Be a man

I read this and found myself cheering in concord and sending it to a couple people I know. I'm a little less sanguine about it after having read some criticisms of it. But it's interesting the different reactions I got.

In one camp are the sad men. They agree with the thesis of the essay. They feel like the system that now exists is structured in a way to be highly disadvantageous for all parties. They assume they have value that is not being allowed to transact. Or that the system distorts their value into something negative. They wish the world was better and can construct (in their minds) a way our world could be better.

In another camp are the angry feminists. I'm playing to a stereotype and am fully aware of it. The angry feminists rage against the sad men. It's harder for me to understand why. Potentially they view the sad men as reactionaries who want to return to a limited (for women) world. They see an anti-progressive agenda there. I think they are underestimating the role the sad men's feelings play in these ideas. The sad men are isolated and feel like 'others' in the culture. This is where the criticism of the rift (woman/'female person') comes from.

So, I'm a bit more sympathetic to the sad men here. I just wish the world were much less fucked up and we could all be happy and together.