So the other day I was perusing the front page of the angry dude blog – sorry, “human rights organization” – A Voice for Men, looking for something inspiring to read. My eyes hit on a promo for a recent AVFM radio show. It was on the topic of feminism, and, apparently, women in general:
Flatworms, eh? You know, those “relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrate animals” without brains, with primitive eye spots that allow them to sense light?
As you know, human rights organizations are widely known for comparing large categories of humanity to primitive worms.
I am reminded of the inspiring words of Martin Luther King:
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. And by the fact that they’re not slimy, dirt-eating worms, like all those damn white kids.
This is, of course, from King’s famous “I had a dream – a really weird dream, where all the white people were worms” speech.
Oh, perhaps JohnTheOther and GirlWritesWhat have some highly clever explanation for that whole “flatworm” thing, but in order to find out I would have to listen to their “radio” show. But life is short, it is a lovely, if a bit chilly, Saturday in April, and I would rather have ferrets chew the flesh off my bones while I am still alive than listen to an hour or more of those two, so I guess I will never know.
But no matter, because there was another post on A Voice for Men that caught my eye:
Yes, I said to myself, I will have to find out what Cooter Bee thinks about the differences between intellect and emotionalism. In the course of my day to day life, I often find myself pondering the deeper philosophical questions of human existence, and when I do, I always wonder: What does Cooter Bee think of that? It is rare that I actually get to learn what Cooter Bee thinks on a particular matter of philosophical import. So naturally I clicked on the link.
Here’s what I learned from the esteemed Professor Cooter Bee:
Endless citation, refutation of fallacy and Socratic pursuit of truth are the tools of reason. Men tend to understand them. Women, generally speaking, don’t because indignation, outrage and gut level distaste are rooted in emotionalism. Women do understand base emotionalism and do respond to it in a more predictable way than they could ever respond to reason. They are also more likely to respond appropriately because the message is more clearly understood. Emotionalism is their language.
So, really, there’s no point in actually arguing anything with those flighty ladies.
No need to waste words or knock yourself out reasoning with feminists or even your wife, for that matter, when a short and visceral pronouncement from on high will do and is more effective.
For example, you can just call them sluts:
Sluts are against slut shaming because sluttiness is, indeed, shameful. Say so. Your position would be unassailable because they too believe it. They invoke moral relativism and slut pride marches as a means to escape the inescapable.
Actually, it’s better if you call the ladies sluts over and over and over again:
Slut Walks, “Sex in the City” and the self esteem cult are all attempts to reassure women that even when they behave abominably that the bad behavior has the sanction of the collective and they face no risk of expulsion if they engage in it. To modify the behavior of women, reimpose that risk. The good news is that it can be done in relatively short order. … A stark and unvarnished remonstration from someone in closer proximity will undo the propaganda swiftly. Declarations of “that is disgusting” accumulate. Hearing it once may not overcome Cosmo and she can dismiss it as an isolated raving of a lunatic. If she were to hear it more often, however, she begins to doubt herself and wonder about her status within her more immediate collective.
You can also modify chick behavior by praising them when they act the way you like them to. It’s really quite simple:
Chick language provides us with a construct that we can use. To women something is “nice” or it is “mean”. They use that simple, emotionally based dichotomy because that is what chicks understand. They use it with us and they use it with each other. That is how they evaluate the world. Use it. …
Most women want to be good so tell them what good is in a way they can grasp easily.
What if they disagree with your assessment of what is good? Doesn’t matter, because you are a man, and therefore right:
Who is to decide what is good and what is evil? Simple. You are. Some men might think it arrogant to anoint themselves as the final arbiter of all moral issues. Not true. As a man, nature equipped you to make decisions based on merit alone without respect to consensus. … You know right and wrong when you see it.
Are there any good women out there? Yes, Cooter Bee tells us. Indeed, there are several women who contribute to AVFM, so there’s them. Beyond that, Dr. Bee, tells us,
I am of the belief that most women are good, if somewhat misled. They only resist righteousness because they think that any behavior that the collective endorses IS righteous. The rare woman who is capable of moral judgment will select good herself and would not be on the receiving end of harsh moral criticism.
Then again, you still might have to yell at the good women from time to time. Really, it’s your duty – it’s for her own good.
Good women are human too. Even in the seldom occurring event of a temporary moral lapse by a decent woman, your diatribe will be no more severe than the one she administers to herself. Would you do less in the case of a man whose judgment falters?
Thank you, Cooter Bee, for your insights!
I had no idea that going around telling women that they’re sluts was a form of human rights advocacy, but apparently it is. The next time I see a woman standing on the streetcorner trying to get me to sign a petition for Amnesty International, I will simply tell her what a dirty whore she is. I will accomplish more with these words than she will in a day of collecting signatures and donations!
NOTE: Since you bring it up all the time, fellas, you might try to remember that the name of the show is Sex AND the City. Also, it ceased production eight years ago.
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I feel bad for your brother to have such a terrible sister as you. You just dismiss his depression for some internet argument. wow
I’d love to help! I’ve spent so long with people thinking I’m nuts for doing this its nice to see some interest.
Would you prefer I post them here, or on my blog? Anything in terms of food items or recipies you want?
wow, pillowinhell, just wow *applauds*
and to second Ozymandias42, so there are people who defraud the system? whoop-di-doo. i’d rather that than no safety net at all. and while we are thinking about defrauding the system, what about all them people using tax loopholes
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1611272/Super-rich-paying-no-income-tax.html
and for lols
http://leftycartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/see-sue-run1.png
What’s wrong with being lazy, anyway? 😉
@pillowinhell, on your blog? so it’s not a massive derail? whatever is easiest for you at all times x
I totally agree that people who aren’t really disabled shouldn’t get disability payments!
…I don’t see how this is an argument against payments for people who really are disabled, say, people with severe depression.
Some people cheat the system therefore the system is bad and no system would be better. Is that it, Ruby?
You’ll notice that everybody has to guess what you meant, once again.
Alright Big Momma, my blog it is. I’ll start posting stuff, just let me know what interests you. And if you have any info on how things can be reused instead of recycled, recipes or anything pertaining to self sufficient living or low tech solutions let me know.
THIS!!!
As a sorta health conscious, broke, full time college student, living off a very small amount of money due to the limited amount of hours I can work and massive dedication to maintaining my A average that trumps living the luxurious life, I can say that the issue of produce is a huge thorn in my side. I want to eat a salad a day, as well as grab some healthy snacks of fruits and veggies, but to maintain this I have to shop multiple times a week. That’s quite a bit of extra gas since it’s a thirty minute round trip to all the local grocery stores, and I’m already driving an hour a day back and forth to school/work. And frozen fruits are crazy expensive and just not very tasty unless blended into a smoothie or something. Same with frozen and canned veggies. You lose a lot of flavor. So for someone on a very limited income who lives within a food desert, it’s much easier to eat fast food and junk. I have a Burger King, two convenience stores, three pizza places, and a Dairy Queen within walking distance, and all these places are open late/all night. I have to drive at least 15 minutes to get anywhere with fresh produce, they close anywhere between 7-10 (I’m a night student btw, so when stopping off for groceries after school it’s always a race to check out before the place closes). Finally, I have never found any of the food I buy to be even close to as cheap as those charts seem to make them out to be, especially in the winter. So to treat eating right as if it’s crazy simple for everyone is just not the case.
The one leg up I have is that I’m a really great cook who knows how to spice things to perfection by eyeballing it. However, it takes a lot of motivation after a long day of work and classes, knowing I have hours of homework to complete, to actually dedicate the time and attention to making a healthy dinner.
you’re on, pillowinhell, i’m trying to get as sustainable as i can x
also, to all the people out there who are time poor and working their butts off, if you can beg/borrow/save towards in any way you can, i truly recommend a crock pot/slow cooker.
There is massive fraud in capitalism and insurance companies denying benefits.
Yuck a libertarian argument. 🙁
I’m in a country where there is no safety net. Come here. See for yourself. I’m to the point where I want humanity to completely stop until all this gets sorted out, the crimes are too severe. I cannot bear these old people dying in the streets. And yes, I mean that. They are in the streets, and have no money. I am only 41, and I’m tired. I could not bear a day out there with no hope and no health and no nothing. When I am 70 and need a nice chair to sit in I do not want that to be a curb. Oh wait, there aren’t curbs here either.
When I get home later this year I could definitely be classed as one who could get disability if I had no income. I’ll have enough so that I don’t need it, but there’s no way I can work. I work and every three, or three and half years wind up in the hospital because I do it until it’s just not possible. Nobody has to take my word for what’s going on with me at those points, they can talk to the doctors. I’m done. No more three year stints. It’s hard for me to even do simple things online anymore like I used to, like keep a blog, even things that interest me. I can do housework, and basics. My nervous system is absolutely fried. LIbertarianism is another way of saying ‘we only want certain people alive’.
Ruby: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “Women are emotional, men are logical.” It’s bullshit! Men are more violent, and violence is the result of emotion, not reason. Therefore men are emotional.
So are women. We really aren’t that different, and making your essentialist argument a reverse of theirs is not helping.
I can be violent. I tend to be violent from pretty reasoned causes. It doesn’t mean I am not emotional while being violent, it just means that I don’t let my emotional reactions be the cause of my violent actions.
The one does not follow from the other.
BTW, just because you disagree with me, it’s no reason to call me a troll.
That’s true. On the other hand, you still seem to be pretending that the “eboncs” thread, where you were going on and on about, “science” in didn’t have a couple of specific replies to your reques for studies counter to the one you posted.
Your last words on the subject were to say that I, among others, had no good arguments; merely denied your, “science” because we didn’t like the “truths” it told, couldn’t refute it and had no studies to contradict you.
When in fact we posted detailed critcisms of the lack of evidence, methodological failures and “just so” nature of the things you linked to. I then posted four studies which were more recent than yours, and came to very different conclusions.
If I debated one or two people, I could probably respond to all the posts, but not when debating four or five people. It’s not fair to gang up on someone then bitch when they don’t want to spend three hours responding to everyone. As for getting bent out of shape, it’s because of the strawman arguments. “I’m a Libertarian.” “Oh, so you want poor people to die.”
Nonsense. You didn’t debate anyone. You just kept repeating yourself, and saying we coudn’t possibly be right because, you were using “science”.
I never said word one about your politics. I said word many about your arguments. You ignored every one of them. Then you quit.
Are you saying that if someone disagrees with you they aren’t educated?
You did. You said none of us were paying attention to the,”evidence” you offered, and that we were just denying it because we didn’t like it.
That’s what pissed me off. Being called a liar, and a denialist; when you weren’t giving me the respect my efforts deserved… that’s offensive.
To then add insult to the injury by accusing me of things I didn’t do… when I was giving your argument by repetition far more respect than it deserved.
That’s fucked up.
Hey have you guys heard of food deserts? Look that up, very interesting. Also here, only rich people have refrigerators. Even if you can save up for one, the budget does not allow for the power bill. It takes all day to live a day here. The food is not healthy. (Philippines, btw). People hand wash their clothes and in most barangays the water is only on for a few hours at different times. Ours gets shut off at seven am sometimes, I hate that, at least make it eight. Anyway, libertarianism also relies on there already being a reliable infrastructure and plenty of resources. Also what if you’re a country without much political power, and can grow your own rice, but world trade forces you to open your own rice market? (Here and Korea). Rice, sugar. It’s a sad situation. This is just a never ending topic.
Ruby: Oh boy, are you guys going to start making up nasty limerics about me again?
Maybe. It depends on whether you actually engage people. Certainly the evidence of the Ebonics thread is that directed mockery (and my limericks were topical), was the only thing which got to you to engage the content of other people’s posts.
It also kept me from putting lots of profanities, and actual insults in my posts.
@Ruby
You know what, I’ll say it…
I’m on General Relief right now. Why? I am basically homeless (been living between temporary homes with family for months now). Job searches are scarce, and while I do have creative/entrepreneural aspirations and plans, they’re taking a hell of a while. I have gone through abuse, and I am basically fortunate to have people who care about me and who sympathize with what I have gone through.
Now, I am told that such programs were not available for my family members back in their day, and as self-reliant as they are, they are nonetheless glad to see me apply for the program (besides, they suggested that I should do that, to “help gain my independence”).
Let me tell ya…it’s not a fortune you’re given. If anything, you’re just given a bare minimum, and you have to utilize to the best of your ability. Right now, I have to stay at a hotel. Sure, it has HBO and Playboy, but the room as a whole is below average, with an ugly shower, decaying fruniture…like I said, bare minimum. Plus, I have to do job searches and stuff to stay in the program (which is easy for me, seeing that I have looking for work for YEARS!)
Am I a moocher?
I was feeling creeped by a couple in the subway station this evening. She had given him the water bottle she done with. It was glass. He tucked it into his hand and passed the trash without dumping it.
They then took the long way to the station exit (end the line, WTC), and ended up behind me.
They didn’t try to attack me, but the behavior was odd. Maybe he likes 1 pt. glass bottles for some reason, but it had potential to be a weapon.
And so I was wary.
@Ruby
Oh now I see why people think you’re trolling, or at least hope you’re trolling. Getting free lunch isn’t scamming the system. Did you balance your mother’s check books as a child to determine whether or not she could afford it? And, ever stop to think that the money saved on free lunches was what allowed you to not go hungry in the summer?
As for claiming he’s depressed for disability, I WISH it was that simple. Do you know how hard it is to get disability? Also, upon gaining disability checks you basically foreit your future because you can barely work, so you have to settle for a life of poverty in the amount of whatever the government deems acceptable. So depression sometimes winds up worse because you have nothing to strive for.
Disibility doesn’t answer the root of the problem which is understanding from bosses and not discriminating against people with psychological disorders. Personally, I’m a very capable, hard worker. I impress my bosses for months with my effort and dependability. Then it hits me and I go into a deep depression where I can’t even get out of bed because my entire body feel like it’s being crushed, I’m faced with horrible thoughts and feelings of worthlessness, and am too anxious to call in, or if I do I have to make up some excuse because “I’ve entered a deep depression and have no idea when it’ll end,” doesn’t normally cut it when calling out of work. While I could get disibility since this problem has caused me to lose many a job in my day, it doesn’t address the fact that I actually can work most of the time and am damn good at it. It just basically throws money at me to avoid the situation altogether. The way depression is medicated away with lackluster research and no real supervision over people who are taking meds, just, ugh. I feel like in the case of depression they’re just telling people that life is a lost cause.
Ruby: Thanks. I needed you to tell me I’m a moocher.
Becuase I get a disability payment every month from the feds. I can work. I do work. That payment is enough to keep me just above the poverty level. I don’t, because I have wonderful partners, need to work.
It could even be argued that I am keeping some other, deserving person, from a job in a bad economy. Mind you, if I didn’t have that 80 percent disability rating I’d be homeless, in LA, or living in Tenn. with my father. I was eight months without work in 2008, and got my present job as a seasonal hire. I happen to be good with people, and knew the material cold, so I was kept on. Minumum wage, and the GI Bill (full time student), were what kept body and soul together until, like manna from heaven the VA decided I was disabled.
But to look at me… I’m hale and hearty. I look fine. I could work a 40 hour week. I could, with a lot of effort, and some luck, be able to cover my bills on nothing but the pure sweat of my brow.
I’d have to do what the other people I work with do; have two, or three jobs.
And it would kill me, but I’d die with my pride, right?
Yeah, I’m angry. I’m angry that there are people who don’t have the luxuries I do (a father who was able, just barely, to give me a place to stay, and food to eat while I was completely broke; friends who were able to get me back to Calif., the luck to meet The Best Housemate Ever; who took me in as a guest, and let me become a lodger; and friend, and familial. Who told me, when the System was fucking me, and I was without a job, and scared I’d not have any money to eat, that I’d not starve, and not be in the cold, etc.).
I’m pissed as all fuck that the System has been rigged so that being poor is a permanent condition. I’m pissed to a level that beggars all description that Fucking Richard Nixon was a goddam hippie left-wing radical compared to the last two Democratic presidents.
And yes, I’m pissed off at you for being glib with other people’s misery.
All of which I try to keep out of my responses to the comments you make on other subjects.
Oh, Yeah! I am lucky as all fuck. The nature of my grant of disability compensation is such that I am allowed to work for a living.
I had a friend (he died recently) who was declared disabled. He was not allowed to work. He could do nothing which generated any income. It’s why his wife hasn’t been able to retire. It’s why they had to refi their house. It’s part of why his social life got smaller.
He wasn’t allowed to make a living. Luckily for him he had hobbies; he made cannon, and did wonderful woodwork. He was a dedicated member of Boy Scouting. He sang.
He was lucky. He had the means, from a fortunate life before his disabilty, to keep active.
I don’t know what, if my 1,427 dollars a month was all I was allowed to have, my life would be like. I do know that I’d probably not be living in New York. I’d probably be looking at Tennessee, or New Hampshire, or some such, where the money goes further.
Fucking A, right on, and amen my brother.
You are a shitty sister in addition to being a shitty person all around.
Ruby at it again? FFS…
Pecunium: Grrarrrgh it makes no sense that disabled people are not allowed to work. >:( I mean, there are lots of disabled people who can work 20 hours a week but not 40, or can work a job but will need months off, or whatever. So they can still work and get some extra money and a sense of value to their lives, but have the disability money to keep up their standard of living.
@ozy, pecunium,
back in the day when i was a homelessness worker in the UK, people who claimed a disability pension were able to work up to 16hours a week and within a certain earning threshold (something like 70GBP) a week before it had any impact on their benefits. it was termed ‘therapeutic earnings’ i guess in recognition of the important role that working has in terms of sense of self/community inclusion.
i’ve just done a quick trawl on the UK Benefits website and can’t track a reference to it anymore that is more recent than 2010. The government had brought in changes by getting an independent organisation to assess people’s work readiness and there were some pretty big scandals involving people being stripped of benefits when they were clearly entitled to them. so, even the smallest concession to supporting people on long term disablity payments seems to have vanished and has been replaced by an attitude of forcing people into work and stripping them of benefits. Ah the Tories, i never saw this coming….