Right2Left...
I am going to begin writing down a theory and assembling some evidence, between a lot of other things. So, see what you think of some ideas about a continuum between transcendence and immanence and its associations with the masculine and feminine.
The Right falls more to the side of the masculine and transcendence. For instance, after 9/11 American politics went to the Right because the masculine is emphasized for its ethos of provision and protection. The Left is typically more nurturing and focused on healthcare. It is interesting that the leaders of the American Left have some problems based on such an immanent focus being rather feminine. Examples, Al Gore has to be more of an "Alpha Male," he grows a beard, then he shaves, etc. It's rather humorous. John Kerry has to have a hunter shoot some ducks for him and then pretend that he shot them. Dean says something like, "We have to reach out to the people we are missing on God, guns and gays." I don't recall the exact comment. But I do recall the growling. What was it, "Yeeeaaargh!" Yee haw!
God, guns and gays, what are those three issues
Father God, provision and protection, effeminacy.
Yes, you are missing some people there. There are those who make an issue of the gender divide with respect to the Right not winning enough votes from women. Yet the Left has its problems with men...and increasingly with women too. It is interesting to note that married women lean toward the Right more.
When the Left starts obsessing over healthcare too much it is almost as if they want to breast feed the nation and then change all our diapers. The simple fact is, most people do not want to be treated as a baby by such smothering mothers. And it is not smart politically to take these patterns of immanence and transcendence too far in either direction. It is not smart for the Left anymore than the Right ought to focus on transcendence to the point of flying off and denying physical existence altogether. (E.g., some Taliban man hopping on a plane, etc. That is hyper-masculinity, typical to Islamism.)
The blindness of the America Left is rather humorous. They seem blind to the electorate and they seem to feel that creating an "Alpha Male" will help their troubles. (It's not going to help if you say that is what you are doing. Duh. Being a man is something you are, it is not something you act. It is authentic. Some inauthentic acting just makes the whole situation much, much worse, exacerbating the original problem. The irony!) Then there is Gore's whole mommy Earth thing that is typical to the Left. It is not that these patterns are necessarily good or bad. Good or bad, I don't know that you can win an election by appealing mainly to single women and some effeminate men no matter how strong you are as an incumbent in decent economic times or how weak the candidate of the Right is.
I'll finish this later, maybe much later. I have some old writing and some evidence for the beginnings of a theory somewhere that I probably ought to read again. So reader, you can jump in and try to tear into such a theory if you want. (Just try to know what you're talking about, lest your ideas be the ones to be torn apart.)
Later.
The Right falls more to the side of the masculine and transcendence. For instance, after 9/11 American politics went to the Right because the masculine is emphasized for its ethos of provision and protection. The Left is typically more nurturing and focused on healthcare. It is interesting that the leaders of the American Left have some problems based on such an immanent focus being rather feminine. Examples, Al Gore has to be more of an "Alpha Male," he grows a beard, then he shaves, etc. It's rather humorous. John Kerry has to have a hunter shoot some ducks for him and then pretend that he shot them. Dean says something like, "We have to reach out to the people we are missing on God, guns and gays." I don't recall the exact comment. But I do recall the growling. What was it, "Yeeeaaargh!" Yee haw!
God, guns and gays, what are those three issues
Father God, provision and protection, effeminacy.
Yes, you are missing some people there. There are those who make an issue of the gender divide with respect to the Right not winning enough votes from women. Yet the Left has its problems with men...and increasingly with women too. It is interesting to note that married women lean toward the Right more.
When the Left starts obsessing over healthcare too much it is almost as if they want to breast feed the nation and then change all our diapers. The simple fact is, most people do not want to be treated as a baby by such smothering mothers. And it is not smart politically to take these patterns of immanence and transcendence too far in either direction. It is not smart for the Left anymore than the Right ought to focus on transcendence to the point of flying off and denying physical existence altogether. (E.g., some Taliban man hopping on a plane, etc. That is hyper-masculinity, typical to Islamism.)
The blindness of the America Left is rather humorous. They seem blind to the electorate and they seem to feel that creating an "Alpha Male" will help their troubles. (It's not going to help if you say that is what you are doing. Duh. Being a man is something you are, it is not something you act. It is authentic. Some inauthentic acting just makes the whole situation much, much worse, exacerbating the original problem. The irony!) Then there is Gore's whole mommy Earth thing that is typical to the Left. It is not that these patterns are necessarily good or bad. Good or bad, I don't know that you can win an election by appealing mainly to single women and some effeminate men no matter how strong you are as an incumbent in decent economic times or how weak the candidate of the Right is.
I'll finish this later, maybe much later. I have some old writing and some evidence for the beginnings of a theory somewhere that I probably ought to read again. So reader, you can jump in and try to tear into such a theory if you want. (Just try to know what you're talking about, lest your ideas be the ones to be torn apart.)
Later.
posted by mynym at 5:42 PM
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