Last Week, a guy identified by the cops as Elliot Rodger – allegedly seeking ‘retribution’ against women whom he said, sexually rejected him, went on a killing spree in Isla Vista, California. He shot six people dead and injured seven others who are now in the hospital with severe gunshot injuries. Before the mass murder, 22-year-old Rodger uploaded several YouTube videos in which he is virulently ranting that he was a virgin and that beautiful women wouldn’t pay attention to him. The videos have now been removed by Google for violating YouTube’s guidelines that prohibit predatory behavior, stalking and threats. He also had written a 140 page long manifesto which the cops have recovered from his apartment. He titled it – ‘My Twisted World’ where his wish was to ‘“round up all the world’s women into concentration camps and exterminate them.” According to his folks, Rodger was seeking psychiatric treatment. Now to dismiss this as ‘only’ a case of a deranged, a lunatic or a ‘crazy’ man would be a mistake. It will gloss over the role that misogyny plays in a sexist society. After all, while it is unclear what role Rodger’s reportedly poor mental health played in the alleged crime, the role of misogyny is obvious.
Elliot Rodger was every bit the same as other men who feel they have been ‘unfairly’ treated by women and are hence victims. They hold onto a sort of bitterness against society and women in particular (Irony is they never feel that maybe the rejection happens not because all women are bitches but because people like him try too hard to find validation from the opposite sex. They are needy. It doesn’t occur to them that their self worth cannot be associated with another person). These men are the same fellows who threaten women both online and in person with an excessively strong desire and need to control them. Men who feel that women owe them sexual gratification and submission. Sadly, they rack their brains out in aiming to do so and eventually ruin themselves. This is quite obvious in the Elliot Rodger case. When I was going through some of the videos which he had uploaded, it really bothered me that what is he scoffing that ‘evil’ laughter for? What was he thinking? Why so much disdain for humanity? The videos are extremely annoying. Besides the creepy grin, his reasoning and ranting was immature to the point of being obnoxious, and it is very sad that innocent people have died at the hand of a spurned boy because they ‘did’ happen to have lives. How in the world did a 22 year old get the idea that society owes him anything? How did he expect that women will be available to him (as if women are dogs)? And how did he feel that he “is the ultimate alpha male” to whom women must comply? In his last uploaded video, which he had named ‘The Retribution Video’, his thoughts are deplorable. Here are excerpts of what he has spoken there –
“…Tomorrow is the day of retribution, the day in which I will have my revenge against humanity, against all of you. For the last eight years of my life, ever since I hit puberty, I’ve been forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires all because girls have never been attracted to me. Girls gave their affection, and sex and love to other men but never to me…You girls have never been attracted to me. I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. It’s an injustice, a crime… You will finally see that I am in truth the superior one. The true alpha male. (laughs) Yes. After I’ve annihilated every single girl in the sorority house, I will take to the streets of Isla Vista and slay every single person I see there. Well now I will be a god compared to you. You will all be animals. You are animals and I will slaughter you like animals. And I will be a god. If I can’t have you, girls, I will destroy you.“
It’s like he tried to put the entire blame of his wretchedness on the opposite sex and also on men who in his view were more attractive to women. Talking about wretchedness. Was he wretched and ‘deprived’ at all as he claims in his videos?His father, an assistant director on “The Hunger Games” bought him a black BMW 328i, worth about $40,000, regularly flew him wherever he wanted to go first class on Virgin Airlines, and paid for him to attend a “private” Katy Perry concert. Yet Rodger still posted videos online complaining about how ‘deprived ‘and ‘unfair’ his life was. Sad that he did not have any sense of gratitude for how privileged he was. It really is pathetic the frame of mind he was in since strangely enough the only thing that did not occur to him was to have a little more self esteem. It did not occur to him that maybe the reason of women distancing from him, in the first place was because of his own pettiness.
Elliot Rodger was reportedly involved with the online ‘men’s rights movement’ and said to have been following several men’s rights channels ( If only the Men’s Rights Movement was actually a movement for men’s rights and not for bashing and abusing women). The language Rodger used in his videos against women like referring to himself as an ‘alpha male’ is common rhetoric in such circles. The MRM is in direct conflict with Feminism (This became apparent when some of the MRM activists had hounded my blog after I wrote – Does the F Word Scare You?) The conflict stems from the basic tenet that Feminism propounds namely that a woman has the right to say NO. A man can never be entitled to a woman unless she has her consent. Misogynists are not loners. They are not created in isolation. They are products of a society which instead of providing solutions reinforces the patriarchal stereotypes even more. In Rodgers’ case the MRM activists have played a pathetic role and have now very conveniently distanced themselves from the massacre.
Elliot Rodgers was a victim of mental illness but that illness could have been cured. What was more dangerous and what could ultimately not be cured here was the social malaise that created him. Rodgers was envy writ large. The envy inside him killed him, that too in a manner where not many people will sympathize with him even after his death. In fact people will abhor him. H killed 6 innocent people. Hence destroyed 6 families. His attitude is a a symptom of a culture, a society gone terribly wrong. A culture that condemns a woman to be a ‘slut’ , a ‘bitch’ if she turns down the advances of a man. A culture that gives a sense of entitlement to men like Rodger which is sickening. A culture that propagates that women owe men something. A culture that forces men to be defined by the number of sexual relationships they have had and a culture where not treating women with respect is okay. It shocks me to think that a 22 year old had lost all hope. If only he had realized in time that if he focused properly on himself, developing interests, and skills, and pursuing career ambitions, he would feel content with himself. He would have been comfortable in his own skin and would have not felt the need to be defined by a woman. After all one does not need to get into a girl’s pants to prove he is a man. All he needs is a little self worth which helps him to ‘not’ feel emasculated even if he doesn’t have women in his life and to ‘not’ be threatened if he has a woman in his life. How difficult is that to sink in?
I’d also like to add here that right after the homicide, Twitter started trending the hash tag #YesAllWomen and some of the reactions , especially the ones coming from MRM forums are abominable as the crime itself.
(Zoom the screen shot and read carefully) .
This kind of reaction, a backlash happens when there exists in society some male voices that demand the female voices to be silenced. The voices that expects from women a , “look pretty and shut up” sort of an attitude. The voices that belong to a society where ,”I have a boyfriend” somehow becomes more revered and respected than ‘”Don’t touch me.” A society where in the inside space of a club , men are expected to put their hands on women and women because of wearing makeup and dresses , are expected to feel flattered. A society that teaches how to not get raped than to not rape in the first place. All this makes me question that isn’t this a crime driven by a socially provoked mental state? Are we really that progressive a society or oppressed as ever, just shrouded behind Instagram filters and false shows of equality. I feel one would be foolish to think that gender equality exists and even bigger a fool to think that feminism is not as vital as it was a century ago. If we are unable to cater to the misogynist mindsets even after a case like Elliot Rodgers, then be prepared to face ‘murderphiles’ and hate crimes commited by them being reported in every part of the world in the near future. The only difference will be in the use of acids, knives and machetes instead of guns. Will hold true from the part of the world I come from.
P.S – Any MRM activist who wants to comment on my post is welcome ONLY if you can produce a rational argument. Abuse in any form will only make sure that your comment is shown its way to the spam folder!
Photo Credits :
,http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/05/25/james-alan-fox-elliott-rodger-shooting/9568433/)
CEREBRATION 
So very sad…everything about it.
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Yep.
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Nice post !
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“The conflict stems from the basic tenet that Feminism propounds namely that a woman has the right to say NO. A man can never be entitled to a woman unless she has her consent. Misogynists are not loners. They are not created in isolation. They are products of a society which instead of providing solutions reinforces the patriarchal stereotypes even more.” Can I just like this bit a thousand times?
A lot of the articles I’ve read on Elliot have talked about his “mental illness” and very few have even touched on the fact that, like you said, misogyny played the number 1 role in the murders. It’s unbelievable when he stated like a million times that he was doing this because of WOMEN. It’s infuriating and totally contributes to a society that tells us gender inequality isn’t real and tries to shush us when we bring up this stuff.
Excellent post, as always! You have made some awesome points.
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Hey THANKS
🙂
Well just because ‘some’ people feel the need to shut the women down doesn’t change the reality. Misogyny is prevalent and needs to be addressed.
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What I don’t understand is why he’s getting bashed (I’m not directly pointing at you, OP, specifically, but media outlets in general). He was SEVERELY mentally ill. Rational people do not and would not act this way. I’m not as concerned with his narcissism as I am with the question of why this was not recognized and treated way sooner.
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Yes he was ill but that’s not why he killed people. He killed because he felt he was deprived of women and that became an even bigger cause for his ‘ill health.’ As for treatment, as per his parents he was being treated very well from a very long time. So no lapses there!
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You are absolutely right– he was mentally ill but the root of the murders was misogyny and that is what she is pointing out and what the media has been overlooking. His parents were worried about him and knew of his YouTube videos but when they called the police to check on him, the police said he seemed “normal”. I think someone else said it on this same comment thread: social malaise is why it was not stopped sooner.
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yep
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The most important idea is that his reasoning for the murders is being agreed with. People are agreeing with a mentally ill murderer. And that is the biggest tragedy of all. That our society is so warped in how it views women, they there are many that are actually BLAMING the women who were brutally murdered and feeling sorry for this killer. He may have been irrational and mentall ill, but he wrote a 140 page manifesto in which he is very detailed about his hatred for females and people simply agree. That is the tragedy. That is what needs to stop.
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yep.
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Oh my god, I didn’t know people were agreeing with his mentality. Where is this being recognized?
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Sadly, in a lot of places.
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Everywhere. It’s in her post above. People are sympathizing with his actions. Men are getting very defensive of the subject matter and even a Men’s rights movement has risen asa result. Some blatantly agree with Rodger and some are just denying and ignoring the base isssues in society that are causing mentality like his.
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Wow. I stand corrected… I didn’t know people were actually supporting his ideas. I actually just got a dose of misogyny myself, go figure!
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Yeah there is no dearth of morons in this world.
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Big of you to see the opposite side of the coin. Thank you. :]
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Great post. Thanks for sharing this. Every single human was born from a woman’s uterus. We would all be wise to remember and cherish that.
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🙂
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Wow- this was the first time I had seen some of the threads in response to this spoiled brat’s ranting. I found this part of your post particularly spot-on “What was more dangerous and
what could ultimately not be cured here was the social malaise that created him.”
Thank you for posting.
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Thank u for the comment 🙂
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This is undoubtedly one of your best works! Brilliant would be an understatement!
The hatred against women or certain races needs to go and the society i.e WE need to do it. Its not going to happen all by itself. We need to change our outlook towards things, situations and people.
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Agreed –
“Its not going to happen all by itself. We need to change our outlook towards things, situations and people.”
Change begins with every single individual , so high time we embrace it.
Thanks for the comment 🙂 🙂
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Akriti- I didn’t want to take the time to reply since you’ll probably just throw it into your manspam box, but your misrepresentation of Rodger warrants criticism. You say “Elliot Rodger was reportedly involved with the online ‘men’s rights movement'”. You cite the fact that he used terms such as ‘alpha male’ as evidence. Well, this term is also commonly used in an academic context. Does that make Rodger an ethologist? Of course it doesn’t.
I invite anyone to look at Rodger’s YouTube channel, subscription by subscription, and identify which ones are MRM-related for yourself. You will find none. And if you are not so well-informed about the difference between PUAs and MRAs, I suggest that you do not equate them. Thank you.
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Had you read the post script at the end of my post more carefully, and had NOT assumed which you MRM activists are kind of used to,you would have noticed that i mentioned that only those MRM dudes are allowed to comment here who give a rational argument and DO NOT abuse. In your case, your argument isn’t rational but isn’t abusive and so i will reply.
Here’s the thing – Firstly, The Men’s Rights Movement as they call themselves is a nebulous group of pickup artists and misogynists who’ve found each other on line, and are attempting to create a movement based around their hatred, disdain, and fear of women. So even if the 2 groups are on the surface different, they are doing exactly the same things. Therefore do not try to tell me that i am UNFAIRLY equating the two and that i am misinformed and that the PUA is a hate group and MRM is a bunch of peace loving people believing in equality for all, never bashing women, never threatening women, never reinforcing misogyny.Not all pickup artists are men’s rights activists and vice versa but there’s a lot of overlap in their ideals and attitudes. In his videos and manifesto, Rodger used the phrase “alpha male” repeatedly and called other men “betas”-terms that are used by the MRAs to describe themselves and other men.
Secondly, Elliot Rodger was subscribing not just to PUA channels but MRM channels too. Your comment says ,”you will find none.” Where did you do your research on this dude ? Sorry to put you down but your’e the one whose misinformed because you surely haven’t read his 140 page long manifesto. He is what the Men’s Rights movement calls an “Incel” which is short for involuntary celibacy. It’s a hot topic in various parts of the manosphere. Rather than seeking mental help for some obvious issues, he sought out the Men’s Rights Movement. He watched their propaganda. He internalized their hatred of women. (There’s no shortage of anti-woman rhetoric and nonsense. For some of the worst of it, check out The Red Pill’s “Pussy Pass” forum, where they take isolated incidents, remove them from any rational context, and blow them way out of proportion.)
As far as your ‘alpha male’ logic is concerned, yes the term is used in academic circles but c’mon even you know Elliot Rodger wasn’t using it in that context. His definition of the word was the ultimate superior male who has the power to do anything and most of all get women submitted to him (because that mattered to the 22 year old freak). He listened to these guys talk about being hard, and tough, and true alpha men. He did what they told them, and began lifting weights. We know he had an account on body building forum which was recently deleted by their moderation team. So this kid who needed some serious mental help sought out the destructive, BS views coming from the men’s rights movement. He felt entitled to sex with women. He blamed women for not providing him with sex. He exposed himself to hateful rhetoric about women. And then he acted on that hatred, and targeted college girls for a drive-by shooting, killed six, wounded seven, and then shot himself.
Lastly, it is extremely pathetic on your part to comment here just to justify the MRM cause and convince me that they are in no way responsible for the mentality that this 22 year old was living with. Your comment said nothing about the innocent people who were killed or on the mentality of Elliot Rodger. I don’t expect everyone to think the way i do but i would anyday respect a man who openly says he hates women because he gets threatened than a MRA who claims to be favouring equality but in actuality just reinforces the patriarchal stereotype more and more.
P.S – If you don’t believe me on these points, take a look for yourself. Read his manifesto for yourself and compare it to the rants produced by redpillers, MRAs, PUAs, and others within the manosphere!!
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Yep.Was looking forward to some trashy MRM comments but I guess they took my post script seriously this time. Good for them. On my blog, douchebags are not allowed 😀
Thanks for the comment.
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I agree that we have a twisted sense of relationships in society these days. To the point where a 22 year old person was so impacted that he was still a virgin, and not in a relationship. To where blame was placed outside of themselves onto to others. Not to mention the feelings of being entitled, and that one deserves this and that. Which is becoming more and more predominate in today’s world. I do feel saddened that any individual can get to such a place within themselves where they would act in in a manner such as this. Where hopefully these acts do not brand those that are afflicted with “mental illness” as being monsters. When they are merely individuals that need help and usually do not get it.
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In this case , all the help was being provided (which the society refers to as therapy). However was was not being provided was the notion that you cannot just get hold onto people because you desire them, and are excessively needy. You have to earn people and that can happen only when the belief in yourself is much more and your self worth is not dependent on the validity of the opposite sex.
As for mental illness, yep he was ill and so are a lot of others. But that does not give u the license to kill. Driving in a BMW, keeping guns and shooting people. Freak!
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I completely agree with your standpoint on this terrible tragedy. Thank you for being one of the few that stood up for what is right and just. Looking forward to seeing more from you.
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Sure from u too. Have a nice weekend 🙂
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Wow…this just proves that the unspoken “war” between the sexes is alive and well, and women are beginning to form a united front. It shouldn’t have to be this way, as we (men and women) are two sides of the same coin. But it’s been “heads” for far too long (if you’ll pardon the euphemism).Time for a turn of the coin. End misogyny around the world…words are our weapon!
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They are.
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I speak as a man who has studied myself so I can only speak in that context. There are boys who have grown older but not up, who don’t have the benefit of elder influences nor of a ritually induced rite to make the transition from boy to man. Egalitarian cultures and societies had healthier more inclusive approaches to sexuality than we do now, which lessened the tension and entitlement that exists. Sexual desire is as powerful a force as gravity and some boys are crushed beneath it before they ever learn to overcome it. Or, as has happened here, been mutated by it into something recognizable as it is monstrous.
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I really appreciate your comment because i am in absolute agreement.
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Akriti,
Thank you for liking my post “If you really think about it, we are all Elliot Rodger.” I have read the above post of yours and you are obviously a very intelligent young woman. However, when you say ” If only the Men’s Rights Movement was actually a movement for men’s rights and not for bashing and abusing women,” I think you are being profoundly unfair. We do condemn certain women and certain types of female behavior that we think should not be socially acceptable but are, that true. But that’s a very different thing from bashing women at large. And we really really do care about men’s rights. Below is a link from a very intelligent young fellow correcting pervasive misconceptions about our movement.
Also, the most prominent and influential site is “A Voice For Men.” I think you should check that out too.
avoiceformen.com
Why not get it straight from the horse’s mouth?
Cheers and thanks again.
HB
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Since the time I started this blog, this is the first time that a MRM activist has given a rational argument. Otherwise every time A MRA has visited my blog , the argument has been abusive and they’ve even tried to intimidate as if I’m going to be scared by their idiocy. There’s some sort of a subtle feeling of them being threatened. Only they know why. It’s like they take the word feminism as some sort of a curse word. Well its their problem entirely because I have never been abusive. So as long as I get rational arguments here from MRA’s here, they are welcome but if they try being abuse, i’m not going to allow it.
As for you, I get what your’e saying. Try convincing your fellow MRA’s to be this way. Thanks for stopping by.
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Sorry to hear about your experience. And while I don’t defend people not trying to make rational arguments I do think they are deserving of a little compassion. Consider the rush to baselessly blame Elliot Rodger on the MRM. When so many people are that flagrantly eager to misunderstand and slander a group and so many people are so ridiculously eager to believe those slanders, some members of that group are bound to behave badly never mind the usual collection of righteous ass clowns who attach themselves to every movement. We’re having a meeting in Detroit later this month and we had to pony up an extra $25 thou for security because people claiming to be feminists contacted the hotel and started making death threats. Feminists already have a record of using intimidation tactics to shut down our meetings. (Google “men’s rights Toronto fire alarm” for links to one example.) In short, the hostility against us has been immense, especially when you consider that it’s coming from a bunch of people who keep abusing everyone with tales of how wonderfully enlightened and unprejudiced they are. Believe you me I could just kiss them.
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I mean i’m sure you stand for your cause and that’s good but where I come from (India) the MRM has taken the most violent forms. They make it too easy to judge them. A lot if their issues are actually baseless so in India men are gaining nothing out of the MRM . There are genuine male victims but the MRM doesn’t give squat to them. In fact they brainwash them to hate all women which is so lame. It’s like they are having a war of the sexes. It disgusts be coz for me equality is about respecting the differences.
As for your comment, agreed on the sentiment you are trying to convey here but to say that Feminism is bad is not justified because Feminism was never about abuse. If it has turned out that way for some people who I call pseudo feminists/ misandrists, then too bad for them. It’s actually true for MRM too. Just as u tole me not to generalize, i’m gonna give u exactly the same advice.
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The sad thing about this world is that there is no shortage of strange, this is a prime example. The fact of the matter is that depression and pain are one of those things that one has to learn to manage, when you have someone that lives a privilege lifestyle they feel they are ‘entitled’ to anything that they want. There are several people to house blame on here, him certainly, but you have to wonder what kind of mind-set his parents drove into him. What ‘success’ stories were expected of him.
The kid himself is without question a weirdo, but the actual chaos that he caused to occur could have easily been prevented if people weren’t so gutless to call out the psycho’s prior to their actions. We live in a world where people are gutless and afraid and rather then act first ask questions later the world prefers to sit back and let whatever happen, happen, and then justify it in one way or another.
The more I look back at medieval times, I could easily blame catching up on Game of Thrones for this, but it makes me feel like our society needs to get back to that. Harsher punishments, weeding out the weak from the strong for leadership, and acting in a way that creates a better ‘end picture’ even if that means having some ruthlessness in between.
Well, I rambled, haha. Nice write up.
Sean
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Agree completely
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His manifesto was absolutely terrifying, I read it one morning and I got so drawn in.. Having such access to the thoughts of someone before he goes on a murder spree is new and shocking to me. Between the manifesto and the you tube vids you can gain a clear picture of Rodgers mindframe and his messed up attitude to women and the world in general. Madness.
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Absolute madness.
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I’m very impressed by your writing. Keep on doing the good job and bringing awareness! We need more people like you 🙂 <3.
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Hey that is very nice of you to say 🙂 ❤
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There’s certainly a lot to find out about this subject.
I love all of the points you’ve made.
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Thanks 🙂
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Hmm it seems like your blog ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just
sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to
the whole thing. Do you have any tips for inexperienced blog writers?
I’d genuinely appreciate it.
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Sure.
Just write with all your passion. Be original and write because you want to and NOT because you have to. Best Wishes 🙂
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