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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 8, 2023

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I simply don't care. Such blatant unfairness raises my hackles, and women get plenty of attention and free drinks from horny men as is.

Is/ought, plus game theory. Women will always have an unfair advantage in this arena because men will always gain an advantage by handing this advantage to women. The man who boycotts the ladies night at the bar, or any other low stakes garden variety simpery, out of offence to his high-minded egalitarian principles will lose out to the pragmatic man who accepts the phenomenon and potentially uses it as a pivot to open a conversation and flirt with those women. ("You women get half price drinks? Nice, that means you can buy me two! No? Ah, so you're a hashtag trad wife. Cool, I'm more of an equal rights feminist. A very thirsty equal rights feminist with an empty glass. Oh okay I get it, maybe those dodgy pick up guys were right about women after all. Hold on a second, are you a pick up artist girl? No? So where did you learn your undeniable skills? In that case I guess it must have come to you naturally. Naturally blessed with half price drinks. Imagine that." Or something significantly smoother and less terminally online, I don't know).

Look dawg, I have a girlfriend, and I don't really struggle to get one with or without the existence of blatantly illegal and anti-egalitarian practises that offend me.

I have nothing against men who willingly buy drinks for women, I simply don't want the implicit lower value of men enshrined in explicit practise.

See my other comment at this level for details if you care.

Such blatant unfairness raises my hackles

"The game" is unfair either way. It will never be fair as long as we are mammals with certain sexual instincts. Hear me out.

What you are objecting is a situation where the unfairness becomes explicit instead of implicit. But this is a horribly bad strategy!! If you are not a "gigachad" and/or "absolute player" type of guy, this is exactly what you want! When the rules of the game becomes more explicit it gives more chances to people who lack the deep social instincts for playing the implicit game. And forgive me for stereotyping, but I have literally never met an Indian guy (from India proper) who had very strong instincts in this regard and I know many.

When ladies get cheap booze explicitly from the bar there is less expectation on you to do the classic move of introduce yourself with confidence, say a couple witty funny things, and ask what she wants to drink. For some guys this is second nature. For many this is nerve wrecking and they will fuck it up. If you are in the group that gets the nerves from approaching a pretty girl like this then you should absolutely welcome a ladies night. It takes some pressure off you.

This is the exact reason why dance classes, blind dating, formal courtship, even arranged marriages etc are all good strategies for men too awkward to just ask a girl out from zero. Each one of these options add an extra dose of explicitness to the interaction.

I have a girlfriend, and even when I didn't, I have little issue in acquiring one, so I genuinely couldn't care less about the marginal change from killing something so explicitly anti-egalitarian.

The constitutions of most liberal democracies, including India and the US, explicitly enshrine equal rights for both men and women, including a ban on explicit and intentional discrimination for or against each. I protest each and every deviation from that rule, be it women getting free drinks, or preference in college admissions, and I'd do the same for men.

Ladies nights are simply one of the more blatant and commonplace violations, and clear violations to boot. I don't need reminder that I, as a man, am inherently less valuable than woman, and I'm content to have it stamped out and establishments who engage in it made an example of. There's already so much implicit discrimination which can't be stamped out that I won't tolerate more explicit forms.

I simply care more about equality of opportunity than equality of outcome, so this argument doesn't sway me. I prefer men and women pay the same amount for the same product, namely time in a bar or drinks, and then what they do with it is up to them, be it the former simping over the latter and handing them theirs.

“I refuse to entertain the subtleties of life because some people some time ago came up with some legal principles on which I shall base my entire thought process” isn’t a very good jumping point for a conversation or deliberation. But you do you

There's a subtle but important distinction between liking certain principles and "basing my entire thought process" around it. I simply think your "subtleties" are too contrived to be really worth entertaining.

But yes, I'll continue doing myself, thank you.