Cultural Misandry? – A Minor Rant on The “Men are Stupid” Commericals.

adw.org ^ | May 6, 2011 | Msgr. Charles Pope.

[GonzoII]

Cultural Misandry? – A Minor Rant on The “Men are Stupid” Commericals.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

OK, you know the typical drill of a TV commercial: As the scene opens, some buffoon of a man, usually a husband, is struggling to have a clue as to what something is all about. Sure enough, an all-knowing woman (usually the wife), rolling her eyes and shaking her head in pity, is there to help the stupid buffoon of a man not utterly ruin everything. And of course the product being peddled is usually part of the solution. And, by the way, did I mention that the man is stupid? In an alternate version, it is the children who are all-wise, and they help the idiot father figure things out as they step in with the product. And of course we’re all supposed to laugh: “Ha, Ha, Ha look at that stupid guy. What an idiot!”

Obviously these ads are not trying to sell anything to me. I am far more prone to refuse to buy any product that says, “Hey, buy our product you buffoon.” Perhaps they are targeted to women? Even worse, to children?

OK, now remember this is a “rant.” And a rant is “to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner.” I don’t lack any sense of humor, and can laugh at myself and the male sex from time to time. But, after a while, these ads are wearying, and their frequency does indicate to me something that is fundamentally unhealthy in our culture.

The greatest harm, I think, comes to children who see men, and especially fathers, presented as idiots, crude, foolish, lustful and just plain stupid. A steady diet of this served up in commercials does not help them respect their elders, especially their fathers, and other male authority figures.

Neither does it really help women. The “men are idiots” thinking may have a certain “charm” or humor angle, (i.e., it’s interesting at times to poke fun at the differences between men and women), but in the end, it isn’t a good attitude to cultivate. Women do owe men respect, just as a fellow human beings. And, for those who accept Scripture, a husband is at the head of the house. Ridicule and caricature, are not helpful dispositions in cultivating family love and unity.

Neither do these ads help men. It is always best for men to see their best qualities exemplified. Instead what they get is a portrait that men are not only stupid, they are lazy, unfaithful, lustful, inappropriate, addicted to beer, lousy fathers, unkempt, inattentive to their wife and kids due to sports, and did I mention, stupid? How does a steady diet of this help men?

Some argue that these ads, of reflect culture. Really? Are all men like this? They may reflect culture in the sense that male characteristics are often on the outs and that it is politically correct to caricature men. Try reversing the roles and put the woman in the role of buffoon and see how that would fly.

But not only do the ads reflect culture, they help shape it. Again I ask, how does all this negativity help men and boys to understand what is good about them? There are very few healthy male portraits in current culture. It is not only the buffoonery of the ads, it is the extremely violent and hyper-sexualized “heroes” of the movies, idiosyncratic actors, freakish rock and rap stars, often immoral or out of control sports figures, effeminate, and weak sitcom “dads,” and the thuggish, criminal and unfaithful men of series such as Sopranos. None of this helps young men toward grasping their better nature and becoming good, responsible husbands and fathers.

So there is my rant. Below are a number of videos that portray the “men are idiots” commercials. As always, I am interested in your thoughts.

[GonzoII]

This is just a further fruit of the attitude of bringing down all legitimate authority.

[central_va]

Here is how I shut my liberal sister in-laws up. I ask them one question, “Name on thing you use on a daily basis the was invented or perfected by a woman, while you are thinking I will go ahead and list a few male inventions”. While they are thinking I am spouting” . “Automobile, airplane, electricity, computers, light bulb”....and on and on. This really pisses them off.

[LittleBillyInfidel]

As a tv spot and tv series director, myself, I instinctively know that if I want a humorous element in any situation, it will likely be a male character. Women and children very seldomly carry the same pathos abilities as male actors/characters. Male vulnerability and male comic ironies have been played out in the performing arts for centuries. No need for alarm.

[armymarinemom]

Don’t use one on a woman in the Military. They will shoot back that Kevlar was invented by a woman. That being said, it is old to see men mocked by the media.

[central_va]

I can spout off 150 male inventions to every one invented by a woman.

[Quiller]

One of the greatest corrosives to American society has been the laugh track.

When comedy shows were filmed in front of live audiences, the jokes, skits, and situations had to be funny. An unfunny joke would fail, and knowing that, the writers had to keep the humor within the expectations and taste of the audience.

Then came the laugh track, so that the producers could avoid the risk of not being funny, and instead could tell us what is funny. Of course we laugh along with it, because "everybody else" is -- even if the everybody else is an electronic phantom.

The laugh track allows the stupid dad syndrome to be perpetuated as a stereotype, along with the too-wise cracking kid, the street-smart and saucy daughter, and the manipulative and back-stabbing wife. Most sit-coms employ one or more of these characters, and present their actions as being 'funny' in that they point up how stoopid and clueless dad really is.

[R. Scott]

Using a woman or a minority wouldn’t be PC. It might even result in a lawsuit.

[armymarinemom]

You probably can. Just saying that you can be hoisted by your own petard by just asking for one.

[Rocky]

Making the husband look stupid was a cottage industry in 60s TV, such as the sitcoms. This has been going on for a long time, and it’s not just in commercials.

I think if you look at what’s being sold.. follow the money. Also, the women’s lib movement was supported by Hollywood and they are always trying to shape America’s thinking with their programs. But I think ads are shaped by the target purchasing group, what Madison Ave thinks would appeal to them.

[THUNDER ROAD]

Just when you think that you are the
Only one that is thinking about a certain issue...
you find out that a Lot of Others
are thinking the Same Way !!
This has been bothering me too.

[central_va]

FYI: A list of major inventions created by men, Behold our power

20th century:
# 1900: Rigid dirigible airship: Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin
# 1901: Improved wireless transmitter: Reginald Fessenden
# 1901: Mercury vapor lamp: Peter C. Hewitt
# 1901: paperclip: Johan Vaaler
# 1902: Radio magnetic detector: Guglielmo Marconi
# 1902: Radio telephone: Poulsen Reginald Fessenden
# 1902: Rayon cellulose ester: Arthur D. Little
# 1903: Electrocardiograph (EKG): Willem Einthoven
# 1903: Powered Monoplane: Richard Pearse
# 1903: Powered Airplane: Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright
# 1903: Bottle machine: Michael Owens
# 1904: Thermionic valve: John Ambrose Fleming
# 1904: Separable Attachment Plug: Harvey Hubbell
# 1905: Radio tube diode: John Ambrose Fleming
# 1906: Triode amplifier: Lee DeForest
# 1907: Radio amplifier: Lee DeForest
# 1907: Radio tube triode: Lee DeForest
# 1907: Vacuum cleaner, (electric): James Spangler
# 1909: Monoplane: Henry W. Walden
# 1909: Bakelite: Leo Baekeland
# 1909: Gun silencer: Hiram Percy Maxim
# 1910: Thermojet engine: Henri Coandă
# 1911: Gyrocompass: Elmer A. Sperry
# 1911: Automobile self starter (perfected): Charles F. Kettering
# 1911: Air conditioner: Willis Haviland Carrier
# 1911: Cellophane: Jacques Brandenburger
# 1911: Hydroplane: Glenn Curtiss
# 1912: photography ;Lapse-time camera for use with plants:Arthur C. Pillsbury
# 1912: Regenerative radio circuit: Edwin H. Armstrong
# 1913: Crossword puzzle: Arthur Wynne
# 1913: Improved X-Ray: William D. Coolidge
# 1913: Double acting wrench: Robert Owen
# 1913: Cracking process for Gasoline: William M. Burten
# 1913: Gyroscope stabilizer: Elmer A. Sperry
# 1913: Geiger counter: Hans Geiger
# 1913: Radio receiver, cascade tuning: Ernst Alexanderson
# 1913: Radio receiver, heterodyne: Reginald Fessenden
# 1913: Stainless steel: Harry Brearley
# 1914: Radio transmitter triode mod.: Ernst Alexanderson
# 1914: Liquid fuel rocket: Robert Goddard
# 1914: Tank, military: Ernest Dunlop Swinton
# 1915: Tungsten Filament: Irving Langmuir
# 1915: Searchlight arc: Elmer A. Sperry
# 1915: Radio tube oscillator: Lee DeForest
# 1916: Browning Gun: John Browning
# 1916: Thompson submachine gun: John T. Thompson
# 1916: Incandescent gas lamp: Irving Langmuir
# 1917: Sonar echolocation: Paul Langevin
# 1918: Super heterodyne: Edwin H. Armstrong
# 1918: Interrupter gear: Anton Fokker
# 1918: Radio crystal oscillator: A.M. Nicolson
# 1918: Pop-up toaster: Charles Strite
# 1919: the Theremin: Leon Theremin
# 1922: Radar: Robert Watson-Watt, A. H. Taylor, L. C. Young, Gregory Breit, Merle Antony Tuve
# 1922: Technicolor: Herbert T. Kalmus
# 1922: Water skiing: Ralph Samuelson
# 1922: Photography : First mass production photo machine:Arthur C. Pillsbury
# 1923: Arc tube: Ernst Alexanderson
# 1923: Sound film: Lee DeForest
# 1923: Television Electronic: Philo Farnsworth
# 1923: Wind tunnel: Max Munk
# 1923: Autogyro: Juan de la Cierva
# 1923: Xenon flash lamp: Harold Edgerton
# 1925: ultra-centrifuge: Theodor Svedberg - used to determine molecular weights
# 1925: Television Iconoscope: Vladimir Zworykin
# 1925: Television Nipkow System: C. Francis Jenkins
# 1925: Telephoto: C. Francis Jenkins
# 1926: Television Mechanical Scanner: John Logie Baird
# 1926: Aerosol spray: Rotheim
# 1927: Mechanical cotton picker: John Rust
# 1927: Photography:First microscopic motion picture camera: Arthur C. Pillsbury
# 1928: sliced bread: Otto Frederick Rohwedder
# 1928: Electric dry shaver: Jacob Schick
# 1928: Antibiotics: Alexander Fleming
# 1929: Electroencephelograph (EEG): Hans Berger
# 1929: Photography:First X-Ray motion picture camera:Arthur C. Pillsbury
# 1920s: Mechanical potato peeler: Herman Lay
# 1930: Neoprene: Wallace Carothers
# 1930: Nylon: Wallace Carothers
# 1930: Photography: Underwater Motion Picture Camera: Arthur C. Pillsbury
# 1931: the Radio telescope: Karl Jansky Grote Reber
# 1932: Polaroid glass: Edwin H. Land
# 1935: microwave radar: Robert Watson-Watt
# 1935: Trampoline: George Nissen and Larry Griswold
# 1935: Spectrophotometer: Arthur C. Hardy
# 1935: Casein fiber: Earl Whittier Stephen
# 1935: Hammond Organ: Laurens Hammond
# 1936: Pinsetter (bowling): Gottfried Schmidt
# 1937: Jet engine: Frank Whittle Hans von Ohain
# 1938: Fiberglass: Russell Games Slayter John H. Thomas
# 1938: Computer: Konrad Zuse (Germany) simultaneously as Atanasoff (United States)
# 1939: FM radio: Edwin H. Armstrong
# 1939: Helicopter: Igor Sikorsky
# 1939: View-master: William Gruber
# 1942: Bazooka Rocket Gun: Leslie A. Skinner C. N. Hickman
# 1942: Undersea oil pipeline: Hartley, Anglo-Iranian, Siemens in Operation Pluto
# 1942: frequency hopping: Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil
# 1943: Aqua-Lung: Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan
# 1943: electronic programmable digital computer: Tommy Flowers [1]
# 1944: Electron spectrometer: Deutsch Elliot Evans
# 1945: Nuclear weapons (but note: chain reaction theory: 1933)
# 1946: microwave oven: Percy Spencer
# 1947: Transistor: William Shockley, Walter Brattain, John Bardeen
# 1947: Polaroid camera: Edwin Land
# 1948: Long Playing Record: Peter Carl Goldmark
# 1949: Atomic clocks
# 1952: fusion bomb: Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam
# 1952: hovercraft: Christopher Cockerell
# 1953: maser: Charles Townes
# 1953: medical ultrasonography
# 1954: transistor radio (dated from the from Regency TR1) (USA)
# 1954: first nuclear power reactor
# 1954: geodesic dome: Buckminster Fuller
# 1955: Velcro: George de Mestral
# 1957: Jet Boat: William Hamilton
# 1957: EEG topography: Walter Grey Walter
# 1957: Bubble Wrap - Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes of Sealed Air
# 1958: the Integrated circuit: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor
# 1959: snowmobile: Joseph-Armand Bombardier
# 1960s: Packet switching: Donald Davies and Paul Baran, video games
# 1960: lasers: Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Aircraft
# 1962: Communications satellites: Arthur C. Clarke
# 1962: Light-emitting diode: Nick Holonyak
# 1963: Hypertext: Ted Nelson
# 1963: Computer mouse: Douglas Engelbart
# 1965: 8-track tapes: William Powell Lear
# 1968: Video game console: Ralph Baer
# 1970: Fiber optics
# 1971: E-mail: Ray Tomlinson
# 1971: the Microprocessor
# 1971: the Pocket calculator
# 1971: Magnetic resonance imaging: Raymond V. Damadian
# 1972: Computed Tomography: Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
# 1973: Ethernet: Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs
# 1973: Monash University scientists report the world's first IVF pregnancy.
# 1974: Scramjet: NASA and United States Navy -- first operational prototype flown in 2002
# 1974: Heimlich Maneuever: Henry Heimlich
# 1975: digital camera: Steven Sasson
# 1977: the personal computer (dated from Commodore PET)
# 1978: Philips releases the laserdisc player
# 1978: Spring loaded camming device: Ray Jardine
# 1979: the Walkman: Akio Morita, Masaru Ibuka, Kozo Ohsone
# 1979: the cellular telephone (first commercially fielded version, NTT)
# 1970s: Tomahawk Cruise Missile (first computerized cruise missile)
# 1983: Domain Name System: Paul Mockapetris
# 1985: polymerase chain reaction: Kary Mullis
# 1985: DNA fingerprinting: Alec Jeffreys
# 1989: the World Wide Web: Tim Berners-Lee

19th century
# 1800: Electric battery: Alessandro Volta
# 1801: Jacquard loom: Joseph Marie Jacquard
# 1802: Screw propeller steamboat Phoenix: John Stevens
# 1802: gas stove: Zachäus Andreas Winzler
# 1805: Submarine Nautilus: Robert Fulton
# 1805: Refrigerator: Oliver Evans
# 1807: Steamboat Clermont: Robert Fulton
# 1808: Band saw: William Newberry
# 1811: Gun- Breechloader: Thornton (?)
# 1812: Metronome: Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel
# 1813: Hand printing press: George Clymer
# 1814: Steam Locomotive (Blucher): George Stephenson
# 1816: Miner's safety lamp: Humphry Davy
# 1816: Metronome: Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (reputed)
# 1816: Stirling engine: Robert Stirling
# 1816: Stethoscope: Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec
# 1817: Kaleidoscope: David Brewster
# 1819: Breech loading flintlock: John Hall
# 1821: Electric motor: Michael Faraday
# 1823: Electromagnet: William Sturgeon
# 1826: Photography: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
# 1826: internal combustion engine: Samuel Morey
# 1827: Insulated wire: Joseph Henry
# 1827: Screw propeller: Josef Ressel
# 1827: Friction match: John Walker
# 1830: Lawn mower: Edwin Beard Budding
# 1831: Multiple coil magnet: Joseph Henry
# 1831: Magnetic acoustic telegraph: Joseph Henry (patented 1837)
# 1831: Reaper: Cyrus McCormick
# 1831: Electrical generator: Michael Faraday, Stefan Jedlik
# 1834: June 14 - Isaac Fischer, Jr. patents sandpaper
# 1834: The Hansom cab is patented
# 1834: Louis Braille perfects his Braille system
# 1835: Photogenic Drawing: William Henry Fox Talbot
# 1835: Revolver: Samuel Colt
# 1835: Morse code: Samuel Morse
# 1835: Electromechanical Relay: Joseph Henry
# 1836: Samuel Colt receives a patent for the Colt revolver (February 24)
# 1836: Improved screw propeller: John Ericsson
# 1836: Sewing machine: Josef Madersberger
# 1837: Photography: Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
# 1837: First US electric printing press patented by Thomas Davenport (February 25)
# 1837: Steel plow: John Deere
# 1837: Standard diving dress: Augustus Siebe
# 1837: Camera Zoom Lens: Jozef Maximilián Petzval
# 1838: Electric telegraph: Charles Wheatstone
# 1838: Forerunner of Morse code: Alfred Vail
# 1838: closed diving suit with a helmet: Augustus Siebe
# 1839: Vulcanization of rubber: Charles Goodyear
# 1840: Frigate with submarine machinery SS Princeton: John Ericsson
# 1840: artificial fertilizer: Justus von Liebig
# 1842: Anaesthesia: Crawford Long
# 1843: Typewriter: Charles Thurber
# 1843: Fax machine: Alexander Bain
#
# 1844: Telegraph: Samuel Morse
# 1845: Portland cement: William Aspdin
# 1845: Double tube tire: Robert Thomson (inventor)
# 1846: Sewing machine: Elias Howe
# 1846: Rotary printing press: Richard M. Hoe
# 1849: Safety pin: Walter Hunt
# 1849: Francis turbine: James B. Francis
# 1852: Airship: Henri Giffard
# 1852: Passenger elevator: Elisha Otis
# 1852: Gyroscope: Léon Foucault
# 1853: Glider: Sir George Cayley
# 1855: Bunsen burner: Robert Bunsen
# 1855: Bessemer process: Henry Bessemer
# 1856: First celluloids: Alexander Parkes
# 1858: Undersea telegraph cable: Fredrick Newton Gisborne
# 1858: Shoe sole sewing machine: Lyman R. Blake
# 1858: Mason jar: John L. Mason
# 1859: Oil drill: Edwin L. Drake
# 1860: Linoleum: Fredrick Walton
# 1860: Repeating rifle: Oliver F. Winchester, Christopher Spencer
# 1860: Self-propelled torpedo: Ivan Lupis-Vukić
# 1861: Ironclad USS Monitor: John Ericsson
# 1861: Regenerative Furnace: Carl Wilhelm Siemens
# 1862: Revolving machine gun: Richard J. Gatling
# 1862: Mechanical submarine: Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol
# 1862: Pasteurization: Louis Pasteur, Claude Bernard
# 1863: Player piano: Henri Fourneaux
# 1864: First concept typewriter: Peter Mitterhofer
# 1865: Compression ice machine: Thaddeus Lowe
# 1866: Dynamite: Alfred Nobel
# 1867:
# 1868: First practical typewriter: Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule, with assistance from James Densmore
# 1868: Air brake (rail): George Westinghouse
# 1868: Oleomargarine: Mege Mouries
# 1869: Vacuum cleaner: I.W. McGaffers
# 1870: Magic Lantern projector: Henry R. Heyl
# 1870: Stock ticker: Thomas Alva Edison
# 1870: Mobile Gasoline Engine, Automobile: Siegfried Marcus
# 1871: Cable car (railway): Andrew S. Hallidie
# 1871: Compressed air rock drill: Simon Ingersoll
# 1872: Celluloid (later development): John W. Hyatt
# 1872: Adding machine: Edmund D. Barbour
# 1873: Barbed wire: Joseph F. Glidden
# 1873: Railway knuckle coupler: Eli H. Janney
# 1873: Modern direct current electric motor: Zénobe Gramme
# 1874: Electric street car: Stephen Dudle Field
# 1875: Dynamo: William A. Anthony
# 1875: Gun- (magazine): Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
# 1876: Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell
# 1876: Telephone: Elisha Gray
# 1876: Carpet sweeper: Melville Bissell
# 1876: Gasoline carburettor: Daimler
# 1877: Stapler: Henry R. Heyl
# 1877: Induction motor: Nikola Tesla
# 1877: Phonograph: Thomas Alva Edison
# 1877: Electric welding: Elihu Thomson
# 1877: Twine Knotter: John Appleby
# 1878: Cathode ray tube: William Crookes
# 1878: Transparent film: Eastman Goodwin
# 1878: Rebreather: Henry Fleuss
# 1878: Incandescent Light bulb: Joseph Swan
# 1879: Pelton turbine: Lester Pelton
# 1879: Automobile engine: Karl Benz
# 1879: Cash register: James Ritty
# 1879: Automobile (Patent): George B. Seldon ... note did NOT invent auto
# 1880: Photophone: Alexander Graham Bell
# 1880: Roll film: George Eastman
# 1880: Safety razor: Kampfe Brothers
# 1880: Seismograph: John Milne
# 1881: Electric welding machine: Elihu Thomson
# 1881: Metal detector: Alexander Graham Bell
# 1882: Electric fan: Schuyler Skatts Wheeler
# 1882: Electric flat iron: Henry W. Seely
# 1883: Auto engine - compression ignition: Gottlieb Daimler
# 1883: two-phase (alternating current) induction motor: Nikola Tesla
# 1884: Linotype machine: Ottmar Mergenthaler
# 1884: Fountain pen: Lewis Waterman NB: Did not invent fountain pen, nor even "first practical fountain pen". Started manufacture in 1883, too.
# 1884: Punched card accounting: Herman Hollerith
# 1884: Trolley car, (electric): Frank Sprague, Karel Van de Poele
# 1885: Automobile, differential gear: Karl Benz
# 1885: Maxim gun: Hiram Stevens Maxim
# 1885: Motor cycle: Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach
# 1885: Alternating current transformer: William Stanley
# 1886: Gasoline engine: Gottlieb Daimler
# 1886: Improved phonograph cylinder: Tainter & Bell
# 1887: Monotype machine: Tolbert Lanston
# 1887: Contact lens: Adolf E. Fick, Eugene Kalt and August Muller
# 1887: Gramophone record: Emile Berliner
# 1887: Automobile, (gasoline): Gottlieb Daimler
# 1888: Polyphase AC Electric power system: Nikola Tesla (30 related patents.)
# 1888: Kodak hand camera: George Eastman
# 1888: Ballpoint pen: John Loud
# 1888: Pneumatic tube tire: John Boyd Dunlop
# 1888: Harvester-thresher: Matteson (?)
# 1888: Kinematograph: Augustin Le Prince
# 1889: Automobile, (steam): Sylvester Roper
# 1890: Pneumatic Hammer: Charles B. King
# 1891: Automobile Storage Battery: William Morrison
# 1891: Zipper: Whitcomb L. Judson
# 1891: Carborundum: Edward G. Acheson
# 1892: Color photography: Frederic E. Ives
# 1892: Automatic telephone exchange (electromechanical): Almon Strowger - First in commercial service.
# 1893: Photographic gun: E.J. Marcy
# 1893: Half tone engraving: Frederick Ives
# 1893: Wireless communication: Nikola Tesla
# 1895: Phatoptiken projector: Woodville Latham
# 1895: Phantascope: C. Francis Jenkins
# 1895: Disposable blades: King C. Gillette
# 1895: Diesel engine: Rudolf Diesel
# 1895: Radio signals: Guglielmo Marconi
# 1895: Shredded Wheat: Henry Perky
# 1896: Vitascope: Thomas Armat
# 1896: Steam turbine: Charles Curtis
# 1896: Electric stove: William S. Hadaway
# 1897: Automobile, magneto: Robert Bosch
# 1898: Remote control: Nikola Tesla
# 1899: Automobile self starter: Clyde J. Coleman
# 1899: Magnetic tape recorder: Valdemar Poulsen
# 1899: Gas turbine: Charles Curtis

18th cent.
# 1701: Seed drill: Jethro Tull
# 1705: Steam piston engine: Thomas Newcomen
# 1709: Piano: Bartolomeo Cristofori
# 1710: Thermometer: René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
# 1711: Tuning fork: John Shore
# 1714: Mercury thermometer: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
# 1730: Mariner's quadrant: Thomas Godfrey
# 1731: Sextant: John Hadley
# 1733: Flying shuttle: John Kay (Flying Shuttle)
# 1742: Franklin stove: Benjamin Franklin
# 1750: Flatboat: Jacob Yoder
# 1752: Lightning rod: Benjamin Franklin
# 1762: Iron smelting process: Jared Eliot
# 1767: Spinning jenny: James Hargreaves
# 1767: Carbonated water: Joseph Priestley
# 1769: Steam engine: James Watt
# 1769: Water Frame: Richard Arkwright
# 1775: Submarine Turtle: David Bushnell
# 1777: Card teeth making machine: Oliver Evans
# 1777: Circular saw: Samuel Miller
# 1779: Spinning mule: Samuel Crompton
# 1783: Multitubular boiler engine: John Stevens
# 1783: Parachute: Jean Pierre Blanchard
# 1783: Hot air balloon: Montgolfier brothers
# 1784: Bifocals: Benjamin Franklin
# 1784: Shrapnel shell: Henry Shrapnel
# 1785: Power loom: Edmund Cartwright
# 1785: Automatic flour mill: Oliver Evans
# 1787: Non-condensing high pressure Engine: Oliver Evans
# 1790: Cut and head nail machine: Jacob Perkins
# 1791: Steamboat: John Fitch
# 1791: Artificial teeth: Nicholas Dubois De Chemant
# 1793: Cotton gin: Eli Whitney
# 1793: Optical telegraph: Claude Chappe
# 1797: Cast iron plow: Charles Newbold
# 1798: Vaccination: Edward Jenner
# 1798: Lithography: Alois Senefelder
# 1799: Seeding machine: Eliakim Spooner

17th century
* 1608: Telescope: Hans Lippershey
* 1609: Microscope: Galileo Galilei
* 1620: Slide rule: William Oughtred
* 1623: Automatic calculator: Wilhelm Schickard
* 1642: Adding machine: Blaise Pascal
* 1643: Barometer: Evangelista Torricelli
* 1645: Vacuum pump: Otto von Guericke
* 1657: Pendulum clock: Christiaan Huygens
* 1698: Steam engine: Thomas Savery

16th century
* 1510: Pocket watch: Peter Henlein
* 1540: Ether: Valerius Cordus
* 1576: Ironclad warship: Oda Nobunaga
* 1581: Pendulum: Galileo Galilei
* 1589: Stocking frame: William Lee
* 1593: Thermometer: Galileo Galilei
* Musket in Europe
* Pencil in England

1st millennium
* 1st century: Aeolipile: Hero of Alexandria
* 1st century: Stern mounted rudder in China
* 105: Paper: Cai Lun
* 132: Rudimentary Seismometer: Zhang Heng
* 200s: Wheelbarrow: Zhuge Liang
* 200s: Horseshoes in Germany
* 300s: Stirrup in China
* 300s: Toothpaste in Egypt
* 600: Mouldboard plough in Eastern Europe
* 600s: Windmill in Persia
* 673: Greek fire: Kallinikos
* 800s: Gunpowder in China
* 852: Parachute: Armen Firman
* 900: Horse collar in Europe
* Woodblock printing in China
* Porcelain in China
* Spinning wheel in China or India

3rd millennium BC

* 2800 BC: Soap in Babylonia
* sledges in Scandinavia
* the use of yeast for leavened bread
* Alphabet in Egypt



2nd millennium BC

* Glass in Egypt
* Rubber in Mesoamerica
* Spoked wheel chariot in the Middle East
* Water clock in Egypt
* Bells in China


1st millennium BC

* Arch in Greece
* 600s BC: Coins in Lydia
* 500s BC: Dental bridge in Etruria
* 400s BC: Catapult in Syracuse
* 300s BC: Compass in China.
* 300s BC: Screw: Archytas
* 200s BC: Crossbow in China
* 200s BC: Compound pulley: Archimedes
* 200s BC: Odometer: Archimedes?
* 150s BC: Astrolabe: Hipparchus
* 100s BC: Parchment in Pergamon
* 1st century BC: Glassblowing in Syria
* 87 BC: Clockwork (the Antikythera mechanism): Posidonius?

[GonzoII]

Pathos is one thing but I would be on guard in the current cultural climate against the degrading.

[PushinTin]

Well, that may be so, but refuse to buy products from any company/product that bash white males. So keep your humor....

[COBOL2Java]

Male vulnerability and male comic ironies have been played out in the performing arts for centuries. No need for alarm.

I agree. The concept of male character as lovable buffoon has been around for a long time. Recall these male figures from TV's Golden Age:

[Bluebird Singing]

BUT! Take notice, it’s only the “white” men who are idiots.

White guys are stupid compared to all women, black men, black woman, and children.

[NewCenturions]

More disturbing to me is the trend to show lesbians everywhere lately. Commercials with the big gal from Glee, promo showing two women getting married (from a network doctors show), the David Spade look-a-like talk show host....An Explosion of lesbians? Talk about culture-shaping!

[GonzoII]

Are you saying this is a man's world

[dog breath]

It seems to me that if a group of people are truly exceptional their deeds speak for themselves. The need to ridicule straight men reflects an insecurity on the part of gay and female writers and producers. Sometimes the existence of strong capable men disturbs the delusions under which they spend their lives. Effeminate snarky male figures are often portrayed favorably as opposed to your typical male because they are more like their creators. The interesting thing is that despite decades of such portrayals most men are still men for they learn from their fathers, uncles and brothers how to behave and not from the media. The simple truth is that the media is not as all powerful as they believe.

[Tax-chick]

I see tv commercials only when I’m stuck in a doctor’s waiting room or an airport. With all the technology available to us now - even to someone as helpless as I - there’s almost never a need to see commercials.

[MCF]

You are wrong, The man as a fool commercial has only been in use for the last couple of decades. Beer commercials of the 50’s thru the 70’s used a family & friends theme or a workmen, sportsmen theme. Fathers were shown playing games with their kids and getting kisses from their wives for buying them the product. The constant denigration has an effect, you are lying to yourself and everyone else to say it doesn’t.