Can we rescind pro-rape blogger Roosh V’s UMD degree?
This doesn’t look good for us
If you’ve spent any time on the internet over the past week or so you’ve probably heard about Daryush “Roosh” Valizadeh.
Roosh V is a blogger and owner of the Return of Kings website, where he has become infamous for his controversial writing on antifeminism and “neomasculinity”.
He recently gained headlines as he traveled to Toronto to host a meet up for the Return of Kings website, despite a petition with over 45,000 signatures aiming to deny him accommodations in Canada.
This petition, along with all of the other well deserved hate Roosh is receiving, came as a result of his articles on a range of topics from why men shouldn’t have sex with feminists, to why rape should be decriminalized.
Unfortunately for us, Roosh graduated from the University of Maryland in 2001 with a degree in Microbiology, arguably making him our most hated alum.
This is a fact I personally found astonishing, especially since one of the reasons I chose Maryland was its dedication to diversity and its great general education program. I couldn’t believe a school that requires you to take courses in humanities, understanding plural societies, and cultural competence could create such a narrow-minded, misogynistic, self-proclaimed chauvinist.
Apparently Roosh feels the same way, stating in one article: “nothing I do today which serves me in work, women, life, or leisure can be traced back to what I was taught in school.” On behalf of the entirety of UMD- thank God. He goes on to say his time at school didn’t even teach him how to think—a fact that becomes evident when you read any of his articles.
Although his hatred of any deviance from traditional gender roles may not be a product of his time at UMD, it’s still not okay. Some have defended Roosh by citing his freedom of speech or by claiming his words are just harmless satire— but history has proven they aren’t harmless, in fact, they can be extremely dangerous.
His blog is filled with the same kind of rhetoric we found in the manifesto of the UC-SB shooter, who killed six people and injured 14 others in a rampage fueled by his hatred of women who rejected him. In a country where one out of every six women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape, any talk of rape as being okay—satire or not—is unacceptable.
Roosh’s ideas aren’t just damaging to women, but men as well. The notion all men should be masculine and craving sex 24/7 is the reason why so many men are ashamed to report they have been the victims of domestic violence or rape.
Of course, the world will always have its fair share of ignorant scumbags, and sometimes they might come from your school, but the fact Roosh is now hiding from the public at his mother’s house just goes to show they’ll get what’s coming to them. And hey, maybe there’s a way we can rescind his degree.