Men: Their Own Worst Enemy

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We live in a world where men are under attack for existing. It started long ago. By 1985, Madeline Kahn spoke this line in the movie "Clue": "Men should be like tissues- soft, strong and DISPOSABLE" (emphasis added). Men are competing with and fighting each other, and not for any victory. We have become like crabs in a bucket pulling down the whole group to avoid any of the others from escaping the trap. It's no longer acceptable to be a man or you are referred to as "toxic". It's no longer enough to just be a good person, because men are throwing attention and money at women in order to stand out from the wallpaper. Worst of all, men are corrupting each other, competing with each other, and misleading each other to get access to the women they find worthy of pursuing.

For the past 20 years, the world has gradually escalated its war on men. Gen Z is full of emasculated men who eschew manly behavior. In order to placate the complaints of men about "toxic masculinity" and the shaming language concerning the "sins of the patriarchy", many men in the rising generation are avoiding work and dating because they feel like they are not appreciated as anything other than an ATM. Some of them see it as out of reach given inflation both economically as well as ecumenically. Women consider men only if they are 6 feet tall (15% of the male population), earn more than $100K/year (15% of the American population) and also are willing to work all day and then clean and cook and take care of the woman, who often does nothing during the day but shop and post to tiktok. Many men have decided that it's not worth the effort to stand out from the background. It's not worth it to just break even.

Other men complicate the issue by lathering women with undeserved attention and money. Many men, regardless of generation, simp for women. Women are given money so men can watch them talk or react to videos or play video games. Twenty years ago Gary Larson mocked this in The Far Side, but now there are women who show up and are showered with compliments and cash. This inflates the egos of the women who get paid who believe that because they are showered with attention and money that they are high value or valued by men. Simps lead women to believe that they are above average, and now they are not looking for a quiet, simple life. "What makes Christina Christina is instagram". But most of what we see on social media is fake, and so is the perceived value of the women who post to it.

Worst of all, men engage in behaviors that corrupt each other. Pick up artists encourage men to just use women for bedroom fun. Some men discourage others from dating or give them bad advice so that they are not competitive. Right now there is a "black pill" ideology that preaches enmity between men and women. Men are out there corrupting men, encouraging them to engage in behaviors that are regarded as universally repugnant, teaching men to commit the crimes for which women now punish them. Men used to mentor each other, but now they are encouraging men to engage at things in times or to degrees that make them unfit for long term relationships, especially healthy ones. There is nothing healthy about an obsession with your career or the gym, but men are encouraged to "get on their purpose" and that this will somehow lead women to be interested in them or to treat women like they don't care and that this will bring women into their lives who make healthy partners. It's amazing how men are now eating each other for access to the women that remain appealing to men as wives and mothers.

Only the top shelf men will benefit from this. They will continue to get the great share of attention, wealth, and respect, not because they deserve it, but because the rest of men are showing to all the world that none of them are worthy. Whether we defraud each other or shame each other into doing things contrary to our nature, whether we undermine other men by helping their women cheat with us or by pumping up their ego by giving them money and attention for free, men are losing no matter where they turn. In the information age where we are bombarded by information which is shared based on popularity rather than virtue, the most prominent channels and advice actually come from sources that undermine men. Men are making decisions that will make them single. And children will suffer most.

Sidewalk Food Trucks

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On the way to work, I pass at least three separate places where you can buy tamales. In each case, the tamales are being sold out of a cooler in the back of a truck. Some of them are in vacant lots. All of them are on private property. Why can these people sell food without a food card, a business license, and on someone else's private property, but if I want to open a business, I need a license, a food handler permit, and an actual establishment?

Until a few months ago, there were two food places on the sidewalk alongside a church building I drive past on the way to work. One of these was also a tamale truck, sold out of a cooler in a van under the shade of trees in the church parking lot. The other was a fruit and drink stand on the other side of the church, in the shade of the trees on the sidewalk. Apparently, someone from the congregation finally confronted them, but why do these people think they can use other people's property to purvey their wares? I would have to get a building. Sometimes I get hit up to buy tamales in the grocery store parking lot or walmart, again out of the back of a truck and out of a cooler. Doesn't seem like these businesses should be allowed to use that property, or does this set a precedence for ME to start a business (car wash, oil change, food stand, etc.) in the Walmart parking lot and let them pay to clean the pavement, light the lot and secure it?

Some of the mobile food trucks probably have licenses, because they at least have license plates. Many of the people who own them park them on private property when they are not working, but at least those people have established a legitimate business. Who gave them permission to sell anything? I get hit up by people trying to clean my windows, refresh my headlights, sell me (knockoff probably) licensed merchandise from Disney or the NFL, or food constantly. I doubt very much that these people have an actual business license. This also means they are not PAYING TAXES on their business. Even legitimate business owners I know admit to preferring cash jobs so they don't have to report it as a sale or a job. When I do things for people, I always tell them that I'm not a licensed contractor and that, especially since I typically do the work for free, they got what they paid for.

Safety is my primary concern as a scientist. Last December I bought a burrito at a food truck in Barcelona and got food poisoning. Who is vouchsafing the tamales for safety? I don't know how they were cooked, I don't know how long they have been there, and I don't know about the health habits of those purveying the food. There is a reason they require a food handler's card for places like McDonalds. You will be giving food to PAYING CUSTOMERS. So what's your recourse if you get sick? Probably none. What if you catch Trypanosoma gondii? Too bad. Tape worms? Too bad.

I'm not usually a fan of government, but I am also not a fan of anarchy. I recently watched "A Knight's Tale" again and noticed them selling cat meat and hot wine at the joust and thought that was disturbing. There are tons of parasites out there. There are tons of diseases out there. THere are tons of criminals out there. I don't see how we're doing people a favour by turning a blind eye to some because it's "too much trouble" while requiring others to comply. The IRS is requiring some companies to report if you earn $600 in income; I earned $611 on ebay this year, so I'll get to pay taxes. Maybe I should be selling tamales out of my garage instead, because I could probably make more money and have zero consequences. But that's not how I roll.