

Manhood:Badly educated men in rich countries have not adapted well to trade,tech - sergeant3
http://www.economist.com/news/essays/21649050-badly-educated-men-rich-countries-have-not-adapted-well-trade-technology-or-feminism

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hoopd
Almost an interesting except the author found it necessary to (attempt to)
shoehorn it into a feminist narrative.

> "The dead hand of male domination is a problem for women, for society as a
> whole—and for men like those of Tallulah. Their ideas of the world and their
> place in it are shaped by old assumptions about the special role and status
> due to men in the workplace and in the family, but they live in
> circumstances where those assumptions no longer apply."

The author says this right after explaining what these men lost to time are
jobs in factories and fields. They didn't lose a privileged place in society,
they were at the bottom being worked to death and now they don't even have
that. But right next to this is an infographic showing the male share of new
billionaires which has nothing to do with the uneducated men the article is
talking about. It only serves to help the reader keep in mind who the real
victims are. (The infographic of the male share of prisoners appears later)

The author tries to give a balanced picture but to me this is a great example
of how feminism struggles to talk about men's issues in a meaningful way. The
first word of the article is a woman's name, the first statement is a woman
calling men lazy. By the end of the second paragraph the author has painted a
picture of the men the article is about as lazy, gambling and unemployed.

I can't imagine an article ostensibly about women's issues that opens up with
a man explaining these particular women are good for nothing and then the
author trotting out various ideas of why that's the case.

edit: This is just ridiculous. The author suggests that these men need to do
more housework, like maybe that's their real problem, they just can't get with
the program because they're clinging to pre-feminist revolution gender roles.

It's almost a dangerous view, mass unemployment is an economic problem and
instead of discussing it frankly the (anonymous) author would have us focus on
how backwards men are now that the patriarchy isn't showering them in
privilege anymore. It's sad to see thinking this shallow appear in The
Economist.

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kking50
Had the same reaction. How is this on the front page of HN?

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
Consider the role the tech industry has had in the automation of labor and the
resulting unemployment of unskilled workers.

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alphanumeric0
* Poorly educated

~~~
hoopd
The social justice movement demands we be sympathetic to poor people. Using
the word 'poorly' might arouse that sympathy before it's established that the
subjects of the article are dog-fighting degenerates unworthy of it.

