, I’m just a little disappointed. I thought that Beale would go all out and give the 200 references. We really tried our best, sending his little manakins who came to bug you back to his blog all full of piss and vinegar to get him going. And once every two days was pretty good. But I fear his obsession with you is waning and what else will he have to live for? Still, since people seem to be ponying up the full amounts of pledges, it’s still pretty amazing.
(Floored — I second checking out Ms. Resnick’s series.)
This +10 million. I WANTED that raving douchenozzle to go all out, just so that I could point and laugh.
What else will he have to live for? Heckling Mr. Gould to let him back into SFWA, perhaps? Or maybe just being a regular Intraweebs asshole.
Rising above things is much more effective and satisfying than descending to a lower level. If you get what I mean.
I pledged to donate $200 each to five different organizations… all donations have been made, for a total of $1000!
I pledged up to $100 and donated the full amount to RAINN last night (in honor of “Gamma Rabbit”).
I wound up with about $55 in my troll fund (5c per malleting on this blog). I’m donating $25 to the National Women’s Justice Coaltion here in Australia (because Mr Beale seems to feel women don’t deserve legal or voting rights) and I’m planning to hand the other $30 to the local LGBTQ support network; I just have to do the planning to head to their HQ and donate it, because their online donations space isn’t available.
That was fun, and I plan to carry the 5c per malleting (and 5c per thing that raises my blood pressure) on in future years. I can decide whether the money is going on booze or charitable donations once I’ve accumulated the cost of a bottle.
@ JD, MRAL:
I was quite serious about being glad to have the chance to read a sample of Beale, caught in amber in a place where he has no way of changing it after the fact. It was really fascinating: the spelling and punctuation and grammar were all clean, and the mind behind them was (and presumably still is) such an unfathomable mess.
I regret that Scalzi took shit for providing Beale with the platform, which I thought was an act of extraordinary grace. As I said, it means that people like me can actually read an example without giving the guy any web traffic, or needing quite as many hot showers afterwards. It’s an invaluable “Know Thine Enemy” resource . . . rather like being able to study anthrax or smallpox under strict lab quarantine. It still makes you queasy to examine it through the glass, but you’re reasonable safe from contamination.
Meanwhile: $100 is off to the National Center for Transgender Equality, which ought to cover several bases at once. My wife gets to pick the other charity for the other $100.
MVS, that’s an unbelievably gracious and generous offer! I teared up when I saw it.
I gratefully accept. I choose The Trevor Project, which is an effort to reduce suicide among LGBT youth.
Thank you so much!
Gulliver: Thank you.
John: Sorry for unconsolidated posts, done in the throes of emotion.
I’m glad I read the comments here first particularly people like @donw who reminded me of other good places my money can go.
I hope people don’t mind if I put in a plug for BARCC, one of my donation recipients. They are a fantastic organization and they have been kind enough to do (free!) training for staff and volunteers of our local Arisia SF convention so we know more about what can happen and how to support people in case something does.
Anyway, I had pledged $400 when you first posted and I’ve sent money today to ACLU, The National Partnership for Women & Families, Freedom to Marry, BARCC, Emily’s List, RAINN, Planned Parenthood, and Lambda Legal. Comes to about $700. Still thinking about where to send the other 300.
I want to add that I think this fund drive is a satisfying, proactive way to address the problem of persistent trollery… trollerie?
Beale/Day is a very successful troll (oxymoronic though that phrase is) in that he manages to attract considerable attention to himself with his trolling. Thanks to his “feud” with Scalzi, for example, Beale was named or alluded to in various major media outlets this past year, due to John’s media profile. That’s a level of attention far beyond what most trolls achieve through their negative behavior, so Beale’s attention-seeking trolling is presumably far too rewarding for him to give it up.
So I love the solution of deciding to do something positive, such as tally up donations to good causes, on the basis of the troll’s persistence, while otherwise ignoring the troll–and choosing causes that represent exactly the opposite of whatever verbal bile the troll spews. (In this instance, there was an embarrassment of riches.)
I think there is a general backlash against trolling, but it’s always going to exist, so coming up with better solutions that “just endure this crap, because there’s nothing you can do about it” is fantastic.
I thought I had pledged back on the original thread, but I couldn’t find it. I’ll be sending $500 SF3, which runs WisCon, the feminist science fiction convention.
MVS, Xopher was just here telling me of your kindness. He was unable to do so without tearing up. Thank you.
I originally pledged $200, but unexpected expenses between now and then have made things a bit more precarious for my family. I’ve divided $100 among the various branches of Rape Crisis and Women’s Refuge in New Zealand.
I decided not wait for his attacks, and made my pledged $200 of donations back in March, when the original column ran. The RAINN website lets you indicate that your donation is in honor of someone, so I had the pleasure of seeing this line in an email:
“Thank you so much for your generous gift to RAINN in honor of Theodore (Vox Day) Beale.”
I hadn’t pledged but tomorrow will make $50 contributions each to RAINN & Emily’s list for a total of $100. I really like this way of dealing with trolls – raising money for causes they hate.
Did my promised $1 per time to RAINN just now! :)
You know I am of two minds on this. First the plus side, the money donated is wonderful and it is fun to see losers fuming because feminism has MADE SF/F BETTER. And really to be honest, any man who believes in “game” is a loser to begin with.
On the other hand, Scalzi is huge, with 50k readers a day this only gives the evil side free publicity. If only twenty people wind up reading his stupid blogs because of this, he’ll double his readership. He is a nobody that no one listens to, he can only win in this.
Along with my upthread donation to Project Sister, I just now donated $25 each to RAINN, Planned Parenthood, and the LA Women’s Shakespeare Company.
If only twenty people wind up reading his stupid blogs because of this, he’ll double his readership.
Have you read his blog stats? Say what you will about his intelligence or character, but the RSHD gets some serious traffic.
@Laura Resnick:
I completely agree. We’ve become a little to comfortable with a general “it’s the internet, whatcha gonna do” when it comes to trolling. Actions like this, where people can visibly reflect not everyone online is a trolling asshat, can help change that perception. These guys really are a very small, if very vocal minority. Ignoring them has given them the floor longer than they deserve, so proactive drives like this are a positive way to point out how their volume in no way reflects their value.
Knute:
“RSHD gets some serious traffic.”
As does Stormfront, I’m sure, and for similar reasons.
I wasn’t part of the original drive, but I just donated $50 to RAINN. What an excellent idea!
If you believe Beale, his Alexa rating has doubled in the past year and his shitty little “game” blog beats out this one, and blah blah blah.
I’m not saying he’s lying, exactly, but I dunno. I really can’t be assed to think about it too much, but I have a feeling that Mark Twain’s wisdom applies here.
I’m not saying he’s lying because I have no knowledge one way or the other. Anyway, the substance of a site’s content and the number of hits a site gets are two separate things. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if TMZ’s website gets more hits than ProPublica’s. So what?
Please, don’t mention TMZ. I try not to think about it, because its very existence makes me lose faith in humanity.
Well, okay, to be clear: he’s gaming Alexa, which is obvious if you look up his site’s history. It’s not particularly hard to do, I just don’t know how exactly he’s going about it. There are multiple ways.
Not that it really matters, or that overblown narcissists can’t have legitimately high profiles. Some do. Beale doesn’t, though, and I just think it’s worth pointing out his transparent dishonesty.
MRAL:
I don’t think we need to worry ourselves whether Mr. Beale’s sites legitimately get the traffic he claims or not. It’s entirely possible they do. The Internet is full off assholes, and they like to clump together. If they go to his sites and off of everyone else’s, then he’s welcome to their traffic. And if he’s making it all up, then it’s nice he has a hobby.
Payday is tomorrow. I’ll send the check in on Saturday. Hm. Probably take credit card over the web…. Anyway, will be handled soon.
On a side note, I think I figured out what is giving me a slight “ick” reaction every time I see the gamma rabbit mascot at the top of the post. His eyelids/eyebrows are high in the middle and low at the outside, and curved slightly. And his eyes are open a bit wide. And his mouth is open. That’s the facial expression of fear.
http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/neurobio/land/oldstudentprojects/cs490-95to96/hjkim/emotions.html
Which makes his hands raised in the air not occur as waving hello or something but rather occur as raised in a defensive posture, as if to block an impending blow.
Greg, I see him as going “Heey, don’t get all worked up, now!” The subservience of this posture is part of the joke (you do know Gamma Rabbit is a joke, right?). We’re making fun of the people who call men who are NOT racist, sexist, homophobic dipshits “gammas,” by using this picture of a rabbit (an icon for meekness and fearfulness) who is pink and lavender (notoriously “gay” colors) and wearing a gamma T-shirt. The pose goes along with all that.
Have you read his blog stats? Say what you will about his intelligence or character, but the RSHD gets some serious traffic.
A lot of people take a look at a chimp masturbating in a zoo, too. Presumably the chimp gets excited thinking how important it must be as a result…
Phoenician: That comparison is insulting to chimpanzees. RSHD is nowhere NEAR as intelligent, erudite, educated, and interesting as the average zoo chimp.
Donated £20 to rapecrisis.org.uk in the name of John Scalzi.
A lot of people take a look at a chimp masturbating in a zoo, too.
I was not commenting on content or reasoning for traffic, I was commenting on the statement:
If only twenty people wind up reading his stupid blogs because of this, he’ll double his readership.
if you recall.
But I have no problem with people moving the goalposts from “he gets no traffic” to “his traffic is all from RHDS Hitler wannabe retards, so it doesn’t count”.
Carry on.
Done! If you’re doing a tally, I’ve increased my originally-pledged donation.
Instead of $25 to RAINN and $50 to VDay,
I have donated $50 to RAINN and $100 to VDay
@Xopher, The Trevor Project is an excellent choice! I’ll make the donation this weekend.
So I got out the checkbook and the stamps and started to look up USPS addresses. And then I realized I could just donate online, via credit card! So I did. I fulfilled my commitment plus I added a little. And it was easy! It’s nice to live in the future.
By the way, I donated at RAINN in honor of John Perry, cause I think he’d like that.
MVS, thank you once again. Folks like you restore my faith in humanity (compensating somewhat for the existence of the RSHDs of the world).
Xopher: you do know Gamma Rabbit is a joke, right?
immature twits call people “gamma rabbit” as an attempt to insult them. People respond by embracing the label, calling themselves “gamma rabbit” in a “your attempt at insult is pathetically humorous” kind of way.
I don’t know if I’d call it a “joke”, but that’s how I take it.
a rabbit (an icon for meekness and fearfulness) who is pink and lavender (notoriously “gay” colors) and wearing a gamma T-shirt. The pose goes along with all that.
Yeah, I get it. I just think that the vibe that is “your attempt at insult is pathetically humorous” would have a more laid back facial expression and posture, maybe with one eyebrow raised with hands on hips. I think that sort of posture would more capture the “oh, really?” attitude.
The reason I posted about the “ick” reaction was because I was having a slight “ick” reaction for some time now, but it was occurring at an almost subconscious level. I’d feel “ick”, but I couldn’t figure out why. And I think I figured out why. The facial expression is one of fear, and the posture looks like its defensive. Seeing that apparently gave me a slight “ick” response. Not because of the conscious purpose of responding to immature twits and their immature insults, but because it was a face and posture of fear and I had a slight reaction to that.
Greg: I agree. I’ve never liked that pose. He looks scared and fearful, which is what the RSHD’s of the world like/think. Hands on hips with a Spock eyebrow and a “Really?” or pitying expression would be much better. Or even his arms spread wide, ready to hug all the black feminist gay kittens in the world.
I just finished putting the coin jar into the Octavia E. Butler Scholarship Fund (not as much as I had hoped for, but something), and another $10 to the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund. A poke in your eye, RSHD, from the strong and talented women of the world.
Wow, Vox was so butthurt over my comment he did an entire post about it.
For the record, I could be wrong. I just thought that given all the publicly available information, his stats were very suspicious… and one’s pageviews can in fact be artificially inflated. But it doesn’t matter, and anyway maybe he does get all that traffic. I apologize for bringing it up.
Xopher, $378.26 donated to The Trevor Project today. Thank you for your help with finding it a good home! (I tried to make it in your “name” but the site doesn’t provide that capability. It really irritates me that so many donation pages overlook the idea that people may wish to make donations in honor, memory, etc. of other people.)
MRAL, I am amazed but not surprised. It was a legit question, but leave it to him to get hysterical (word deliberately chosen) about it.
MRAL:
“Vox was so butthurt over my comment he did an entire post about it.”
You gave him attention. What did you expect?
And there’s the other half of our $200 pledge! It went to the Pride Center in Wilton Manors, FL.
I donated my pledge today. I picked the Orion Center, a local shelter that helps homeless teens and faced a major budget shortfall this year. Given the percentage of homeless teens who have faced violence, or rejection by their families for being LGBTQ, I figured it was a good place to make a statement.
I’ve made my donations of $100 each to RAINN, Human Rights Campaign and Planned Parenthood.
$125 each to RAINN, Planned Parenthood, GLAAD, and AFER (American Foundation for Equal Rights)
I can’t remember my original pledge, but I just sent $77 to RAINN. Thanks again for inspiring this community outpouring of awesomeness.
Was able to increase my intial pledge, so sent $25 each to RAINN and Planned Parenthood today.
I fulfilled the second half of my pledge this week, spreading $200 among several projects at kiva.org – and, for good measure, I donated nearly $190 to projects at donorschoose.org (thanks, Cards Against Humanity, for the idea), helping the kind of kids that VD thinks aren’t worth educating.
Oh, and $100 for Aid for Africa (thanks, Justine!) to help a young girl there get an education as well.
I just sent my full $1000 donation to RAINN.
Add $250 to Human Rights Watch.
Full $1000 sent to RAINN. Happy New Year to everyone!
I wasn’t reading blogs in December, so missed this post. My original pledge was up to $100, but let’s keep it at the full amount. I just donated the first $25 to Fitted for Work, and will do the same over the next three weeks until my four charities have been donated to. I’ll check back in then.
Donation complete. $100, split evenly between:
Fitted for Work: an organisation that helps marginalised women get back into the workforce;
Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (does what it says on the tin);
Zoe Belle Gender Centre: the Victorian transgender support organisation; and
The Royal Women’s Hospital (since I can’t seem to support CASA house – the Centre Against Sexual Assault – directly).
154 tops my donation out at the full £50. Passed on to the relevant charities.