Tuesday, October 16, 2018

MeToo - A Conversation and a Thought

Very clearly all men are uncomfortable with the #metoo outpourings. Most seem to feel that the women in question should not bring stuff from so long back out now. Some say, why didn't you take it up then. All sorts of stuff - but definitely got everyone thinking about sometime or the other when something inappropriate might have been done or said.

They Should Have Slapped Them Then
I had this conversation with my friend. He was clear that women keep cribbing about men but want equal rights etc. He feels they should shut up. They are doing it for publicity and perhaps some gain. They are shaming guys after all these years.
'So let them speak up,' I said. 'Listen to them. Why do you have a problem about them speaking?'
'Why should they?' he said. 'It's irritating.'
'If something happened to them and they want to talk about it let them,' I said. 'They are only sharing what they experienced. They are not asking for apologies or for action against these people. At least they have a right to express what they experienced.'
'No,' he said. 'They should shut up. If they wanted to do something about it, they should have done it then, not now.'
I asked him what his discomfort was. 'Why are you so uncomfortable in even listening to them. Let them feel better and get it off their chest.'
'They should have slapped them then,' he said.
'They wouldn't know what to do. Who to speak to. How to handle it until it was too late. It took them so long to pick up the courage to say it was wrong. Can you just listen at least now?'
No.

The 70 Years Misrule, Men Are Under Threat Narrative, 
In the same breath, my friend is also a big supporter of how the Congress misruled us for 70 years and how they should be taught a lesson. Or even Trump's 'men are under threat from women who make allegations,' narrative. To me, in both cases, people in power are cribbing about being the victims which is not done.

Now how can the same men who feel so victimised by the past regimes of over 70 years vintage say the women should have slapped the perpetrators. In that case you should have protested then when the governments were misruling and not now. Now there is no ground for complaining about some misrule that happened then right? But you want to be the victim there and you want to be the victim here. On the whole this is a story of men trying to be the bigger victims. And trying to be macho about it.

I found it difficult to identify that thread earlier but now I got it. All macho men who crib, are actually cribbers and victims.

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