Posted on 04/17/2002 1:58:35 PM PDT by M 91 u2 K
Men of today's older generation grew up in the chivalric miasma of their time, which held that women were morally superior to men, and that civilized men protected women against any available vicissitude. A corollary was that women needed protecting. So common has this understanding been throughout history that one may suspect it of being based in ancient instinct: In a less hospitable world, if men didn't protect women, something disagreeable would eat them, and then there would be no more people. So men did. And do.
Instincts have consequences, particularly when the circumstances requiring them cease to exist.
Because women were until recently subordinate, and in large part played the role of gentility assigned to them, men didn't recognize that they could be dangerous, selfish, or sometimes outright vipers. They were no worse than men, but neither were they better. Men believed, as did women, that women were tender creatures, caring, kind, and suited to be mothers. Males deferred to women in many things, which didn't matter because the things women wanted were not important.
When women came into a degree of power, it turned out that they were as immoral, or amoral, as men, probably more self-centered, and out for what they could get. Not all were, of course, as neither were all men, but suddenly this became the central current. This too followed lines of instinctual plausibility: Women took care of children and themselves, and men took care of women. It made sense that they should be self-centered.
These newly empowered women knew, as women have always known, how to wield charm, and they quickly learned to enjoy power. The men of the old school didn't notice in time. They deferred, and they were blind-sided. They gave gentlemanly agreement to one-sided laws hostile to men.
Political deference became a pattern. It remains a pattern. It probably springs in part from the male's instinctive recognition that, by giving women what they want, he gets laid. Between individuals this worked tolerably well, but less so when applied to abstract groups.
When women said they wanted protection against dead-beat dads, the old school fell for it. They were attuned to saving maidens and the sheltering from life's storms of white Christian motherhood. "Dead-beat dads" was of course that sure-fire political winner -- an alliterative slogan of few words that embodied a conclusion but no analysis. So sure were men that women were the kinder gentler sex that they never bothered to look at the statistics on abuse of children, or the track records of the sexes in raising children.
The romantic elderly male believed -- believes -- that women were the natural proprietors of the young. This led to laws virtually denying a divorced father's interest in his children, though not the requirement that he pay for their upkeep. The pattern holds today. Male judges in family law defer to women, almost any women no matter how unfit, and female judges side with their own. The demonstrable fact that women can and do abuse and neglect children, that a female executive clawing her way up the hierarchy may have the maternal instincts of a rattlesnake, that children need their fathers -- all of this has been forgotten.
The reflexive deference continued. Feminists wanted congress to pass a vast program of funding for every left-wing cause that incited enthusiasm in the sterile nests of NOW. They called it the Violence Against Women Act, and men deferentially gave it to them. Of course to vote against it, no matter what it actually said -- and almost no one knew -- would have been to seem to favor violence against women. A law to exterminate orphans, if called the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, would pass without demur.
There followed yet more male deference to female desires. When women wanted to go into the military to have babies, or a Soldier Experience, men couldn't bring themselves to say no.
When the women couldn't perform as soldiers, men graciously lowered standards so they could appear to. It was the equivalent of helping a woman over a log in the park, the legal and institutional parallel of murmuring, "Don't worry your pretty little head about a thing."
On and on it went. The aggregate effect has been that women have gained real power, while (or by) managing in large part to continue to exact deference and, crucially, to avoid the accountability that should come with power. A minor example is women who want the preferential treatment that women now enjoy, and yet expect men to pay for their dates. In today's circumstances, this is simple parasitism.
Today men are accountable for their behavior. Women are not. The lack of accountability, seldom clearly recognized, is the bedrock of much of today's feminist misbehavior, influence, and politics. Its pervasiveness is worth pondering.
A man who sires children and leaves is called a dead-beat dad, and persecuted. A woman who has seven children out of wedlock and no capacity to raise them is not a criminal, but a victim. He is accountable for his misbehavior, but she is not for hers. It is often thus.
Consider the female Army officer who complained that morning runs were demeaning to women. A man who thus sniveled would be disciplined, ridiculed, and perhaps thumped. Yet the Army fell over itself to apologize and investigate. Again, men are held accountable for their indiscipline, but women are not. Men expect to adapt themselves to the Army, but women expect the Army to adapt to them. And it does. The male instinct is to keep women happy.
Note that a woman who brings charges of sexual harassment against a man suffers no, or minor, consequences if the charges are found to be unfounded -- i.e., made up. A man who lied about a woman's misbehavior would be sacked. He is accountable. She isn't.
Yes, large numbers of women are responsible, competent, and agreeable. Few engage in the worst abuses, as for example the fabrication of sexual harassment. Yet they can do these things. A man cannot throw a fit and get his way. A woman can. Only a few need misbehave to poison the air and set society on edge. And the many profit by the misbehavior of the few.
People will do what they can get away with. Men assuredly will, and so are restrained by law. Women are not. Here is the root of much evil, for society, children, men and, yes, women.
No, but I'm betting you haven't read a word of the material I criticized, which would put you about on the plane you're trying to put me.
As I pointed out, there could well be a million words of diatribe at that site on the state of male/female relationships. It's written in a stilted pedantic tone, and rife with the repeated use of "I think this..." and "In my opinion that..." And nowhere, I mean nowhere, is the a footnot or citation to validate or substantiate a single claim. Then, to top it all off, it all resides under the main website of one J. Orlin Grabbe, notorious internet pseudo-intellectual, snake oil salesman, and conspiracy theorist.
How's that for snappy comeback and repartee?
My maturity or lack thereof is a whole other issue. But note that I criticize your written word, while you attack me personally. Pot, kettle, black.
This is not correct. The sperm count has nothing to do with masculine attitudes and behaviours.
I think you are thinking about testoterone. Or if you want the opposite hormone, from women, estrogen.
I agree with you. But one thing that nags at me is the story of the woman pilot in the Gulf War who was taken prisoner. The rumor was that she was repeatedly raped and tortured. I don't believe that we've heard the real story on this. It seems like the lefties have dropped the ball on this or maybe it never happened. I'm puzzled.
You have an interesting take on this. I'm going to have to ask my wife what she thinks before I can respond.
It's essentially a college and post-graduate course in politics, psychology, and sociology all rolled into one, with a lot of history thrown in for good measure. It presumes that the reader can abstract from facts and connect the abstractions to form new concepts. It presumes a level of education or insight capable of recognizing historically observable and theoretically demonstrable phenomena, and the ability to extrapolate probable outcomes.
As for your snappy comeback, all I can say is that you write like a precocious thirteen year old with a new thesaurus. Being thrilled by a Vonnegut story and letting everyone know that you are an enthusiastic Vonnegut fan is not the same as being able to write with Vonnegut's vivid economy.
Seems like it does't it? But it's not true. The percentage of gays in the general population remains relatively constant.
LET THE BEATINGS BEGIN! BURQUAS FOR ALL OF YOU!
There. Satisfied?
You must be tired of hearing the word immature. Grow up and you'll hear it a lot less.
No, it's not. It's a vanity series published on the internet. No references, no qualitative data, no citations, not one single footnote or credit to an outside source. Just one man's rambling opinions written in a million words or more. And by bringing it here in bits and pieces with quaint theories like the scourge of the "Playboy Philosophy" made it fair game for criticism.
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From the series:
References
Myers, JK, Weissman MM, Tischler GL, Holzer CE III, Leaf PJ, Orvaschel H, Anthony JC, Boyd JH, Burke JD Jr, Kramer M, Stoltzman R: Six-month prevalence of psychiatric disorders in three communities 1980-1982. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1984;41:959-967.
Robins LN, Helzer JE, Weissman MM. Orvaschel H, Gruenberg E, Burke JD Jr, Regier DA: Lifetime prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in three sites. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1984;41:949-958.
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One of many in the series. Many are included in the text in conversational style, but can be traced to the sources.
Basically, you have a problem. You are a gamma level, or at best beta minus mind trying to present yourself as an alpha through pretentious vocabulary and trivial criticism of form.
Secondly, you're a God damned liar.
About ten people on this thread have told you that in one way or another. Maybe you should listen for the first time in your life.
You are caught and revealed for what you are, and are vainly attempting to argue your way out of it. You aren't going to make it in this life among people of stature or substance, sonny boy. As one of the other posters here said, if you are tired of hearing it, gtow up. In your case, however, the the advice is somewhat useless because you have an intrinsic mental limitation that is incurable. I suspect it is useless to suggest you stop inflicting that limitation on other people.
Have a nice day.
Who are you, again, blowhard yokel? I don't believe I caught your name or background.
The referenced work on man/woman relationships comes off not simply as if the writer has never been married, but as if he never even had a date. What tripe.
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Before, you told me there were no references.
Typical gamma minus mentality and emotionality.
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