Incels, Nazis and Entitlement
John Scalzi is running a Reader Request Week on his site, and on request, he decided to hit the "incel" movement with a large stick. If you don't know what "incel" means, it's short for "involuntary celibacy" and is used by a group of white men who aren't having enough sex with women they consider hot. Herewith, some thoughts.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Hitler and the Nazi Party had some legitimate grievances with the then-current order of things. However, their horrible, bad and no-good response to those grievances mean that, almost 80 years after the start of WWII, just saying "the Nazis had legitimate grievances" is mildly controversial.
Thus unto the incels. It's no accident that the people who adopt that label are the same demographic that brought you 99 of the past 100 mass shootings. These white males have chosen to wrap their grievances in the same Cloak of Entitlement that Joe Mass Shooter uses for his. Their theory is "I am owed this by society and if they don't give it to me I will punish society." The difference between Joe Mass Shooter and Joe Incel is that the later has a specific want, namely hot and cold running sex on demand, while the former's wants are more vague.
It's no accident that one of the first things to happen in an AA meeting is everybody individually saying "I'm an alcoholic." That's the first step in addressing the problem - recognizing it as a problem with yourself. Until that happens, little can be done to help the sufferer. Until somebody founds "Incels Anonymous" and people start joining, all society can do is penalize bad behavior when we see it.
Ross Douthat emitted an article on the subject. What his article missed was that society has always had incels. What's changed is the criterion for becoming one. In societies where women were the property of men, a man of sufficient stature would be provided a woman. I (unfortunately) mean "provided" in the most literal sense, in that some family would decide that offering their daughter in marriage made sense, regardless of the daughter's opinion in the matter. Men who were not of sufficient stature were left out in the cold.
In short, then, the incel movement will get no help because they have become so toxic as to be unapproachable.
This entry was originally posted at https://chris-gerrib.dreamwidth.org/694947.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Hitler and the Nazi Party had some legitimate grievances with the then-current order of things. However, their horrible, bad and no-good response to those grievances mean that, almost 80 years after the start of WWII, just saying "the Nazis had legitimate grievances" is mildly controversial.
Thus unto the incels. It's no accident that the people who adopt that label are the same demographic that brought you 99 of the past 100 mass shootings. These white males have chosen to wrap their grievances in the same Cloak of Entitlement that Joe Mass Shooter uses for his. Their theory is "I am owed this by society and if they don't give it to me I will punish society." The difference between Joe Mass Shooter and Joe Incel is that the later has a specific want, namely hot and cold running sex on demand, while the former's wants are more vague.
It's no accident that one of the first things to happen in an AA meeting is everybody individually saying "I'm an alcoholic." That's the first step in addressing the problem - recognizing it as a problem with yourself. Until that happens, little can be done to help the sufferer. Until somebody founds "Incels Anonymous" and people start joining, all society can do is penalize bad behavior when we see it.
Ross Douthat emitted an article on the subject. What his article missed was that society has always had incels. What's changed is the criterion for becoming one. In societies where women were the property of men, a man of sufficient stature would be provided a woman. I (unfortunately) mean "provided" in the most literal sense, in that some family would decide that offering their daughter in marriage made sense, regardless of the daughter's opinion in the matter. Men who were not of sufficient stature were left out in the cold.
In short, then, the incel movement will get no help because they have become so toxic as to be unapproachable.
This entry was originally posted at https://chris-gerrib.dreamwidth.org/694947.html. Please comment there using OpenID.