Posted: Oct 07, 2016 10:34 pm
I have an imaginary visual simile to suggest for consideration, in order to recognize what I mean when I say this subject is one of several in modern life, which is much more complicated than most discussions of it allow for.
Imagine a pair of schizophrenic octopuses. Some of their appendages are fighting with the other, some are reassuring the other, some are pointing off in another direction entirely, and some are poking their own self in the eye.
That's what's happening with this kind of stuff. There are levels of consternation, kinds of prejudices, and more importantly, lots of being upset by SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY, without the person who is shouting about it all, even realizing that they are upset about.
Race issues are often similar.
Anyway. Some people who are upset about female footballers, for example, really don't care about female footballers in any way whatsoever. What they are actually reacting to, is the fact that someone BROUGHT UP female footballers, as something of a personal challenge to them in a deeply personal way. Essentially, some people feel insulted by the fact that they have been challenged to take a stand at all, and so take an aggressive stand which they really don't care about, simply to say "FUCK YOU!" to the person who brought the subject up at all.
Some others wouldn't have given a shit about female footballers at all, except that at work last year they became convinced that the woman next to them got an undeserved promotion, because of some form of "affirmative action" which they THINK was at play (whether it was or not). So their negative reaction to female footballers, isn't about that sport at all, it's more like a case of "I couldn't fight it out about Cindy at work, so I'm going to battle it out on THIS score, so that I have the feeling that I struck a blow for male equality in the workplace SOMEWHERE."
And of course there are the True Believers, who, as soon as they hear the word "female" in any kind of context where they are being compared in any way to males, will leap to demand that women are obviously equal, and therefore should be seen as superior, or some other nonsense, all without even listening to the details.
Meanwhile, we who only hear about the controversy on the local news, are presented with a version of the story of what's going on, which has been filtered through the ALWAYS over-simplified, and social-assumption-based filters of the commercial "press," so we are TOLD that these people think thus and such, when actually, nothing of the sort may be the case. So some of OUR OWN, second level, second hand reactions, will be based on a false foundation, and the truth becomes even more muddled.
Imagine a pair of schizophrenic octopuses. Some of their appendages are fighting with the other, some are reassuring the other, some are pointing off in another direction entirely, and some are poking their own self in the eye.
That's what's happening with this kind of stuff. There are levels of consternation, kinds of prejudices, and more importantly, lots of being upset by SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY, without the person who is shouting about it all, even realizing that they are upset about.
Race issues are often similar.
Anyway. Some people who are upset about female footballers, for example, really don't care about female footballers in any way whatsoever. What they are actually reacting to, is the fact that someone BROUGHT UP female footballers, as something of a personal challenge to them in a deeply personal way. Essentially, some people feel insulted by the fact that they have been challenged to take a stand at all, and so take an aggressive stand which they really don't care about, simply to say "FUCK YOU!" to the person who brought the subject up at all.
Some others wouldn't have given a shit about female footballers at all, except that at work last year they became convinced that the woman next to them got an undeserved promotion, because of some form of "affirmative action" which they THINK was at play (whether it was or not). So their negative reaction to female footballers, isn't about that sport at all, it's more like a case of "I couldn't fight it out about Cindy at work, so I'm going to battle it out on THIS score, so that I have the feeling that I struck a blow for male equality in the workplace SOMEWHERE."
And of course there are the True Believers, who, as soon as they hear the word "female" in any kind of context where they are being compared in any way to males, will leap to demand that women are obviously equal, and therefore should be seen as superior, or some other nonsense, all without even listening to the details.
Meanwhile, we who only hear about the controversy on the local news, are presented with a version of the story of what's going on, which has been filtered through the ALWAYS over-simplified, and social-assumption-based filters of the commercial "press," so we are TOLD that these people think thus and such, when actually, nothing of the sort may be the case. So some of OUR OWN, second level, second hand reactions, will be based on a false foundation, and the truth becomes even more muddled.