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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 6, 2023

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I'm not sure why you expect your experience as an older gentleman to have much to do with the experience of twenty somethings which is more central to the original point, family formation. Things change greatly as you age.

The repeated insistence by posters of all stripes and their refusal to engage with the central argument, the crux of the matter is really making me just about fed up with this body of ideas.

Post about young male sexlessness -> Post about TFR

Post about young male sexlessness -> Post about older male sexfullness

Post about young male sexlessness -> Post about women's rights

Post about young male sexlessness -> Post about how to pick up ladies

No one wants to discuss what can be done about the fact that young male sexlessness and datelessness have both gone up by 100% compared to the historical base rate (female remains roughly same with a slight increase recently), and what are the implications of this.

Seriously let's go back to the fucking basics. Refute the central point, not some weakman or weak proxy of it.

I'm about to get real uncharitable here but here's my true unfiltered thoughts on the matter;

My cynical side says that no one but the group getting fucked actually has any incentive to fix it. And by that I don't mean the obvious personal incentive, but all of the other groups greatly benefit in the short term from not fixing it, at least on a superficial level. Old men have a wider pool to choose from, younger women don't want to temper their expectations, older women also don't want to temper their expectations. So all you are left with is token condolences and strawmen just getting beaten often brutalized to absolute shreds. This asymmetry in incentives doesn't allow ones minds to honestly tackle with the arguments (even if their hearts are in the right place) because that would be a stupid way to operate for a human. Why understand something if your livelihood relies on you not understanding it. I also think there is a signalling play here, you make a post about widely discussed {problem} and feign disbelief or obliviousness, it's letting everyone know you are high status enough to not only not have that problem, but to not be able to comprehend its existence.

I would be interested in hearing what your proposals to "fix it" are. I think the reason few to no people offer solutions to the issue is that there are not any solutions people operating in a broadly liberal framework would find permissible.

From my own liberal perspective, nobody is owed a girlfriend, or relationship. If you (or a lot of young men) are unable to get someone you want to be in a relationship with to also want to be in a relationship with you, that's a you problem. Relationship formation is that good old double coincidence of wants. It's not enough that you want to be in a relationship with someone, you need to find someone who also wants to have a relationship with you.

We could stop digging the hole would be a good start. It can't actually be that hard to vilify men less.

Who is "we"? By what mechanism do you propose to stop this "we" from digging?

By whatever mechanism feminism has used to advocate for women and criticize every piece of media that doesn't adhere to feminist values. "this is a sexist conspiracy theory against men" should be a biting criticism that is taken seriously. People who whinge on about pay gaps should be looked at like 911 truthers.

Then I encourage you to do this! Call out sexist conspiracies against men in your life. Push back on people who go on about pay gaps like you would a 911 truther. Are you under the impression it was never difficult for any woman to advocate for the range of social changes they have advocated for and achieved?

I do. And I'm sure those early feminists had to enduring sneering pestering like this as well. What even is your angle here?

My impression, admittedly mostly from outside this forum, is that a lot of people complaining about the vilification of men don't actually want to do anything about it. They want other people (often feminists) to do it for them. I jumped to conclusions regarding your own posture and apologize. Good on you for living your beliefs.

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