I just had one of the more interesting conversations I have had in my long 'career' as a Mens Activist. I don't think I am stepping on toes revealing his identity as James Huff, who has sent me a document that I think will prove to be a catalyst for major social change worldwide, beginning with the Manosphere, and propogating outward.
But more on that later...
One of the topics that came up was the whole Tempest in a Teapot over the M(H)RM thing. I personally thought of it as a 'Department of Redundancy Department' sort of move, but if someone wanted to add a letter to an essentially meaningless acronym, who was I to object?
As it turns out, that isn't the only viewpoint on the matter.
It did occur to me that by adopting this additional letter, it would dilute the focus on men and boys, specifically, but my belief was essentially that the issues and articles define the direction, not the label.
What I did not count on, or anticipate in any way, is how this simple 'inclusive' wording change would spur all manner of claims and counter claims as to the legitimacy of views. Suddenly the MRM was a segment on a spectrum of a much larger 'social movement' known as Human Rights...a world in which men were the antagonist, not the sympathetic creature. To my astonishment, the warnings of Thought Policing and Identity Politics dominating the MRM as a result became manifest in the strangest of places. I do not know where this schism came from, or if it will pass into the fog of memory without much ado.
What I can say is that it has exposed a need. A need for guiding principles, a method of understanding. A critical base, from which logical structures can be formed. I understand that part of the reason behind the inclusion of the 'H' is to communicate that the issues facing men, are issues crippling society, and therefore harming women.
And this is laudable. But in my view completely outside the scope of the MRM in terms of actual mission. It's great that this understanding of life as a non-feminist female is forming into a viable alternative for women to adopt, but the real problem is that we have focussed on that so much, we have failed (once again) to put men 'first' enough to do the same for them.
We don't provide a plan. We don't provide a means to learn, other than throwing people head first into the fray.
We utterly fail at the most basic of missions an 'activist' can have...the effective education of Joe Sixpack. And while I assume the 'H' in MRM thing was an attempt to address this shortcoming, I believe the attempt backfired. I will leave my guesses as to why that is unsaid.
Going forward, we need to get better. Because, as my conversation with James made clear to me, this is not just about Mens Rights anymore. This is a new social awakening, a template we are creating for the world to consider.
That's 7 Billion potential 'customers' for our ideas. Ideas that are beginning to take hold in the public consciousness, no matter what our detractors say. This means we have a lot more responsibility to face up to than this movement has thus far been willing to admit. Myself included.
Now, I'm going to get to work reading this Magnum Opus that James sent. Give the idea some thought, and we'll talk later.
*UPDATE*
Having read the document James sent me in full, I can tell you right now that this is not only a Game changer, it is what the Mens Movement NEEDS to do. It is what I would call 'the way forward'. There will be more forthcoming but for now I will simply say, if this works, we will become orders of magnitude more effective, overnight.
Colour me excited.
But more on that later...
One of the topics that came up was the whole Tempest in a Teapot over the M(H)RM thing. I personally thought of it as a 'Department of Redundancy Department' sort of move, but if someone wanted to add a letter to an essentially meaningless acronym, who was I to object?
As it turns out, that isn't the only viewpoint on the matter.
It did occur to me that by adopting this additional letter, it would dilute the focus on men and boys, specifically, but my belief was essentially that the issues and articles define the direction, not the label.
What I did not count on, or anticipate in any way, is how this simple 'inclusive' wording change would spur all manner of claims and counter claims as to the legitimacy of views. Suddenly the MRM was a segment on a spectrum of a much larger 'social movement' known as Human Rights...a world in which men were the antagonist, not the sympathetic creature. To my astonishment, the warnings of Thought Policing and Identity Politics dominating the MRM as a result became manifest in the strangest of places. I do not know where this schism came from, or if it will pass into the fog of memory without much ado.
What I can say is that it has exposed a need. A need for guiding principles, a method of understanding. A critical base, from which logical structures can be formed. I understand that part of the reason behind the inclusion of the 'H' is to communicate that the issues facing men, are issues crippling society, and therefore harming women.
And this is laudable. But in my view completely outside the scope of the MRM in terms of actual mission. It's great that this understanding of life as a non-feminist female is forming into a viable alternative for women to adopt, but the real problem is that we have focussed on that so much, we have failed (once again) to put men 'first' enough to do the same for them.
We don't provide a plan. We don't provide a means to learn, other than throwing people head first into the fray.
We utterly fail at the most basic of missions an 'activist' can have...the effective education of Joe Sixpack. And while I assume the 'H' in MRM thing was an attempt to address this shortcoming, I believe the attempt backfired. I will leave my guesses as to why that is unsaid.
Going forward, we need to get better. Because, as my conversation with James made clear to me, this is not just about Mens Rights anymore. This is a new social awakening, a template we are creating for the world to consider.
That's 7 Billion potential 'customers' for our ideas. Ideas that are beginning to take hold in the public consciousness, no matter what our detractors say. This means we have a lot more responsibility to face up to than this movement has thus far been willing to admit. Myself included.
Now, I'm going to get to work reading this Magnum Opus that James sent. Give the idea some thought, and we'll talk later.
*UPDATE*
Having read the document James sent me in full, I can tell you right now that this is not only a Game changer, it is what the Mens Movement NEEDS to do. It is what I would call 'the way forward'. There will be more forthcoming but for now I will simply say, if this works, we will become orders of magnitude more effective, overnight.
Colour me excited.
And now it is no longer James Huff's idea....but yours as well. Therein lies the key to first principles.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Factory. Not for your kind attributions, but for you.