June 5, 2012
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Feminists are Wonderful People
Of course the title of this entry was intended to express sarcasm. I do not actually believe that feminsts are wonderful people. They are among the most difficult and irrational people in the world.
I found this comment on youtube, which typifies feminist thought and behavior:
JIMP, and your disappointingly predictable reaction, is prominent evidence that men refuse to acknowledge that harassment of women is deadly (explative deleted) serious. Women have to deal with the consequences of men’s refusal to respect our human right to not be hit on, that we do not exist for male sexual…
This comment is an example of typical feminist vitriol and methodology, where opinions and beliefs are expressed as facts. No one has the right to be hit on, or to not be hit on (except for perhaps married people). In the majority of cultures around the world it is expected that the men approach the women, although that does not stop some women from approaching men. I met two of my girlfriends that way (the first and the present). In the real world someone has to approach someone else with a proposition or humanity will cease to exist. If anyone, man or woman, is upset with the type or quality of individuals that approach them, all they have to do is take the initiative themselves. If people do not respond to your initiative then that is their right, just like you are not obligated to accept everyone who approaches you. I have been appproached by some nasty women that I would never consider touching even if they were the only option. Did I get mad and hold all women responsible? No, that would be stupid. If someone is interested in you, and they have no way of knowing that you will be unavailable and/or uninterested, then they are not at fault for trying and have done noting fundamentally wrong. Now, if they continue to harrass you after you have made it clear that you are uninterested THEN they are at fault, and at that point you can pursue legal action.
In general I try to avoid interacting with feminists as much as possible. While I do believe that feminism as an ideology can and should be addressed, I do not believe that debating with the average feminist on an individual basis is a productive use of time. I do spend time debating with Muslims and Evolutionsts. Some of those debates can become quite heated but it is usually possible to have a debate with them, because regardless of who is right those issues are dealing with matters of fact not opinion. While our beliefs differ, we are still dealing with issues of reality. For example, regardless of whether matter and energy was put there by a deity, or it just appeared there from nothing, the fact of the matter is that it is there now and at some point it was not. So we each take facts and logic to argue for our respective positions.
When it comes to feminism, they deal in the realm of opinions and emotion, and there can be no rational with someone whose basis for belief is entirely emotional. The will not only interpret reality through a subjective lense, but will also interpret your comments and motivations in that light. So again, feminism should be addressed, as it is too big to ignore, but not every individual feminist needs to be addressed. If one is going to debate with a feminist then be prepared to deal with lots of hate and anger, and restrict your arguments to the facts. Feminists will try to squirm all over the place and steer the conversation down irrelevant paths, but you must restrict the argument to the few matters of fact involved and ignore the rest.
I would now like to address some of the key beliefs of feminism:
1. Collective guilt: Feminists believe that if one man does something nasty then all men are somehow responsible. So if a man someplace beats his wife then I am also partially responsible according to the feminists logic. Of course in real life no one is responsible for the actions of individuals who are beyond their control. Holding me responsible for the rapists and wife beaters would be like me holding all women responsible for Casey Anthony. Guilt occurs on an individual basis.
2. Most violent crime and rape is perpetrated by men: Perhaps most, but definitely not all. If there were not such a gap between men and women in terms of physical strength then the numbers would probably be equal. For example, if I am walking down the street what are the odds that I am going to get beat up and raped by a woman? Very small. Even if I go into a bad neighborhood, the odds that I will be physically overpowered by a woman are small enough to be considered irrelevant. Inability does not automatically indicate virtue. In fact, if women were just as strong as men then the world would be a very different place, probably much more violent as women tend to hold onto their anger longer than men, on average. But as for rape, I have no problem with rapists being locked up indefinitely or killed, but to say that all men are rapists or violent is blatantly wrong. Hold the criminals responsible, and leave the rest of us alone. I don’t want to be lumped in with the wife beaters any more than the average feminist wants to be lumped in with Casey Anthony. Interestingly enough, it seems that the majority of cases where a parent murders their children the perp is female. At least, based on what I have seen, and that is not factoring in abortions.
3. Men and women are essentially the same: Feminists often argue that there are no inherent differences between men and women, and that women can do everything that men can do. Really? How many women can pee standing up? How many women can impregnate someone, and how many women can bench press 500 pounds? Also, how many men can get pregnant or engage in breast feeding? Men and women are different on multiple levels, both physically and mentally. To say that these differences are made up or that there should be no specific gender roles is asinine.
The way men and women think is inherently different on multiple levels. How many women care about sports? How many men care about soap operas and romance flicks? When a couple sits and watches a movie together the woman is more likely to be intrigued by the romance scenes, while the man is more likely to be intrigued by the fight scenes. Of course I realize that there are exceptions but in general this is how it is. Women are more likely to saw “AAWW” when they see someone else’s baby, while men are more likely not to notice someone else’s baby. Women are instinctively oriented towards child bearing, while men are more instinctively oriented toward making it possible to bear children. By that I mean that men tend to draw their self esteem from personal achievments, such as being succesful at work. Women tend to draw their self esteem from horizontal relationships. Men are more concerned about being respected than loved, women are more concerned with being loved than respected. I could go on but this should be enough.
4. Having specific gender roles is oppressive: No it is not. Division of labor based on natural ability is logical, and mitigates conflict. Why does everyone need to do the same thing? Or even worse, why should we flip the roles around? No reason for it in either case. Women are more likely to empathize with the children, and have compassion for them, while the man is more likely to provide logic and discpiline. Both parents are necessary to raise properly functioning children.
I believe that if finances allow, it is best for the wife to stay home. In primitive societies the fact that women have periods and can get pregnant is enough to exclude them from hunting expiditions, especially long term hunting expiditions. In advanced societies the need to have a director permanently stationed in the house while children are there remains.
That is all I have to say on this for now.