RoR: Forum

I wrote, "I think there is a conspiracy on TV to demasculinize the American male."

In relation to this, which I said half-jokingly, I came across a disturbing passage when reading THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITINGS 2004 (edited by Stephen Pinker.)
In an essay titled "THE BATTLE FOR YOUR BRAIN (originally printed in REASON) bioethicist Francis Fukayama is quoted as saying

"There is a disconcerting symmetry between Prozac and Ritalin...The former is prescribed heavily for depressed women lacking in self-esteem; it gives them more the alpha-male feeling that comes with high serotonin levels. Ritalin, on the other hand, is prescribed largely for young boys who do not want to sit still in class because nature never designed them to behave that way.Together, the two sexes are gently nudged toward that androgynous median personality, self satisfied and socially compliant, that is the current politically correct outcome in American society."

Besides the clash of "self satisfaction" with social compliance, that's a scary proposition. Szasz made me aware of medicine as social control, but I never imagined this dimension. Add that to the horror files...

Post 121

Friday, April 8, 2005 - 4:21am

This article came up as random. I read it with a sense of "what the hell is going on?" All this fuss happened before I started posting on SOLO in earnest. Frankly I had been wondering about Orion, like where was he?

One of my first initial sporadic posts was to a particularly informative article on Islam that Orion had written. I was once married to an Arabian-Brazilian woman, so I have had intimate contact with that culture. But I had never come across any explanation of Islam that was so short, clear and to the point before. I became very attracted to SOLO through the high level of that particularly article.

Then I started going through the posts on the thread with increasing horror. He was really advocating genocide? What was wrong? Then his own posts appeared. All that mud slinging! Insulting Hong of all things! Sneering at Barbara! Sassing and mouthing off at everyone else! He obviously had some serious issues with transsexualism that glared out from between the lines at me.

Where did the Orion I so admired go? I went to his profile page and saw that his articles were all deleted. Wow! So I had to throw in the towel. This is the first time on SOLO that my consideration for one of the authors has dropped so drastically.

I am very saddened by all this. Orion seems to have had a major meltdown. I can only imagine why. I really hope that it is an actual psychological problem that came up and eventually can be corrected. I would love to see that wonderful mind of his return to good health.

Linz, once again, shows that he has a big heart under all the bluster. He allowed Orion extra time to snap out of it. I applaud that heartily. He did not dismiss all the good once things started spinning out of control. Most people will dismiss 99 good things outright because of one bad thing. Linz doesn't do that.

(I don't know if I can ever forgive those cracks about Six Feet Under though. I watched that show on cable from Brazil. I like Six Feet Under.)

But what a bummer. What a real bummer. Shit anyway. I guess that is what I am trying to say...

Michael

PS - Anybody know what became of him?

(Edited by Michael Stuart Kelly on 4/08, 4:23am)

Post 122

Friday, April 8, 2005 - 4:37am

Hmmmmmmm - reminds me of a bumper sticker from the first Gulf War - 'bomb bagdad - send them all back to allah'.......

Post 123

Friday, April 8, 2005 - 7:12am

Hi Michael,
Yeah, that was a shocking experience for me...not much because of Orion's insults...but because of what's expressed in his posts toward Muslims, Christians, and religious people in general. At first I couldn't even really comprehend the real meaning of his posts. I think it was Barbara and Jeanine who first called on him. No matter what we felt about Orion before, a line had to be drawn clearly in this case. Linz's (and Joe's) handling of the matter was indeed admirable.

Hong

Post 124

Friday, April 8, 2005 - 7:48am

Linz, you have the best answer:

The long & the short of this is that I have no perfect answer - but I'm always going to err on the side of the open exchange of ideas, even though I'm under no obligation to. We've all always known that upholding freedom of expression means upholding that freedom for its least attractive practitioners, as Ayn Rand once put it.

Bad ideas goad those with good ideas to sharpen their arguments.

If a forum is open, it must be open to all ideas. If not you have a situation not unlike the feminists at Harvard who have decided which ideas are acceptable discussion and which are not. This is appropriate only if one is a Jesuit.

If the offender becomes a flamer, then your solution to moderate his comments is the reasonable course.

Post 125

Friday, April 8, 2005 - 6:14pm

To me, personal insults were nothing compared with the "bad ideas" Orion expressed. Sure he is free to express them, just not on the same forum that I am on.

Post 126

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 1:31pm

Joe Maurone:
"The woman are marrying the fat dopey husbands because the fat dopey husband knows he lucked out, and will do whatever she says..."

Joe, you later say that this is a joke, but anecdotally, I am seeing it more and more (except the wives aint all that), even in my circle of friends. After the woman has a domesticated, completely whipped sort-of man, she longs for someone who will pull her hair and misbehave! Women bitch and bitch about wanting sensitivity, but they lose all respect for any man who is sensitive and does what they want.

That's why I generally just hair-pull and misbehave from the beginning. Saves alot of steps, cuts out the middle man. I show my affection and appreciation. But I run the show, or at least my end of it. I have never been particularly controlling. I EXPECT a sig other to have their own interests and friends, to a degree.

I just get sick to my stomach, with guys these days. Since WHEN do guys carry more pictures of their kids than the Mommies do? WHY are guys begging their wives to let them go out for a drink with their friends? Fucken house-cleaning, baby-sitting pussies.

Post 127

Monday, November 6, 2017 - 4:41pm