Love this piece. Thank you for tackling it. I have been more aware than ever of late that the masculine is in a cleansing, healing, detoxing, restructuring process. I see it “out there” in the world and have been working a lot with my own inner uninitiated masculine. He’s ... wow. Been totally abandoned and destroyed by patriarchy, a lack of role models and mentors, the culture, expectations. It’s been humbling to relate with him and try to heal these wounds. I’m rooting for all of us on behalf of the planet!
Great stories told through cinema portraying lead male characters with these positive qualities could be a very affective way to achieve this. On a related note, I’ve often wondered if the 11th hour theme found in many of our cinematic stories has contributed to our collective delay in action regarding climate crisis. We need stories that replace this heroism in the final hour narrative also.
Hi David, I couldn't agree more about the 11th hour idea... Mission Impossible defused time bomb etc... I think we are already there, to be honest. Or almost.
Thankfully, many women are sapiosexual -- finding intelligence sexy -- especially when it is matched by confidence that is non-misogynist and actually caring. (I think many women think that thoughtful guys like Charles Eisenstein, Aubrey Marcus, Andrew Huberman, Thomas Hubl, and you :-) are sexy!)
The world is seeing many of the "big-daddy", hyper-conspicuous consumption types caught with their pants down. Spiral Dynamics value-memes come to mind around what is considered essential for survival. Undeniable climate crises are having a real impact on our psyches, don't you think? Hopefully, perhaps the millions of young people (male and female) that have been going to the new Avatar film will walk away seeing protection of nature and family in a newly attractive light...
Or... Avatar sneakily reaffirms Colonialism / domination and the spectacle of technological control... if you look to the latent rather than manifest content (as in dream interpretation)?
Unfortunately the new Avatar film just repackages the idea of an endless war against 'the bad others out there', i.e more of the same narrative we've been fed our whole lives.
Don't get why you're wasting your time focusing on this guy. The larger, important question is why there are so many who are so savvy about the threat of transhumanism and the fraudulent Covid scheme but think the climate crisis is a hoax masterminded by Klaus Schwab. In my view they are buying into the "science" showing there is no climate change which is just manipulation of data to serve Big Oil's ongoing agenda
Hi Michael, well I suppose I am intrigued by the idea of using topical material to raise people’s interest and then introduce many ideas that I find fascinating. But you raise a really great question! I also don’t get it. What do you think it is?
Thanks again for your thoughts. If you haven't come across it yet, I think you might appreciate Sophie Strand's book "The flowering wand" in which she tells a different story of the masculine.
"we need to address the authentic reality of male psychology if we want to have any chance of confronting the ecological emergency as a civilization or as a species." Yes! And I think 19 year old Thunberg's tweet was one of the funniest takedown's of a troll ever. He was so aghast at her response to his "enormous emissions," he said " How dare you?!". Hahahahahhahhahahhahha. Btw, you characterize her in two different ways at the beginning and the end of your essay. Which do you prefer?
I don’t like either of them. I found the whole theatrical performance distasteful. He tried to bully her, she came at him with what could be classed as hate speech.
Why is it ok for a woman to say things about male genitalia and everyone thinks it’s ok but not vice versa. Imagine if he’d come back and said something about her in that same vein?
Love this thought, great piece. I’m always gonna come back to it…trauma as the initiation. Either in this life or the next, having to face the dark night of the soul (and how many times?) and come out with compassion, more each time. Because I could never talk someone through that passage, I suppose I don’t try, or engage, or worry too much about where people fall on the passageway. Maybe that’s not the way, or maybe it’s complete trust because that’s all I have now.
This post was really timely for me personally. Not because of anything in particular, but in a way that the universe seems to be telling me to pay attention to this issue of a new masculinity. Something I never thought of before or really considered because we’ve had the idea of patriarchy instilled in us so much in the last several years. As I read your article I couldn’t help but think of Charles Eisenstein and then you mentioned him. Earlier this week I came across a video of him speaking before a group called Sacred Sons. The video and others on their site really threw me for a loop. I couldn’t figure out what I was watching and how a guy like Charles fit into this. My initial reaction to Sacred Sons was something along the lines of Andrew Tate rhetoric (another person I had never heard of until this week) but then I realized their message was something different. Then I found this article by Charles about his experience https://open.substack.com/pub/charleseisenstein/p/i-like-to-fight?r=3gn8f&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
I’m still digging into this whole idea, but seeing as how this topic has entered my psyche in multiple ways this week, it’s probably worth paying attention to. I’d be interested in hearing perspectives from married and single women on this topic.
Thanks for writing about this Daniel. I've been exploring similar themes in my recent essays. My take is that our current state of extreme polarization signifies deep tensions arising between the masculine and feminine dimensions of the collective unconscious. The Right, with its emphasis on individual responsibility and self-determination, tends to hold more archetypally-masculine values, while the Left, with its emphasis on inclusion and compassion, tends to hold more archetypally-feminine values. The extremism on both sides could be said to represent the shadow or immature versions of the masculine and feminine principles respectively. Eg., the aggressive, bullying authoritarianism of the far right represents an expression of the shadow masculine, whereas the hypersensitivity and moralizing dogmatism of the extreme left represents an expression of the shadow feminine.
In this context, Andrew Tate vs Greta Thurnberg represent personifications of these archetypal tensions. To me what's crucial for us to understand is the way the core or primal wounds of the masculine and feminine are intextricably linked. Certain teachings hold that the primal wound of the feminine is 'violation', while the primal wound of the masculine is 'castration.' When we fail to understand these wounds systemically, we create solutions that prioritize one side of the dynamic at the expense of the other. In attempting to heal one wound, we automatically trigger the other.
On the collective level, what I see is that the feminine dimension of the collective is the one most attuned to the potential catastrophe of the destruction of the Earth's living systems. It fears the shadow masculine acting out in the form of out of control predatory capitalism and strongmen authoritarianism that threaten the balance of life on Earth. This possibility triggers the core feminine wound of violation. So it moves toward developing increasingly totalitarian systems to control the shadow masculine in an attempt to ward off that potential unthinkable trauma.
Understandable enough. But in doing so, the shadow feminine, acting through the left, triggers the core masculine wound of castration. The masculine dimension of the collective is one most attuned to the sacred principle of individual freedom -- and thus to the specter of a dystopian global system of totalitarian control. Thus the far Right (as an expression of the shadow masculine) rebels against the Left's systems of control and moral shaming and feels that it must do whatever it takes to prevent such a totalitarian system from being established.
Both of these stances are understandable from within their own perspective. But in prioritizing what’s most important to them, each side triggers the core wound of the other. And to the extent that they are unconsciously identified with their own wound, each side tends to be blind or indifferent to the ways they injure the other. To the extent that the extreme left (as an expression of the shadow feminine) unconsciously identifies with its wound of violation, it does not see or care how its systems of moral shaming and control might turn into dystopian totalitarianism (thus triggering the core masculine wound of castration). And to the extent that the far right (as an expression of the shadow masculine) unconsciously identifies with its wound of castration, it does not see or care how its lack of concern for the Earth might turn into unthinkable tragedy (thus triggering the core feminine wound of violation).
The way out, to me, lies in recognizing that, underneath the fear and loathing of the polarities, there is also a hidden attraction. It's to recognize that something like an epic tantric union between masculine and feminine principles is wanting to happen -- and indeed only this union has the creative power to draw the collective unconscious away from the lure of extremism and form the basis for a more integral consciousness of the coming age.
I think there are ways we can support this happening on the energetic plane, individually and together in groups, by doing our own work of healing these primal wounds of masculine and feminine, thus creating a kind of energetic template for a similar kind of healing shift in the collective.
Thanks for writing. My problem is that you set up a reductive dualism / dichotomy, in my view, which is a very typical tendency. Let's not forget the main, real difference underlying the divide: One side is seeking to address a massive potentially civilization-destroying reality using sanity, logic, and reason. The other side is seeking to deny that reality exists so they can continue narcissism, exploitation, over-use of resources, etc, which we know via masses of scientific evidence will end in tragedy. In other words, in my opinion, Thunberg is right and Tate/Peterson is wrong. That has to be factored in as it is not just two equal perspectives. The masculine may fear castration and the feminine may fear violation - that is an interesting perspective. That doesn't change the facts that excess CO2 is turning the world quickly into an uninhabitable wasteland... with countries like Pakistan and Tuvalu suffering initially. Agriculture is in doubt, in the immediate future, even in the US, with the Colorado River drying up. Etc. So in thise case it has been an excess of the Colonialist / reductively masculine rational / explotiation impulse that has created a real imbalance. So rather than pretending this is an equal situation, we need to figure out how we corrall / tame / redirect those traditionally masculine tendencies... It isn't easy. I had thought that the liberation of Eros as Marcuse wrote about in Eros and Civilization might be part of the answer (conscious, open sexuality, conscious intimacy - for Marcuse this was kind of a post-genital eroticism), but I am not sure that can scale and unfortunately people need early childhood training, it seems, to hold a different paradigm of human relating. The problem is that, as I started exploring in the piece, if we don't find a way to address masculine yearnings and masculine feelings, then men will just prefer to regress into sports cars and Testosterone displays, and there are certainly enough un-evolved women around who will be willingly pulled into this. Marcuse later had to coin the term "repressive desublimation" to describe how the Sexual Revolution of the 60s / 70s went to shit... society liberated Eros in a restricted way, but folded it back into the system of domination and exploitation (MTV Spring Break, etc). Anyway there is just a pronounced tendency these days (Jonathan Haidt etc) to make the argument that Left and Right or Masculine and Feminine aspects are completely equivalent, when actually (I believe) there are more and less honest and reality-based perspectives.
My point is not that both sides are completely 'equivalent' on each and every issue, it's that the core wounds of masculine and feminine are dialectically linked and we ignore this at our peril. In this respect, I don't find your characterization of the two sides fair in that it lacks empathic understanding of what is really motivating the Right/masculine/Peterson-Tate. Their deep motivation, in my view, is to call out the covert authoritarianism being exercised (primarily) by the Left in the development of dystopian systems of totalitarian control in the name of 'health' or 'sustainability' (e.g., the bio-medical security state). That potential is just as big a threat to human civilization as ecological catastrophe. On that issue, it's the Right/masculine that is leading the way and the Left/feminine that is in denial. When we don't understand the situation systemically, we tend to design partial solutions that prioritize one side's core value while minimizing or ignoring the core concerns of the other side. Both core values are vitally important and need to be taken seriously.
I have had to deal with this personally, especially one person very active on the Health Freedom scene who keeps telling me (in print) that the climate crisis is a hoax and so on. She posts almost daily on this and has been impervious to the point I have made over and over which is the following: Klaus Schwab and his elite gang will use the climate crisis to instill fear and maximize control for their own nefarious schemes WHETHER THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS REAL OR NOT!
I see this as a real issue that is preventing many from acknowledging that there is an issue. Unfortunately because of reduced trust in governments and a history of faulty modelling and catastrophic predictions, combined with binary thinking, many are rejecting the climate crisis as a form of rebellion.
Right on! A form of rebellion...but seeing a hoax under every rock is counter-productive. The focus must be where the real threat is. It's like we're standing on a beach arguing about whether viruses are real or not, whether the climate crisis is real or not, whether the jabs contain spike proteins or graphene oxide, whether the FBI was behind January 6 at the Capitol (give me a break), whether it's OK to eat meat or not, whether it's OK or not for our heroic doctors to stoop to appearing on Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson and other racist enablers because they're the only ones who will have them (congratulations to the US Govt and Big Tech for making that the only option!) AND MEANWHILE a huge tidal wave is heading toward us that will result in health surveillance, CBDC banking, a social credit system, robotic agriculture and transhumanist identity...
She’s an aggressive social activist with very little knowledge or experience in climate science so honestly I don’t think she cares as much as she says she does and it seems to me how is activism and discussions like these supposed to solve such a complex and multifaceted, scientific and political problem as “global warming” . Her speeches are rude and feel manipulative to me. They also incite further conflict and division between political groups. Unless she’s a good actress and a mere pawn (and therefore a victim?) of a globalist or socialist agenda, I don’t trust her as a person nor her “bully pulpit” role that has made her so famous .
If she’s a climate-science leader why doesn’t she come up with a creative idea rather than scolding and shaming everybody?
She had set up and lead brilliant movement of school kids and articulates the terrible mess we are in and have been put in. 70% of mammals and bio diversity killed off in 50 years - as shr says she is just quoting the scientific research
I don’t think she is necessarily a bully. She is passionate but I believe she has been groomed for her role - this is likely an unpopular opinion. Individuals with ASD are more open to suggestion and mirroring, and our ability to unconsciously adopt tunnel vision means we are prime for the moulding. Especially if supported with empirical evidence and “facts”.
I believe she is being used and that makes me incredibly sad. There are plenty of children and teenagers passionate about global concerns but only the chosen get to step onto the world stage....
But this whole idea that she is being "used" or whatever might be due to the subtle, persistent influence of Right Wing / oil company disinformation, no? The companies spend hundreds of millions to blunt or obscure the reality of global warming and seek different rhetorical and narrative strategies to make us doubt anyone in a major role in countering their narratives, no?
A hunch. An intuitive guess. A tendency to lean towards scepticism and everything else I listed regarding a child being granted centre stage.
The media is controlled - I suppose I believe that no one gets that much of the spotlight unless they are serving a purpose.
I don’t propose to “know” anything - I just think it’s odd that at such a young age her parents would allow her to be subjected to so much scrutiny etc.
Of course it’s likely that non of this holds an ounce of truth. So it’s a belief that’s fluid and I’m open to being wrong, I suppose we will never know.
For me one of the biggest problems we face now is a lack of discipline in critical reasoning… we don’t differentiate between thinking, feeling and willing (in Steiner’s terms). Try to differentiate between what you know and what you suppose / feel / believe… it isn’t easy!! This is why in my work I always try to make these distinctions.
My sense is the populist idea that GT is a tool is of great benefit to the interests of the fossil fuel companies who don’t want the people waking up to realize they have been cheated of a future by the exploitation of our finite resources for profit. I don’t see evidence of it.
I attempt to address this in my cultural subversive artwork, e.g., "The Boy In the Mirror". This addresses every male. Every boy under patriarchal society undergo socially sanctioned rites of passage, not just gay or straight boys. Not every boy "succeeds", and he fails at his peril. Toxic masculinity is a blood curse handed down over generations, a kind of ingrained behavioral trauma, until those fortunate enough to come into some awareness are able to derail its trajectory. I subscribe to the statement given in "The Mask You Live In" film documentary by the Representation Project that the three most dangerous words you can say to a boy are "Be a man". Due to unresolved traumas from an abusive childhood I didn't truly confront the toxic rage and fear within myself until well into my fifth decade. In desperation after two devastating failed relationships I began the internal work needed through the Breakthrough Men's Community, which I believe is a good model for instruction that should be started in families and schools at an early age.
An immediate follow-up: Tate and his brother were just arrested for human trafficking/rape in Romania... Apparently, the Twitter video he made in response to Greta's Tweet revealed his location to the authorities there. https://www.thedailybeast.com/far-right-influencer-andrew-tate-reportedly-arrested-in-romania-for-rape?utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_campaign=owned_social&via=twitter_page
Sweet justice!!!
Love this piece. Thank you for tackling it. I have been more aware than ever of late that the masculine is in a cleansing, healing, detoxing, restructuring process. I see it “out there” in the world and have been working a lot with my own inner uninitiated masculine. He’s ... wow. Been totally abandoned and destroyed by patriarchy, a lack of role models and mentors, the culture, expectations. It’s been humbling to relate with him and try to heal these wounds. I’m rooting for all of us on behalf of the planet!
Great stories told through cinema portraying lead male characters with these positive qualities could be a very affective way to achieve this. On a related note, I’ve often wondered if the 11th hour theme found in many of our cinematic stories has contributed to our collective delay in action regarding climate crisis. We need stories that replace this heroism in the final hour narrative also.
Hi David, I couldn't agree more about the 11th hour idea... Mission Impossible defused time bomb etc... I think we are already there, to be honest. Or almost.
Thankfully, many women are sapiosexual -- finding intelligence sexy -- especially when it is matched by confidence that is non-misogynist and actually caring. (I think many women think that thoughtful guys like Charles Eisenstein, Aubrey Marcus, Andrew Huberman, Thomas Hubl, and you :-) are sexy!)
The world is seeing many of the "big-daddy", hyper-conspicuous consumption types caught with their pants down. Spiral Dynamics value-memes come to mind around what is considered essential for survival. Undeniable climate crises are having a real impact on our psyches, don't you think? Hopefully, perhaps the millions of young people (male and female) that have been going to the new Avatar film will walk away seeing protection of nature and family in a newly attractive light...
Or... Avatar sneakily reaffirms Colonialism / domination and the spectacle of technological control... if you look to the latent rather than manifest content (as in dream interpretation)?
Yes, it's really a wolf in sheep's clothing. I was pretty disappointed in the film, despite some amazing graphics.
Unfortunately the new Avatar film just repackages the idea of an endless war against 'the bad others out there', i.e more of the same narrative we've been fed our whole lives.
Aubrey marcus…the philsopher😂
Don't get why you're wasting your time focusing on this guy. The larger, important question is why there are so many who are so savvy about the threat of transhumanism and the fraudulent Covid scheme but think the climate crisis is a hoax masterminded by Klaus Schwab. In my view they are buying into the "science" showing there is no climate change which is just manipulation of data to serve Big Oil's ongoing agenda
Hi Michael, well I suppose I am intrigued by the idea of using topical material to raise people’s interest and then introduce many ideas that I find fascinating. But you raise a really great question! I also don’t get it. What do you think it is?
Thanks...I just re-wrote it somewhat............................
Thanks again for your thoughts. If you haven't come across it yet, I think you might appreciate Sophie Strand's book "The flowering wand" in which she tells a different story of the masculine.
never heard of it! I will check it out. Thanks.
"we need to address the authentic reality of male psychology if we want to have any chance of confronting the ecological emergency as a civilization or as a species." Yes! And I think 19 year old Thunberg's tweet was one of the funniest takedown's of a troll ever. He was so aghast at her response to his "enormous emissions," he said " How dare you?!". Hahahahahhahhahahhahha. Btw, you characterize her in two different ways at the beginning and the end of your essay. Which do you prefer?
I don’t like either of them. I found the whole theatrical performance distasteful. He tried to bully her, she came at him with what could be classed as hate speech.
Why is it ok for a woman to say things about male genitalia and everyone thinks it’s ok but not vice versa. Imagine if he’d come back and said something about her in that same vein?
Love this thought, great piece. I’m always gonna come back to it…trauma as the initiation. Either in this life or the next, having to face the dark night of the soul (and how many times?) and come out with compassion, more each time. Because I could never talk someone through that passage, I suppose I don’t try, or engage, or worry too much about where people fall on the passageway. Maybe that’s not the way, or maybe it’s complete trust because that’s all I have now.
This post was really timely for me personally. Not because of anything in particular, but in a way that the universe seems to be telling me to pay attention to this issue of a new masculinity. Something I never thought of before or really considered because we’ve had the idea of patriarchy instilled in us so much in the last several years. As I read your article I couldn’t help but think of Charles Eisenstein and then you mentioned him. Earlier this week I came across a video of him speaking before a group called Sacred Sons. The video and others on their site really threw me for a loop. I couldn’t figure out what I was watching and how a guy like Charles fit into this. My initial reaction to Sacred Sons was something along the lines of Andrew Tate rhetoric (another person I had never heard of until this week) but then I realized their message was something different. Then I found this article by Charles about his experience https://open.substack.com/pub/charleseisenstein/p/i-like-to-fight?r=3gn8f&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Charles also wrote this article recently which I thought was fascinating and along the lines of what you hinted at in your post. https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/the-heartland
I’m still digging into this whole idea, but seeing as how this topic has entered my psyche in multiple ways this week, it’s probably worth paying attention to. I’d be interested in hearing perspectives from married and single women on this topic.
Good to hear this, Dave. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for writing about this Daniel. I've been exploring similar themes in my recent essays. My take is that our current state of extreme polarization signifies deep tensions arising between the masculine and feminine dimensions of the collective unconscious. The Right, with its emphasis on individual responsibility and self-determination, tends to hold more archetypally-masculine values, while the Left, with its emphasis on inclusion and compassion, tends to hold more archetypally-feminine values. The extremism on both sides could be said to represent the shadow or immature versions of the masculine and feminine principles respectively. Eg., the aggressive, bullying authoritarianism of the far right represents an expression of the shadow masculine, whereas the hypersensitivity and moralizing dogmatism of the extreme left represents an expression of the shadow feminine.
In this context, Andrew Tate vs Greta Thurnberg represent personifications of these archetypal tensions. To me what's crucial for us to understand is the way the core or primal wounds of the masculine and feminine are intextricably linked. Certain teachings hold that the primal wound of the feminine is 'violation', while the primal wound of the masculine is 'castration.' When we fail to understand these wounds systemically, we create solutions that prioritize one side of the dynamic at the expense of the other. In attempting to heal one wound, we automatically trigger the other.
On the collective level, what I see is that the feminine dimension of the collective is the one most attuned to the potential catastrophe of the destruction of the Earth's living systems. It fears the shadow masculine acting out in the form of out of control predatory capitalism and strongmen authoritarianism that threaten the balance of life on Earth. This possibility triggers the core feminine wound of violation. So it moves toward developing increasingly totalitarian systems to control the shadow masculine in an attempt to ward off that potential unthinkable trauma.
Understandable enough. But in doing so, the shadow feminine, acting through the left, triggers the core masculine wound of castration. The masculine dimension of the collective is one most attuned to the sacred principle of individual freedom -- and thus to the specter of a dystopian global system of totalitarian control. Thus the far Right (as an expression of the shadow masculine) rebels against the Left's systems of control and moral shaming and feels that it must do whatever it takes to prevent such a totalitarian system from being established.
Both of these stances are understandable from within their own perspective. But in prioritizing what’s most important to them, each side triggers the core wound of the other. And to the extent that they are unconsciously identified with their own wound, each side tends to be blind or indifferent to the ways they injure the other. To the extent that the extreme left (as an expression of the shadow feminine) unconsciously identifies with its wound of violation, it does not see or care how its systems of moral shaming and control might turn into dystopian totalitarianism (thus triggering the core masculine wound of castration). And to the extent that the far right (as an expression of the shadow masculine) unconsciously identifies with its wound of castration, it does not see or care how its lack of concern for the Earth might turn into unthinkable tragedy (thus triggering the core feminine wound of violation).
The way out, to me, lies in recognizing that, underneath the fear and loathing of the polarities, there is also a hidden attraction. It's to recognize that something like an epic tantric union between masculine and feminine principles is wanting to happen -- and indeed only this union has the creative power to draw the collective unconscious away from the lure of extremism and form the basis for a more integral consciousness of the coming age.
I think there are ways we can support this happening on the energetic plane, individually and together in groups, by doing our own work of healing these primal wounds of masculine and feminine, thus creating a kind of energetic template for a similar kind of healing shift in the collective.
Here's the essay where I set out these ideas in full, would love to know your thoughts: https://davidnicol.substack.com/p/as-above-so-below
Hi David,
Thanks for writing. My problem is that you set up a reductive dualism / dichotomy, in my view, which is a very typical tendency. Let's not forget the main, real difference underlying the divide: One side is seeking to address a massive potentially civilization-destroying reality using sanity, logic, and reason. The other side is seeking to deny that reality exists so they can continue narcissism, exploitation, over-use of resources, etc, which we know via masses of scientific evidence will end in tragedy. In other words, in my opinion, Thunberg is right and Tate/Peterson is wrong. That has to be factored in as it is not just two equal perspectives. The masculine may fear castration and the feminine may fear violation - that is an interesting perspective. That doesn't change the facts that excess CO2 is turning the world quickly into an uninhabitable wasteland... with countries like Pakistan and Tuvalu suffering initially. Agriculture is in doubt, in the immediate future, even in the US, with the Colorado River drying up. Etc. So in thise case it has been an excess of the Colonialist / reductively masculine rational / explotiation impulse that has created a real imbalance. So rather than pretending this is an equal situation, we need to figure out how we corrall / tame / redirect those traditionally masculine tendencies... It isn't easy. I had thought that the liberation of Eros as Marcuse wrote about in Eros and Civilization might be part of the answer (conscious, open sexuality, conscious intimacy - for Marcuse this was kind of a post-genital eroticism), but I am not sure that can scale and unfortunately people need early childhood training, it seems, to hold a different paradigm of human relating. The problem is that, as I started exploring in the piece, if we don't find a way to address masculine yearnings and masculine feelings, then men will just prefer to regress into sports cars and Testosterone displays, and there are certainly enough un-evolved women around who will be willingly pulled into this. Marcuse later had to coin the term "repressive desublimation" to describe how the Sexual Revolution of the 60s / 70s went to shit... society liberated Eros in a restricted way, but folded it back into the system of domination and exploitation (MTV Spring Break, etc). Anyway there is just a pronounced tendency these days (Jonathan Haidt etc) to make the argument that Left and Right or Masculine and Feminine aspects are completely equivalent, when actually (I believe) there are more and less honest and reality-based perspectives.
My point is not that both sides are completely 'equivalent' on each and every issue, it's that the core wounds of masculine and feminine are dialectically linked and we ignore this at our peril. In this respect, I don't find your characterization of the two sides fair in that it lacks empathic understanding of what is really motivating the Right/masculine/Peterson-Tate. Their deep motivation, in my view, is to call out the covert authoritarianism being exercised (primarily) by the Left in the development of dystopian systems of totalitarian control in the name of 'health' or 'sustainability' (e.g., the bio-medical security state). That potential is just as big a threat to human civilization as ecological catastrophe. On that issue, it's the Right/masculine that is leading the way and the Left/feminine that is in denial. When we don't understand the situation systemically, we tend to design partial solutions that prioritize one side's core value while minimizing or ignoring the core concerns of the other side. Both core values are vitally important and need to be taken seriously.
thanks for this Daniel, I enjoy your perspective on these cultural events. Nobody looks beyond the surface for the hidden patterns and meaning.
nice!!!
I have had to deal with this personally, especially one person very active on the Health Freedom scene who keeps telling me (in print) that the climate crisis is a hoax and so on. She posts almost daily on this and has been impervious to the point I have made over and over which is the following: Klaus Schwab and his elite gang will use the climate crisis to instill fear and maximize control for their own nefarious schemes WHETHER THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS REAL OR NOT!
I see this as a real issue that is preventing many from acknowledging that there is an issue. Unfortunately because of reduced trust in governments and a history of faulty modelling and catastrophic predictions, combined with binary thinking, many are rejecting the climate crisis as a form of rebellion.
Right on! A form of rebellion...but seeing a hoax under every rock is counter-productive. The focus must be where the real threat is. It's like we're standing on a beach arguing about whether viruses are real or not, whether the climate crisis is real or not, whether the jabs contain spike proteins or graphene oxide, whether the FBI was behind January 6 at the Capitol (give me a break), whether it's OK to eat meat or not, whether it's OK or not for our heroic doctors to stoop to appearing on Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson and other racist enablers because they're the only ones who will have them (congratulations to the US Govt and Big Tech for making that the only option!) AND MEANWHILE a huge tidal wave is heading toward us that will result in health surveillance, CBDC banking, a social credit system, robotic agriculture and transhumanist identity...
🎯
Women are always blaming men for everything (All you ever hear is “it’s because of the patriarchy”).
But women can be just as “patriarchal” as the men they’re blaming . Just something I have noticed. Greta Thunberg is a bully just like Tate is.
Bullies don’t help our situation, they only inflame it . Just my opinion.
Hi Joanna, how do you see Greta being a "bully"? Just curious. I think she is okay, honestly.
She’s an aggressive social activist with very little knowledge or experience in climate science so honestly I don’t think she cares as much as she says she does and it seems to me how is activism and discussions like these supposed to solve such a complex and multifaceted, scientific and political problem as “global warming” . Her speeches are rude and feel manipulative to me. They also incite further conflict and division between political groups. Unless she’s a good actress and a mere pawn (and therefore a victim?) of a globalist or socialist agenda, I don’t trust her as a person nor her “bully pulpit” role that has made her so famous .
If she’s a climate-science leader why doesn’t she come up with a creative idea rather than scolding and shaming everybody?
She had set up and lead brilliant movement of school kids and articulates the terrible mess we are in and have been put in. 70% of mammals and bio diversity killed off in 50 years - as shr says she is just quoting the scientific research
I don’t think she is necessarily a bully. She is passionate but I believe she has been groomed for her role - this is likely an unpopular opinion. Individuals with ASD are more open to suggestion and mirroring, and our ability to unconsciously adopt tunnel vision means we are prime for the moulding. Especially if supported with empirical evidence and “facts”.
I believe she is being used and that makes me incredibly sad. There are plenty of children and teenagers passionate about global concerns but only the chosen get to step onto the world stage....
But this whole idea that she is being "used" or whatever might be due to the subtle, persistent influence of Right Wing / oil company disinformation, no? The companies spend hundreds of millions to blunt or obscure the reality of global warming and seek different rhetorical and narrative strategies to make us doubt anyone in a major role in countering their narratives, no?
Is that a demand ? ;)
A hunch. An intuitive guess. A tendency to lean towards scepticism and everything else I listed regarding a child being granted centre stage.
The media is controlled - I suppose I believe that no one gets that much of the spotlight unless they are serving a purpose.
I don’t propose to “know” anything - I just think it’s odd that at such a young age her parents would allow her to be subjected to so much scrutiny etc.
Of course it’s likely that non of this holds an ounce of truth. So it’s a belief that’s fluid and I’m open to being wrong, I suppose we will never know.
So that doesn’t sound like “100%” does it?
For me one of the biggest problems we face now is a lack of discipline in critical reasoning… we don’t differentiate between thinking, feeling and willing (in Steiner’s terms). Try to differentiate between what you know and what you suppose / feel / believe… it isn’t easy!! This is why in my work I always try to make these distinctions.
My sense is the populist idea that GT is a tool is of great benefit to the interests of the fossil fuel companies who don’t want the people waking up to realize they have been cheated of a future by the exploitation of our finite resources for profit. I don’t see evidence of it.
Sorry I didn’t mean it was 100% correct - I meant I related to what you proposed 100%. To say it was 100% truth would be ridiculous.
I agree - absolutely no solid proof in physical terms - which is why I wouldn’t say “she is being used” only “I believe” - based on mistrust.
100% definitely a hidden agenda
explain your reasoning for believing this?
I attempt to address this in my cultural subversive artwork, e.g., "The Boy In the Mirror". This addresses every male. Every boy under patriarchal society undergo socially sanctioned rites of passage, not just gay or straight boys. Not every boy "succeeds", and he fails at his peril. Toxic masculinity is a blood curse handed down over generations, a kind of ingrained behavioral trauma, until those fortunate enough to come into some awareness are able to derail its trajectory. I subscribe to the statement given in "The Mask You Live In" film documentary by the Representation Project that the three most dangerous words you can say to a boy are "Be a man". Due to unresolved traumas from an abusive childhood I didn't truly confront the toxic rage and fear within myself until well into my fifth decade. In desperation after two devastating failed relationships I began the internal work needed through the Breakthrough Men's Community, which I believe is a good model for instruction that should be started in families and schools at an early age.
Just shared to Facebook. Can tweet it too, I think it's really good.
awesome, thanks!