Is there a place in the American heart for the white male?
gibm.substack.com
In season 1, episode 4 of HBO’s White Lotus, Nicole Mossbacher (played by Connie Britton) has a conversation with her daughter Olivia and Olivia’s friend, Paula. The conversation is about Quinn, Nicole’s son and Olivia’s brother. Nicole (Mom): How’s it going? … Hey, can I ask you girls a favor? Can you try to include Quinn a little bit more in your voodoo ceremonies and whatever else you do?
Paul, thanks for the engaging response. Although I think the moral argument is more implicit than explicit in the piece, you make an excellent point regarding the importance of explicit moral arguments. The statistics are merely presented as a reminder of our moral failings and not that our moral failings are statistics. It's because of the moral failings that we get the statistics. When it comes to these issues, they are not zero-sum games. They are an opportunity to rise to the better angels of our nature and see the moral significance of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Thanks Paul.
This is an excellent essay. Its argument relies on the statistical facts that most people either don't know about because of biased journalism or don't care about because of ideological indoctrination.
But this is not a moral argument, at least not explicitly, and moral arguments are just as necessary and just as effective as statistical ones even in this age of rampant cynicism. I see not one but two specifically moral problems.
First, discrimination against people today for the failings of their ancestors makes no moral sense--not unless we confuse revenge with justice. Judging from what centuries of recorded human experience clearly indicates, there can be no such thing as justice without reconciliation. And revenge leads in precisely the opposite direction. We need desperately to make this clearly now that identity politics (revenge) has become acceptable and even fashionable in the public square.
Moreover, discrimination against against any group of people on biological grounds (race or sex) is not wrong (false) only because of statistics. Rather, it is inherently wrong (morally). That's because it undermines the distinctively human capacity for compassion instead of fostering it.
To put all of this in the proverbial nutshell, consider the "Golden Rule" in either its positive form (Do unto others ... ) or its negative form (Do not do unto others ... ). Even though this precept appears in some religious texts, it's insight is self-evident to secular people no less than to religious ones. If any moral or philosophical insight is universal, both historically and cross-culturally, this is surely it. No society worth living in or sacrificing for could endure otherwise. To argue against it, in fact, would require nothing short of a Nazi argument. Even now, not many people would want to make that one.
It's true, as you say, Half, that the hate mongers don't care about my rules, which is why I write mainly for those who have not yet succumbed to hatred. But these are not my rules. They're the rules that countless generations all over the world have understood and institutionalized.
Even so, I agree that it might already be too late rescue our civilization. We're rapidly descending into an abyss due to the rise not only of feminist ideology but also of Marxist, postmodern and transgender and neo-racist ideologies--known collectively, now, as wokism. At the core of all these ideologies, explicitly in the cases of postmodernism and transgenderism, is the repudiation of reason itself and the reduction of human existence to power struggles between "us" and "them." The victims will be not only generations to come of men, therefore, but also society itself. That's because reason is a defining feature of human nature. No human society can endure for long by replacing it with prejudice, cynicism and revenge. The result of doing so will be not merely an inhumane society but something like a nonhuman one.
Sorry, I'd like to conclude on a more hopeful note, but I'm almost out of hope--at least for the foreseeable future. For now, I suggest that we bear witness to what's going on, at least in writing, and thus lay the foundation for a new renaissance after the current dark age.
Thank you for your excellent article. I am baffled and saddened that our leaders have turned their backs on white men. Particularly white male leaders. I can only assume they believe that their sons and grandsons will somehow be immune. We can create pro-male self improvement organizations like Promise Keepers that fill stadiums, but can't get men to boycott movies and commercials that make us look moronic. I am encouraged that women are starting to speak out against androgyny. Are their any Men's groups that are seriously fighting the injustices men face today?
Paul, thanks for the engaging response. Although I think the moral argument is more implicit than explicit in the piece, you make an excellent point regarding the importance of explicit moral arguments. The statistics are merely presented as a reminder of our moral failings and not that our moral failings are statistics. It's because of the moral failings that we get the statistics. When it comes to these issues, they are not zero-sum games. They are an opportunity to rise to the better angels of our nature and see the moral significance of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Thanks Paul.
This is an excellent essay. Its argument relies on the statistical facts that most people either don't know about because of biased journalism or don't care about because of ideological indoctrination.
But this is not a moral argument, at least not explicitly, and moral arguments are just as necessary and just as effective as statistical ones even in this age of rampant cynicism. I see not one but two specifically moral problems.
First, discrimination against people today for the failings of their ancestors makes no moral sense--not unless we confuse revenge with justice. Judging from what centuries of recorded human experience clearly indicates, there can be no such thing as justice without reconciliation. And revenge leads in precisely the opposite direction. We need desperately to make this clearly now that identity politics (revenge) has become acceptable and even fashionable in the public square.
Moreover, discrimination against against any group of people on biological grounds (race or sex) is not wrong (false) only because of statistics. Rather, it is inherently wrong (morally). That's because it undermines the distinctively human capacity for compassion instead of fostering it.
To put all of this in the proverbial nutshell, consider the "Golden Rule" in either its positive form (Do unto others ... ) or its negative form (Do not do unto others ... ). Even though this precept appears in some religious texts, it's insight is self-evident to secular people no less than to religious ones. If any moral or philosophical insight is universal, both historically and cross-culturally, this is surely it. No society worth living in or sacrificing for could endure otherwise. To argue against it, in fact, would require nothing short of a Nazi argument. Even now, not many people would want to make that one.
It's true, as you say, Half, that the hate mongers don't care about my rules, which is why I write mainly for those who have not yet succumbed to hatred. But these are not my rules. They're the rules that countless generations all over the world have understood and institutionalized.
Even so, I agree that it might already be too late rescue our civilization. We're rapidly descending into an abyss due to the rise not only of feminist ideology but also of Marxist, postmodern and transgender and neo-racist ideologies--known collectively, now, as wokism. At the core of all these ideologies, explicitly in the cases of postmodernism and transgenderism, is the repudiation of reason itself and the reduction of human existence to power struggles between "us" and "them." The victims will be not only generations to come of men, therefore, but also society itself. That's because reason is a defining feature of human nature. No human society can endure for long by replacing it with prejudice, cynicism and revenge. The result of doing so will be not merely an inhumane society but something like a nonhuman one.
Sorry, I'd like to conclude on a more hopeful note, but I'm almost out of hope--at least for the foreseeable future. For now, I suggest that we bear witness to what's going on, at least in writing, and thus lay the foundation for a new renaissance after the current dark age.
Thank you for your excellent article. I am baffled and saddened that our leaders have turned their backs on white men. Particularly white male leaders. I can only assume they believe that their sons and grandsons will somehow be immune. We can create pro-male self improvement organizations like Promise Keepers that fill stadiums, but can't get men to boycott movies and commercials that make us look moronic. I am encouraged that women are starting to speak out against androgyny. Are their any Men's groups that are seriously fighting the injustices men face today?