July 1, 2009

• Second-class and Persecuted

  In a recent interesting post, Heidenkind says “….women are not, for the most part, subjugated by men but by themselves.” I like the qualifying “for the most part,” which implies that there is no solid, all-inclusive rule. In many ways I agree. While men may talk a lot of macho crap – mainly after a few beers, and whilst with The Boys –  they have no organised plan or intention to keep women “in their place,” and most are amiably willing to let them do what they want generally as a group in society.

  
  

  But pause…. do not men in general (I mean the average “man in the street”) extend the same amiability or disinterested tolerance to the other persecuted groups? Take gay males for instance. After no public outcry against them that I’ve ever heard of, they were legally outlawed in the UK by Act of Parliament in 1876, which status – again after no public outcry – was returned to legality in 1967, and the gay movement has flourished since with mainly indiference from sexually mainstream males. Amongst all the beer-swilling, skirt chasing, get-into-a-punch-up-for-fun friends I’ve had over the years (copies of myself in fact) I can’t name even one who had any strong opinions against gay men, lesbians, Jews, Muslims etc., and neither do I. Yet history proves that empowered persons or groups did, to the point of murder or legal sanctions. These two were of course often one and the same.

  
  

  My point is that these social persecutions do not arise from men in general, nor women in general, but from ideas imposed by the relatively few members of society who form the ruling classes and power groups, churches being a major offender. In fact, if you wish to name the biggest group that is manipulated, deceived, held down and made to feel grateful for even being allowed to breath, it is not women, gays, blacks, North American Indians nor any such small collection: it is ordinary people in general.

  My published work on Amazon

   

  • 10:18 pm
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