When men dare to question ...

Interesting.

Someone posted the question today on Facebook asking why we do not have an International Men's Day. The response from one woman is that men are not disenfranchised. I disagree with this assertion, men are disenfranchised.

Men are denied the fulfillment of basic physiological needs when they are told they have no right to sexual fulfillment (numerous social policy considerations on that point, alone). They are denied the right of fatherhood when women abort a child to get revenge for some perceived wrong by the man. They are denied the right of fatherhood when a woman demands full custody of their children, then denies his right of visitation, even when the court orders it. The worst cases are when she moves out of state, not even letting the man know where they are.

The financial rights of men are denied when women insist on "renegotiating" child support or alimony payments after the man gets a better job or otherwise becomes successful in life. Men are denied their right to live freely when a woman falsely accuses him of rape or child molestation, ending with him, at very least, spending time in jail trying to prove his innocence. Men are denied their right of free association when women insist on having access to private clubs for men, even though they militarily defend their right to women-only facilities and events. Men are denied the right to free speech and freedom of the press when feminists attack them for even asking questions like the above or gather together to hold meetings to consider such questions.

While some may think men are not disenfranchised, the evidence says otherwise.

Are women oppressed and disenfranchised? In all too many ways, they are. They are underpaid, under-served by the healthcare industry, harassed by even the simplest of bodily functions, particularly if they are breastfeeding a child, and are too frequently discouraged from "men's" work occupations that there is no reason but tradition behind.

The problem as I see it is neither side has ever actually sat down with the other to hammer out an understanding of the issues. Each has always expected the other to bend to their will and needs without question or discussion and this is where our problem is.

Everyone needs to accept that the concept of rights and privileges is a two-way street. Room needs to be made and left for the others of society to have a say and to have their needs met. Just as women need their rights and needs respected and met, men need their rights and needs equally respected and met. Men and women both need to remember that we cannot have children, for example, without each other and that this is a fundamental part of our gender identity.

We need to return to the concepts of ''communal manhood'' and ''communal womanhood'' where our identity was not tied to the size of our bank accounts, how many ''baby mamas'' we got pregnant, or how many people we have beaten up or crushed under our occupational heels. Under communal identity, we should be measuring our maturity by our contribution to society and by the level of personal development we have achieved. Equally, we need to accept and respect the fact that our definitions of ''manhood'' and ''womanhood'' need to be revisited and revised.

Maybe its time we actually started a mature conversation instead of dismissing each other so casually.

Who are we? (an open letter to my cousins and critics)

I woke up this morning thinking about who we are as a nation and as a species. Speaking as a citizen of the United States, I have come to realize that who we are as a nation and as a species has fundamentally changed.

Historically, we have been warriors, explorers and innovators. Today, we are cowards and leaches. Mind you, I am not condemning humanity, but trying to get everyone to think about what is happening to us.

Take my cousins for example. They condemn me because I am an SSI recipient. I have worked for many years with a bad back and other health issues, but I worked none-the-less. For the past ten years, I have not been able to. My health issues overcame me, but I am in the process of retooling, preparing once again to enter the workforce, albeit in a radically different occupation than I have performed in the past. What they condemn me for is the fact that, as I have been undergoing this process of retooling, I have received poverty-level assistance from the U.S. government.

My cousins, on the other hand, work in the agricultural industry for companies that report high profits almost every year and who, should those profits fall below a certain point, file for bankruptcy protections while they accept government subsidies to retool their corporations (money that more often than not ends up in the pockets of the top ten company executives instead). These companies receive tax incentives from the local communities for locating their operating facilities in those communities, preferential tax treatment from the states for maintaining their in-state operations, and even more money from the federal government on the basis that we "have" to support critical infrastructure such as food production.

I, by the way, have never filed bankruptcy nor have I taken more money from the government than I absolutely need for basic necessities. At the moment, I am technically "without fixed address", using the community recreation centers for showering, living off of the cheapest (and generally least healthy) foods, and riding the public buses to get anywhere I need to go. Unlike the accusations from my cousins, I am not sitting on my "fat a**" watching porn videos to pass my days.

What I am is a man. A man who six months ago completed his Bachelor's degree (finally) with a 3.96 GPA and started his Master's degree course work four months ago (currently with a 4.0 GPA). I am working on numerous manuscripts on topics ranging from experimental mythology to space advocacy that I hope to have ready for market soon. I am also a graphic artist, website administrator and political activist seeking to use my skills to create a new source of self-sufficiency. I am not a sponge on society, but doing what I can to improve both society and myself.

While having lunch with my mother yesterday, I came to learn that I will be the first in my family (on either side) to hold a Master's degree. I am also a man who no longer cares what my cousins think. While I am comfortable with who I am and who I am becoming, I am not so comfortable about who we are as a nation and as a species.

We are a species that considers itself enlightened, but we are also a species of paradox. We put a man on the moon (several of them, actually) and sent robotic explorers out into the cosmos. But we are also a species who batters and abuses our fellow human beings. We are a species who has overcome numerous diseases, but cannot overcome our propensity towards hating those who are different. We are a species who idolizes our athletes and celebrities who entertain us, but demonizes our scientists and intellectuals who try to protect us from developing threats to our survival. We are the creators of divine, inspiring art, but also of the atom bomb and toxic chemicals.

We have great hope as a species, but also live under self-imposed dangers. While human civilization is at a perceived all-time high, there is still much work to be done to ensure our survival. I am retooling myself to be a part of that struggle, cousins. What are you doing?

The Greatest Key to Success

"I never let schooling interfere with my education"
Mark Twain

I've been studying some of the great social and political movements of the past. By great I mean those that were found significant enough to be kept in our history books and legends. I find myself struck by a profound truth. I shall reveal it in a moment.

People in our society have some funny ideas about the keys to success. Yet I find myself realizing that most of them are lies.

Lie #1 - Education leads to success

Under this lie, it is assumed that one cannot be successful without a college degree. This has manifested itself in our society through the assumption that for most occupations candidates must have at least a bachelors degree to be taken seriously. Evidence that this assumption is a lie can be found by looking to successful men like Bill Gates who dropped out of college to start working in the computer field. We all know what happened with that.

Lie #2 - Great wealth assures success

With rare exception, accumulated wealth seldom survives more than two generations before disappearing into oblivion. Too often the children of wealthy individuals have no appreciation for the wealth responsible for their upper class lifestyle and clearly no ideas on perpetuating it into the future. Instead of absorbing this appreciation and knowledge from their parents, they become spoiled and lazy, guaranteeing their future failure.

Lie #3 - Poverty guarantees failure

Men like Chris Gardner are proof this is a lie. Chris Gardner raised himself from a poor, homeless father to being one of our nation's top, successful stock industry experts. Mr. Gardner is also a living example of the profound truth I have finally come to recognize.

Note that I did not say I discovered the truth, but said I finally recognized the truth. The truth was there all along and used quite effectively by men like Bill Gates and Chris Gardner. This truth has a name.

Allow me to introduce Personal Motivation.

Personal Motivation is a sad, lonely fellow in many cases. Like most of us, people pass by personal motivation everyday, never noticing its there, waiting in the dusty wings of our minds. Personal motivation survives on crusts of dreams and quenches its thirst with our flights of wishful thinking. The personal motivation of most people subsists much like the homeless citizens of our inner city.

People like Bill Gates and Chris Gardner have rescued their personal motivations from the streets and proven how powerful personal motivations can be. From the margins of society, these two men have built personal empires that most of America envies without ever realizing they too can have such success.

We as activists can learn much from men like these. We too have our dreams; dreams of what our world could be like, if only we would address the many problems facing our civilization. The one thing lacking, most of the time, is our own personal motivation.

Too many times we feel our activism is done because we have no choice. To truly have the energy and dedication necessary we must awaken our personal motivation. For me, mine was awakened by the revelation that it is my nieces and nephews who are going to bear the brunt of the issues we have failed to address over the years. I love them dearly and have no desire to leave the world in such a mess, no more than I would leave a gun and ammunition laying around the house when they visit.

My personal motivation is to improve our society not for myself, but for those who come after us. But the truth is, I cannot do it alone. I need the help and mutual assistance of all those who wish to improve our society. I read postings and blog entries every day from people worried about where our society is and where it is going. I say its time to do something about it. We have the technology to fix many of the problems in our world. Those that cannot be fixed by technology will no doubt take greater effort, but we can do it!

All we need is the motivation.