I agree with mostly everybody here that the tone of Ms Harding's post was unduly offensive. I'm sad that she couldn't frame it in better terms. Of course, 'lizard brain' is a reference to our 'reptilian brain' or R-complex, the oldest part of the brain; but what may have been meant as a funny periphrasis is more often perceived as an attack (especially since women have R-complexes too, while Ms Harding's post only mentions men). I did feel a bit offended, and feel sad to think that Ms Harding may have meant it as an offensive joke to men in general. When people feel offended by Obama's "sweetie", I suppose the best excuse for Ms Harding's lizard brain or Joe Jerkoff is that she isn't a politician on campaign.

I found it also dismissive. Is Ms Harding supposed to be sorry for this man? No, nobody is supposed to feel sorry for anybody; you can always close yourself to others. Perhaps in this case Ms Harding feels for the women who harm themselves because of unattainable standards of beauty from the media; since these women suffer more, then this man shouldn't have the right to complain. He has nothing to complain about, really, when compared to girls who turned anorectic or bulimic because of impossibly beautiful images of women around them.

In my opinion, the worse you can say about him is that it's his fault. He can turn away from these models, he can relativize, he can let his emotional self fill the gaps and resensitize himself to normal people. But if he feels lonely and sad because of that, then he does feel lonely and sad. These are not good feelings to have, as we all probably know.

And, unlike other men possibly in the same situation, he's written an article about himself and where he put it all in the open, apparently inviting attacks from people like Ms Harding.

I'm almost led to agree with Anonymous_Too, that the real motivation was fear. But I've seen sufficiently many people in real life who aggressively say, more or less directly, "my pain is worse than that guy's pain; why are you pitying him instead of me?"; it may be that Ms Harding simply wants to accuse this guy of not suffering enough. She's surprised that he says being around beauties may be a source of loneliness and sadness, and seems to think he's lying or pretending. I look at all Americans that have a sense of soullessness in their lives despite living in one of history's materially richest cultures, who are perhaps growing up to the conclusion that life is more than a good income, and sigh. This man has noticed that beauty is not all that great; maybe he'll try to do something about it.

Indeed publicity and the media may desensitize us to real people around us, and even to ourselves. As many have already said, that affects all of us, both men and women. Not only men.

On evolutionary psychology: Ms Harding's quick dismissal shows little awareness of what it really is about. It's of course not the only source of explanation for human behavior, but it is a serious discipline that deserves more consideration. There are some serious problems with it, but there are also some very good insights. Besides, the "hardwired" metaphor is often misunderstood; I'm reminded of Richard Dawkins' description of the woman in one of his talks who almost burst into tears because if some of our characteristics are "genetically determined", then we're not free at all. Even Daniel Dennett will agree that there are some forms of free will worth having.

Religion and faith are always difficult questions. In the traditional sense, I suppose I have no faith; at least not in a personal god or savior. But I've met sufficiently many really beautiful people, who had this "inner light" that meh001 talks about; I see humans as sparks of such potential intensity that it's easy to believe in transcendence, in spirituality and spiritual growth. I keep myself open to this possibility. Light is for everybody, not only for those who see it as a personal god.

Of course, in American politics, religiosity has now become de rigueur. I certainly deplore the faux religiosity of Bush supporters, but I deplore even more the fact that, although America may be already ready for a Black or Female President, it is clearly not at all ready for a non-believing one. Hell, America isn't even ready for a non-Christian President, no matter how good a person or administrator s/he might be.

This last quote sounds interesting. Can you post a link to the thread where you saw it?