Conservatives completely fetishize masculinity. They idolize sports heroes, warriors and the Manly Jesus of modern evangelicalism. They eagerly seek the trappings that will buttress their sense of maleness in their own minds -- guns, big trucks, enough money and power to push other people around. The further right you go, the more exaggerated this focus on hypermasculinity becomes.
Psychiatrist Stephen Ducat explained this phenomenon at long length in his book, The Wimp Factor. Ducat's research shows that right-wing men are so obsessed with the external trappings of maleness precisely because they've failed to develop the inner qualities and accept the obligations that are required of actual adult men. It's all show, with nothing solid on the inside to back it up. And the more fragile their masculinity feels to them, the more exaggerated the outer display they put on is.
Quote from Sara Robinson How the Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like a Bunch of Teen Boys Gone Crazy by Sara Robinson via Alternet, May 13, 2012
Glenn Greenwald at the Young Turks on Obama's actions in Yemen just fueling more Terrorism
Various matters
Causes of Yemeni terrorism, Obama and marriage equality, lawlessness in Libya, and the 2012 election
BY GLENN GREENWALD, May 13, 2012
On Wednesday, I was on Cenk Uygur’s Current TV show with Michael Hastings discussing the Yemen bomb plot, and the video of that seven-minute segment is below. The discussion focused on the way in which U.S. “counter-Terrorism” policy in Yemen causes the very Terrorism it ostensibly seeks to battle. Yesterday, The Washington Post reported on several U.S. attacks in Yemen from this week alone and noted: “The latest strikes, aimed at al-Qaeda operatives in southern Yemen, bring the total this year to at least 15, about as many as in the previous 10 years combined“; just this morning, 17 more people were killed by U.S. airstrikes in Southern Yemen. The Obama administration recently leaked that it was escalating its attacks in Yemen to target those who names it does not know — not only with drones but also from the sea — and The Nation‘s Jeremy Scahill wrote this week that still more escalation is likely: “It seems there’s going to be a pretty serious, widespread bombing campaign with ground support in southern Yemen very soon.”
As I did this segment, I actually thought about how complete is the media suppression of the question of what causes Yemenis to want to attack the U.S. Extensive establishment media coverage has been devoted over the last few weeks to Yemen, and almost nobody in those discussions ever raises the question of why some people in Yemen might support such attacks. If you think about it, it’s really quite an impressive propaganda feat. It’s just natural for people who are targeted with violence to wonder what is motivating the attackers — recall the “Why-Do-They-Hate-Us?” bafflement in the wake of 9/11 — and yet that question has been almost entirely disappeared from establishment media discourse:
Sara Robinson points out that the Neocons who adore Ayn Rand are in error in their assumption that the supposedly self-sufficient individual is not dependent on other people . Taking this to its logical conclusion Robinson argues these followers of Ayn Rand have no need of society and are not dependent on other people including adults including parents or their mothers even while they are infants and their developing into self-actualized adults.
But this is nonsense since from the time we are born to adult hood we are dependent upon others to be fed, clothed, cleaned, housed and given direction by adults including one's mother.
Robinson rightly argues that all members of a society are dependent upon other members in that society. Therefore talk about self-reliance or rugged individualism must take into account these realities. When we are young we are dependent upon our mothers or some other adult who takes care of our needs. We cannot claim to be utterly self-sufficient. We are in need of others to protect us and provide us with the necessities of life food, clothing, shelter and so forth. And as adults we are dependent upon society for our various needs .
These followers of Ayn Rand are it appears in deep denial about how dependent they are on society and on the various levels of government needed to provide essential services and infrastructure. If we were all as self-sufficient as these conservatives claim we would not need police, the military , fire-fighters and other first responders and other emergency services .
They also take for granted that for instance public schools require the cooperation of a number of people to build the schools and maintain them and to staff them with qualified teachers . The same can be applied to the basic infrastructure such as roads , highways, bridges and so forth.
How the Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like a Bunch of Teen Boys Gone Crazy by Sara Robinson via Alternet, May 13, 2012
Flowers are nice, but this Mother's Day, what I really want is for these immature boys to grow up already.
...Make no mistake: all this Ayn Rand libertarian me-first-and-the-rest-of-you-go-to-hell stuff -- the there's-no-government-like-no-government theology that's now being piously intoned as Holy Received Truth by everybody, male and female, in the GOP -- is, very precisely, the kind of politics you'd come up with if you were a 16-year-old boy trying to explain away his dependence on Mom.
Parents? I don't have any parents. I raised myself, on roots and berries and small vermin I dug up in vacant lots. That lady hanging around, feeding me and nagging me and picking up my socks and driving me to practice? She's just the nanny state. That bitch. I hate her.
Society? There's no such thing as society. There's only what I want right now, which is the ultimate good in my universe. And what I want right now is more time on the XBox, pizza money, and the keys to the family car.
The future? If I pursue everything I want now, then the future will magically take care of its self. Dinner will appear. So will clean socks and the next-gen XBox.
The future? If I pursue everything I want now, then the future will magically take care of its self. Dinner will appear. So will clean socks and the next-gen XBox.
Obligations? I am God's gift to the world. I don't owe it anything. In fact: it owes me -- just for being so magnificent, cute and special. (Even my mom thinks so.)
On behalf of America's mothers, let me say: I have had enough of this. I don't care how cute they are: it's high time these so-called "libertarian" freeloaders get off the couch, stand up, and show some respect to the rest of us who've done the hard work that makes their cushy lives possible.
You know what I want for Mother's Day? I want these so-called "self-made men" to grow up and get a life.
...The essential difference that separates the men and the boys is that men understand and accept that they have an obligation to the greater good, and are willing to unflinchingly step up to that responsibility. They commit to their families. They work to improve their homes and communities, so they're safe and nurturing places for everyone to be. They take the long view as they plan for their kids' future. They look out for people around them who are weaker than they are. And they respect and cherish the co-parents of their children as their equal partners in that effort.
Adult men do not resent being asked to contribute to the collective whole. They know that their actions have consequences, and that they are responsible for the impact of those consequences on the greater good of the community.
As a veteran mom, I understand that it's totally developmentally appropriate for a teenage boy to desperately struggle to separate from his female parent as he begins to find his way toward his adult male identity. But at some point, that oppositional process is supposed to come to an end -- usually in the early- to mid-20s, with a reconciliation and renewed acceptance of Mom as a useful guide in his life. And, if he's straight, there will be a mature acceptance of his obligations to a female partner and their children as well.
A 50-year-old CEO who's still whining because Big Bad Government is asking him to clean up his shit, look after his little brother, and not act like a psychopath in public is flat-out suffering from arrested emotional and social development. He's not a grown man, despite his thousands of employees and millions in salary. He's still that teenager, hating on Mom because she dared to remind him that he's still deeply dependent on the resources of provided by his larger family. And as a mother, I'd invite other moms to join me in calling out this immaturity for what it is, wherever we see it.
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