As we’ve seen again and again on this blog, misogynists love to talk about how much better men are than women when it comes to things like math, logic, and scientific thinking generally. Unfortunately, their posts and comments online – filled with breathtaking failures of logic, absurd unsourced assertions and magical thinking — do not seem to bear out this hypothesis. I would compare the scientific thinking of most manosphere misogynists with that of the creationists, but frankly that would be insulting to creationists.
A case in point: a graph – provenance unknown – posted in a recent MGTOWforums discussion of marriage. The standard line amongst the lady haters is that marriage is on the way out , because men are “waking up” to the evils of marriage in an allegedly feminist state and deciding to, well, go their own way. The reality: while the marriage rate has been falling fairly steadily for the last quarter-century or so, for a variety of reasons, most people do marry at some point in their lives; it would be silly to assume that a trend over the course of several decades heralds the death of a social institution that has lasted (and has had many previous ups and downs) for millennia.
Of course, that’s not the way the MGTOWers in question see it. Their proof that marriage is doomed – doomed, I say – lies in this little graph which charts with mathematical precision the exact date range within which marriage will vanish forever from this good earth:
Now, there are many problems with this little graph. For one thing, what happens AFTER the projected marriage rate goes to zero? Does the marriage rate bounce like a rubber ball back into the positive realm? Or does it go below zero, with unmarried couples divorcing one another – just in case?
Second, this chart is based on a tiny number of data points – a mere 25 year sliver of the millennia-long history of divorce. If you go back a mere century and a half – see the chart below, taken from a paper you can find here — you’ll see that the marriage rate doesn’t conform to any neat mathematical formula; it jumps up and down, affected not only by slow-moving cultural changes but by events in the real world – look at the gigantic spike in marriage after World War II.
But the main issue here is that there is simply no way you can come up with a neat equation to predict the future of marriage because THE WORLD DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. History isn’t math. It cannot be predicted in advance, and any attempt to do so — especially one based on a tiny sliver of data — is doomed to failure. (Well, certain aspects of reality can be predicted — like when Halley’s comet will next return (assuming it’s not eaten by a giant space monster we haven’t discovered yet). Orbits can be calculated with mathematical precision; social trends cannot.)
To illustrate the dangers of extrapolation, let’s consider the little chart below, prepared by a helpful assistant (who happens to have access to a scanner). The chart provides some interesting data on the age of a hypothetical cat named “Fluffy” and her projected life expectancy. As you can see, Fluffy was hypothetically born in 2001, making her ten years old today, with her age increasing by one every year. (Just pretend that the numbers line up properly; my assistant, despite her many other charms, is not big on precision, and may have been drunk when she prepared this chart.) Based on this data (which show Fluffy’s age increasing by one every year), we could project that by the time the next century rolls around our dear little cat will be 99 years old.
If projecting the future were as easy as drawing little lines on graphs, the world would be a much simpler, and much less interesting, place to live. Most of us realize this. MRAs and MGTOWers, not so much.
The same way they’d prosecute the murder he apparently thinks is wrong: magic and fairy-dust.
@Seraph:
Seems about right. His idea is that the natural morality (for abortion, gay marriage, and morals in schools (which don’t exist without government)) will somehow be brought forth once the government is no longer interfering. People won’t want to kill their unborn kids because the state won’t tell them its fine, everyone will naturally know moral from immoral because every parent is the perfect teacher, and the bank sideline was just him raving about how his perfect future is also the inevitable one.
Oh, also marriage. Can’t forget marriage.. This is about the only thing he’s got right. With no government, there will be no divorce. The price of no marriage is a small one to pay.
I’m actually a big proponent of home schooling and unschooling xD and no, I dun think the state should have any say in what family’s teach their kids in terms of “morality”… but since he’s talking about state schools.. it’s naive to believe that you can have a school (and a community of children spending all that time together) in a vacuum or avoid any issue of morality (incl as others have pointed out, in history, even in science, and esp in terms of reading, English, etc ) xD I bet he also believes that schools shouldn’t have school nurses or counsellors or librarians OR libraries (cuz you can’t choose what books to stock w/o making a decision on morality… and if there are books about queer issues or fiction that’d be moralizing right? xD ) and what about kids who are bullied, or who suffer at home or at school for being gay or trans or having a different gendered expression of self? o_O And if they keep being beaten up for how they are… the teacher at some point has to say “you can’t do that to him/her/zir” or “you should stop acting like that and provoking the bullies” (as I was told)… or you just let it continue, break up each fight and twiddle your thumbs cuz.. no interference in morality! -_-;; But then I’m sure there’s an easy answer and a “agree to my straw term that you can’t find out details in, Y/N?” thing coming too xDDD Which should be hilarious xD
Last comment of the night. Tommorows gonna suck
Darksidecat…The deficit is the balance of money between one country and another. The money the State borrows is independent of that and has no bearing. The State simply borrows what it wants and transferrs that debt to the taxpayer. For every 1 dollar the State borrows from the Fed, the Fed can then loan 9 dollars to private banking which is how currency is made from thin air. The money is then pumped into the local economy which drives inflation as money become abundant. When the Fed tightens the money supply, boom, recession, 2008. The fed then buys up all the defaulted debt (property/businesses) for pennies on the dollar. They do this for that reason.
The courts as you say are working well are horribly corrupt. Take the “drug war” If no drugs were illegal than no one would be in jail for drug trafficking. Take good old weed for instance, totally harmless. It is illegal only to expand the State powerbase. Heres a link to Afganistan opium production. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Production_in_Afghanistan
Now in 2001 the Taliban had almost irradicated opium production. The surge you see in production on the chart coincides with troops being poured in. How is it possible for production to increase with our troops there and the “war on drugs?” There can be only one answer. We guard the opium production. 100 Billion a year free money, plus State forces for the “war on drugs” plus State forces for the ATF and you get taxed. And they tax you top do it. Tell me I’m wrong.
*Shudder*
Both of my parents were teachers, and I can tell you, teachers are right behind doctors and cops for discovering things you didn’t ever want to know about what parents can do to their own kids.
The stories alone cost me sleep.
In other news, cops sometimes beat up innocent people, so I think we should have absolutely no law enforcement anywhere ever.
I see he didn’t answer how murder would be dealt with in his government-free utopia.
I mean, Geez, even the hard-core libertarian wingnuts I’ve come across think the government should be in place to stop theft, violence, and occasionally fraud.
You know, upon reflection, I wouldn’t mind so much not responding to NWO next time. He has done nothing but vomit his screed, and any attempt at conversation has only pushed him further down his script. There is no debate here; its “assertion question assertion question assertion question.” And I don’t think anybody is better off, not even the star of the show. 200 comments and nothing gained…
Well, not nothing, we’ve had a little bit of back and forth between ourselves, and its always fun to see what other posters think. Still…
Last comment of the night. Tommorows gonna suck
Darksidecat…The deficit is the balance of money between one country and another. The money the State borrows is independent of that and has no bearing. The State simply borrows what it wants and transferrs that debt to the taxpayer. For every 1 dollar the State borrows from the Fed, the Fed can then loan 9 dollars to private banking which is how currency is made from thin air. The money is then pumped into the local economy which drives inflation as money become abundant. When the Fed tightens the money supply, boom, recession, 2008. The fed then buys up all the defaulted debt (property/businesses) for pennies on the dollar. They do this for that reason.
The courts as you say are working well are horribly corrupt. Take the “drug war” If no drugs were illegal than no one would be in jail for drug trafficking. Take good old weed for instance, totally harmless. It is illegal only to expand the State powerbase. Heres a link to Afganistan opium production. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Production_in_Afghanistan
Now in 2001 the Taliban had almost irradicated opium production. The surge you see in production on the chart coincides with troops being poured in. How is it possible for production to increase with our troops there and the “war on drugs?” There can be only one answer. We guard the opium production. 100 Billion a year free money, plus State forces for the “war on drugs” plus State forces for the ATF and you get taxed. And they tax you top do it. Tell me I’m wrong.
I copy and pasted this from the previous page, Id hate to have you miss a chance to mock me.
Good night.
I think the interrobang is a very useful and underrated form of punctuation, and I’m sorry that it hasn’t caught on. Agree or disagree?
So…you think the entire U.S. National debt is owed to the Fed, and all the money we owe to other countries is part of the deficit and doesn’t count somehow? Am I understanding you correctly??
Alternative answer: our troops do not have full control of the country, and people with no other source of income are returning to the trade they followed before the Taliban (who did have control of the country) stamped it out.
Agreed. (makin me look up this shi… dang, spearhafoc, you want me to learn stuff?)
Man, now that NWO’s gone, I’m… I’m spent.
This is a sick sort of symbiosis.
And also has shit-all to do with the post or with the purpose of the blog. But isn’t that always the way. It’s the metagame.
Just FYI I had a comment right before NWO scrolled it off the screen too xD But it’s pretty much what Kirby and Holly have tried to articulate alrdy :3
@Holly – it has shit-all to do with the post, but as long as it’s answering an MRA’s attacks and mocking his stupidity, it has everything to do with the purpose of the blog.
Before I go to bed, I just want to say one last thing:
It’s no substitute for a fire, of course, but marshmallows cook up quite nicely in a toaster oven. Put some aluminum foil under them and try about 4-5 minutes on the hottest setting. Nummy.
Never argue with an ass, lest others fail to notice the difference.
But what if it’s hilariously fun to poke him? xD
Then you are poking an ass. (deadpan)
Then you are poking an ass. (deadpan)
Which is definitely more fun than arguing with one.
Did I get it all?
I did a quick drive-by bondage joke.
I think the interrobang is a very useful and underrated form of punctuation, and I’m sorry that it hasn’t caught on. Agree or disagree?
AGREE. AGREE SO STRONGLY MY EARS ARE WIGGLING.
I think the interrobang is a very useful and underrated form of punctuation, and I’m sorry that it hasn’t caught on.
It hasn’t?! What have I been doing all this time?! Am I a trailblazer?!