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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 28, 2023

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A question: why do people believe that people - especially men - who are unsuccessful with romantic relationships are unsuccessful because of a lack of moral virtue? A man who's 30 years old and has never gone on a date or kissed anyone is assumed by default to be some kind of fat, basement-dwelling loser. When he is in fact a short but fit engineer, or a corporate lawyer, or a programmer for Google, he's then roundly criticized for being misogynistic or lacking in moral virtue. Occasionally, darker - much darker - suspicions are raised: let's say that there are reasons why these men frequently avoid being around unrelated children. It seems difficult for people to comprehend that an apparently healthy, gainfully-employed individual could fail to meet with romantic success despite a decade of trying...unless there is something seriously morally wrong with them.

Someone who fails at being a salesman, or a business owner, or even at playing basketball worth a damn...doesn't get that. "I'm a nice, decent, hardworking guy...but I can't sell shoes at Nordstrom, I've been working hard to do this and have dreamt of being a salesman since I was 12" is a kind of absurd complaint. He might be a fine human being and maybe he'd make a great heavy equipment operator, but he just doesn't have the talent for sales. We don't think there's something morally wrong with our hero because he can't sell shoes, or because he's a short, clumsy guy that sucks at basketball.

I've never heard anyone suggest that it was a moral failing. That sounds like a completely made up strawman to victim oneself against.

Obviously the reverse causality makes sense: bad people should be less datable. But i e never even heard anyone suggest this should is an is as it's plainly not real.

Where are you getting this moral failing narrative from? You need to justify the premise, because it sounds like extrapolated wallowing or self-loathing.

I've never heard anyone suggest that it was a moral failing. That sounds like a completely made up strawman to victim oneself against.
Where are you getting this moral failing narrative from?

Literally every feminist on Reddit. It's ubiquitous. Guy asks for advice or sympathy about his dating/sex troubles, immediately gets pounced on by everyone saying "actually it's your lack of confidence and your bad attitude that you're entitled to sex." Every time.

And they claim that things like looks have no effect on dating. "I know one guy who's short and bald and gets lots of dates, therefore your lack of dates mean you must be an evil misogynist". Or they'll tell guys to "take a shower" as if every unsuccessful guy is an insane hobo who never bathes.

Ok link me an example of that.