Ah, Earth Day. That time of year when we can all signal to others how virtuous we are with our recycling and sustainable life choices. It’s always the perfect opportunity for an ego boost knowing that you’re doing your part to save the Earth from the greedy and selfish resource squanderers. On this day I wondered, am I helping the environment? Obviously the internet has an answer for everything. From on high the interweb gods have blessed us with a quiz. Continue reading
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Men, Am I Right?
My inspiration this morning is the fairer sex telling me how to properly respect them. In case I’m unversed in how not to be a dick to other people, Everyday Feminism is here to educate me with 5 Simple Ways Men Can Better Respect Women. The article brought up good points to dissect, so let the fun (respectfully) begin! Continue reading
Feminism, I’m Hoping We Can Be Friends
My disdain for the social signaling and politicking within the feminist movement may have come off as a bit strong in my last post. This blog is going to publish many posts critiquing popular social issues, and last year was considered a big year for feminists. As such, I think it bears explaining my sentiments toward feminists before the inevitable deluge of feminist current events and my blog responses.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with being a feminist. Striving for equality between the sexes is a noble pursuit. What I will value highest in the debate is using truth and reason. I fear that feminists – in their pursuit of equality – are all too willing to uncritically accept statistics, blanket assumptions about groups of people, and exaggerated claims to advance a narrative. I expect in the future to examine feminist claims with great scrutiny and parse a more reasoned, level-headed description of events from the narratives presented. I can already anticipate that this will piss off feminists. Oh well. I firmly believe that prevaricating to advance a noble cause is counterproductive and harmful to a movement.
Feminism, I hope you can handle the tough love.
Feminism as Religion: Proselytizing Through Oppression
Ok, bear with me. Religious folk – particularly fundamentalists – are often at odds with the Social Justice Warrior type of feminist. However, this piece is intended to analyze how the practice of feminism reflects that of religion. Moreover, I seek to highlight the absolutist and faith-based similarities. Onto the dogma!
Feminism as a movement has always struck me as kind of creepy. On the surface, there’s nothing particularly objectionable about the dictionary definition for the term: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. We could quibble about what is meant by equality, but I’m going to charitably assume that equality under the law is a primary aim here. So far so good. I then began to wonder, why not be an equalist? Isn’t that the same thing? Many feminists say no: the real issues are suffered by women, and the focus should remain there. I bring this up because terminology is incredibly important to the movement. Feminists share little love for Merriam Webster and have produced a sprawling new lexicon as well as redefining old words. For your convenience, hyperlinks will be provided for the more esoteric terms. Continue reading
Drink Deeper 