What about the men (who are not polar bears)?

Kat:

You can see it in the reactions to the Parkland school massacre. . . . [T]he story is staying at the top of the news, and associating with the N.R.A. is starting to look like the political and business poison it should have been all along.

Earlier today, I read this thread by Nick Harkaway about the fear of school shootings: kids’ fears, mostly, but also those of parents. I won’t quote it here: it needs to be read in its entirety, including the responses of other parents. That thread brought the subject home to me more than anything I’ve read in the past: I’m slow, I guess. And I thought: how can this last? If I were an American parent, witnessing my kid’s fear, and jumping every time the phone rang in case it’s that call, how could I shrug that off? I don’t think I could rest until every politician whose answer is “more guns” was voted out.

(I lied: my favourite hot take on Black Panther was the Breitbart dude who argued that T’Challa was basically Trump; Wakanda the US).

If Trump resembles any African leader it would be a dumber and more cowardly version of Idi Amin.

OMG, is that Seagal book self-published? Because I don’t want to believe that an editor read and approved stuff like this:

“We got warrants … federal warrants.” He waved some papers at John, indicating that he was holding the warrants in his hand.

And it has a foreword by Joe Arpaio, because of course it does.

Don’t men die earlier and get into more accidents because we do dumb, dangerous shit just to prove how “manly” we are, to each other?

In regard to Seagall:

“Everyone on that show Cheers knew one another’s names because they all lived at that bar. You, however, live in the desert, where no one knows your name, and when it gets dark they can’t even see you.”

I suppose it’s not just acting he can’t do…

It’s early in my part of the world and I haven’t consumed enough coffee yet. Please forgive the lack of sources for everything. I’m just pulling from memory here.

Interesting question is for me of course why there are more homeless men than women since women are more in danger of getting poor.

My understanding – at least in the US – is that homeless families are counted separately from homeless individuals. Since homeless women are more likely to be the caretakers of children, they’re more likely to not be counted as a homeless individual. I’m not sure if that one is true though.

I do know that people who have children in their custody are prioritized higher for subsidized housing, welfare, and other social safety nets than childless people. Again, women are much more likely to be the primary caretakers of children.

About worksafty:
One reason is that men seem to do more manual work, aka more dangerous work, historical. This is chanching in western society, so this number would be very interesting to see how it veries from country to country.
Another reason is that men try to be overconfident, or not paying attention more often than women. (from my experience)

You’re right that men are less careful. If MRAs actually wanted to help men instead of hating women, they wouldn’t be so resistant to the concept of toxic masculinity as its responsible for men feeling like to be a real man, they must never show a hint of fear of bodily injury.

Another factor is that illegal sex work is very dangerous but it is not counted in official tallies of workplace death and injury. The numbers also don’t reflect indirect harm such as the long term wear and tear of the body that happens to retail and food service workers on their feet all day. Or exposure to toxic chemicals. For example, nail care workers have high rates of cancer compared to the general population because of the fumes from nail polish and polish removers. And then there’s the potential mental health tolls due to women having to the second shift at home on top of dealing with workplace misogyny. I’m not sure anyone has ever even studied this. The official workplace injury and death numbers are only going to count the really obvious things. I’m not saying women necessarily have it worse than men here, just that it’s not as clear cut as the stats suggest.

About life expectancy:
In my homecoutry the difference from the last UNStudie its 4.7 years.
What I heared (sorry have no source) that the difference is shrinking.
For Germany one of the mainreasons for males dying earlier was war that is no longer a reason for dying today.
One of the other reasons for the gab getting closer is that women are taking all kind of jobs today and a dangerous life/ having unhealthy habbits is more common among femals than it was one centuary ago.

There’s also possibly a biological difference. Females of other mammalian species live longer too. Otherwise, like you said men have traditionally lived higher risk lifestyles than women in addition to being less likely to see medical and mental health attention. Once again, toxic masculinity strikes.

Very interesting points from weirwoodtreehugger exspecially about homeless people and worksecurity.

Another point about homeless people is that women tend to ask for help more often then men, so perhaps that stopps many people from getting homeless.

I heared also that the female body is more stabile than the male, so a certain difference is probably there forever.
It is a combination of biological and other reasons I think.

But I was shocked to find out that in the USA it matters where you live. There are places in the USA that have a life expectancy that is as low as some 3rd world country and some that have one that is at or even over the level of the worlds best life expectancy. (Source: Wikipedia)
Thats Japan by the way in the for all and the womenstatistic, men live the longest in Switzerland.
The difference in America is 20 years between different counties.

I just read that same thread five minutes ago, courtesy of Neil Gaiman retweeting it. It’s just incredible and heartbreaking.

indeed. But we’re supposed to be teaching our kids to be afraid… of Muslims. Of the Noo World Order-oids. Of “others”… of a thousand “things that go ‘bump’ in the night”, against which we must be armed and prepared.

I gave up debating with my ex-brother-in-law. Every answer is a talking point from the NRA, so worn from time and usage that the words barely have meaning any more. There’s no analysis attached to “Obama’s coming for our guns”… “Obama’s coming for our guns” is analysis!!

Of course it’s true… “it’s true!” And that’s supposed to prove its truth. There’s no basis to the argument that a “law abiding” American need be afraid of gun violence, the idea that we’re seven times more likely to be killed by an angry white man with a gun 1) isn’t true, 2) is justified, even tho it isn’t true, 3) is made up by the [name of non-right-wing group-of-the-day], 4) no one has been killed, the shootings are all faked…. ad nauseum….

We have to be hyper-vigilant, because “they’re coming for our freedoms!”
“Which ones?”
“They’re going to establish Sharia law and make Christianity illegal”
… because not using the public treasury to put a Nativity on the Courthouse lawn is apparently an act of religious genocide….
“Whites are under attack in this country”
… because asking employers to stop throwing resumes in the wastebasket because the applicant has a black- or female-sounding name is apparently an act of racial genocide….
“Men are under attack”
… because women objection to being fondled against their will by powerful men is apparently an act of social castration….

Because in our childhood, white men controlled 100% of everything and now, a short half-century later, they only control… 99% of everything, [long pause while the eerie silence formerly required to be filled with reasoning… real reasoning… passes] ALL THAT is why we need more guns.

If we’re going off topic, I took a gander at some of the net neutrality tweets today and so much facepalm.

It’s unbelievable how many conservatives want it repealed just to spite liberals.

Aside from all the bigotry, one of the main reasons I always thought that Republicans are the worst was that they only care about their own self interest and screw everyone else. These days, they don’t even seem to concerned with their own well being. They just want to see others harmed. I know we’ve all already known this for some time now. It just is hitting me particularly hard today.

There are people who want slow and more expensive internet just to piss off liberals. These people are using the internet to say this. I just cannot even. Will they see the error of their ways when they have a harder time shitposting or will they just never learn? I could accept that they are against socialized medicine and welfare because freedom. Because they’re privileged enough to think they won’t ever need any social services. But if the internet is something you use everyday, you’d think you’d want it in good working order. This is something directly and immediately affecting them. It’s just so bizarre to me.

@weirwoodtreehugger

It’s because they fucking LOATHE liberals for getting Obama elected. They hate any attempt at subverting existing power structures, that maintain their privilege and ability to oppress vulnerable groups.

Now, even though Obama didn’t manage much, on account of being filibustered to hell (and even then he had great accomplishments), the very symbolic act of putting a Black man at the top position of power scared the fuck out of them. It also infuriated them, because the vast majority of them literally grew during an era in which Blacks couldn’t drink from the same water fountain.

Come to think of it, I think Reagan’s election and the re-invigoration of Christianity during the 70s and 80s, thanks mainly to grassroots movements, had a lot to do with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

These people were livid that Blacks would have to be treated equally and decided to try their hardest to make their lives impossible.

I think we’re re-living the same scenario, just under different circumstances.

You, however, live in the desert, where no one knows your name,

Nor can anyone ID that horse you’re riding.

@Robert

I remember fighting Nazi zombies in the second episode

@Shadowplay

Now THAT is an epic playlist. Oh man… I still remember “All She Wants To Do Is Dance” from the Real Genius soundtrack during the pool party scene. I have that whole soundtrack on my iPod Touch.

@wwth

It’s unbelievable how many conservatives want it repealed just to spite liberals.

Nah, it’s entirely believable. Corey Robin’s said it on Sam Seder’s show in several interviews: going back to Edmund Burke, conservatism is entirely a reactionary movement. Sure, they’ve pretended to have concrete “principles”, but it’s always a reaction to a successful emancipatory movement, be it blacks, women, gays, non-binary and trans individuals etc. There’s a reason the right got so much traction during the Cold War and why it all but evaporated after the USSR’s collapse until Fox News kicked it back into high gear. With the media successfully cowed, enough people are living in that bubble that they’ve succeeded in combining the ideas of American success with leftist failure. “If the left is upset, it must be good!”

I highly recommend Robin’s book, The Reactionary Mind. It’s perfectly suited to what we see now.

Moggie

Got Other. It’s good, loved Reassuring Pinches. She’s still got a belter of a voice, doing more pensive stuff now though – we’ve aged well together. 😛