I can't be the only one?

TheFishOwnsYou · 2023-02-28T15:54:04+00:00

Generally, I feel abadonned by the "left". The "left" no longer seems to represent left-wing views, but rather whatever capitalist liberal groups had the most money to organize and do propaganda to hijack the left. But no matter how much the pseudo-leftists show hatred towards who I was born as, I still hold leftist views, because I'm not aligned to an arbitrary side, I merely hold these views based on my life experience. I wish there was funding to fuel the left wing male advocacy. As someone who went homeless multiple times despite working full-time and being a very peaceful, clean person solely on the basis of female candidates being prioritized over me, especially in already mixed-sex apartments, I'm tired. I'm also tired as someone who was born sick and I'm still being mistreated by doctors who are too lazy/unqualified to diagnose anything besides the common issues of my issue being hijacked as a "female" issue. I'm very tired of issues commonly mostly affecting males being ignored or even vilified for being spoken of, while issues which affect both male and female people get hijacked to be a "female issue". I'm sure this sub would've been bigger had not so many been too tired to participate. I myself frequently have trouble looking at this. I know ignoring the issues doesn't make them go away, but am I tired of being reminded of them, especially when I'm dealing with my own...

Troll4everxdxd · 2023-02-28T16:08:27+00:00

I just wanted to say that I greatly appreciate your research and your dedication in giving visibility to lots of men's and boy's issues that often are overlooked or taken as "something normal".

Both conservativism and progressivism only address them to advance their political agendas only to discard them immediately. And even then, they only address them on a very superficial level.

Lots of anti-feminists only denounce female on male abuse when they want to throw shit at feminism. Outside of that they shrug it off, or they joke about male on male abuse a la "don't drop the soap".

Lots of feminists only seem to acknowledge men's problems "as a side effect of patriarchy", which is basically an indirect way of saying "men's problems are their own fault, they should focus on helping women to eliminate patriarchy, and then, magically their problems will disappear".

Teenage boys are dragged to movements and people who ultimately don't give a shit about them, whether is Tate telling them they should be misogynistic violent and self destructive, or the average upper class progressive chastising them for their "toxic masculinity".

Yours seems to be one of the most honest and hardworking attempts to address males' problems and I'm grateful for it. It's all very enlightening.

NullableThought · 2023-02-28T18:10:37+00:00

Most people don't actually care about broader ethics and equality. They care about themselves, their loved ones, and their immediate community, in that order. Most people who call themselves leftists are not actually leftists. They just want to be viewed as being "on the right side of history" regardless of actually being ethically right or wrong.

I'm extremely left and libertarian. On a political compass map, I land on the very bottom, left corner. Yet I've been banned from multiple "leftist" subs for being "not a leftist" because I think making blanket moral judgement on people based on immutable characteristics is bigotry. But apparently "the left" disagrees and thinks being a cishet white man is a choice only dangerous assholes choose.

MRA_TitleIX · 2023-02-28T19:07:31+00:00

I feel this hard. People try and brand me as alt right for supporting men's rights.

I'm left wing, I just don't identify with the American left, and that doesn't make me American right.

TheTinMenBlog · 2023-02-28T15:02:19+00:00

I am not interested in being popular, or being ‘liked’.

I am not interested in winning awards, getting brand deals, or garnering social media currency.

There are no coupons, free trials, or discount codes at thetinmen.

I do not want to post videos of me doing a dance, or tweet expletives, or shout angrily into my phone. And I am not interested in the brittle social justice warriors of Instagram that poke, and prod, and whinge, and whine.

I am not here to regurgitate catch phrases, make you feel comfortable, or tell you things you want to hear. I am here to be useful. I am here to change your mind.

I want to present ideas that help the greatest number of people, in the greatest possible way.

I am trying to be right, not popular. I am here to give you a voice, words, and whatever wisdom I can offer. To throw stones at popular convention, to rock the boat, and sit in the discomfort. Whether these ideas are palatable is immaterial to me. And whether they get me blocked, banned or banished; will never stop me from sharing them.

I’ll be honest, those who have made this journey most difficult, are my fellow left wingers. Yes, the people so reluctant to change and so allergic to compassion, are ironically, those who won’t stop preaching about it.

And I am bored of being called silly names by these people, for simply making my compassion complete and my beliefs consistent.

Yes. I am ashamed of my fellow lefties.

Ashamed of how their political advocacy seems more interested in looking good, than being right. I am ashamed of their virtuous purity contests, their hang wringing and grifts.

I am ashamed of how they alienate good, kind and compassionate people from their cause, casting them out into the camp of so called ‘politically homeless’ individuals such as myself.

So what has happened to the left?

And where does this leave you?

~

Sources [1] [2] [3]

Image by Gradienta, A-Z, Cat Han, Dan Cristian Padure, Dmitry Vechorko, and Kiwi Hug from Unsplash.

MelissaMiranti · 2023-02-28T15:38:32+00:00

This is why most feminists now are right wing. They still have a conception of an in-group and an out-group, just like the right wing, but because it's a different set of people feminists think they're not right wing.

hotpotato138 · 2023-02-28T15:20:57+00:00

If they don't recognize men's issues, they don't have egalitarian values.

punkerthanpunk · 2023-02-28T18:09:55+00:00

modern left-wing fails to address the issues that men face,and right wing oppose feminism out of pure conservatism.I feel lost

pachafunkadelic · 2023-02-28T16:38:43+00:00

Postmodern leftism, also knownnas extravagant left is no longer marxist and no longer about equity

echonian · 2023-03-01T09:06:51+00:00

I agree with you in principle.

But the difficult thing to define is always: what counts as being "Left Wing"?

Being "Left Wing" is about as meaningless of a phrase nowadays as saying you are a "Liberal" or a "Conservative" or a "Libertarian." Because not only do countless people use those labels incorrectly for personal convenience (especially "Left Wing"), but opponents of those who use those labels often are totally incapable of understanding who they are attacking - labeling millions of people for simplicity.

I consider myself Left-Wing, but I always have to clarify that this refers to me supporting more left-wing economic systems (such as Social Democracy, or even outright Democratic Socialism if done properly through gradual change). It also means I support more progressive social change than those who are "Right-Wing" in a "conservative" manner.

Ultimately, that means that I think everybody should be treated based on their individual character rather than based on their inherent characteristics they have no choice in, and while we should consider statistical factors associated with arbitrary groups of people - we should never allow those statistics to allow for a blatant excuse to mistreat or discriminate against people who have done nothing wrong.

In the case of Male Issues in particular, it's simple to see differences between the sexes in terms of social policies and demand improvements. But I would never use the fact that women are often treated better than men by society as an excuse to be hateful or discriminatory towards women.

Others however don't agree with this sort of mindset on the so-called "Left Wing."

To many others, the sins of a group's past should always reflect on individuals of the present.

This is easy enough to see when people start acting like it's okay to be hateful towards men, or towards people with certain skin colors that aren't socially protected in the modern day, or towards people of certain political or religious backgrounds, in modern times. Plenty of those hateful people claim to be "Left-Wing" yet they will openly support discrimination and hatred based on arbitrary characteristics, as long as those they are discriminatory against happen to be "okay" to discriminate against on a social level.

As far as I am concerned, if you think that mass discrimination versus individuals based on something like their sex or race is acceptable, then you aren't "Left-Wing" in any reasonable sense I would support.

But No True Scotsman would ever agree with that.

House_of_Raven · 2023-02-28T15:33:29+00:00

That’s why I’ve always remarked that the political map is more of a U shape. People end up going so far left that they end up back on the far right, just for a different demographic.

SinisterMJ · 2023-03-01T11:20:07+00:00

Honestly, my opinion is that feminism is bordering authoritarianism. I am basically at the exact same position on the political compass, but I feel up and down is more important than left or right. People supporting the upper 2 quadrants are tyrants that hope to belong to the oppressing group.

Grow_peace_in_Bedlam · 2023-03-01T11:30:07+00:00

Thank you for this, /u/TheTinMenBlog! I am so sick of people associating men's advocacy with right-wing politics when a consistent application of leftist principles would necessarily result in concern for men's issues.

Plus, leftism is supposed to be centered on workers' rights (even though PMC liberals have tried their hardest to tear the left away from its roots in economic justice), and men are still the sex most pressured to participate in the capitalist rat race, so workers' rights and men's rights have a pretty huge natural overlap.

sexyfrikinllama · 2023-03-01T00:18:57+00:00

No you're not alone, I'm honestly ashamed to call myself a liberal, but it's better than the alternative.

Professional-You2968 · 2023-03-01T06:30:17+00:00

Feminism is just another religion/cult. A true progressives will stand against cults.

rammo123 · 2023-02-28T22:19:58+00:00

My only criticism of this post is that it comes off a little "gatekeepy". I think someone can still be left wing while holding right wing views of men's rights (mostly because of ignorance and indoctrination).

I've been accused on being right wing so often despite 95% of my views being leftwing, simply because I'm a bit more ambivalent on the 5%.

I think it's safer (if not wordier) to say something like "...then your views on gender are not left wing".

PsychologicalChart9 · 2023-03-01T10:43:55+00:00

As a trans woman traitor (jk lol), maybe I shouldn't interrupt you in this here male space, but given that my male socialization, was a huge reason as to why it first of all took me so long to realize; as well as knowing how the general mistrust of men a lot of people feel, is literally one of the key reasons, that hate groups are fighting against my right to exist; men's issues is still a cause, I hold near and dear to my heart.

I've criticized MRAs in the past, for labeling feminism as the problem men face, when this is just as clearly a symptom of patriarchy, as the issues women face are. Any leftist that refuses to engage with these issues, and automatically group men's rights in with the right-wing, is thoroughly misguided. I understand that men are usually also the perpetrators of the violence men face for example, but how does that make the issue less systemic? How would that argument, not be seen similarly to the right-wing talking point of "black-on-black crime", when talking about systemic racial issues?

I would honestly hope though, that your assessment of how many of those there are, is skewed a bit high. Because while the statements you make in your post here themselves are true (like that you aren't left-wing if you inherently oppose fixing the issues men face), the oppositional framing implies that the problem is the reason they aren't addresses. Whereas IMHO, I just think these issues are often co-opted by right-wingers and grifters, and not enough leftists are taking up the torch, dedicating themselves to talk about these things. But it is important, and if you get the impression that most of the left opposes you on that belief, I don't think you're right. I think the majority would love to have someone on the left, that doesn't undermine the rights of other population groups, that historically have been more directly suppressed.

While this is not a cause I will be able to champion anymore, without it perhaps coming across a bit iffy, it is definitely one I can still get behind. There's no doubt in my mind, that a huge part of many of the problems we all face, including those that men are the perpetrators of, is directly correlated with the lack of focus we've had on them. So speak up!, and keep speaking up!, no matter what the fringe groups that try to oppose you say. Though, perhaps do take the discussion's reputation into account, and avoid being too antagonizing in your tonal choice.

patxiku93 · 2023-03-05T21:05:12+00:00

There's a hard divide between the more classical liberty, equality, fraternity type leftism from Neo-Marxism. To the point that the former isn't considered leftist by the later.

Title	I can't be the only one?
Author	TheTinMenBlog
Upvotes	417
Comments	81
Date	February 28, 2023 3:02 PM UTC (3 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/11e9vg3/i_cant_be_the_only_one/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/i-cant-be-the-only-one.1154059 https://theredarchive.com/post/1154059

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