It amplifies what's going to be the undoing of all this progress. There's a reason straight, liberal white men have no patience with all the campus activism, "Emma Sulkowicz’s Mattress Performance," and the general recasting of the straight white male as the default enemy of progress, happiness and general freedom of thought. At best, we're required to accept that we're the root problem of all the world's evils, if not by choice than by culture, by breeding, by genetics, by history and by circumstance. At worst, if we're not with you we're against you. "Who would turn Nazi?" Holy fuck. I was told, in 1994, that I could not participate in a rape awareness vigil because I was male. It was about me, you see. You can't have awareness about rape if you invite potential rapists to your vigil. That's how Buddy becomes Syndrome. Tell the Feminist Left that "at least I'm not Donald Trump" and they'll pillory you for false equivalency, whataboutism and nine million philosophical shorthands that you don't know because you're a cisgendered caveman. Tell the reactionary Right that "at least I'm not as bad as Donald Trump" and they'll buy you a beer. I don't give a fuck about college campuses anymore. Let them rot. I know that I'm hated simply for being straight, male and successful and it really doesn't matter what my politics are, I'm part of the problem. But I also know that they'll never solve the problem because everyone to the right of me? They have all the poker chips. And short of armed rebellion it's going to stay that way (and the guys to the right of me have all the guns, too - and the armed forces, and the police and most of the civil service down to the post office). So really. At least the entrenched power structure doesn't demand I feel guilty for crimes I have yet to commit... and while I don't agree with their politics, they're a lot more fucking accepting of my existence. Is that going to lead to a rebirth of the Republican Party? Has it already? Dunno. But Lindy West bugs me and I guarantee that if I posted that on Facebook someone would assault me as a goose-stepping storm trooper of the patriarchy. If the shoe fits.None of the men I had in mind were Nazis. None resembled the men who’d marched through Charlottesville with tiki torches shouting, “You will not replace us!” But there was another spin on the game, and this was the one that worried me: Who in a showdown would accept the subjugation of women as a necessary political concession? Who would make peace with patriarchy if it meant a nominal win, or defend the accused for the sake of stability? The answer was more men than I’d been prepared to believe. I’d have to work harder not to alienate them, if only to make it harder for them to sell me out.
But repudiations of the old ways were also turning up in outlets that mattered to them: in reviews, on teaching evaluations, on hiring committees. Authors and artists whose work was celebrated as “thoughtful” or “political” not eight years ago were now being singled out as chauvinists and bigots. One might expect this in old age, but to be cast out as a political dinosaur by 52, by 40, by 36? They hadn’t even peaked! And with the political right — the actual right — getting away with murder, theft, and exploitation worldwide . . . ? That, at least, was how I gathered they felt. Sometimes I thought they were right. Sometimes I thought they needed to grow up.
This is one thing that's been on my mind a lot. I actually wonder if this is one of the key ingredients that has aided the uprising of the alt-right and the popular resurgence of nationalism. The article does a great job at typecasting the white straight male specimen and probing the inner workings of his psyche. It's hard to not read that have your eyes roll. It's also hard to understand how this could be not-obvious to someone who's typing it out. It's profiling and it breeds resentment. Then, potentially, resentment breeds bigotry. When I was in undergrad there was a big, controversial, racially-charged event on campus. I had some white left-leaning friends that quickly learned that you can't attempt an intellectual line of discussion that deviates from the campus-progressive view without getting absolutely shit on. If you're already liberal it's a confusing and alienating experience. If you're not then it affirms and hardens any sort or rejection of progressiveness you may hold. Right now I frequently listen to college radio that regularly has social progress PSAs and one of the implicit messages is that white straight male voices aren't important.There's a reason straight, liberal white men have no patience with all the campus activism, "Emma Sulkowicz’s Mattress Performance," and the general recasting of the straight white male as the default enemy of progress, happiness and general freedom of thought. At best, we're required to accept that we're the root problem of all the world's evils, if not by choice than by culture, by breeding, by genetics, by history and by circumstance. At worst, if we're not with you we're against you.