This article was submitted by Lee Marcus of Arkport.
America is the country where children are routinely shot dead in school.
Woke now?
I’ll tell you who’s woke. Steve Bannon. Last week, Bannon announced that what we’re seeing today is the end of patriarchy, and it’s going to be bigger than the tea party movement!
He’s right about the patriarchy, even if the comparison to the tea party is hilarious. Any movement in the direction of equality between the sexes is, of course, a threat to patriarchy. You can pick your moment in modern history: was it 1848, when American women (settlers), (inspired by the power, dignity, and true equality of the women of the Haudenosaunee nation) met in Seneca Falls to introduce the Declaration of Sentiments and demand the right to vote; or in 1920, when we finally got it? Was it the 1970s, when women met in CR (consciousness raising) groups and again took the revolutionary step of comparing notes about the lives we were living, turning that into a sweeping liberation movement? Or was it in the aftermath of the 2016 election, when American women saw a presidential candidate more qualified than any other in modern memory defeated by one less qualified than, not only any candidate in history, but arguably any average child. Pick your moment when you think the patriarchy began to falter.
But Bannon was talking about the MeToo movement. For him, the idea that women’s bodies are no longer up for grabs just rocks his world. It’s even more revolutionary than white supremacists walking around with tea bags dangling from their headbands and spouting anti-black, anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, anti-woman, anti-education, anti-free press, anti-voter … you get my meaning. It’s big.
Do you think it’s possible for white men (and the remaining obedient women) to do something other than spew hate and shoot bullets? Where is the male counterpart to the Haudenosaunee woman in this story, the role model of male decency, fairness, and “good mind?” Because it’s all too obvious that we’re raising white men for a world of privilege and entitlement that does not exist, and when they get old enough to realize this, they go haywire. Fundamentalism/pornography/domestic violence/pedophilia. Undermining everything America has stood for with last-ditch efforts like the tea party, a regular smorgasbord of politicized hatred. Fantasizing about going down in a blaze of bullets and taking a dozen or so innocents with them. How long before one of them decides to shoot the moon and take us all, all of humanity, with him?
The group that Americans and people all over the world have to fear is white men. If you want to dispute that, consider this: how many Muslim men with explosives in their shoes does it take to make us all take off our shoes in the airport? One. What percentage of all rapes need to be by Latinos before we commit to building a $33 billion wall to keep them out? 9%? So let me ask you, how many mass murders will it take before we are able to identify the demographic group responsible? If the unhinged actions of one Muslim can be used to smear 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, why are the deaths of thousands of innocents not enough to even whisper the words “white male?” Have you ever heard a broadcaster say those words?
In 1963, Betty Friedan published a book called The Feminine Mystique, which codified exactly how femininity had been distorted to keep women powerless. Fast-forward 50 years. We’re way ready for The Masculine Mystique. Isn’t there a single male writer who can figure out what’s going on with white men? Why are they killing innocent people in numbers that make the combined casualties of all of our wars pale by comparison? Women may think we know the answer, but that’s not going to help. Men need men to figure this out, man up, and solve it.
New NY 23rd 
As an old white man I have long rejected the stereotypes about women, minorities and homosexuals. There seems to be one stereotype that won’t go away. And it may have cost the Dems the last election because of backlash. The stereotype that the majority of “old white men” are patriarchal, rich, racist and misogynist. I reject any stereotype. Period. Until we get beyond labeling by gender, skin color or age , we are no better than the current right wng tribe that controls the government.Shed your snake skin. See people as individuals.
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Steve Bannon may think we are at the brink of some remarkable change; I don’t agree. Nor do I agree that white men are collectively responsible for America’s problems–if women and men would vote for candidates of either gender who favor a kinder, fairer, and more generous America, we would be on the brink of a revolution.
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I resent the tact that this author calls this murdering sociopath a “man” let alone the terrible attempt to label and group all white men into this and other sociopaths group.
This kind of bigotry and hatred does nothing to bring people together to work towards identifying and solving the root cause problems associated with school shootings.
As a parent of three my heart goes out to all of the families and friends of this horrific mass murder event.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/gun-free-school-zones-not-protect-kids-article-1.3786452
If we can place metal detectors and armed sheriff deputies or other armed security guards at all government buildings including our county court buildings and social services buildings why do politicians not want to protect our children in school with the same security?
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This should have happened after the Columbine school shooting
https://gunowners.org/alert02162018.htm
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Polk County FL Sheriff Grady Judd on school shooting
https://ijr.com/the-declaration/2018/02/1067803-sheriff-calls-arming-teachers/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_am5q3T_HTeEVCsd0kI5H4LVcRqhsGyhFpgOb_LhOvQ1d4fpcsZ2gLdXlSRyF9rtDAr1jyPnZlyUv1QEShpVkDmgx_zA&_hsmi=60761763&utm_campaign=Conservative%20Daily&utm_content=60761763&utm_medium=email&utm_source=hs_email
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Targeting the NRA (who teach responsible gun ownership and training) as the enemy and the problem is political and wrong.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/nra-donations/?utm_term=.bdf60e4a38f0
For comparison.
Planned Parenthood spent far more than the NRA on political campaigns and lobbying.
Money spent just last year on political campaigns.
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?cycle=2016&id=D000000591
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php
I suspect these FL students are being used by Democrats and Progressive Lobbyists to win the House and Senate back in 2020 so they will be in a position to try and impeach President Trump.
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I see that Rynstone’s expressed views reinforce Lee Marcus’s point.
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You have your opinions, I have mine. I think the fact that the Government doesnot by law keep track of deaths by firearms is wrong. The students have complained about all politicians Repubicans and Democrats who have taken funds from the NRA. Their voices are strong. They have nothing to lose. Congress members who are tied to the NRA do have a lot to lose if they turn on the NRA gun lobby. I have seen two different amounts that Rep. Reed has received ($10,800 & $11,600) from them. His statement on the Parkland shootings points to Mental Health problems we have in the USA-the same statements that he had the day after Sandy Hook (He had a Town Hall meeting in Watkins Glen and Penn Yan and other places the day after Sandy Hook. What has he done to ease our Mental Health problems? Not a thing.
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The party responsible for Rynstone’s “reality check” video isn’t apparent. He may be echoing Russian propaganda. In my opinion, if something seems fishy, it probably is fishy.
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Rynstone, it’s hard for me to determine from your voluminous posting if you are supportive of background checks. Are you aware that a person in the U.S. can go on the Internet and purchase a parts kit that would allow that person to assemble a fully functioning unserialized AR-15 style assault weapon? This purchase require no background check. There are no mental health questions. There are no restrictions for ex-felons or domestic abusers.
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At one time the NRA was a hunter’s group. However, it has since morphed into a lobby for gun manufacturers. While it does teach gun safety on one hand, on the other hand it opposes any legislation for background checks, safer guns and limiting ownership in a sane manner. Too bad. It has become a lobbyist for gun peddlers
As long as so many states allow easy access to WMDs we will continue to see our children and other civilians killed. Over 30,000 each year. Evidently our children’s lives are a small price to pay so any 18 year old can buy an AR-15.
Background checks work. The data on states with and without background checks is clear. All gun owners (like myself) should welcome them.
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josephurban, I resigned my life membership in the NRA 25 years ago when Wayne LaPierre took over the organization and drove it over the cliff.
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I’m sorry if some readers got the impression that I believe all white men are violent. I do not. But I do believe that all of us, men and women, have been raised in a patriarchal society, and the terms of that arrangement are obsolete. Women have moved forward, because breaking out of patriarchy for us means gaining equality, which is strong motivation. For many men, the breakdown of patriarchy means losing personal power and status, which is disorienting, dispiriting, and, for some, just plain unacceptable. There are men who have managed to navigate to a saner, fairer, stronger kind of masculinity, and we need them to define that process, model those new values, create a “male mystique” that works with, not against, the ongoing paradigm shift. I believe this is key to stopping the violence.
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