The problem with relying on literature for advice is that it has always been consumed mainly by women. The first novels in China and Japan were romance novels for women (Tale of Genji, Dream of the Red Chamber), and the Victorian novels repeated the pattern. To see what women really want through literature you need to be able to read and comprehend women’s thoughts, which doesn’t come naturally to men.
For most men this is a waste of time. They will never get it, and thank God for that! If all men devoted themselves to “understanding” women there would be no other accomplishments to speak of.
Just teach men to view society in a hierarchical manner, with women beneath them as their charges, and it will serve them far better than any amount of study of female psychology.
Come to think of it, that’s what the Bible, the Koran, the Analects and the Bhagavad Gita all do. This is the kind of literature men should read — the classics. Leave novels and “high culture” to the rare men who have the ability to read between the lines.
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I thought W. T. F. Price's username on Chateau Heartless is Bill Price (as seen in another recent quote). I suspect a troll.
Sometimes, I wonder who these "men" hate more: Women or men (except for themselves - or, on the other hand, especially the sorry excuse of a man they represent).
Short version:
Why is consumption mostly by women a problem? Women make up about 52 percent of the population, after all.
Reading and comprehending women's thoughts doesn't come natural to other women either, stupid. All women think differently and have different dreams, wishes, interests and needs.
If you teach your boys that women are beneath them, they will be very surprised/disappointed when they come out in the real world and see women who are high above them. Hopefully they will blame you for lying to them, and not the women for being human beings.
"To see what women really want through literature you need to be able to read and comprehend women’s thoughts, which doesn’t come naturally to men. "
So as a man, presumably, you claim that men have difficulty comprehending the thoughts of women. So here's an interesting question, what's your test or confirmation method for making sure your theories are correct? seen as your theories are about the thoughts of women.
I mean, even aside the usual arguments this just seems to be a sloppy way of reaching a conclusion.
"the rare men who have the ability to read between the lines."
What is so wrong with men and women understanding each other? Why do they abhor the idea that spouses should have something in common? Are misogynists really heterosexual, or might it be more accurate to call them "hetero-rapistic" - incapable of love or true sex, seeing relationships purely in the dark light of domination and dynasticism?
@Pharaoh Bastethotep
He changed usernames, circa 2009 he blogged under the name Welmer.
The "W" in W. F. Price presumably stands for William, and Bill is commonly an abbreviation of that.
Passerby
The idea that women are attracted to men for reasons other than a house full of pretty things is not hard to grasp. As a man I have a much harder time comprehending how you can find a life valued only as a commodity deprived of any free choice and all personal challenges and achievements flipped on their heads as a mark against you can be remotely acceptable to a human being.
Can you imagine taking it lying down if a rock blocked your path and the minute your feet left the path to walk around it or you put your hand on the rock to push it out of the way a dozen people threw you to the ground, insulted you, and told you to sit there quietly and wait for somebody else to move it for their own reasons no matter how long it takes or how important it is to get on with your journey? And that the moment somebody does push the rock you're supposed to go with them instead of your own way?
First WTF Price says this: The problem with relying on literature for advice is that it has always been consumed mainly by women.
Then you say this: Come to think of it, that’s what the Bible, the Koran, the Analects and the Bhagavad Gita all do. This is the kind of literature men should read the classics.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a huge disconnect there.
@ Thinking Allowed
I'm more amused at the greater implication that if the majority of literature has aspects of female psychology woven into it and yet constant exposure from the minute a child learns to read sees the complete and utter failure of all but a rare few to learn a single thing from it.
That sounds like a full on learning disability amongst men, to be incapable of ever grasping a major theme hidden within every book we could ever read that isn't an explicit instruction manual on ignoring most of the human condition on the premise we - specifically men - are above the natural world rather than a part of it.
... Yet subliminal feminist propaganda is still supposed to be a threat.
Of course you don't understand "women". Women are as individual as men, and to get any deeper insight you have to know them and understand them one at a time. Anyone writing about "understanding" an entire group rather than an individual is doomed to failure, as we see here. This is the essence of bigotry, considering all the members of any group to be interchangeable.
If you really want to view the hierarchy of society in simplistic terms, that only shows that you have no comprehension of the insignificance of your place in that hierarchy.
"Leave novels and “high culture” to the rare men who have the ability to read between the lines."
In other words, you can't be bothered with or aren't bright enough to understand anything that requires any thought. I'm guessing your television viewing is limited to sports events and movies with lots of explosions and car chases. Anything with an actual plot or dialogue is just too complex for your poor little mind.
If a woman has read something, then Price can't pick it up after; he'll get cooties.
If a woman has written something, or even if women are portrayed positively in literature written by a man, then Price can't read that either. He might have an original thought. Then what the fuck will he do?
Which is why Dream of the Red Chamber was written by a man and read/analysed primarily by men throughout history. Shit, at least Tale of Genji was written by a woman!
Oh, what about Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, written centuries before Dream of the Red Chamber and are far more famous than Dream of the Red Chamber? Neither of which were even the first Chinese novel, for that matter. But why would you even use Dream of the Red Chamber for your argument when it is both the latest written chronologically of the Four Great Classical Novels as well as the least known in the West?
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I guess that's why they're keeping Charles Darwin on the back of our £10 Note, even after 2017, then.
[/Doug Piranha-levels of sarcasm]
"you need to be able to read and comprehend [...] which doesn’t come naturally to men.
For most men this is a waste of time. They will never get it"
Therefore thank you for admitting that the likes of you are inferior to women, then; education-wise, intellect-wise, and other wise. [/Sgt. Esterhaus ]
"the Bhagavad Gita"
May I recommend "RG Veda", WTF Price? The first publication by the bestselling literary collective known as CLAMP.
Which consists of four women .
I emphasise the word bestselling .
Wait till he gets a load of "Magic Knight Rayearth". Or "xxxHOLiC". >:D
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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