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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
You've got it right. The level of discourse of the several of the men responding to this article is pitiful -- though not pitiable. They've got too much self-pity going already.
Oh, my god. Thanks for the laugh. When I realized the title of your post wasn't ironic, I actually laughed out loud. Then I sent an email to a bunch of my friends so they could read it, too.
I am supposed to be somehow manipulated by your attitude into being ashamed for uttering the truth as I see it.
All it shows is how heartless you really are.
Because it's obvious (again, only if this really does reflect some vein in American society and is not just a total fabrication) that Americans are not ready for a woman president.
I hate to delve into the usual comparisons with Europe, and yes, a large chuck of Europe is far behind the US in women's issues (generally, most of Eastern and Mediterranean Europe), but could these attitudes have something to do with the fact that France has a women's labor participation rate of nearly 80%, while the US cannot break 60%? How about our college degree attainment rate of only about 23%?
These are not the names of middle-aged men. These are the names of today's two-year-olds. No wonder they're so insecure.
Larry the Cable Guy. 'Nuff said.
Fishanthropy (or something similar, I can't remember and the format of this board isn't helping me) wrote:
To quote an ancient cliche, "Be careful or you'll get what you ask for"
"...if TV is pushing women toward assuming the traditionally male "breadwinning" roles here in the Western World, it's fine by me. I'm perfectly happy to stay at home all day, surf the web, watch porn, get myself off, catch up on my reading, go to the gym in the middle of the day when you don't have to fight anyone for the best machines, etc.
Go to it, girls! Turn late-period post-capitalism on its proverbial head. Make contemporary office politics less of a middle-school throwback than it already is. Make ASSLOADS of money, please. I'll gladly drive the kids to Little League practices and Young Fascist Alliance meetings. I'll admonish the maid about separating the whites. And I promise to reward you with a nutritious meal in the evening when you get home from work..."
Sing it from the mountaintop, brother. I will happily play Aaron to your Moses, what can I do to help you spread the good word? PLEASE, for the love of god, rock out, women. Take my 70 hr/wk job and future ulcers and premature death. I will rock that Chrysler Town & Country all over the burbs. I will bake mean-ass cakes and pies, and master the crock pot. I will crush anyone on the local PTA who dares stand in our way. I will NOT send you emails at work describing what the mid-day sun looks like so as not to cause you any pangs at the memory of what you have lost. I will take actual sit-down lunches twice a day, since I will be doing it for you as well. I'll agree that your boss is a total tool who doesn't understand or properly value you. I'll use some of the 11-12 hours you are gone each day to sculpt my physique into that of an Adonis. We'll get a bunch of really cool dogs that I will be totally responsible for, you won't have to lift a finger to attend to them, only enjoy their company. All our shit will work b/c I'll have plenty of time to fix it. Our kids will be amazing athletes and scholars because I'll be drilling them every single day. I'll plan all our vacations. Whatever you need, it's yours. Make me a kept man, for the love of God.
One does wonder, though, doesn't one, why the ladies didn't like this ostensibly fabulous life you describe, and decided to fight for the right to have that 70-hour/week job.
Any thoughts on this?
>One does wonder, though, doesn't one, why the ladies didn't like this ostensibly fabulous life you describe, and decided to fight for the right to have that 70-hour/week job.
Any thoughts on this?<
Shoot, watch any episode of MAD MEN over on AMC. That show tells you everything you need to know as to why feminism came about (among other things...). And it reveals the kind of world brightstar and his ilk bitterly resent losing--one where (white) men called most of the shots, and everyone else had to distort who they were just to survive.
An excellent and fair question. And I am aware of your identity--if I recall, you are a law student. Well, I am a lawyer, and have been practicing litigation for five years in a major northern city.
I thought, going into law school, that this was what I wanted. My uncle, an assistant DA in a neighboring state, bent over backwards in an attempt to warn me that it was a mistake. I did not heed his pleas. In retrospect, what he attempted to do for me was one of the most compassionate and thoughtful acts I have ever witnessed.
I am now in hell. Even though I like the firm I've been at for the past 18 mos., and like most of our clients, the work is relentless and tiresome (and increasingly boring), and the personalities I have to deal with every day are, for lack of a better word, assholes. I doubt transactional work would be that different, and so here I am. The lenders gave me a length of rope, and I took it, tied a slipknot, ducked my head in and kicked the chair away. There is no escape, I cannot discharge my student debt in bankruptcy. I am stuck in a profession I really don't enjoy that much. There is some honor to it, but unless you are prepared to live like a pauper, which is impossible for me because of my debt load, you will have a hard time finding a truly rewarding and stable position.
So my message to you is this: people don't always know what they want. That was fish's original point. I am a living testament to that, believe you me. I was hardly some naive, pampered child when I entered law school--I grew up in a single -parent household on AFDC and have held a steady job ever since I was 14 or 15 years old. I went to a large and prestigious "public ivy" and was exposed to any number of interesting people and concepts. Yet I still blundered into a morass, like a dumb fucking mastodon into a tar pit. It can happen to you. It can happen to anyone. So, yes, fight for the right to work this job, or others like it. I hope to god you enjoy it. The statistical data, however, suggests you won't, and my personal experience, anecdotal though it may be, affirms that in all meaningful ways. I would happily halve my salary (and "status", for all that matters....and before you get too hung up on that, I suggest smoking a giant bowl and reading Hesse's 'Siddhartha', it's only about 125 pg) in exchange for half the weekly hours and an commensurate reduction in my student debt, but I may as well hope to win the lottery, because that isn't happening.
Best of luck. Remember, the quicksand only draws you in more rapidly if you struggle against it.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
