Tag: politics

  • Handling Change

    Recent thoughts: On Pressure and Change in Contemporary Societies

    It has been about a couple weeks since I last typed out my thoughts for the internet to consume. Summer final exams and finding a summer job took a pretty large toll on me. As is habit, my mind tends to find itself in the darkest potential corners meandering on the void of despair. Out of those trials and tribulations arises the necessity for change, the personal analysis, philosophy, and understanding of human aspiration comes full fold.

    There is a popular saying in the self-care sphere of influence that states “fundamental human change, and reflection can only occur under real pressure.” This phenonema is needless to say an aspect of our fundamental reality, that we can all observe as a part of daily experience.

    The scale of pressure, and desire to change can mount from personal struggles to societal phenomena of core socioeconomic factors. To give examples, the people you know (perhaps yourself) who are in a constant struggle to end smoking due to the fact the pressure on the faculties of the mind have not yet reached that breaking point, an eery similarity can simultaneously be applied to our political sphere where conditions often worsen, and worsen till it reaches an extreme breaking point where a mass movement is mobilized. It is often wondered how it is we need to reach such “extremes” to fundamentally do something to improve our lives for the better.

    When in the presence of other human beings, I often find myself in a sense of awe of the needless pain they push themselves through. It is a case of truly following mass suicide by repeating the actions of other people.

    Human tradition is specifically marked by human beings who are in a state of refusal to adapt to the newer and superior methods of cultural, and social development. These people will consume poison into their blood, and work hard for no return all for the purpose of woefully refusing to embrace the contemporary means of their time.

    Our time is one in which “traditional values” are in direct conflict with the ambition to eradicate fossil fuels, increase bodily autonomy, and increase socioeconomic freedoms of our species. Conservative minded individuals fear change irrationally due to the fact that with developed habit, that one lived their life by it is difficult to let it go.

    Humans by their very nature are plagued by jealousy, by growing up in the 1970s-1980s America, where abortions were frowned upon, the nuclear family was the dominant social functon, and there was still an enigma to the potentiality of interracial relationships, there exists a natural fear to knowing your generation was denied certain liberties.

    It is common for older women who were socially plugged into the roles of housewives to see their daughters doing the things they were denied or unconscious of during their childhoods, and adulthood. They become envious of their daughters, and seek an unconscious form of retribution. Jealousy is very tough weapon.

    The family in the 21st century, is correctly being expanded in form and definition to illustrate more than the mere existence of the nuclear family as a consequence of the industrial revolution.

    The human species is painfully slow at overcoming its downfalls, and is often the cause of its own problems. Man’s arrogance, lust, and desire for “sameness” are the causes for the human species ever ending spiraling controversies.

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  • Toxic Masculinity and Meiji Restoration

    Elementary Thoughts on Toxic Masculinity:

    Introduction: The Brute Boy and Submissive Girl on Adhering to Gender “Norms”

    Today I wanted to document recent accumulations I have made in learning the cultural social relations between man and woman. Recently I have been reading Iris Chang’s “Rape of Nanking” and something sticks out to me, are the gender roles of Japanese culture and how men at a young age are put through a dehumanization process to be prepared for militarization and war. At the same time I have come into contact with information regarding the 4B Movement in South Korea which has been gaining traction since 2019.

    To quote Iris Chang “his teacher slammed his knuckles against the boy’s head and yelled, “why are you crying about one lousy frog? When you grow up you will have to kill one hundred, two hundred chinks!” (Chang, 1997 p. 30)

    I am someone who fell in love with China, and lots of East Asian culture, and think lots of sociopolitical contributions have been invaluable that have come from the region, but in being intellectually honest, I must call out the worst aspects, which one being most clear and blunt is the ruthless misogyny and patriarchal structures that dominate the region. Korea and Japan have declining birthrates, and this is in many ways is correlated to the social structures regarding the family and marriage that are in place.

    I am far from an expert on the topics of toxic masculinity, gender and the family but I want to run a small analysis on the topic using America as the case study. It is not Japan but will nevertheless provide the framework for future analysis if we wish to delve further as we rightfully should, this subject is important.

    America as a case study: To what extent does misogyny and patriarchal systems plague American society?

    It would not be right to criticize East Asian family structures without speaking about the American way of life. It has been nearly a decade since Me Too and have we witnessed feminist resurgence? It is both a yes and no. Roe V. Wade was overturned and as a consequence the evangelical christian right-wing have had to succumb to a ruthless decline in public popularity. At the same time the traditional bourgeoisie feminism that has been prevalent in America since the 1970s has been facing sufficient problems in retaining its public image. Does anyone ever claim that Nancy Pelosi or Kamala Harris is their favorite role model?

    The feminist institutions that lay as the foundation for America’s public persona have been put under lots of tension as the far-right has gained mometum in the past decade and very well might put the nail in the coffin sometime this decade. The question therefore becomes who are these far-right figureheads and what are their political ambitions that makeup “toxic masculinity”?

    Conservative news outlets such as The Daily Wire, PragerU and Fox News claim that there is a “war against men” and that young boys are being “feminized.” They refer to the fact that they are being shamed for their masculinity. What do they mean by masculinity and what is the femininity they are shaming? PragerU shows in their videos boys playing with tanks and other military equipment as well as being physically hostile with other boys.

    I do not want it to come off as if I am attempting to straw man the conservative news media arguments, it is a fact that they want do believe men being physically brute is a positive. They are very hawkish and support militarization as a matter of fact. They believe a distinctive “feminimity” and “masculinity” in which people are born into specific roles and must adhere to these roles.

    Does toxic masculinity truly beneift men?

    I will continue this discussion in another post later, but I will end off by saying, toxic masculinity in its very nature is destructive to men and women both and there has been lots of research and studies done to prove this. This is not merely limited to the LGBTQ community or some abstract groups. When we use Nanking and military systems as an example we see men when dehumanized and put into this rigid disciplined regiments lose their humanity, commit suicide in higher rates and lose those elements that make them human.

    The nuclear family was flawed in the fact it forced couples together who were not meant together and brought on marriage at a young age. The family structure did work for the time it was designed and did bring stability but as residents of the 21st century, time requires us to advance and change. Questioning systems of marriage, gender roles and identities is necessary in granting individuals freedom and the ability to be mobile.

    The conservatives and bourgeoisie feminists love to preach “freedom” but when push comes to shove they are never there to defend their abstract ideals. It is therefore impetus that we continue to push this dialogue and be clear in what the problems are.