https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-reality-that-all-women-experience-that-men-dont-know-about-kelly-jrmk/
Every time I think about actually bothering to post something even vaguely related to feminism in this series, I cringe. Then I ask myself, "Is this one really worth paying any attention to?" It's clear that several of my Facebook friends strongly identify as feminist and are passionate about the general sphere of issues that entails. They wear their philosophy on their sleeves, I guess. And it occurs to me that they probably don't know the first thing about my position. This is, I've decided, a failing of mine. I'll have to do something about it, once I figure out how.
Anyway, the content in the link above isn't the most egregious thing I've seen on Facebook lately; not by a long shot. But it is notable because I saw it from several different sources, and I know that some of the people who shared the link diverge from each other sharply in other respects. They aren't people who I'd think have much in common, philosophically or socially. This Gretchen Kelly article struck a nerve with what I gather is a broad spectrum of people. And this is super weird to me because the whole article strikes me as insubstantial, practically rebutting itself. It shouldn't warrant a real response. That would be silly. So I won't do it! Nope, I won't even try. Instead, something else...
The article concludes by imploring men to listen. I humbly suggest something else, videlicet this: look. Look into her eyes. Yeah, that picture at the top of the article. The one with no caption or apparent relevance to the article itself. It's a close-up on part of the face of a girl with piercing blue eyes, her hair at least partially disheveled and sweeping a bit in front of her nose and eyes. Someone put it there for a reason. We don't know anything about the girl in the photo. I can't even tell how old she might be, although it's pretty clear just from seeing part of her face that she's rather young. I don't know enough about photography to specify the technical terms for what is going on here, but I contend that the angle, focus, zoom, placement of hair, and use of a youthful-looking model are tools that convey vulnerability. It's an image that was designed to evoke an emotional response. And it works. It certainly works on me. Seeing that picture at the top of the article, I feel a surge of sympathy for the nameless girl. She looks like she might be in trouble, and I find myself wanting to protect her from whatever it is that is troubling her. The people who set it up so that an image like that went on the top of that article are attempting emotional exploitation. Don't let them bullshit you. It's a cheap trick. See right through them.
In other news, there's this...
http://www.freepresshouston.com/voting-third-party-is-the-electoral-equivalent-of-sending-thoughts-and-prayers/
And here's this obligatory bullshit that comes around every four years. People who would vote for a third-party presidential candidate are told that such an action would be useless, wasteful, vainglorious, petulant, etc. As this article inadvertently demonstrates, there just aren't any arguments made to dismiss votes for third-party candidates in general that cannot just as easily be used to dismiss votes for candidates in either of the two major parties. The author tries a lot of shit-slinging, but bitch, I'm rubber and you're glue. Every argument he makes could be used to hoist him on his own petard. Go ahead and check. I'll wait.
Monday, September 19, 2016
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