An article by David French on Trump serves multiple purposes. First it repeats the right-wing theme that Trump is a reaction against the evil of the left: men are frustrated because feminists are so mean to Real Men and seek to destroy them, therefore, they see Trump as their champion (much as he’s supposedly a champion against “political correctness”). And second, it allows him to dump on the evil feminists and their evil agenda: “Masculinity, to the extent that it exists, is toxic and must be suppressed. Classically male virtues such as bravery, strength, loyalty, and an intellectual and physical sense of adventure must be de-gendered (after all, who’s to say that any given woman can’t share those traits?), while traditional male vices, including tendencies toward unjustified violence and superficial, obsessive sexuality, are to be regarded as essentially masculine.” And that this somehow drives them to be sexists and womanizers, so it’s all feminist’s fault men prey on women.
Suffice to say, no it isn’t (and I notice French doesn’t consider the way many men treat women as a justification for feminism). And French sounds like he doesn’t really think women can share in the cool traits such as bravery and loyalty—is he one of those conservatives who think heroism belongs to men alone?
•Astonishingly David French makes more sense than an article claiming that God is already striking down Trump’s enemies.
•Donald Trump thinks North Carolina’s HB2 law on which bathrooms transsexuals have to use is a step too far. Trump is, however, opposed to replacing Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20.
•Once again, conservatives argue that criticizing the rich is like racial prejudice.
•A more interesting take on feminism is this writer’s experiences going from men’s rights activist to feminist.
•Consumerist speculates that as pot becomes legal and tobacco use continues dwindling, cigarette companies will move into pot sales.
•How to reduce IRS vulnerability to scammers and identity thieves.
•The Catholic Church is pushing Poland’s strict abortion laws to be even stricter (five years prison time for doctors, unless the fetus’s death was “unintentional.”). At the link, Echidne points out the Washington Post’s article assumes the Church pushing this policy isn’t an issue, just that it’s pushing the policy so publicly, rather than working behind the scenes.
•How the University of Maryland wound up claiming that chocolate milk is good for concussion.
•Samantha Field responds to that women-are-weak article I discussed this week by pointing out that the Bible (which the author cited as evidence) includes many kick-ass women.
•Uber reaches a settlement over whether drivers are independent contractors: they are, but Uber’s paying them $100 million anyway.
•In some cities, same-day Amazon delivery is available in more white zip codes than black ones. The article makes clear this is more a side effect of the way Amazon maps out its service areas, but that’s still no excuse.
•Travel agents accuse United, Delta and American Airlines of conspiring to keep fairs high.
•A group of snowboarders have claimed that being denied use of the ski slopes in U.S. Forest Service land is a violation of their rights. They lost the case.
•The Southern Baptist Convention has proposed a resolution on dealing with sexual predators in the church. At the link, a blogger argues it’s nowhere near adequate to fix the problem.
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