Do white men still matter? The far right: Pale males and the women who emulate them / Hal Crowther

[Mira]

Do white men still matter? 
The far right: Pale males and the women who emulate them
by Hal Crowther


There's always a scene in the grittiest vampire movies where the old bloodsucker is sleeping peacefully in his coffin, looking as innocent as the undead can look, and the handsome hero plants a pointed stake in the vampire's sternum and takes a big swing at it with his mallet. Whether or not the blow turns out to be accurate and fatal, the vampire always wakes up when he's pierced. His eyes pop open, his mouth opens on those awful canines dripping blood and saliva, and with a savage snarl he tries to sit up, as the audience draws a deep common breath. It's a crowd-pleaser, if you like this stuff. And if the thing climbs out of the coffin, 20 minutes of premium violence are guaranteed.

Excuse a rare display of optimism on my part, but I'm suggesting a useful metaphor for the presidential election of 2012. After Mitt Romney collected 75 percent of the white male vote and lost, I fancied that I could hear a strangled snarl and imagine that the bloodthirsty, near immortal thing with the stake in its chest was the white patriarchy—the high-testosterone, low-melanin monopoly that has misguided and misruled this country and this violent Western civilization throughout recorded history and long before.

I'm not claiming a clean kill. The monster's heart is still beating, though the stake that was struck on Nov. 6 pierced its coat, its shirt, even its undershirt—a sleeveless "wife-beater" of course—and possibly enough skin to leave a bead of blood (someone else's) on its deathly pale breast. It may yet climb out of the coffin. But the damned thing felt this one. Forty-five percent of the votes that re-elected Barack Obama were cast by minorities. The president won 55 percent of the women's vote, though the huge question is what the other 45 percent were thinking when they voted for Romney, chained as he was to a platform that ignored and insulted women as recklessly as it dismissed the non-Aryan and the poor.

for the rest go to:
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/do-white-men-still-matter/Content?oid=3232485

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. I usually find Crowther's columns essential reading. thanks for posting!

[Mira]

2. Thanks for responding

you spot them every time I post one.

[mark eagledove]

3. Thanks! I love Crowther

Really appreciate the link.

Love your pic of the wonderful Ms. Roy. I called into a radio show (back in 2005?) to thank her for her standing up to the US invading Iraq. Then I got a giggle out of her when I asked if she was married. She is my favorite.

[Mira]

5. A woman of true substance.

We are members of her fan club together.

[Fumesucker]

4. I'm sorry, "throughout recorded history"?

Chinese civilization has records going back for thousands of years, same in India, Egypt and the Middle East among other non-low-melanin populations.

Males in general certainly have a lot to answer for but white males as they are commonly thought of in the USA in 2012 have only been dominant worldwide since Columbus or thereabouts and that was an accident of history rather than some overwhelming plan because the European white males were certainly more than competitive enough with each other.

Look at what the Aztec males were doing in Central America, Montezuma was a bloodthirsty butcher every bit as bad as Cortés, he just was an inferior strategist with inadequate technology and a lack of inherited resistance to foreign diseases.

[Rozlee]

7. Safest to say testosterone is the cause of much of the destruction and mayhem throughout history.

And the OP writer shouldn't be confused by women who display male-like attributes toward violence and aggressiveness. Women, like men, possess testosterone. Women who aspire to leadership roles have been proven to possess levels of testosterone higher than women in the general population. Violent female criminals, many types of females who compete in very competitive sports, women who run for public offices, women with extremely high sex drives, women who are extremely competitive in business often have higher than normal levels of testosterone. Not a bad thing. So do many women in the military. High testosterone can be congenital or acquired. Women, for instance, can increase testosterone by increased exercise and body building. Working among concentrated groups of men, like the military and police, seems to increase our levels as well for some odd reason. And, no, many women with high levels of testosterone don't have mustaches.

[malthaussen]

9. In the context of the article...

The author says white males have ruled Western civilization throughout recorded history. That other males have ruled -- and ruined -- other civilizations is not to the point, since Western civilization is the one in which the article's targeted audience is living.

-- Mal

[Fumesucker]

11. Ignoring the Muslim rule of Spain from 711 AD to 1492

That's a big chunk of recorded history that the author manages to pretend didn't exist.

Ironic considering that Spain was the major spearhead of European civilization conquering the Americas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Spain

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Parts of Spain - most at first, but gradually decreasing

for the last 300 years, as the link says, just the Emirate of Grenada - perhaps a tenth of modern-day Spain.

However, in genetic terms, Arabs and North Africans are more or less European - it's far harder to differentiate them than it is to tell the difference between Arabs and Sub-Saharan Africans. They were still a patriarchy of white men.

As for Spain being the "major spearhead" - I've heard it suggested that it was their military expertise and ruthlessness built up in the final fight against Grenada that needed another outlet, and found it in conquering Latin America.

[malthaussen]

16. So you consider Islamic civilization to be "Western?"

Funny, since those who led the Reconquesta thought they were driving out "Oriental" civilization and restoring Spain to the West...

-- Mal

[melody]

6. My husband is a white male

He still matters, he's a good person, and he voted for Obama.

[awoke_in_2003]

8. I am like your husband...

and hope I still do matter. Oh, and I am straight and support marriage equality.

[just1voice]

10. It's racist as hell to suggest that all white males are racist repukes

Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Alan Grayson and millions others would agree.

Here's a hint for the future that's worked for, oh, about forever: If you replace "white" with "black" or vice versa and it still sounds racist, it likely is.

[bemildred]

12. The writer would have done better to leave skin color out of it. NT

[Enrique]

13. i feel the same way about this column

as I did about commentary from the Right about how minority groups voted. It suffers from the same flaw.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Unfortunately, the figure he bases his column on is wrong - 62% of white men voted for Romney

not 75%.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2012-exit-poll

and if 75% of white men had voted for Romney, and all other groups had stayed the same, he would almost certainly have won - they formed 34% of the vote.