Thursday, July 25, 2013

Alpha Mail: missing the point

In which I am implicitly asked why I am not resentful of Dr. Helen's success with her new book:
ask [Dr. Helen] why she doesn't use her husband's last name and if she'll be sharing the profits from the book with bloggers like yourself & heartiste that she "borrowed" from your blogs.
This question was, of course, in reference to Dr. Helen's Ask Me Anything on Reddit yesterday.  And it revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of what drives intellectuals, or at least, some intellectuals.

First, I am very pleased that Dr. Helen to utilize some of the concepts introduced here at Alpha Game, and I strongly suspect that Roissy et al feel the same.  I am much more concerned with the ideas I have articulated becoming popular wisdom than I am about receiving public credit for them; note how my demolition of the religion causes war has entered the mainstream and even scientific journals without credit ever being given to me.  Dr. Helen was very generous and careful to credit her various influences, which is considerably more than I can say for a number of public commenters and scientists.

To the extent she borrowed them, she is welcome to keep them and utilize them to the best of her ability. Die Gedanken sind frei.

Second, ideas are not only free, but modular. I built on Roissy's ideas.  Roissy built on Neil Strauss's. Dr. Helen hasn't necessarily built on them, but she is performing an equally important role in popularizing them and putting them in front of an audience that will never consent to listen to either Roissy or me.  As I've noted with regards to Susan Walsh, it is women who will ultimately bring the truth of Game into the mainstream, not the men who developed its concepts.  In our society, most women simply disregard men's opinions to the extent they are even capable of understanding them, which means that female translators are more or less necessary if any coherent new ideas are going to penetrate the female-dominated mainstream.

Third, I have written nine or ten books.  I never bothered writing a book about Game or the socio-sexual aspects of society because I am more interested in writing other books, such as The Irrational Atheist, The Return of the Great Depression, and A Throne of Bones.  I have published nearly 1,400 pages of fiction in the last year, I am in the middle of writing the second of five 850-page novels, and so I am glad Dr. Helen wrote Men on Strike because, among other things, it means I didn't have to do it.  And I am delighted that her book is meeting with such success because it is an important subject and one of vital interest to millions of men and women across the Western world.

As for Dr. Helen's, I don't even know if that is her actual name or simply her professional name.  Regardless, that's her business, not mine or anyone else's, and I could not care less if she wishes to call herself Dr. Helen Smith or Helen of Troy.  It is the individual who merits one's regard, not the label.

20 comments:

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

The face that launched a thousand books?

Denton said...

The name thing is common among professional women, especially if you marry after starting a professional degree. Your literature citations don't translate. I know more than a few professionals who keep their single name professionally, despite using their husbands socially.

As to the rest, the question reflects on the questioner...

Revelation Means Hope said...

It is a pretty reliable feminism attitude checker to see if the married woman gets her hackles up if you refer to her by her husband's last name in a social setting.

Hackles raised? Has bought into the feminism mindset, even if she claims otherwise.

No hackles? She likes being happily married, and may or may not be using her maiden name out of convenience and to align with professional creditialism checks, but is happy to identify MORE with her married identity than with her professional identity. A keeper, at least from an attitude standpoint.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Certainly if a woman gets her degree before marriage and intends to continue her practice it is best for her to keep her professional name, at least publicly. It is a kind of minor brand name. I think it can only be considered feminist if she is making a point that she doesn't need to have her husband's name, not that, rather, she needs to have a name other than her husband's.

I think Denton might have missed the point Vox was making (if I read it right:) he doesn't need the compensation since he is getting it elsewhere, thus the mention of books written and published and so forth. His Game Theory is the professional software developer's open source project.

Unknown said...


You posted my questions to ask Dr Helen. Where were you finding resentment in them? I find it amusing that a woman writing a book about the manosphere who doesn't even use her husband's last name quite ironic.

As to her profiting off of the backs of Roissy, etc. Nothing new there. Women have a tendency to glom on to other men's success and profit from their work. And the irony there is that I'm guessing her husband's extensive platform at Instapundit greatly influenced the publisher to green light the project. The ass kissing that Dr Helen's book has received from some guys in the manosphere is reminiscent of the back-slapping, I'll promote your book if you promote mine circle jerk that takes place in the churchianity publishing industry.

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

Thomas,

Ok, should Roissy et. al request royalties from every man who successfully uses the principles and tactics Roissy advocates?

I can just imagine the practitioner of game informing a woman directly after a successful seduction that the concepts, actions, and statements involved in the successful plundering of her lady locker is atributable to the following individuals...

Unknown said...

CR

Your question makes no sense. I don't care who gets what, I'm just amused by the fact that a woman is "leading" the charge of the manosphere into the mainstream.Once the first chick is welcomed in, it's only a matter of time before it's doomed. See Fred Reed's old article on the National Press Club.RIP manosphere.

Anonymous said...

You blog for free and semi-anonymously. That in itself should tip people off to how much its about the ideas vs the money / recognition

Unknown said...

@Denton

...The name thing is common among professional women, especially if you marry after starting a professional degree. Your literature citations don't translate. I know more than a few professionals who keep their single name professionally, despite using their husbands socially...

The name thing is pure feminist BS. You either respect & honor your husband by taking his name or you don't. It's a first step submission test. And outside of what I'll guess to be a very small circle, no one gives a crap about any woman's literature citations. Then again, most men don't even give a crap about "professional" women.

WendyRaf said...

The name thing is pure feminist BS.

Nah. Sometimes it makes sense for a woman to keep her last name for public purposes. Carrie Underwood, I'm sure, would be fine with taking her husband's last name, but being Carrie Fisher would be needlessly complicated. Plus, when she retires and stuff, she can disappear easier.

VD said...

You posted my questions to ask Dr Helen. Where were you finding resentment in them?

Because I think either Roissy or I would have to be resentful to ask that sort of question.

Women have a tendency to glom on to other men's success and profit from their work.

Of course. Men are the much more creative sex, but women are more in demand for male and female consumers alike. So, the pattern you are noticing is a logical one.

The ass kissing that Dr Helen's book has received from some guys in the manosphere is reminiscent of the back-slapping, I'll promote your book if you promote mine circle jerk that takes place in the churchianity publishing industry.

Perhaps, but keep in mind that I not only welcomed her book, but predicted that it would take a woman to break Game into the mainstream months before she started writing it. There is nothing wrong with writers being mutually supporting so long as they do so with integrity.

Indeed, it is my belief that one reason the cultural right is in retreat is because it doesn't do that, whereas the cultural left talks up everything on the left no matter how bad it is.

But it's not fair to Dr. Helen to claim that is why her book is being praised by the androsphere. It is a solid introduction to Game and the evils of the feminized legal regime.

As for the benefit of her husband's platform, keep in mind that this is not her first book. Literary success requires a number of factors to all be in alignment. It's a good book, basic, of course, but the basics are what were necessary.

VD said...

Once the first chick is welcomed in, it's only a matter of time before it's doomed.

Intellectual concepts are not a social club. For example, no amount of women embracing the theory of gravity can harm said theory.

You blog for free and semi-anonymously. That in itself should tip people off to how much its about the ideas vs the money / recognition

You would think so, but it's remarkable how many people have no idea how little money there is in it compared to more lucrative professions. If I was doing this for money, I would have quit long ago.

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

Th Shocking Truth about Dr Helen according to Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia, the gamma feminized male husband that isn't strong enough to force Dr Helen into using his name instead of her own is Glenn Reynolds, publisher of Instapundit. Take it up with him.

Maybe Helen Reynolds would be too easily mistaken for Helen Reddy. In the interest of avoiding exploding heads a la Clayton Bigsby's reveal.

Trust said...

Gamma or not, his wife is a very beautiful woman, and I'm not talking about her looks... impressive as they are.

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

I was being sarcastic.

Trust said...

I know, I was just working in that he has a pretty hot wife. If that is gamma sign me up. :)

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

Trust,

That could suck worse than not being married at all. Look up Tantalus in Greek myth.

Denton said...

@River: I was not referring to Vox Day. I was referring to the person who asked the question Vox Day answered.

RobertT said...

"...note how my demolition of the religion causes war has entered the mainstream and even scientific journals..."

I think it was your slapdown of me that pushed this one over the top.

Your comments on wives who pull away from sex in marriage impressed me. I'd be interested in your take on the Filner stuff in San Diego in relation to game, the manosphere and Christianity. Or the Weiner thing in NYC. Obviously it would make a difference if Weiner wasn't married, but would his behavior be acceptable if he were single? Ditto Filner, absent the groping.

RobertT said...

"If I was doing this for money, I would have quit long ago."

VP is the best blog on the planet, this one is not far behind. Somewhere along the way this stuff has to monetize, if only indirectly. Surely you sell more books because of the fame and following you have built up on these blogs.

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