“Who the hell is Howard Beale?” I hear you say as you scratch your noggins in consternation. Howard Beale is the utterer of those famous words from the movie Network – “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”
When I decided to set up some way of recognizing people who have finally decided that they have had enough and who are taking concrete steps towards making life better for men and boys, it was that famous cinematic act of defiance that popped into my fevered brain, so here we are – an award named after the Mad Prophet of the Airwaves!
I will, whenever such a case pops up, which i suspect won’t be often, be handing out this award to people like Mirko Fischer (he’s the one who doesn’t look crazy), who has taken it upon himself to sue the misandrist bastards at British Airways for branding him a potential child molester simply for being male!
The trigger for this legal action came on a British Airways flight during which Mr Fischer was forced to change seats because seated next to him was an unrelated twelve year old boy – assuming that to be a man is to be evil, British Airways does not allow men to sit next to unaccompanied children or teens, because obviously when child molesters do strike, it’s usually in a crowded place with dozens of witnesses!
If Mirko wins, the policy will have to be changed, and if he loses at least he had the guts to stick his head out that window, ignore the decompression, and yell for some freakin’ justice, and for that act of defiance Mirko Fischer is the winner of the first ever Howard Beale award.
My original story on this case is here.
And here is the Mad Prophet of The Airwaves telling it like it is…
And yes, getting mad is important, because as Beale points out, that’s what comes before you actually do anything, or as Johnny Rotten put it in one of his songs, anger is an energy.
It would be a Good Thing if Mr Fischer knew we were all cheering for him.
Where do we get in touch with this fine MRA?
No idea, all the Mirko Fischers ive found since this happened have been different guys.