I think I understand why

 

When far right racist misogynist movements seem to be gaining power, I wonder what the cause is. Hegemony, capitalism, patriarchy, and all things that spout the same myth. Some are superior to others. But the greatest supporter of nihilist anti-democratic warmongering is the willingness of innocent people to withdraw in fear of expressing their own values.

We join groups that echo our own beliefs or blind spots. We know that greed and fear rule the world. We might easily fall into silence and disengage. The world is ruled by evil. Children who were abused who were alienated from loving adults will rebel against community and shared responsibility.

When all arguments have been spent there is little to be hopeful for.

Its so easy to be emotionally discouraged and believe that humans are evil. There is a mound of history revealing the evil of men who seek to rule the world and the violence they are willing to do for the sake of "glory" which is not glorious at all. But which creates cruel societies. Good, sensitive people have been traumatized by bullying egos creating empires of dysfunction. Groups formed with the best intentions become corrupted by one or two who lack integrity for the sake of gaining power. 

Really evil movements corrupt innocent minds and vulnerable people are bullied, taught they must get tough if they want to survive.

But for those who suffer we have the power to reveal the healing of support. Everyone suffers or has suffered. Its a universal experience. Most of us have experienced some love even if its brief. Those who are well and healthy can identify with or feel empathy for the sad, the lonely, the hungry and the abused.

I remember the first time someone made me feel worthy and lovable. It was like a drug, like I had been rescued. It was like living in a different world. Then I rejected that feeling and was sent straight back to the world of contempt.

It's taken me to my sixties to realize there are two worlds. The manufactured world and the natural world. Both of these have their dangers but now I see I have to be involved. I am not separate from the habits and struggles I endure. I am not "other". I am part of the whole who can suffer or give something of worth.

How many centuries has it taken to educate, to learn language and the power of words. How many mothers have exhausted themselves taking care of those they have given birth to or cared for? How many fathers have endured jobs that demean their worth to feed their families? Caregivers, nurturers, teachers, scientists, artists, builders are all involved, all contributors.

The truth is banal yet banality that keeps power in the hands of a few, ultimately destroys all. Capitalism, hierarchy, politics, has a duty to preserve and care for life. What we are witnessing now is the end of an empire and the next one must include the whole planet and everyone on it.

Eight Genders In The Talmud

 https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/?utm_source=mjl_maropost&utm_campaign=MJL&utm_medium=email

In case anyone thinks that genders were always one of two throughout the age of human development, its good to discover The Talmud, an authoritative compendium of Jewish legal traditions, contains in fact no less than eight gender designations including: 

1. Zachar, male.
2. Nekevah, female.
3. Androgynos, having both male and female characteristics.
4. Tumtum, lacking sexual characteristics.
5. Aylonit hamah, identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics.
6. Aylonit adam, identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention.
7. Saris hamah, identified male at birth but later naturally developing female characteristics.
8. Saris adam, identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention.

Women Save The World!

Listening to the CBC Broadcast about the rise in misogyny I am stirred to state some of the obvious factors of our world.

Women do the labour of caring for the life that needs support - health, education, cleaning, laundry. But does it matter today? Most of our resources go to bank accounts. They pay for weapons or mass destruction. They create entertainments that indicate popularity.

Right now we are hearing about lack of emergency health care and 'the news' is concerned about the kind of help we should give to Ukraine. Most of the help given to nations is about saving lives yet most of the money goes to winning the war with weapons. As humans attempt to escape violence there is the help given by people who are exploiting the refugees, demanding thousands of dollars then leaving the vulnerable in a dinghy to cross oceans.

Most of the wealth is made by men - as most of the suffering is felt by women, children and old men.

We are at risk of falling into the ideas of fascist regimes and hate groups. Stalin, Hitler, Trump have inflamed the hearts of people who have been publicly shamed for falling into that vast camp of 'losers' in the game of life.  Power is the game of winning no matter what or who is harmed. We are wowed by the lack of compassion of great warriors who destroy societies.

At a closer look we would see what is destroyed is civil societies while exalting the power of men who have created under the banner of power - disruption, violence, racism, sexism, extreme poverty, cruelty, and fear.

Fear is the main product in fascist societies because the only thing promoted is power. The power to kill millions of people, the power to display terrible tortures in public spaces.  See I am so powerful I can do whatever I want and no matter how much it harms, sickens and offends - there's nothing you can do about it, and furthermore we will create entertainments to help you feel okay about brutality.

The centuries long tradition of machismo displayed in war and the circus tells us there is nothing we can do. Even acknowledgement that our world is no more advanced than the Roman gladiators of three thousand years ago.  This is the age of great bullies.

Should women give up their role as helpmate, mother and wife? Should everyone focus on getting rich and bullying those who have less?

No. The title of this post is erroneous. The world is saved by men and women who love, care and fight against injustice. Men and women who know better than to be active pessimists. Our world is saved by the tears and heartaches of humans who have not swallowed the business model of disinterest. Those unimpressed with power for powers sake.

How We Got Here?

 

I don't know how we got from worshipping the goddess to the level of misogyny in media today. Or systems of hate and violence towards women in Afghanistan where rulers force the population to live under extreme suffering by threat of death.

There has been too much violence done to the people of that nation by invasions from US, UK, Russia and Europe.

Throughout the centuries children have been trained to hate and fear others and prove their allegiance to their "mother" country or "fatherland". 

Well, so what you might be asking?

The emphasis of our worth has been the position we are given in society. Right or wrong we are products of this as well as our own appetites and limitations, haunted by truth and imprisoned by lies. Terrible pain and torture has been inflicted on the innocent, for what? To keep us afraid and addicted to the trinkets meted out by our status.

How many centuries have boys been trained to be soldiers willing to die for the preservation of the hierarchical laws and status of the ruling classes? How public punishment has kept us in line. Public hanging, whipping, burning and killing showcasing what will happen to you if you step out of line. Although we don't see this much in "democratic" societies, imprisonment means the torture and cruelty is not on display, but mass entertainment is filled with violence, murder and cruelty.

Boys are taught to hide their feelings, to dissociate with compassion as if denial makes us strong.  Even when we think we are not at war, we must strive to keep up appearances to have value in our society.

That value has changed over the centuries. Farmer, husband, father, worker... all required a great deal of influencing the emotions of boys and girls trained to be what they have been told they are. 

It has come down to popularity today. Social media designed to elevate class bullying to public exhibition. Approval must come from some authority wherever it is broadcast. 

When a society rules over the uterus and neglects the life that comes from it, this says man has made himself god for his own sake not for the sake of Life! 

Plato, Stanford University, Human Nature and Generalizations

 Some think that human nature excludes the possibility of certain forms of social organisation—for example, that it excludes any broadly egalitarian society. Others make the stronger claim that a true normative ethical theory has to be built on prior knowledge of human nature. Still others believe that there are specific moral prohibitions concerning the alteration of, or interference in, the set of properties that make up human nature. Finally, there are those who argue that the normative significance derives from the fact that merely deploying the concept is typically, or even necessarily, pernicious. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/human-nature/