Boys Are Stupid

Fussing about nothing, ...

Brother Harry,

While I support much of the men's movement and its aims, I don't think that making a fuss over silly cartoons like the 'Boys are Stupid' ones is helpful to the cause. They are just jokes. If we men cannot take jokes then we are the losers, and we surely have much more important things to worry and complain about. Maybe we should lighten up over such things.

Gus

Brother Gus

I have a question for you.

Would you be willing to display on YOUR website a series of cartoons which said that, "Blacks Are Stupid, Throw Rocks At Them" (or Jews etc)?

Would you be happy to visit this website if I displayed such material on it all over the place?

No. I don't think so.

But the interesting question for me is this.

Why would you, for example, not display Blacks Are Stupid cartoons on your website? Indeed, why would you not try to sell T-shirts bearing such images?

Well, I can think of a few reasons why you would not do such a thing.

1. You might not wish to offend black people.

2. You might fear the consequences. (Maybe you would be prosecuted, shunned, vilified - or even beaten up.)

3. You might not want to risk stirring up racial disharmony.

4. You might think that it is simply impolite to suggest that black people are stupid.

5. You might not find it very funny to suggest that black people are stupid.

6. You might not wish to trivialise violence against black people by suggesting that throwing rocks at them is funny.

But whatever it is that would stop YOU from putting up such cartoons about 'blacks', clearly does not apply to YOU when the target is 'boys'.

So, tell me Gus, what stops you from disseminating hither and thither various cartoons suggesting that, "Blacks are stupid" and that you should, therefore, throw rocks at them?

Well, whatever it is that does stop you from doing this, it is clearly the case that 'blacks' (Jews, women, gays etc) are protected in some way (psychologically, socially, legally - whatever) and that 'boys' are not.

And this, my dear Gus, is what infuriates so many men in the men's movement about these T-shirts. It is the fact that society - and, indeed, YOU  - for whatever reason - is unhappy about people poking this type of fun at just about any group of people unless this group happens to be 'men' or 'boys'.

Of course, if this particular type of humour was the only thing going on in the world that targeted adversely 'men' and 'boys', I doubt that anyone in the MM would be remotely concerned about it. But, as you know, the onslaught against men and boys is enormous and persistent, and you can find it almost everywhere - e.g. in the world of education, the law, the mainstream media, the health system etc etc. And these cartoons are actually endorsing and buttressing what is already out there.

No, they are not as cruel or as disgusting and demeaning as Bobbit Jokes, but they sit somewhere along that path.

And YOUR 'acceptance' of this kind of humour coupled with YOUR unwillingness to display similar cartoons about blacks etc says something about YOU.

It says that YOU are unwilling to poke fun at certain groups but that YOU are quite happy for people to poke the same kind of fun at 'boys'.

Your brain has been got at!

And whatever it is that causes YOU to feel this way is something that many MRAs are going to fight against - and should fight against.  

Why? - because, whatever it is that protects other groups from certain things - whatever these things might be - should also apply to 'boys'.

After all, why should 'boys' not be protected from things that other groups are protected from?

And if our society actually feels the need to protect various groups from such things, then why should 'boys' not also receive the same kind of protection from whatever it is that the other groups are being protected from?

Why are 'boys' considered to be so worthless in the scheme of things?

Why do people in our society abandon the 'boys' when it comes to such matters, whereas they would raise merry hell if other groups were being similarly targeted?

This is what angers many MRAs.

Finally, I can assure you that most children will be affected by cartoons that imply that boys are stupid and that throwing rocks at them is funny. I have no doubt about this at all. Each child might only be affected by a small amount, but there are millions of children, and so the effects - and their ramifications - will be significant.

As such, these cartoons represent yet another significant attack on the standing and worthiness of men and boys. And the further fact that they are not 'balanced' by similar cartoons aimed at 'girls' makes this attack much worse - particularly for the 'boys'.

Best wishes 

Harry

PS How would society and the media react if 'fashionable' and heavily-promoted T-shirts proclaimed that "Mothers are stupid. Don't listen to them". Or, "Women are ignorant. Ignore them." Or. "Girls are dim-witted. Kick them."

They would go bananas!

And the attitudes of children towards the above three female groups would certainly be affected if such T-shirts were being popularised.

Hello Harry,

Fantastic website. Refreshing. Intelligent. Thought-provoking. It churns my gray matter. One question. Are MRAs oversensitive (knifeblock? Boys are Stupid?) and are people like you making them 'sensitive'? Perhaps, purposely?

G

Hello G.

No, MRAs are not being over-sensitive. What is happening is that they are gradually being de-hypnotised and de-blinkered by people like me, and so they are more able to see the misandry that currently pervades the mental ether in the west.

And I really do mean 'pervades'!

It is everywhere! 

I do not think I can spend more than an *average* of 10 minutes in front of the TV, the radio or the newspaper without seeing or hearing something that 'reveals' or endorses misandry. I get annoyed when it is 'revealed' - because nobody else seems to notice it, or to care about it - and I get annoyed if it endorses it.

For example, within the past two hours or so, I have heard a male BBC presenter chuckle while informing us that a vet in China has had his arm bitten off by a crocodile, and later on I heard a woman 'academic' giggle when relating a story about some scientist (whose name I cannot remember) from a century past who lost all the papers that he wrote over 20 years of solid work when his ship sank - or something like that.

Why is that funny?

In other words, I am constantly seeing the really horrible tragedies that men sometimes experience being trivialised, and mocked. They would not dream of making light of a woman losing her arm, or of a woman from the past whose life's work was lost.

And also, at the moment, for example, the American radio presenter Don Imus has just been booted out of his job for calling a team of black women basketball players "nappy-headed hos" - and yet, apparently, he does this sort of thing all the time. He makes light-hearted derogatory remarks about all groups. He is an equal opportunity offender. 

And I bet that no-one would have batted an eyelid if he had made a Bobbit joke.

You cannot make jokes about black women's hair*, but you can make jokes about men having their penises cut off.

(*The word 'hos' is not particularly offensive, apparently.)

This must *surely* tell you something about how low and worthless are men considered to be, and about how high and lofty are black women in comparison. They are a zillion miles apart.

And, further, the sacking of this man not only demonstrates just how blind and/or uncaring people must be when it comes to the misandry that bathes the entire mental ether - e.g. even blatant misandry would go uncommented upon, let alone be the cause of a sacking - but the sacking is, in itself, an act of misandry! 

How come?

Well. Don Imus is a white heterosexual male. And they would not have likely sacked him if he had been from any other group.

In other words, he was not sacked simply for what he said. He was partly sacked because of what he is. He is a white, heterosexual man, and you can kick him as much as you like. 

And so when you think that many MRAs might be being too sensitive over any issue, my guess is that, in fact, you still remain blissfully unaware of much of the horrid misandry that surrounds you. It just escapes your notice. 

And, in my view, this partly explains why so many men - and, indeed, many MRAs - come across as irritatingly wimpish and pathetic in the eyes of others. It is not just that these men have been emasculated and cowed into relative silence by decades of psychological battery, but they have yet to see more clearly what is going on. And if they *did* see more clearly, they would be considerably more aggressive and, hence, more effective.

Harry