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Posted on 01/10/2003 11:21:38 AM PST by MikalM
Publication date: 01/09/2003 They are way too aggressive. My proof: 200 million people were murdered in the 20th century because of war and genocide. Since most decision-makers are men, and most soldiers are men, we need to reflect a little on this problem. I know, you want to yell out Indira Gandhi! Margaret Thatcher! Golda Meir! (Everyone gets so excited that they can name three women who fall into this war-mongering category. Can anyone name a fourth woman who belongs here?) If there is a global skirmish, men should learn to say "Let's talk," or "We're sorry," but no one ever says those things. They could also try saying "Let's compromise," but that doesn't happen, either. I feel bad for most men. Their communications skills are so low, they cannot seem to handle discussing things. Our system teaches males to be competitive and aggressive. Boys who don't like football are called sissies. Hierarchical qualities are instilled in all of us, but in men in particular. These feelings serve to keep us separate, rather than interconnected. Separateness fosters violence and brutality. Men in war report a kind of homo-erotic experience, a time men can bond with other men without looking like sissies. Some report that they get erections when killing. There seems to be a strong link between aggressiveness and sexuality that I don't pretend to understand. Perhaps war is exciting and dynamic. War is a global experience, an easy way to travel. It's exciting. And even if you lose and die, you are guaranteed an honorable death. There will be flags and medals for you. All of that pomp and circumstance is a way of feeling. It's just like football. It's something big and it's outside your family and, for many, the feeling for the unit is even more intense than for the family. I wish we could figure out how to stop men and countries and their aggressive tendencies. What can we do to help men? What can men do to help themselves? Men need to bring out their nurturing and compassionate sides, rather than their frightened side. After all, the purpose of life is to understand life and learn its glorious lessons. All life is precious. All opinions and ideas, precious. We need to understand our divine nature. We need to practice being less greedy. Americans have a demanding sense of consumerism; we're taught to step on, and now kill, the "little people." We've become masters at race wars; we're imbued with a fervor to kill people if they get in our way. Women give and give and give, and it's never enough. And men take and take and take, and it's never enough. We all need to help men move along. We need to create awareness, understanding and outlets for men. They need to develop more feelings for humanity. Men need to see themselves as humans. And women need to speak up. We need to stop propping up our men. Instead of saying "it's my turn to control the remote control," we put dinner on the table faster and try to explain away our husband's temper to our shaken children. If you have a penis, perhaps you should be required to take a course in aggression and compassion. And perhaps women need to take courses on co-dependence. We can bear our sadness by educating our public about hate and prejudice and we definitely should be analyzing the ways that we can help the world instead of destroying it. I am personally in a state of despair. I've been a political activist for 34 years, and it all seems to mean nothing these days. We have these nitwits in charge of our country and we are going off (again) to kill more people. We haven't learned anything. Comment: letters@examiner.com Lani Silver is a women's studies teacher and an oral historian.
Why do men like war so much?BY LANI SILVER
Special to The Examiner MEN SEEM TO BE out of control. They like war way too much.
Name three great female mathematicians. I'll give you one: Sophie Germain.
Name three great female scientists. I'll give you one: Marie Curie.
Name three great female composers. I'll give you one: Camille Chaminade.
Name three great female inventors.
Name three great female engineers.
Name three great female entrepreneurs.
Name three great female philosophers.
That old 'double-x-chromosome' hex seems to be still in effect.
--Boris
Madeleine ("What's the point of having a military if you don't use it?") Albright.
--Boris
You mean like:
Andrea Dworkin
Catharine McKinnon
Hillary Clinton
Janet Reno
et al?
Lani's current boyfriend/husband probably just shattered her dream world by verbally agreeing with a Conservative guest that the war with Iraq is justified, and he was watching FOX news, which she thought they had both agreed was NOT to ever appear on their television.
Since most decision-makers are men, ...... men should learn to say "Let's talk," or "We're sorry," but no one ever says those things. They could also try saying "Let's compromise," but that doesn't happen, either.
Maybe Lani's current significant other (except when playing the sensitive role to get Lani to give him what he wants) refuses to actually perform all those feminized male things that Lani thought he had agreed to do when they first met.
I feel bad for most men. Their communications skills are so low, they cannot seem to handle discussing things.
Perhaps Lani is going nuts because the trophy feminized-male she boasted about to all her friends now doesn't want to discuss his lack of interest in her "feelings", especially when he is watching a football game, or ogling the bodies of the females on the Victoria's Secret TV specials.
Women give and give and give, and it's never enough. And men take and take and take, and it's never enough. ..... Instead of saying "it's my turn to control the remote control," we put dinner on the table faster and try to explain away our husband's temper to our shaken children.
Lani's significant other may have taken to growling at her each time she tentatively reaches for the remote control.
I am personally in a state of despair. I've been a political activist for 34 years, and it all seems to mean nothing these days.
Lani may be at a a life point where she is thinking "I'm getting old, and I'm going to die. It's possible I may die alone, and all of my best attempts to feminize America, and more specifically my mate, have failed. He's resentful, snide, apolitical, and constantly checking out other women."
She can't blame herself for selecting him, she can't face the truth of the relationship or the fact that America doesn't care about "her feelings", and she can't stop death's arrival, so - - She just sat right down and wrote yet another dufus article aimed at her femi-nazi friends, and all is well in Lani's dream world (for a little bit longer at least).
I took the liberty of sending the editor of the Examiner the following e-mail:
"Dear Editor, Concerning Lani Silver's article entitled "Why Do Men Like War So Much?", I am wondering if Lani wrote anything similar when former Secretary of State Madeleine (sp?) Albright famously said, "What good is all this military stuff if we can't use it" during the lead-up to the Balkan War."
I will keep you posted if I actually get a response. HA!
BTW, as the "subject" for the e-mail, I entered "War & Penises".
George Orwell
For many, many thousands of years male society has tried to work out cultural patterns that would enable groups of men to work together, in situations and environments where lack of group solidarity would result in the deaths of many or all members of the group.
Feminists have decided that they have a better way, which MUST be implimented without regard to workability
After all, the world needs some aggressively compassionate penises...
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