Does Concern For Boys Put You In the Alt-Right?

Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2018-03-07 02:51

Article here. Excerpt:

'So there I was, reading a piece in the New Yorker by Steve Coll, titled “Donald Trump’s Fake News Tactics," where Trump was seen as “draw(ing) on the contemporary idioms of the alt-right.” Quoting a report by researchers Alice Marwick and Rebecca Lewis, Coll describes the alt-right as best understood as “‘an amalgam of conspiracy theorists, techno-libertarians, white nationalists, Men’s Rights advocates, trolls, anti-feminists, anti-immigration activists, and bored young people.’”

One of those categories jumped out at me: “Men’s Rights advocates.” I don’t identify with that group. But as a man who is the father of three sons and grandfather of five grandsons, and an emeritus professor of psychology who has studied gender issues for more than 40 years, the idea of men being concerned about their rights does not seem terribly far-fetched. Cassie Jaye’s 2016 documentary about men’s rights advocates showed some legitimate reasons for their concerns. So to see this group linked in with conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, and anti-Semites troubled me deeply.

But it is simply an extension of the way any concern about men and boys—and the difficulties facing the latter (and their parents) have always been my focus—has been labeled, at least since the publication of Christina Hoff Sommers’ groundbreaking book, The War Against Boys in 2000. In one of my earliest posts here—“Boys and Young Men: A New Cause For Liberals,” published in 2010—I questioned this association and urged that liberals (progressives) take on this very important initiative. This has never really happened. Concern for men – and by extension, boys—is primarily expressed on the conservative side, and now even the alt-right. The only exceptions seem to be when someone is talking about the need to change our boys, e.g., Claire Cain Miller’s New York Times piece, “How to Raise a Feminist Son.”'

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Comments

Old as the hills. You list a mess of deplorables (the only thing I have to thank The Vile One for is that word) in a screed of condemnation and throw in a pet peeve objectionable type in there hoping no one will notice.

Medieval authors used to do this rather humorously back in the day. They'd describe Hell for example and mention some person they happened to see there: a contemporary pol, a person they jousted with in writings, etc. Lumping MRAs in with neo-Nazis is more of the same kind of thing. Granted some ppl may actually believe it but it'll be ppl who don't know any better and don't bother Googling MRA issues before buying the line.

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Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2018-03-07 02:57

Absolutely agree with you Matt. This is the tactic of the radical feminist propaganda. Select the worst behaviour exhibited by any members of a class (men), and portray this as a characteristic of all members of that class.
So if any man abuses a woman, then all men are abusers.

This way, those men and women raising red flags about the treatment and condition of boys in our communities and schools, are automatically evil wife bashers or apologists.

In fairness, many in mens rights groups do the same to feminists. Clearly not all feminists hate all men. Some are balanced clear thinking individuals who see inequity where it exists, and call it out appropriately. Others just get caught up in the lynch mob mentality and get high on the adrenaline, thirsty for blood.

But this tactic also shifts the focus from the real issue - boys disengaging from main stream society at alarming rates. Western societies are being gutted from the inside, and no one with any authority seems to care.

Radical feminism isn't driving a reversal of the traitional roles of men and women in society, the movement of women to dominance and men to subservience. Men once dominated public life, but women also dominated the home and procreation. There was an unequal but acknowledged division of power and expertise.

Radical feminist doctrine leaves men and boys no spaces to "be" male and no legitimate acceptable way to be male. Masculinity is being deconstructed more rapidly than any replacement or alternative maleness can be constructed. All that is offered is feminisation, some fundamentally flawed reflection of the "goddess complex"(i.e. all women are good, therefore being more woman like is better).

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Submitted by rabel111 on Wed, 2018-03-07 05:09