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MEN ARE OPPRESSED - BY MEN
One of the most signifi cant aspects of the attempted
assassination of Trump seems to have been overlooked. The assassin
fi t the pattern of young white males attempting to deal with
powerlessness by asserting their power to kill. However, in previous
incidents there has been a pattern of young males who have been
severely bullied killing those who bullied them and their fellow
students or killing members of marginalized groups they could assert
power over by killing them. This young man actually directed his
assertion of misdirected power against the primary embodiment of
patriarchal oppression.
I do not believe that this was a conscious act of fi lial rebellion
against the Big Daddy. This young man was more likely expressing an
unformed attempt to strike out at whatever powerful fi gure was within
reach, in a non-political emulation of Lee Harvey Oswald (we know he
studied the assassination of Kennedy).
Most young men today seem to identify with and take on the
power of their oppressors, whether they are identifi ed with incels or
White Power groups at the extreme margins of society or they identify
with more mainstream patriarchal structures and their institutions. It
is almost an assumption from recent research that leaders of white
power groups were abused by their fathers. The primary patriarchal
abuser who was the target of this young man’s assassination attempt
was himself shamed and abused by his father, and dealt with this
abuse by becoming the one who would always be the abuser and be
in position to demand absolute obedience to his power as the price of
sharing in this power.
We see this collective pattern playing out as Trump exerts power
over others, demanding boot-licking loyalty to him and assenting to
his power to dominate. It is manifested in his choice of Vice President,
a man who grew up with an abusive and unpredictable father, who
was saved by the women in his life, and ultimately escaped the fate of
so many other males from his background with the help of
government programs. However, after initially appearing to
understand some of the realities of poverty and the dangers that
Trump posed, he identifi ed with and became the protege of a wealthy
mogul and identifi ed with the power of the patriarchal ruling class. He
became such a toady that he completely embodied the qualities
Trump required in a Vice Presidential candidate. He now is another in
the long line of men who have given up any personal power and
integrity to pledge absolute loyalty to Trump. However, they are all,
including Trump, serving the Patriarchal powers he and other
conservative, patriarchal institutions represent. Trump learned one
lesson from his fi rst term: he needs men around him who are
absolutely loyal to him and the naked, extreme patriarchy embodied
by fi gures such as Orban and Putin.
As a result of this male oppression, men in today’s world seem
to have a desperate need to deal with their real loss of power and
meaning by oppressing minorities and women, by controlling
women’s bodies in a misplaced attempt to regain a powerful role by
dominating and controlling others. The sad irony of all this is that they
never seem to notice the true source of their powerless and lack of
agency in today’s world.
Working class men have not lost jobs to women or blacks or
democrats or the educated class. They have lost jobs to rich
plutocrats who have had no hesitation in offshoring jobs to other
countries if it improved their bottom line. They (the working class)
have been systematically deprived of power by long-term strategies
to destroy unions. Modern corporations demand absolute loyalty of
the men and women who work for them. Those who are not on top of
the power pyramid become faceless automatons who learn not to
question or demand anything on pain of losing jobs and resultant
healthcare.
It is true today that young men are having a diffi cult time in our
contemporary world, but it is not the result of the increasing power of
women or black people or other minorities, but of a system in which
the only guiding principle has been accumulating power and wealth at
the expense of anyone or anything else. This is, as throughout our
recorded history, maintained by using the power of misdirection to get
men to deal with their frustration and powerlessness by blaming
anyone but the real oppressors. The subliminal message is: “by
allowing us to rob you of any sense of agency or personal power you
can share in the crumbs of our power”
I would like to invite all of my fellow males to end the real
oppression which they have suffered in our time to partner with the
many women and minorities in our time who will welcome shared
power in helping all of us to liberate ourselves from the oppressive
patriarchal structures which have oppressed the many at the expense
of the few. It is time we recognized our true oppressors and our true
allies in creating a new world of shared power, true democracy.
