Why are conservatives obsessed with masculinity?

[Deserter2]

[WhiteSteve]

I think that’s one thing that fucks with politics a lot. Most people aren’t completely immersed in political discourse, they’re fringe dabblers, they respond to buzzwords and bumper sticker slogans. They only have surface level knowledge of most or all of the issues.

An unfortunate circumstance is that men are very easily manipulated by the threat of being called a pussy by other men. And I think that steers people away from their kinder instincts, especially in areas that are already overwhelmingly conservative, for reasons unrelated to that, but the masculinity can be a tangential thing that can be tied in.

In short, way too many men are navigating their way through life with this gorilla-brained mentality where they just want everyone else to know how fucking tough and no-nonsense they are, and the the nightmare of some yelling “pussy!” and a crowded room erupting in laughter at their expense will never be realized, lmao.

I’m all about being masculine, don’t get that twisted. I don’t think anyone who knew me personally ever would. I think men need to be men, when applicable. But part of being GENUINELY hard is not being afraid to be soft sometimes, whether that’s your personal demeanor or actions, or bigger picture stuff with your worldview, being a kind and compassionate and genuine person. I have my rough edges for sure, and I’m not always perfect with letting my ape side win out, but I strive for kindness and compassion whenever I can help it, and certainly just approach the circumstances of others’ kindly and compassionately.

I have a million theories about the conservative mind, some are wholesome and innocent, some are bigoted and neglectful if not outright hateful, some are under the heavy influence of specially-targeted news sources, many are religious and so they’re already accustomed to a fear-based outlook on life, behavioral control, societal order, etc.

It’s really a perfect storm of some or all of these things these days, but I’d say mis- and dis-information spreading rapidly through both corporate and independent right wing media, as well as amongst the average people via social media is maybe the biggest umbrella issue.

And it all gets presented in the context of “don’t believe anything else that you see or hear, everyone else is against you and lying to society about what’s REALLY going on behind the scenes, but WE know what’s up because we’re really smart and clever and are definitely one of the great American heroes they’ll write about in history books 100 years from now.

So conspiracy theory culture has gone completely out of control. You’d think people would wise up when they keep getting word that they shouldn’t believe what the man on the news said, that Occam’s Razor DOESN’T apply, and every single time the obvious, simple, apparent explanation isn’t the reason, but it was instead a serious of interconnected nefarious backroom deals by evil people aiming to strip us of our rights and control us all, because…. because…libtards, or Hunter’s laptop, or rainbows at Target, or Try That In A Small Town or something…

But people love confirmation bias, that’s the moral of the story, really🤷‍♂️

But the masculinity is all targeted political strategy, just like religion. Republicans are looking out for the wealthy, pretending to throw a few scraps to the workers, and promising if they jusssstttttt work a little harder they might get somewhere. You can’t sell that, so you need other angles to sell. A lot of these conservatives have sides to them that are aiming to be their idea of good and decent people. Some ignorance might get in the way of how and, more importantly, TO WHOM they manifest that compassionate spirit to…. but there’s something in them that can be built upon, hopefully. But people respond more to negative emotions than positive emotions, so strategists have decided the best way to get these people is to tap into their negative emotions: fear, hate, jealousy, inferiority. Make them feel like their very way of life is under attack, some boogeyman-du-jour is coming to actually take something from them, scare the shit out of them, fill them with fear and uncertainty.

There are a millions angles to attack from, and you can make challenges to men’s masculinity through so many of them, so it’s a vulnerable spot. And the more it’s challenged, the more they’ll puff their chests out. These are often hard people who “work for a living” and have to put their back into their jobs, and I’m sure there’s a pride that comes with that, rightfully so.

So you can hit that pride, probably brimming with masculinity as it is, from most angles. Regulate guns? I’m a man! I hunt, and I protect my property! Cut military spending? I’m a man! I want America to be the biggest swinging Dick in the locker room! The border? I’m a man! I provide for my family! You can’t take my job! Climate change? I’m a man! Fuck your electric cars, I’m not giving up my Ford F-250 that gets 50 yards per gallon! LGBTQ issues? Ewww!!! I’m a man!!! I like pussy!!!

I think I just blacked out and dropped like 800 words, so I’m gonna cut myself the hell off, my bad, lmfao

[Deserter2]

You had me until you denied conspiracy theories are true lmao

Imagine thinking people don't conspire and lie, smooth brain take

[WhiteSteve]

Well, I mean, I wouldn’t say NOTHING conspiratorial EVER happens….. but I absolutely have not seen enough consistent compelling evidence to believe that reality as I know it isn’t what it seems, as a general rule. I think conspiracy theories are very compelling to some people, it lends itself to self-aggrandizement of your own perceived ability to “see through the bullshit”, which is for sure an important skill to have, but I think a lot of people are really letting their imaginations run away on them. And just enough things will be shown to be true where it will perpetuate that worldview, but I’ll never believe it to be the norm. This is just something the human brain likes, apparently. 200 years ago we had people thinking the Masons were secretly running the world, lmao. I believe shady shit happens, but I stop well short of secret cabals of elites who run the world behind the scenes as the rest of us believe life is operating in some completely different way.

[Deserter2]

It's easy to theorize on the psychology of other people. You're probably just fearful so you delude yourself into believing this stuff doesn't happen in order to cope, you want to live in your own little safe bubble. No matter how many conspiracies have been proven true in the past few years.

[WhiteSteve]

I don’t know, man…. I mean, none of it would scare me because I think very little of the intelligence of the average human, and I’d say that in a perfect world, we WOULD have a small number of elite people with wisdom calling the shots to keep the rest of the human livestock in order. I really think we need that, lmao. I don’t trust individual humans to be left to their own devices, by and large, most of us are dumb as shit and should be caged, lmfao. Unconventional attitude on my end, for sure, but I’m just saying that I wish some of these conspiracies were MORE true so we’d have humanity under better control, so fear of that isn’t a motivator to me.

[Deserter2]

It's why nothing is affordable and nobody really likes our leaders, and why would they? The only people that want power want it not for selfless reasons.

[NamerOfStars]

It's always been a concern for them, but the current obsession is rooted in modern leftism's (I can't, in good conscience or basic dictionary ownership, refer to people practicing such unabashed bigotry as "liberal") hatred of it.

It's an unfortunate reality that modern politics is less about what a person (or party) stands for, and more about what they stand against, and these days, the latter is "what the other party is for". They're for it, so we must be against it, regardless of what "it" is.

[LazerBean]

I don't really think we are, I think we just hate people who choose to be weak. Sometimes it bleeds out to sounds like it's about masculinity, but really the masculinity part is just a side topic.

[Agape93]

Because most of them aren't masculine. They're just assholes.

[Anonymous]

Why are Liberals obsessed with pillow-biters and transgendered faeries?

[Deserter2]

I'm right wing, and cause the left has a monopoly on mental illness, we know this...