It is sometimes a relief to turn to other subject matter besides the conflicts between nations, and/or between factions within nations. The Weinstein Affair, with which surely every human that can read the English language has been bombarded for weeks now, (with no let-up in sight), is only being represented in our mass media from one side.

"Divide et impera" (divide and rule), saith Caesar, as he explained his grand strategy for Gaul to his lieutenants.

'They', (those who own all our mass media), exploit racial frictions to create divisions as wide and virulent as they can. They pit people who talk with one accent against those who talk with another. They convince the common people, we plebeians, into regarding anyone who does not share the exact same beliefs, (religious, political, cultural, or otherwise), as vile enemies.  

What more basic human foible could there possibly be for 'them' to exploit than the natural frictions between the conflicting natural priorities of male and female humans? What could serve any rulers' desire to 'divide and rule' more than doing everything they can to destroy all basic trust, and create divisive frictions, between male and female citizens? 

Do some actually think that these sensationalized 'male miscreant' stories, assaulting our consciousness one after the other, are innocently incidental, that there is no ulterior intent involved? Do we think that this is not yet another facet of the execrable ideology of Identity Politics, which neo-liberal forces are using to spread 'human freedom' in every nation that has resources they want to exploit? 

Well....If so, maybe you're right. Any stories involving sex have always been sensationalized. But to this extent? This constantly? This persistently?  

Well...maybe....I guess.... but to me, with my experience on this fair Earth, learning the vagaries of human nature, (and I've been around since Gandhi and I briefly breathed the same air, under the same moon), I can feel the 'mind', the purpose, behind this ongoing cultural phenomenon.

Maybe it's just my own ability to project myself into other realities, to inhabit other perspectives besides my own. I know for sure that if I was among the Super Wealthy Elite that rule over us, and I owned and controlled ALL our mass media, I would be VERY eager to use this powerful tool to exploit the full potential of every culturally divisive set of events, like the Weinstein Affair, that would cause more strife among the citizens I ruled over. (The means of communication are the means of power).

That's what I'd do. Are any of us so naive that we think that the people who own and control ALL our mass media haven't thought of it yet, or else have sensitive moral compunctions against doing what I'd do? 

Really? Well....maybe......Maybe I'm just more depraved in what I can imagine doing, than people who butcher, and starve, and otherwise torture the lives of other people by the millions would think of doing?  

Anyway....as much as it is a relief to turn to a 'cultural' rather than 'political' topic, in the end we are forced to realize that it's ALL 'political' in the final analysis. Even the age-old 'sexual politics' of the 'battle of the sexes', is, in the end, a means for the few to rule over the many. It is yet one more means for them to have, and keep, all the wealth and power in their hands.

Or....hey....maybe I'm just paranoid? Could be...(Don't forget that just because you may be paranoid, that doesn't mean that someone ISN'T out to get you....LOL....)

If any think that my thoughts here, and in the piece copied below, (and attached as a Word.doc), would be of interest to anyone else, please feel free to post them anywhere you see fit.

Best to all:

R Zwarich

What’s the Game, Ladies?

My mama taught me that there are two sides (at least) to every story. Like most all men, my mother had a profound formative influence over my life. (She also taught me to be a 'gentleman', of course). It sure seems to me that amidst the general Weinstein flap, (often rising to a rather hysterical pitch), a perspective very common among almost exactly half the citizenry, (that of the male persuasion), is being ignored. 

When I was a young man still in my ‘roaring twenties’, (my biological 'juices' still pretty much controlling most of my behavior), I had a close friend who is gay. (He’s still my friend, all these years later). I'm straight myself, but wasn't homophobic, and often took risks in order to learn as much as I could about life.

There was a price to pay, of course. (As there always is). Many of my rugby buddies, for example, thought I was secretly gay. But I never cared much. (Give me the ball in my hands, and the other boys had a bit of a problem to deal with).

Anyway....my gay buddy talked me into going into a gay bar with him. Well....Uhh….I was a tall and strong young lad, and not entirely bad to look at, and when I walked into that bar, it took no more than an INSTANT to fully understand women's predicament.

The gleam of lust in male eyes is akin to a demon’s light. It was actually pretty scary. I wasn't scared of these people. I had many gay friends. But in that ‘pickup’  atmosphere, I encountered that demon directly, for the first time, let out of its cage, to roam freely, unrestrained. 

It was truly frightening.

It is inherently dangerous to be a female human. Male lust is a VERY powerful force. Most females don't seem to really understand how this demon can sometimes possess the spirit of even the ‘nicest’ guy.

Women also do not seem to understand that this same demon is a threat to other men, (not just to women), as jealousy over the attention of a female can provoke even deadly, (as in shot dead), behavior between males.

Going to any singles bar is a ‘wild west’ experience for males. (Thankfully, we’re no longer allowed to wear a six-gun slung low at our sides). I was big and strong, and could ‘handle myself’ pretty well whenever the situation demanded, so I never felt intimidated, but I always appreciated that this must have been a far different experience for smaller, weaker males.

So….(ladies, are you listening?)….The ‘demon’ of male lust is not just a dangerous threat to women, it is a dangerous threat to both men AND women.

Any man out there can experience first hand, (today if you wanted to), what women have to ‘go through’ constantly. Here’s how:

I used to like to drink beer sitting in my car while parked in public parks. After a hard day’s work it was ‘miller time’ pretty much every day. Few people worked at hard physical labor as hard as I did, and after work, those six beers,  (and usually a bit of ‘smoke’) were my reward.

I didn’t like to spend my ‘happy hour’ in bars, mostly because I’m such a skinflint. The price of a single beer in a bar was more than a six-pack. I also liked being alone with my thoughts, however, before returning home to the four ‘women’ in my life, my wife and three daughters. Once home, they had my complete attention. 

Anyway…..I learned early on that public parks are big ‘cruising’ places for gay men. Any man sitting alone in his car will be regarded by lusting gay ‘cruisers’ as a possible ‘conquest’. These men will drive up beside you and leer at you. Aye, the face of ‘the demon’ will stare directly into your eyes. Hardly five minutes or so will pass before a new one comes by, or else a previous one makes another ‘try’.

Any guy can do this. Today…..Just get yourself a couple cold ones, (or a ‘40’), in a brown paper sack, park your car in or beside some public park, (and watch out for cops before you take your furtive sips, or ‘tokes’, as the case may be). It won’t take long, (doing this exercise), for any reasonably attractive guy, (or even any pretty ordinary guy), to learn what women have to go through CONSTANTLY. (CONSTANTLY !!!)

For any guys who don’t know, it’s a real ‘Be-atch’. No joke….

But….but….what could be done about it? It can NOT be ‘illegal’ for these men to seek to gratify their basic biological urges. Yea…it sometimes pissed me off when I was in a bad mood, (“get the f*ck away from me and leave me alone!!”), but I always tried to remember that these guys were just people with “hungry hearts”, (apologies to Springsteen).

Do women REALLY want to make it ‘illegal’ for men to be men?

That ‘demon’, male lust, is a natural force of nature. ANY male can attest that at times it can become as powerful a force as gravity itself.

Almost ALL men, (the ‘almost’ is key here), learn to keep this demon under their control. Almost all men manage to keep it under control to the extent that we are able to comport themselves as ‘gentlemen’, almost all the time.

(Again…the ‘almost’ is key. Few men survive their twenties without memories they might likely want to forget. I certainly have a couple of my own, which still cause me to cringe in shame when I recall them).

Most all men manage to keep The Demon in check, most all the time. But there’s ALWAYS going to be exceptions. We’re just never going to make humans ‘perfect’.

Women can complain all they want, (from now ‘til doomsday), but they are NEVER going to succeed at eradicating that Demon, male lust, from our human condition.

The pinnacle of human irony, of course, is that they don’t really even want to. Being objects of male desire is a VERY large desire of human females. It is a very large part of what it is to be a female human. The ladies just wish that The Demon would submit to their command.

Ain’t gonna happen, ‘girls’.

It just isn’t.

(And believe me, most men wish that The Demon would submit to OUR command, as well, as that little ‘brain’ in our trousers causes us so much consternation, so often). 

If men could control this Demon completely, we would. If we could free ourselves entirely of this compulsive ‘lust’ that drives us constantly, (more in young men than in old goats like me, of course, but it hasn’t left me yet, at almost 70, I can tell you…LOL…), except when we want to revel in it, that’s what we would do, because that would eliminate women’s power over us.

Do you think we really like constantly groveling before women for your favors? (An old saying: Women like sex, but men NEED sex). If we could control this Demon at our command, women would lose their power over us. Do women think we like women having this power over us?

The noted American historians, Will and Ariel Durant, (husband and wife for over 60 years, as I recall), wrote: “The greater sexual urgency in the male will always give females a large share of raw power, regardless of how any nation’s, or any society’s laws are made”.   

Anyway….Almost all men are able to be ‘gentlemen’, but almost all modern women, on the other hand, expend great effort, at considerable expense, (billions of dollars per year), doing their best to rattle that Demon’s cage as aggressively as they can.

Can any women out there quell their bizarre knee-jerk “you’re blaming the victim” politically correct ideology to a sufficient extent to attain a truer understanding of ‘the problem’ here?

Women are now parading themselves around in public in completely transparent clothing, with what amounts to strategic band-aids guarding their bodies’ most private places, (and sometimes not even that), as these pictures demonstrate: ( http://www.vh1.com/news/497/the-most-scandalously-see-through-outfits-in-red-carpet-history/ )

What’s this ‘game’ here girls? Flaunt it…. then have us ‘arrested’ if we look?

Which man among us has not talked to a beautiful woman in a very low cut top, who dares us to ‘look’, demanding that we ignore ‘the goods’, and keep our eyes ‘up’, looking into hers? Is this game ‘fun’, ladies? Taunting us but making us be ‘good little boys’ if we want to earn your favors?

Isn’t teasing The Demon your way of experiencing your own female demon’s raw power? (Do we know the ‘Lilith’ mythology, the femme fatal, the women whose self-serving designs leave the ruins of so many men in their wake? Do we think only men are psychopaths and/or sociopaths?) 

C’mon, folks……fer crissakes…..The behavior of men and women in a society is intricately intertwined. The behavior of one gender affects the behavior of the other.

Assigning all ‘blame’ for this SERIOUS social malady to either gender alone, or to either gender more than the other, is entirely counterproductive.

Humans will always be human. Men did NOT choose to have this Demon within us.

God or Nature, (your choice), made us this way.

If we want to create solutions to this SERIOUS social problem, both men AND women are going to have to become MUCH more self-aware. 

The rote knee-jerk attitudes now being rather hysterically sensationalized in our mass media, (especially the totally over-the-top ‘bonfire of the witches vanities’, as so many shrill man-haters are reveling in their heyday), are only going to exacerbate the problem.     

        **