If you have
noticed my little bit of profile detail off to the right there, I'm
an atheist, a libertarian and favour (to a point) the Men's Rights Movement. The
first two because anyone with an ounce of sense (in my opinion) ought to be if
they just think about it, and the last because I have in the past been in a particularly poisonous
relationship, which really opened my eyes. Whilst my intention is to explore the atheism and my political views, I shall
make a bit of a start with the MRM thing.
So now - I have
found an awful lot of MRM blogs and websites out there. Some of them have
something to say, and say it well. Others have something to say, but say
it badly. And some are just misogynists, plain and simple. I am not
a misogynist, whatever anyone wants to say, but there are a few fundamental
issues where modern feminism falls flat on its face, and it needs pointing out. The emperor is fucking naked, and I refuse to
pretend otherwise.
Feminists have for
many years sought equal rights for women. Hear, hear, I say. Women
should have equal rights and equal opportunities; that view goes right along
with my libertarian leanings. We all want the same things when you get
down to it, regardless of age, gender, creed, ethnicity and so on. The
trouble seems to come when people fail to recognise that we all want the same
things, or believe that these things have to be competed for - as if there were
not quite enough rights or opportunities to go round, and that some sectors of
society ought to have a greater share than others. They all want a larger
slice of the abstract concept pie, which is about as ludicrous as you can get. Rights are not a zero-sum game.
Anyway - I
digress. My beef with feminism is that they seek ever greater rights for
women, and seem to have over-shot the turning somewhat; women have
for years had rights that are more-or-less equal to those of men (I'll not deny
that some fine tuning is still needed here and there). Women can vote,
got to university, get jobs in just about every sector - bar combat roles in
the military, although that is starting to shift. Yet still, they call for
greater rights, to the point where they have privileges greater than
those enjoyed by men, yet still this is not enough.
For example,
I have worked with a number of Local Authorities and Housing Associations here
in England, and have found in these a number of women who have been
promoted far beyond their abilities. I don't mean just a level or so
above where they should be; that is in the nature of promotion, that everyone
gets promoted to a point or level just beyond where they should be, and there
they stop. However, I have encountered a number of women who have been pushed
ever-higher up the ladder, and they lack the aptitude and capability to be anywhere near where they are. I do NOT mean all women at high level management, but
there are quite a few out there. Organisations - particularly those that
are publicly funded - seem to believe that one way to establish their right-on
credentials is to fast track such people to the upper echelons, with
the result that incompetent twats end up running the show. Not semi-competent twats, as is the
natural order of things, you understand; fully paid-up,
need-someone-to-hold-the-map-while-they-use-both-hands-to-find-their-arse
incompetent twats. People who are fundamentally (is that a
pun?) useless.
But it is not just
this that irks me. You see, as I mentioned earlier, I was in a
relationship that I can only describe as abusive. It did not start that
way; they seldom do. It creeps in, gradual-like. You make a small
compromise or concession, then another, then another, until you realise that
you have been gradually alienated from friends and family alike, and that your
self-confidence has been subtly eroded away. You are scorned and upbraided by
your 'loving' partner for things that she (or he) does with impunity. You might
suffer this in silence, until one day they push their luck a bit too far, and
it brings you up short.
My own epiphany
came when, after having listened to some neurotic bullshit for - I
kid you not - six hours, I lost my rag and shouted. Fully justified in
doing so, as well.
"If you raise
your voice to me again," I was told, "I'll call the police and tell
them that you are unstable and get you sectioned under the Mental Health Act!
They'll take my word for it, and it will just be one tired doctor who
wants to go home and he'll sign anything!"
Fuck me.
This woman thinks she can get me sectioned just for shouting? When she has been
screaming, slamming doors and trying to physically push me around the room?
She's mental, I thought.
Yes. But
here's the kicker; a good friend of mine, a criminal law barrister, has
told me that she could indeed get me sectioned.
Imagine that.
On the
uncorroborated testimony of one person, another person can find themselves
arrested, incarcerated and considered insane just because they raised their voice. No
due process to speak of. Just one person making an allegation that is
unfounded, and that's it - the machinery of the state swings into action, and
you're fucked. The state as a tool of abuse.
And this is where
it gets really messed up; were I to try the same
thing on her, what do you think my chances would be? Zero. I am a
man, she is a woman, and therefore I am totally at her mercy.
Now - someone tell
me that I am not alone in thinking that that is totally fucked-up.
So, I started to
look into the matter. And that is where it got really scary.
Needless to say, she is no longer a part of my life. Can you say hallelujah?
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