But I was not…any of those things

This administration is salting the earth for all inhabitants of this country; Where is the Million Man March that will get the attention of  these avatars of the Patriarchy? 

We are running quickly through Pastor Martin Niemöller’s stark description of apathy in the face of fascism. In the space of a month, they came for the trans people first, but we aren’t trans, so… and then came Military veterans, Federal employees and Medicaid recipients. The disabled, the elderly and the poor are easy targets. Women lose big in every group, and Project 2025 promises to disadvantage single mothers, even while they require more births. They are starting with those who have the least power and working their way up. The only ones standing at the end will be White, Straight Men, if we are to believe JD Vance’s pronouncements.  Men like you, no doubt, doing it right, following the rules. 

But will any WSMs be standing at all? There were plenty of them fired from the federal workforce this week. Most of the military veterans, and a big chunk of the disabled and poor are WSMs. If they succeed at dismantling Social Security and Medicare, we are talking about 30+ million of them. 

What about WSM with wives and children? She suddenly can’t be employed, without contraception available. She can’t bring in income if she’s constantly pregnant. And I bet most men are not so happy about new mouths to feed and doctor bills to pay. No free school, so any education will be a new cost. Men will be saddled with the entire responsibility for keeping up with expenses. Many men will just leave, and the women and kids will be punished for it. The wanton destruction underway in Washington will affect everyone, except the very wealthy. 

This administration is salting the earth for all inhabitants of this country; everyone who can’t jet away to their own tropical island (or Mars? )will be left in a dustbowl. I mean that both literally and economically - they are forcing a breakdown of the climate, the government, the economy and the entire world order,  just so they can loot the resources. This is smash and grab on a megalomaniacal level. And it is all out in the open, and they are laughing in our faces. 

All you WSMs out there, and really, men in general, are the ones who have to get off your asses and stop that Niemöller quote from its denouement. Women have organized and protested. Black people have organized, protested and died for their rights. All the minorities and groups this administration is targeting are fighting back. Where is the Million Man March that will get the attention of  these avatars of the Patriarchy? 

When are you going to use your precious entitlement for the good of this country?   Why you? Because there will be no one else to stand up for you in the end. 

Revenge of the Mediocre White Man

Remember the movie, Revenge of the Nerds?  The smart kids outsmart the dumb but wealthy  jocks and get the girls. You might think that the cultural prominence of Silicon Valley and all things geeky would be proof  that the nerds COULD get the girls. Elmo likes to think so. 

But how did he end up being at the head of the entitled bullies?  

There is some kind of complicated tangent to this common storyline that I am trying to work out. How is it connected to the Revenge of the Mediocre White Man that is going on right now in DC? Could it have been seeded in the whiny punk and grunge era, germinated in gamer gate and grew violent on January 6th? 

How did it end up being taken over by trust fund techbros who got richer in Silicon Valley and now think they are golden gods? How is it connected to the orange man-baby who is currently shitting all over our government? Why does this all feel weirdly like some superhero movie where the hero doesn’t show up and the supervillain gets the girl? And why is Capitalism finally to blame. 

That last one first. As each cultural wave occurs, the marketplace rises up to meet it and exploit the hell out of it. This is one way the wealthy suck money from the masses - analyze what each demographic will throw money at and provide it. No matter how oppositional that gestalt might be to 1%, no matter the creed or commitment, Capitalism demands continual growth and the 1% must always make bank off it. This is one way America co-opts and muffles its citizens who join anti-establishment movements - by turning them into the consumers of their obsessions. And when making money is more important than even the darkest obsessions, you get a sociopathic NRA with an audience primed for burnishing their obsessions with armament. 

Punk, Internet, Gaming, all were brought into the fold in the 90s and all those guys who thought being in a garage band would get them laid are parents with their own whiny kids. 

A lot of these guys got jobs during the tech bubble, and lost them when it burst. The 90s and early 2000s were not kind to anyone who was trying to get ahead. 

Changes to education and psychology also come into play here where No Child Left Behind meant you learned only what was required to make your school look good that year, so it could get funding for the next - a Republican invention. What that did in short was to reward the cut and paste knowledge you needed for the test but neglected thinking skills or basic civics.

That tied with the increase in college tuition (more continual growth for the banks) meant fewer people got a degree. College is where you really get exposed to the expanse of human knowledge, so this loss is pretty dire. Fewer jobs required a degree in the recessions that followed, so fewer folks in general went to college. 

Except women, specifically black women. 

You knew we’d get around to racism, because, of course, it’s America’s original sin.

Misogny too, because the movement of mediocre white men in particular hates women. And really hates being shown up by someone without white skin and a penis. Their homophobia means that penis needs to be straight, and definitely should speak English and never, never vote Democratic. Thus, a fraction of the population dismisses the rights of everyone else with glee. 

Those masses exist to be ruled and used by true-blooded American white men, according to said white men. Not to be judged or bossed by those others.  If education gives lesser beings that power, then it’s suspect, wrong, against the grain. 

This is one reason why MAGA needs slogans to memorize, not real supporting facts for their arguments. Logic itself can’t be trusted, so using it against a MAGA is pointless. 

Hence, the anger and the slow, inexorable rejection of knowledge and experience by the ruling party. If women and non-whites can have those things, then they aren’t worth having. So says the Patriarchy. And MAGA has already named its deranged narcissistic leader Daddy and fantasized about women being spanked. Don’t need much knowledge to claim power that way. 

The wealthy are not immune to those feelings, in fact, the rich are filled with paranoia. Those mediocre men who have failed upward with family money are also being shown up, even though they like to impress themselves with the idea their wealth makes them book-smart.  They are afraid of being laughed at, still. They know they are frauds, but can’t admit it because narcissism drowns all self-reflection.

When money is the bully and the law is the nerd, people whose emotional needs demand domination side with money. When Presidents and Supreme Court justices are Black and female, then the government must be illegitimate. The path to success for those who are less-than white men must be burned and salted. That's what Elmo is busy doing, on behalf of all the discontented bullies who worship him. And because white men protect white men, no one is speaking up. 

So where are the good men now, those Not All Men men who want to mansplain and whitesplain to us on social media. When will they choose sides and take action. Because right now, I think they feel safe, and are cheering on their buds to take charge. 

Update: Excellent article that dovetails with this subject : 

http://www.salon.com/2025/05/16/bro-country-has-curdled/