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- Assiniboia, Sask., mother 'terrified' after more sexual assault charges laid against local manÂ
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33 comments
October 8, 2016 at 7:54 am
Carmen
That is a lovely quote from Barbara Alice Mann. :)
Gorgeous here, Arb – hope it’s nice there, too! Can you imagine a place without Octobers?? (L.M. Montgomery sentiment)
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October 8, 2016 at 9:06 am
The Arbourist
@Carmen
I like the quote because it makes you think – and perhaps hope for an alternative to the current bullcookery we happen to be mired in.
Well, if O degrees and light snow is nice, then indeed it is nice. I’m not ready to retire my shorts and sandals quite yet though. The daytime high is still above zero. :)
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October 8, 2016 at 9:44 am
The Arbourist
@Carmen
Just started snowing again. Woo!
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October 8, 2016 at 10:01 am
Carmen
You’re on the wrong side of the country, Arb. It was 26 yesterday (unusual weather for us here) and almost same temp again today. You KNOW I’m still wearing my sandals. :)
I have just been alerted about a possible MRA – you might want to check out this link. I don’t want to comment b/c he’d have access to my email. . . I am really disappointed and sickened. :(
https://godlesscranium.com
(I’m also knee-deep in Thanksgiving preparations for a party of 35 or more people tonight — egads, who do I agree to these things???)
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October 8, 2016 at 10:17 am
syrbal-labrys
This very “thorn” on the religious “rose” is what once led me to rip a novel in half and fling it across the room into a trash can – that cruelty.
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October 8, 2016 at 10:40 am
The Arbourist
@Syrbal
It is the cruel glimpses of patriarchy – the frayed ends of the illusion – that can be such a shock to the system.
To see the fundamental barbarity of the system expressed (thanks religion) is always a disquieting experience.
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October 8, 2016 at 10:42 am
syrbal-labrys
What was worse? It was a female writer doing it to a character, laughingly saying “God isn’t done with him yet!”
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October 8, 2016 at 10:43 am
The Arbourist
@Syrbal
Lovely…. :/
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October 8, 2016 at 11:34 am
The Arbourist
@Carmen
Wow. You sure can find them eh? :) Did my part, we’ll see if reading is a thing for him or not.
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October 8, 2016 at 11:51 am
The Arbourist
@Carmen
Thirty-five? I don’t even have that many facebook ‘friends’. I’m exhausted after doing the family meal thang with 10 people. My hat is off to your event organizing prowess! :)
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October 8, 2016 at 11:58 am
Carmen
I’m too busy to check out the thread. .. grrr. .. later, though! Thanks for adding your stellar thinking to the thread, Arb!!
Have no idea how many will show up tonight – we have a daughter and her family home from another country; they’ll all want to see her. I’ll be ready for vino and a footstool around 10. :)
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October 8, 2016 at 12:35 pm
bleatmop
It always seems to be the person holding the dry end of a stick at any given moment that spouts off the “life isn’t fair” line. Funny how that works.
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October 8, 2016 at 12:57 pm
The Arbourist
@bleatmop
Indeed. :/
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October 8, 2016 at 2:36 pm
NeuroNotes
Arb, thanks for the excellent comment on CG’s post. I was the one who alerted Carmen about the post. I told her that I read it last night just before going to bed. I was literally sick to my stomach, and couldn’t fall sleep until I played tricks on my brain to distract my thoughts.
You and Tildeb have given me much hope that there are men who understand the complexities of this subject. Thank you so much.
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October 8, 2016 at 2:59 pm
john zande
That is good. I was hoping Helen Clark would get the Secretary job at the U.N. for this very reason.
Sadly…
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October 8, 2016 at 3:00 pm
john zande
V, which post?
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October 8, 2016 at 3:06 pm
NeuroNotes
https://godlesscranium.com/2016/10/08/how-feminists-are-failing-people-around-the-world/
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October 8, 2016 at 4:47 pm
The Arbourist
@NN
Thank you. :)
Much of what CG writes is straight out of the oblivious white male handbook :/ We’ll see if he puts his vaunted skepticism into action and learns about what patriarchy actually is.
I often wonder where people get their notions of what feminism is all about from? Where and whatever it is, just isn’t a reliable source.
It is amazing what can happen when one takes the time to listen to, and read the words of women. I’m sorry that this seems to be such a rare skill amongst so much of the men-folk.
And thank you for putting up with all the BS that comes your way from the dudes of the internet. :/
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October 8, 2016 at 6:18 pm
NeuroNotes
Arb, thank you for your thoughtful reply. Just wanted to let you know that he did a followup post, and then plans to do another post addressing your comment.
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October 8, 2016 at 6:24 pm
Carmen
I read through both of his posts. My, my. That guy has definitely been hanging out on MRA sites. Talking about feminists not being outraged about FBM – where has he been? Jesus H. Christ. And who rapes men? Other men, ffs.
Anyone who has read anything about Anita Sarkeesian – and by the way, she was receiving death threats (I believe) when she was in her late 20’s; she’s the same age as our youngest – will know that her criticism of the gaming industry was completely justified.
Ruth gave him a valiant point-on-point argument but he’s like so many men – he cannot put himself in a woman’s shoes. That power position at the top of the heap is just too comfortable. :(
As much as I appreciate yours and Tildeb’s efforts, Arb, it pisses me off that so many men just can’t listen to women.
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October 8, 2016 at 7:57 pm
The Arbourist
@Carmen
I hope your entertaining went well. :)
It is really quite amazing isn’t it. There is this erroneous axiomatic notion that society is a level playing field in society (?!).
Every assumption is based on this erroneous argument, and it ‘informs’ almost every point of view taken.
:/
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October 8, 2016 at 7:58 pm
The Arbourist
@NN
Hoo boy. I cannot wait.
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October 9, 2016 at 4:15 am
Carmen
Of course I meant FGM . .sheesh. .. wrote that last night. Oh, and we ended up with 43 people, as some neighbours came by to see the ‘away’ visitors. :)
I’ve just checked the thread and see that ‘misandry’ has entered the convo. Oh, and then a woman (there are always those) who agrees that men are every bit as disadvantaged in society.
. . . sigh . . .
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October 9, 2016 at 4:36 am
Carmen
I’m just reading through Kelly Oxford (a Canadian author)’s reaction to the tRump debacle (well, the latest one, anyway) and wondering what GC does with information like this. She tweeted her first ‘groping’ and asked for stories from other women. “Oxford’s post went viral, and within an hour, she was receiving two sexual assault stories per second, she said. “Anyone denying rape culture, please look at my timeline now.” She says over a million women have responded and shared their personal accounts of sexual assault and rape.”
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October 9, 2016 at 7:34 am
The Arbourist
@Carmen
Glad your hosting went well. :)
Misandry and the handmaidens – a greatly progressive combo. :>
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October 9, 2016 at 2:00 pm
The Arbourist
@Carmen
I’m just about done with GC. Like most people in his position, he seems to have neither the curiosity nor the inclination to learn. :/
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October 9, 2016 at 2:20 pm
Carmen
I wouldn’t blame you one iota, Arb. His mind seems to be completely made up – there doesn’t seem to be any room for improvement there. Many men go through their whole lives completely unaware – and uncaring – of another way of looking at things. :(
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October 9, 2016 at 2:57 pm
NeuroNotes
I completely understand Arb, and I also agree with Carmen that many men (and even women who believe that a patriarchal system is god ordained) go through their whole lives completely unaware of another way of looking at things. I didn’t get involved because I feel pretty certain that he’s been sucked down an MRA vortex, though he claims he doesn’t identify with MRA’s.
However, he seems to know the MRA script pretty well. He also doesn’t seem to comprehend, as most MRA’s don’t, that their very grip regarding their “rights” and ills should be with the patriarchal system they refuse to acknowledge exists, not feminism. You really can’t reason with such people.
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October 9, 2016 at 10:14 pm
The Arbourist
@NeuralNotes
Always hurts to try, buuut one never knows, a difference might be made one day. :)
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October 10, 2016 at 4:12 am
carmen
As Tildeb is fond of saying, “All we can do is try”. There are always the ‘lurkers’. . ..
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October 10, 2016 at 4:12 am
carmen
As Tildeb is fond of saying, “All we can do is try”. There are always the ‘lurkers’. . ..
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October 10, 2016 at 10:04 am
NeuroNotes
I agree with you both, and hope I didn’t come across as devaluing your time and effort, Arb. I was directing my comment at GC and MR activists who have convinced themselves that they are victims of and oppressed by feminism/ I focus my writings mostly on religion, i.e., Abrahamic faiths, because they continue to reinforce patriarchy.
I watched that video GC posted last night in his new post, and just shook my head. I think it did a greater disservice to his argument about feminism. Not only that, it belittled men as being slaves to their sexual drive, and mental barbarics who fantasize about chopping up their wives.
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October 10, 2016 at 11:37 am
The Arbourist
@NN
Heavens no. :) I was just taking a step back and commenting on the often Sisyphean task reasoning with MRA’s is.
I’m pretty sure MRA’s wouldn’t know oppression if it bit them in the ass – as they seem to equivocate disagreeing with them as ‘oppressing them’.
And you do an amazing job of tackling religious delusion from that angle.
I haven’t stopped shaking my head. :)
Usually when the MRA’s take that route, pointing out that patriarchy hurts men too is the reasonable solution – it doesn’t work, per say, but in a perfect world…
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