Welcome to today’s episode of “wait, did Scott Adams really say that, Scott Adams the Dilbert guy, really?”
And the answer to that question is, as always, “yes, yes he did say that.”
In a post on his blog yesterday, Adams continued his evolution into a living Men’s Rights subreddit comment by lamenting what he sees as the MAN-DESTROYING MISANDRY of the Democratic party.
“On the surface, the convention is going great,” Adams wrote.
Michelle Obama made a speech for the ages. Bill Clinton was his masterful self. Bernie gave a full-throated endorsement of Clinton. The whole affair has been a festival of inclusiveness. The media is eating it like cake. All good, right?
Not so fast! Because beneath the sunny surface of the DNC lurks the testosterone-destroying monster that is the inadequate appreciation of dudes!
[I]f you’re an undecided voter, and male, you’re seeing … a celebration that your role in society is permanently diminished.
Adams followed this with, well, tell me if this line of thought sounds vaguely familiar to you:
And it’s happening in an impressive venue that was, in all likelihood, designed and built mostly by men. Men get to watch it all at home, in homes designed and built mostly by men, thanks to the technology that was designed and built mostly by men.
WE BUILT THE WELLS FARGO CENTER TO … er … seat you?
I mention that as context, not opinion.
Ok then.
To Adams, the most diabolically anti-male portion of the DNC so far has been … Alicia Keys.
I watched singer Alicia Keys perform her song Superwoman at the convention and experienced a sinking feeling. I’m fairly certain my testosterone levels dropped as I watched, and that’s not even a little bit of an exaggeration.
And he’s not making a joke here. He literally thinks his testosterone level dropped while he listened to Alicia Keys sing this:
Even when I’m a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes
I’m a Superwoman
Adams continues:
Science says men’s testosterone levels rise when they experience victory, and drop when they experience the opposite. I watched Keys tell the world that women are the answer to our problems. True or not, men were probably not feeling successful and victorious during her act.
Just how fragile does Adams think the male ego is, anyway?
Let me say this again, so you know I’m not kidding. Based on what I know about the human body, and the way our thoughts regulate our hormones, the Democratic National Convention is probably lowering testosterone levels all over the country. Literally, not figuratively.
Well, at least he’s using “literally” correctly.
Naturally, Adams thinks this will lead to the election of REAL MAN Donald Trump.
And since testosterone is a feel-good chemical for men, I think the Democratic convention is making men feel less happy. They might not know why they feel less happy, but they will start to associate the low feeling with whatever they are looking at when it happens, i.e. Clinton.
Wait, wouldn’t they associate it with Alicia Keys? I’m a little confused.
On an emotional level – where hormones rule – men have left the building…that they built.
Adams ended his post by reminding us all again of his fake “endorsement” of Hillary Clinton, whom, he explained, he fake-endorsed
for my personal safety, because I live in California where it is dangerous for people to think you are a Trump supporter. My political views don’t align with either candidate and I don’t vote, in order to protect my objectivity.
Yeah, I don’t think you quite understand how “objectivity” works, you human Men’s Rights subreddit comment.
H/T — @malki on Twitter, via @clinicboss
What about the feel of estrogen in the brain? Male people and men use estrogen too. It’s actually hard to find info on what estrogen does for them cognitively and that suggests some bias issues. This is the best I have atm. I can’t find any news articles while I’m on break.
Also about testosterone and dominance~victory.
The way I visualize it is that it all depends on what you consider a victory. Are you a person working towards greater visibility of and respect for women’s issues? Enjoy your testosterone spike when you succeed in the face of social opposition.
You know those people that lose an argument online really badly and still rationalize it as a victory by reasoning or logic that makes no sense? Being an addict sucks.
@Fishy Goat
I honestly think that’s the first time Adams has made anyone laugh in a very long time.
Physiologically speaking, he may be on to something. Why bring him down just because you want to be a snarky blogger? One reason Trump is rising with some voters is that testosterone thing. Why do you think guns are so popular? People love the adrenalin, can’t live without it. Hillary is the smart choice, but she does make males feel negativity.
@Axecalibur
A+ reference to what’s probably one of Queen’s lesser-known hits! 🙂
@Nikki
Ayy! My references do not go unnoticed
@Peter
No he isn’t
Yep, that’s the reason. And…
[Citation needed]
Conflating adrenaline and testosterone…
Who the fuck is this “males” you’re talking about? And how the fuck do you know “males feel negativity” towards Clinton due to androgen deficiency? She has support from males in minority ethnic groups. Are they less influenced by testosterone shortages, or, since she’s the “smart choice”, are they just smarter than white guys. Basically, [citation needed] again
In conclusion: Get that bullshit outta here
http://24.media.tumblr.com/804493109f8fccc9adba5ebee63aa786/tumblr_mj35y5dNpS1qmkpzlo1_500.gif
Oh yes, the fragile male ego.
My mother explained this phenomenon to me when I was 16.
Baffled, I explained back that men’s egos weren’t at all fragile. What they were was overinflated.
@Peter:
Clinton makes males feel negativity? I must be male-ing wrong then, because what she makes me feel is happiness.
Do I need to hand in my Y chromosome?
@Peter Payne
So if a woman shoots a gun, she gets a spike in her adrenaline?
Or is it testosterone?
Your logic is muddled.
Also, you assert that guns are linked with adrenaline, which people can’t live without. Hmm. I’m doing fine without either extra adrenaline or a gun. I can definitely live without them.
I’m not at all sure that you’re a medical scientist, although I think you think that you play one in the comments section.
Poor, poor Scott Adams!
Won’t someone treat him like the baby he asserts he is?!
To babies everywhere: That was not a shot at you, I swear. When you cry and scream and demand attention, you’re still lovable. Not so for a grown-ass man.
@Kat – 😀 😀 😀
Also, the ‘Ads by Google’ in my sidebar are now all about low testosterone, testosterone supplements, replacements, etc. I can feel the anxiety and the sadness coming through the screen, I tells ya!
@Cat Mara –
The way things are going, this may be their next advertising slogan.
Awww. Peter, like Scott has a sad that the Democratic party is not all about white men at all times.
http://veganfeministnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/dawson-leery-is-crying-male-tears.jpeg
I have a Dilbert omnibus and DVD set that I’m seriously considering giving away at this point. What an utter ass.
Translation: I, Scott Adams, only feel successful and victorious when women are not empowered.
Oh shit, Peter from J-list*/J-box is a freaking misogynist? Well, that’s another site I’m not spending my money on ever again.
*NSFW
So, scott adams and his supporters absolutely fail at understanding ‘correlation does not equal causation’. No surprise there.
The actual science regarding testosterone is quite complex (yeah, I know you’re all stunned that I’d say that. I think everything is complex, but in this case, it’s true). It is true that men have decreased testosterone levels with age, and also true that men lose muscle mass and overall strength with age. Also, ‘hypogonadism’ is a thing that endocrinologists do treat (in men) with testosterone supplements, although the practice is by no means universally accepted.
None of that supports what Adams is claiming, that ‘victory’ results in a short-term boost of testosterone, which then makes you feel good. I think it is quite possible that Adams is confusing ‘testosterone’ with ‘adrenaline’ (as the above poster did). Or, Adams is smart enough to realize that women have adrenaline too, but is too thick to realize that they have testosterone.
Just for fun, I did a title/abstract search on pubmed for ‘testosterone’ and ‘depression’. It pulled up over a thousand hits, but here are some studies that caught my eye (WARNING: MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT AHEAD):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27371769
This one is a secondary analysis of individuals in a diabetes trial demonstrating that while hormone replacement in diabetic men does raise hormone levels, it did not actually improve mood.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26615472
This one is a slightly older study confirming a correlation (see above re correlation and causation) between low testosterone and incidence of depression.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26488864
This one’s another observational study. This one was specifically of obese men, and did find a direct correlation between depressive symptoms and testosterone, and an inverse correlation between estrogen and depression (it is worth emphasizing that adipose tissue is one of the sites were androgen precursors are converted to estrogens, so obese individuals really do have higher estrogen levels. This is thought [but not proven] to play a role in predisposing to strokes, heart attacks, and other forms of cardiovascular disease, as estrogen is a pro-coagulant).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26372084
Conversely, this is an asian study indicating correlation between elevated testosterone levels and post-partum depression.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27441465
This right here is the top result, and I think it’s implications are intriguing. It addresses the apparent contradiction that people (both men and women) who are married with kids have both lower testosterone levels AND lower rates of depression. Fascinating, neh?
Oh, and for what it’s worth, a pubmed title/abstract search for ‘Estrogen’ and ‘Depression’ brings up about the same number of hits (just over a thousand), so there’s research out there on the impact of estrogens on mood as well.
@kupo
I suspected. Apparently, according to his Twitter, there’s a lot of male bodied people who identify as girls ‘going around these days’. The subsequent thread is the expected disaster. Get out while you still can, kupo!
@EJ
Yes. Yes, you must. By the power vested in me by the Council of Mayunly Males, I confiscate your chromosome and render ye, officially, a lioness. Now get up off your ass! Don’t you know that lionesses hunted the wildebeest for yoouuuuu!? MISOGYNY!!1!!
Balloons filled with too much air pop easier. /pseudo proverb
Hey, everybody. Been getting into too many Facebook political arguments with people lately, felt like dropping by to read stuff resembling sense again. Only so many times
I see Scott Adams is up to his old tricks. Same old, same old.
*Only so many times I can take being the corporate sellout for thinking Hillary Clinton’s not Satan.
@Axe
It’s funny, I just saw some cute Japanese pens on a website but hadn’t purchased through that site before, so I was thinking I should pop over to j-box this weekend and see what kind of kawaii stuff they’ve got. I’ll save my money for the Asian market near me. They’re like 5 miles out of my way, but I’d be supporting local business and not giving Peter any more of my money.
@Amnesia
If you want to shut them up for a while, ask them to name three things Hillary’s done that aren’t:
1. A right-wing conspiracy theory that was debunked years ago.
2. Something Bill did, not Hillary.
3. Something she did 20+ years ago and has since apologised/atoned for.
4. Also true of every other politician, up to and including Bernie.*
5. “But… She’s a woman!”
It works as well as the usual “Name three non-misogynistic MRAs,” in that there is no answer, so a third of them will stop annoying you and the other two thirds’ll at least change the subject for a while.
*While voting records are obviously a legitimate reason to not like a politician, holding Hillary accountable but not hundreds of others is really hypocritical.
Actually, change #2 to “Something Bill or another person who isn’t Hillary did.” Forgot about the latest one, blaming Hillary for that idiotic dude in the email hack. Because she has fucking mind control powers now, apparently.
@kupo
I always just assumed an expat hawking ecchi stuff was gonna be at least a little shady…
@Amnesia
Troof
I’m stuck at a Trump-majority bbq party. Sigh.