On magical thinking

Why is it, that, before a job interview, I obsess over my shoes and think of the answers to interview questions, instead of accepting that the result of the interview is almost entirely out of my control? Malinowski* has the answer!

When a man feels himself impotent in a practical situation, whether he be savage or civilised, whether in possession of magic or entirely ignorant of its existence, passive inaction, the only thing dictated by reason, is the last thing in which he can acquiesce. His nervous system and his whole organism drive him to some substitute activity....The substitute action in which the passion finds its vent, and which is due to impotence, has subjectively all the virtue of a real action, to which emotion would, if not impeded, naturally have led.

Now that my attention has been drawn to it, I see such magical thinking everywhere I look. Whenever I start to care about petty things, it's because subconsciously I think these details have magical power over things that matter. If I brush my hair more often, people will like me. If I do the dishes, it means my life is under control. And other absurdities. The antidote is provided by La Rochefoucauld, who says:

Those who concern themselves too much with little things usually become incapable of great ones.
Ceux qui s'applique trop aux petites choses deviennent ordinairement incapables des grandes.

*Bronislaw Malinowski, the early 20th-century Polish-American anthropologist, used to be rather famous in social-sciences circles, but his ideas have since been discredited/assimilated into the mainstream. I am not ashamed of being behind the times.

In The Illusion of American Omnipotence, DW Brogan pointed to a state of mind which he called “ the illusion of American omnipotence”--defined as “the illusion that any situation which distresses or endangers the United States can only exist because some Americans have been fools or knaves.” When the Chinese Revolution occurred, instead of concluding that this was a response to massive strategic and economic realities largely beyond our control, millions of Americans were apparently convinced that this enormous country had been in our pocket, and had been lost or stolen only because of the mistakes (or treachery) of Roosevelt, Marshall, and Acheson, mistakes which could easily have been rectified by greater statesmen like Walter Judd or Senator Jenner.

---Hofstadter

6 things to hate about Feminism

--at least mainstream feminism, specifically the kind in this article:

http://community.feministing.com/2009/09/on-beauty-and-its-consequences.html

1) It exaggerates the benefits of being male.

"Men are presented with an endless supply of female flesh as a reward for good capitalist behaviour..."

Hmm, do I know anyone who has "an endless supply of female flesh"? And when I think about men who get a lot of female attention, it doesn't really seem like society is awarding women to them in little gift bags. In fact, women seek out rich or confident or otherwise attractive men--but that sort of formulation makes it seem like the women are acting freely, clearly an unacceptable implication.


2) It exaggerates the disadvantages of being female.

In this worldview, just as men get everything they want, women get nothing they want. Should you seem angry about being accosted or harassed on the street,

"society will look at you with great alarm, and declare you a man-hating, ugly hairy bitter feminist."

Any woman who has ever rejected a man is then excluded from society if not shot--I couldn't make this up, people:

"Should you reject your would-be suitors, you are a bitch and risk getting shot in public or private places. At the very least you will be ostracized, you will be considered difficult, or you will be ridiculed on some other account."

3) Like many liberal theories, this sort of feminism is utopian. We plow straight ahead trying to change the basics of life, without considering that it might not be possible. This is rebellion against nature itself; for instance, when woman's status as a sexual being is described as tyranny:

"...this purpose which was created for you, without your consent, without you getting a vote on the subject, well before you were born."

4) Sexist tropes in the media are considered more revealing than the trends of actual life. For instance, the author ignores a long list of female heads of state, leaders of opinion, and intellectuals in the real world in order to criticize Hollywood.

"Whatever else you achieve - intelligence, education, talent, saving the world, etc. - must be done in heels, with long flowing hair, and a surgically-enhanced figure like the one on Lara Croft, because otherwise: well, poor you."

This person has been watching too many movies! Actual women in power aren't subject to the standards of blockbuster movies--rarely do they have long hair or wear revealing clothing, and if Hillary Clinton isn't the leader of the free world, well, the problem was not her cup size.

5) It's fucking depressing! "You are not in control", "you have probably been harassed, groped or assaulted", "you have no right to your own beauty", "whatever joy you may have felt at being pretty evaporates", "society declares you an awful person", "being angry and depressed is logical and lucid", "men will consume and destroy you", "you are a chicken in a slaughterhouse".

Is this really what young women new to the world and to men need to hear? This just makes me afraid to leave the house. Maybe that's the idea.

6) Men are the enemy; they are not vulnerable or well-intentioned like women; they never worry about the right thing to do, never feel guilty, and never apologize. Any sympathy for them is misplaced. They must be humiliated and CRUSHED:

"Remember the men who do these things to you are not playing fair, they will never consciously apologize of their own volition, and they will never hesitate to crush you if you threaten them. You must give yourself the right to do the same to them. Never feel sorry for them, never apologize, and never look back...You will have to reject and humiliate men, without mercy, very loudly, in front of as many people as possible, when you don't want men looking at or touching you if they are doing this. Of course, this will make you look like a bitch, which is a daunting prospect, but as a woman you have those two choices: bitch, or victim."

(I kind of like that last line. Although why 'consciously apologize'? An unconscious apology is a priori impossible.)

"Should this scenario happen in the office, you may be told you are disturbing the workplace peace and atmosphere and you may have to come out kicking and screaming against this injustice, which will probably get you fired, and will force you to go to a Human Rights Commission which may or may not award you a few thousand dollars after five years of litigation and blacklisting during which your career is completely destroyed."

That's right, a woman who rejects a coworker's advances will be reprimanded, fired and finally blacklisted. This wasn't true even 80 years ago.

It's painfully clear that the author has had annoying experiences with men on the street and coworkers. I sympathize--well, contra her claims, most people of either sex sympathize with women who are harassed by clueless men. The author's arrogance and blindness comes in when she assumes her experience and female experience are congruent. Would you say that you don't mind being complimented or hit on? Or that you think you have power over men? Or that your male coworkers are kind and professional? Or that you've never been raped or assaulted? Just wait, says the author. My terrible experience is the Truth of women's experience, and if neither you nor anyone you know experiences it this way, you should probably feel guilty about being privileged.