tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21131449.post115730962902332061..comments2023-10-11T06:24:14.563-07:00Comments on The Constant American: Men are Simple CreaturesMaevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14525869343230378491noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21131449.post-1157455321141605742006-09-05T04:22:00.000-07:002006-09-05T04:22:00.000-07:00I'm glad to have found your blog.I'm glad you foun...<I>I'm glad to have found your blog.</I><BR/><BR/>I'm glad you found it, too. I have followed your contributions at Blondesense, am even gladder to have discovered kindred spirits like you at Blondesense (and others elsewhere around the blogosphere), <I><BR/>particularly</I> at this insane time in human history. <BR/><BR/>I keep reminding myself of Margaret Mead's comment, to "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,<BR/>committed citizens can change the world.<BR/>Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has." <BR/><BR/>I know it's true. <BR/><BR/>I'm hoping that this little corner of the internet (<I>The Constant American</I>) can provide perspectives and offer practical solutions for the problems we have, that people don't get the opportunity to hear or consider over the din of MSM (and the two-in-one political party/corporate rhetoric), and the hectic pace that has overtaken most our lives. <BR/><BR/><I>I went into marriage having discussed (I thought) all the issues in advance.</I><BR/><BR/>I'm "nodding, knowingly" and chuckling as I read this. <BR/><BR/>As an <I>adult-child-of-</I>("put-any-3-letters-together-and-chairs-in-a-circle"-groups), I not only studied and trained and prepared (for myself and to be able to help others) to avoid the common pitfalls that drive people apart, I married a communications <I>expert</I>! <BR/><BR/>I thought I was so clever, and that that move alone would be guaranteed to cover any oversights in agreements or lapses on my part. Unfortunatrely, it doesn't really work that well when you're <I>both</I> "adult-children-of."<BR/><BR/>After more than 3 decades together, we still shock ourselves from time to time with how easy it is fall into (or hard to get past) old, ingrained dysfunctional family communications' styles, and then presume the worst of intentions of the other. Only after <I>exhaustive</I> analysis and replay do we realize what happened: "Those <I>damned</I> presumptions/assumptions again" - a few skipped steps in the conversation, our attention to the details diverted by some daily life distraction while making the plans (looming work and school deadlines, kids with beans up their noses, pets with beans in their ears, and always too little sleep).<BR/><BR/><I>Unfortunately, given that "feminism" has become a dirty word, not to mention a political climate that looks to take women back to the kitchen, it may take a few generations beyond that.</I><BR/><BR/>Three things come to mind reading that. They're not necessarily in any particular order (or connected with each other), but wouldn't it be a good idea for us to be looking at the bigger picture of what our leaders' decisions have on our lives, and the effect of letting them govern unimpeded, with no oversight, in secret and what it can lead to. <BR/><BR/>1) I've been thinking about how gun-ownership has been evolving in the U.S. lately. With more undeveloped land being paved over and built up, more women are taking up hunting than ever before. <A HREF="http://washingtontimes.com/culture/20060814-115847-3472r.htm" REL="nofollow">The NRA is going all out in its appeal to women</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.southend.wayne.edu/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2518" REL="nofollow">suburban women are getting together for "ladies only" hunting trips</A>. <BR/><BR/>2) <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5280286.stm" REL="nofollow">Darfur and the horror that is the life of women and children</A>. Since nobody else is doing it, wouldn't it be interesting to arm and train the women in Darfur, so that they could protect themselves and their children, walk to the river to get water without getting kidnapped, raped and killed? If anybody actually needed guns to protect themselves, those women fill the bill. And yet it hasn't occurred to the great proponents of gun-ownership in America.<BR/><BR/>I think we need to start a drive on campuses around America, where conservative young women (like Michelle Malkin) are responding to the NRA's pitches, and give them a purpose for their training. And a focus for their hostility. "Go to Darfur and Kick Some (Janjaweed) Ass."<BR/><BR/>3.) China's one-child policy, while very well-meaning and necessary, failed to tackle sexism at the same time and has had serious unintended consequences: The dramatic elimination of Chinese females to mate with all of those (preferred) Chinese boy babies. <BR/><BR/>The effect that <I>millions</I> (40 million) of poor, uneducated Chinese men with no prospects for good and meaningful work which eliminates them from the marriage market is going to have on China's foreign policy and relations with the rest of the world. Not to mention what it's doing (and will do in the coming decades) to Chinese women. <BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://bbc.dracos.co.uk/?page=/1/hi/programmes/5086754.stm" REL="nofollow">Already, it's driving them to suicide.</A> And it's also driving a black market in the trafficking of Chinese females for the illegal sex trade, and the kidnapping of urban Chinese baby girls by the parents of boys who have bleak prospects for marriage in their future. The parents raise these kidnapped girls alongside their own born sons, so that when the boy comes of age he'll have someone to marry. <BR/><BR/>The world is way too small, with fewer resources for everyone to share, for this kind of craziness to be going on.Maevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525869343230378491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21131449.post-1157375908050120712006-09-04T06:18:00.000-07:002006-09-04T06:18:00.000-07:00I'll second everything that JC said. Rarely have ...I'll second everything that JC said. Rarely have I read such insightful comments as those you posted in response to Jaye's piece. <BR/><BR/>It's amazing to me 40+ years into the feminist experience, we still have not made the kind of progress we would have respected. Oh sure, professionally, there has been some progress, but on the perswnal front I certainly would have expected much more by now. Maybe it is my expectations that need to be re-aligned. <BR/><BR/>As Jaye suggests in her piece, I went into marriage having discussed (I thought) all the issues in advance. When I found myself scrubbing the bath tub with my 9-month pregnant belly hanging to the floor, I knew the discussion had been a fraud. He did, after all, come from that generation whose mothers reaised their sons to be the little princes. He talked a good game, but when it came right down to it, he couldn't walk the talk. Maybe three or four generations from now, things will have progressed. For my girl children (and their possible girl children), I hope so. Unfortunately, given that "feminism" has become a dirty word, not to mention a political climate that looks to take women back to the kitchen, it may take a few generations beyond that.Old Dominion Bluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155685035998183260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21131449.post-1157372194355673432006-09-04T05:16:00.000-07:002006-09-04T05:16:00.000-07:00Hi Maeven -- your responses to Jaye in her post at...Hi Maeven -- your responses to Jaye in her post at blondesense were so spot on! You make SO MUCH sense. I'm glad to have found your blog. I have been reading your words below on various posts and you really know what you're talking about. I sure hope that you are currently in a position that enables you to spread your words, your wisdom and your common sense for many to hear. I sure hope that you're a teacher, counselor, or the likes, because anyone who would be in your classroom or on your couch, would certainly have their lives enriched under your direction.JerseyCynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16436705683800547607noreply@blogger.com