Puritanism’s Shameful Secret

The Honey Badgers had an interesting stream with YouTuber TL;DR about the “puritanism” of the current progressive and feminist movements. The Badgers and TL;DR break down some of the reasons why so many modern leftists fall into the a cycle of smug arrogance. As TL;DR notes in the stream, everyone has this capacity and everyone does it from time to time.

Alison mentions this as well. She notes that she and Karen Straughan went through a series of videos and noticed the smug looks on many feminists’ faces in the videos. This is something I have noticed as well in my dealings with feminists, both offline and online. The contempt for those who disagree with feminists or feminism is often palpable, as is the arrogance when feminists know they are in a protected space.

One can see this in spaces in which the opposition is heavily moderated or banned. The feminists in those spaces behave with a kind of self-righteous indignation based solely on their assumed superiority over whomever represents the opposition. Yet this attitude quickly shifts when they enter uncontrolled spaces. Feminists then become defensive to a comical extent, reflexively accusing anyone and everyone of hating feminists, women, and social justice.

A Lesson About the Cult Mentality

Sargon of Akkad continued his series of videos about Dr. Arthur Deikman’s book The Wrong Way Home. In a recent video, Sargon goes through a series of case studies featured in the book.

Listening to those examples immediately brought to mind the current situation within the progressive movement. This is partly due to the similarity of their shaming and excommunication processes. Yet it is also because the case studies are essentially about liberal movements.

It worth noting that many of the people in these movements start out with good intentions. Many of them genuinely want to help other people. Yet as they become further entrenched in the ideology of the movement, the movement itself and the ideas that govern it grow in importance. It does not take long for the ideas to trump the people. Protecting the group becomes more important than helping or respecting others. This applies to every member of the group. Anyone can be chastised or kicked out, including the group’s founder.

Cult Behaviour: An Analysis

I hate to post another video, however, the subject is one I have meant to write about for some time. Several years ago I read the book The True Believer by Eric Hoffer. The book breaks down the myriad of ways in which mass movements prey on people and result in the “true believer”, a type of person who will defend the movement not because they believe in it but because it is necessary for their own sense of self.

The book is not about a specific group, although it frequently mentions Communists, fascists, and the religious. As I read the book I thought of the far left and feminists. Yet the notions could easily apply to groups like the Tea Party or Black Lives Matter.

The video, another one by Sargon of Akkad, analyzes another book that covers the same material from a different angle. Sargon gives an overview of Dr. Arthur Deikman’s book The Wrong Way Home, which focuses on cult behavior. Sargon mentioned in other videos that he was somewhat hesitant to post the video out of concern that his viewers might simply use it to label other people “cultists”.

The Art of Male Bonding

The Honey Badgers recently chatted with former professor Allen Frantzen about male bonding and male love. Frantzen studied medieval history, primarily English history. He wrote several about male bonds during that period of time, particularly how men expressed their mutual love one another. This love was not sexual, but was still intimate.

It is something that we have lost today. Outside of a handful of situations, men and boys are discouraged from creating those kinds of intense bonds via accusations of misogyny and homosexuality. The situations where those bonds do occur are usually situations in which males can only depend on other males for support, such during war or in sports. The intensity and longevity of those bonds may be part of the reason why so many boys and men gravitate towards male-only spaces. It seems to be part of the male experience to want such bonds.

Frantzen explains part of why that happens, and the Badgers offer some interesting insights:

Men’s Mental Health

The Honey Badgers hosted a podcast discussion about men’s health several days ago. The show stemmed from an email the Badgers received from a man who feels disconnected because he has trouble making friends. He is a “straight-acting” gay man, and found that other gay men want little to do with him because he doesn’t share their interests and straight men want little to do with him once they find out he is gay.

Allison asked the listeners if any would be interested in supporting him. The outpouring was high, and the Men’s Mental Health show features some of those emails as well as other men sharing their stories of isolation.

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In His Own Words: Victimized by victim support advocates — It’s day 24 of Domestic Violence Awareness Month for Men and Boys, the invisible victims of domestic violence. Today’s In His Own Words is an example of the systemic abuse to which men and boys are frequently subjected. It is an egregious example of sexism and misandry. It is also an example of how many women use victimhood (real or imagined) as a form of “street cred” and/or social status.

‘Man up’ to being a victim — The push to empower women could be prompting violence against men. “You have women who have found their voice and were encouraged to do so, which is a good thing. But are the women in the next generation taking it too far?” questioned Charlane Cluett, Muskoka Parry Sound Community Mental Health Service operations manager. “Although women still tend to be the most likely victims, we may be seeing a shift in females acting out more.”

The Rape ‘Epidemic’ Doesn’t Actually Exist — A group of 100 protesters – including many topless women – recently marched the streets of Athens, Ohio chanting, “Blame the system, not the victim” and “Two, four, six, eight, stop the violence, stop the rape.” Organized by an Ohio University student organization called “f*ckrapeculture,” the protest was designed to bring attention to what the founders believe is a toxic culture of sexism and sexual violence infecting their campus.

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Advocacy group backs order to send girls back to Italy — On Monday the Family Court dismissed the mother’s last ditch attempt to keep her four daughters in Australia after she brought them here two years ago from Italy, ostensibly for a short holiday. The Brisbane court ruled the children, aged between nine and 15, be returned to their father in Italy and they were immediately taken into the custody of the Queensland Department of Communities.

Boy Scouts admit response to sex abuse was ‘insufficient’ — As the Boy Scouts of America prepares for the court-ordered release of records detailing accusations of sex abuse by members and leaders, the organization acknowledged in an open letter this week that its response in some of the cases had been “plainly insufficient, inappropriate, or wrong.” The letter comes after the Oregon Supreme Court ordered the Boy Scouts to release “ineligible volunteer” files from 1965 to 1985 that chronicle suspected or confirmed instances of child sex abuse.

Boy Scouts kept files on gay men alongside paedophiles — It has been revealed that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) kept tabs on members they suspected of being gay alongside records of scoutmasters and other volunteers who were suspected of being child molesters. The Boy Scouts says the files, known collectively as ‘perversion files’ were compiled to make sure pedophiles were kicked out and stayed out of Scouting. However an analysis of the files by Seattle’s KING 5 television channel shows top officials in the youth organization were keeping files on suspected gay Scouting volunteers as well.

Boy Scouts to review all allegations of sexual abuse — The Boy Scouts of America announced Tuesday that it would conduct a comprehensive review of files on suspected sexual predators to ensure that all allegations of abuse in the last 47 years have been reported to law enforcement. The move would mark the first time in the organization’s century-long history that it thoroughly studied its own confidential files, a blacklist meant to keep predators out of Scouting.

Children most often killed by mothers — New Zealand mothers kill more children than any other group in society and men are victims of domestic violence as often as women, a police investigation has found. The Family Violence Death Review, released today by police, found mothers were responsible for 45 per cent of children killed by domestic violence. The review of 95 family violence deaths involving 101 victims between 2004 and 2011 revealed some “inconvenient truths”, Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said.