THE INVISIBLE CONTEMPT

“All this pitting of sex against sex, of quality against quality; 

all this claiming of superiority and imputing of inferiority, belong to the private-school 

stage of human existence where there are 'sides,' 

and it is necessary for one side to beat another side, 

and of the utmost importance to walk up to a platform 

and receive from the hands 

of the Headmaster a highly ornamental pot.”

 - Virginia Woolfe

Misandry - 

{a strong prejudice against men} 

a term with which few are familiar.

And that is dangerous, for a reality without a known name is invisible and is doubly toxic because of that.

Almost everyone is familiar with misogyny, the contempt and devaluing of women.

Yet, that misogyny exists does not give license for misandry to thrive.

History hardly helps the reputation 

of the Male gender.  

Most murderers are male.  

Most tyrants from Caligula to Hitler to Stalin have been male.

 Angelization is a dangerous outgrowth of misandry

The political demonization of men is complemented 

by the angelization of women in a moral bi-polar totally sexist evaluation of gender: 

women/good and men/bad. 

Take Maria Montessori 

 Montessori broke gender barriers 

and expectations 

when she enrolled in classes 

at an all-boys technical school, 

with hopes of becoming an engineer. 

She soon had a change of heart and began medical school at The University of Rome, 

where she graduated – with honors – in 1896. 

She was a single mother. 

Her educational method is in use today in many public and private schools throughout the world.

After all that struggling against male bigotry, she swung to the other extreme --

 "Perhaps...the reign of women is approaching, when the enigma of her anthropological superiority will be deciphered. 

Woman was always the custodian of human sentiment, morality, and honor."

Human Nature being what it is, both sexes are flawed. 

To demonize the entire gender for the flaws of many of that sex is ... non-productive and untrue.

But our perception of reality depends on where we are standing, doesn't it?

The homicidal war against men kills mostly men. 

Men are the principal victims of homicide. 

But never mind reality. 

Politics is all

 POPULAR CULTURE

It gets into the act as well.

Misandry is now institutionalized in popular culture.  Take a few T-Shirts I have seen:

"Dead Men Don't Rape." 

Nor do most living men, of course.

{What do you think the outcry 

would be if that button said:

"Dead Black Men Don't Rape?"}

"So many men. So little ammunition." 

"What do you call a man with half a brain? 

Gifted." 

And so it continues. 

The ghost of Mark Twain just chuckled beside me:

"What would the future be like without males?  Barren, son, mighty barren."

 Our sit-coms portray men as bumbling fools and idiots and usually overweight, 

with the women as sensible, together and attractive. 

Everybody might love Raymond, but he's an idiot. 

 Misandry is everywhere, culturally acceptable, 

even normative, 

largely invisible, taught directly and indirectly by men and women, 

blind to reality, 

very damaging and dangerous to men and women in different ways and de-humanizing. 

Misogyny or misandry is not a status or a belief; 

it is just a flawed view of Mankind.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Who's JORDAN PETERSON?

{Photo courtesy Adams Jacobs}

I first became aware of Dr. Peterson

from a YouTube video

where the professor

was being shouted down

by protestors for

his defending free speech.



Bishop Barron, a Catholic Bishop whose views make me reflect upon my own,

spoke on the mild-mannered clinical psychologist and psychology professor at the University of Alberta and formerly at Harvard.





In 2016, Peterson released a series of videos on his YouTube channel

in which he criticized political correctness and the Canadian government's Bill C-16.

(An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code)

He subsequently received significant media coverage

and a lot of hate mail and protests from those who said they championed tolerance.

Some Jordan Peterson quotes:

"Everybody acts out a myth,
but very few people know what their myth is.
And you should know what your myth is,
because it might be a tragedy.
And maybe you don't want it to be."

"Why do dragons hoard gold? Because the thing you most need is always to be found where you least want to look."


"If you tell enough lies often enough, the truth will become entirely hidden from you… and then you are in hell."

"Ruling hell might be better than being a subject in hell, but not by much."

"Morality, like politics, is the alternative to chaos and war."

HAVE YOU HEARD OF

JORDAN PETERSON?

IF SO,

WHAT DO YOU THINK?



MEMORIAL DAY_ Have we lost its MEANING?

We enjoy lovely videos of Memorial Day with graves draped in colorful American flags

as lovely music plays in the background.


We watch and listen to stirring Memorial Day parades, 


flags snapping in the breeze and bands playing stirringly as they march in unison.

People in our country's neighborhoods will be having the biggest and best barbecues, 


but the forgotten spirits of those slain upon a thousand distant foreign fields would take us to the cemeteries on Memorial Day.


Would they tell us that we could eat all the barbecue we want on the Fourth of July 


and to just murmur a small thanks over their graves today?


No one sets out to be a hero, and certainly no one wants to die a bloody, violent death.

But thousands upon thousands found themselves in terrible situations where they needed a hero, 


so that is what they became.

They died so that we would have a chance to live as best we could.


 We couldn’t enjoy sun-drenched summer days like today without their sacrifice.

Living in the world today is a challenge unlike one that has ever been seen in the past. 


But as thousands rose to the occasion when all seemed dark, we, too, can rise to tackle the obstacles facing us.

Yes, today is a day where we mourn the loss of precious lives and innocence.
  

But today is also a day where we celebrate the victory of the human spirit over darkness ...

and this gives us hope.

ONCE in Meilori's with fae expert Ronel Janse van Vuuren

At Meilori's ...

that haunted jazz club that is never too far from myth, mystery, and ever-lurking faes.

Ronel Janse van Vuuren sat across from me at my rune-etched table.

The fog gathered near.  
 
The jazz murmured low in the shadows.  
 
The torches beckoned to all who wander lost in the dark of their soul.

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D5W5VBL/

 I must have spoken that thought aloud, for Ronel said low, "How do you know they are so lost?"
 
I smiled sadly, "On such a night, if they could be home, they'd already be there." 
 
She returned my smile.  "Just so.  Just so."

I tapped her book.

"Damsels in distress, curses, echoes of faerie tales and tragic love affairs swirl together in sixteen stories found in a dragon’s lair by a curious half-fae.

This is quite a book."

 "Nightmare," I whispered.  "That is most often the stuff of faerie all right."

The ghost of Mark Twain suddenly sat down beside me, giving Ronel a bit of a start.

"Son, you're going about this interview all wrong.  Let me show you how it's done."

He winked at a recovered Ronel.

"Whenever you give an interviewer a fact give him another fact that will contradict it. 

Then he’ll go away with a jumble that he can’t use at all."

"Thanks loads, Mark," I grumbled.

"No bother at all.  In fact, I'll do the whole blamed interview for you 'cause I know your questions will be plumb anemic."

He turned to an openly amused Ronel.

"What is the first book to make you cry, Little Lady?"

 "I think it was “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. We’re talking the late 90's here and a teen me."

Mark frowned, as since reading 50 Shades of Grey, he had sworn off modern novels.

"Does writing energize or exhaust you or both?"
 

"A bit of both. A shiny new story leaves me energized and ready to write the whole thing in a weekend.

(I’ve done that)

Rewrites and edits leave me mentally and

emotionally drained.

(who wants to cut characters and scenes?)"

 Mark nodded sagely and asked, "What is your Kryptonite?"

"Insecurity. But that’s why I joined the Insecure Writer’s Support Group – 

we meet once a month (online) and share our highs and lows. 

I do have a new motto:

Warrior Up. 

I wrote about it for April’s IWSG."



Mark cupped his chin.

"Do you think someone could be a writer if  she does not feel emotions strongly?"

"It depends on your chosen genre and the type of writer you are. 

If you expect readers to feel everything your

characters do, want to make a lasting impression, 

and find interesting plot twists, I think it’s important to feel your character’s emotions deeply."

Mark smiled at that.

"What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?  Me, I went bankrupt trying to invent a new kind of typewriter!"

"Does buying books count? He-he. 

Hiring an editor. I learned so much from her feedback. I believe my writing is better for it."

Mark wrinkled his lips thinking of his next question.

"I dislike Jane Austen so much, I have to fight from digging up her grave and beating her over the skull with her own shin bone!

What writer did you at first dislike but grew into?"

"Suzanne Collins. With a lot of others it is the other way around."

  
Mark snorted at that.

"I was a cub reporter at sixteen.  When did you learn that words had power?"

"I was maybe four or five when a boy in my class said “voetsek” to one of the maids. 

Her expression… 



The hurt I saw inflicted by one word left a lasting impression. 

I had to ask my parents what it meant. 

What you have to understand is that the word is an offensive one, of rejection in my country – 

though I didn’t know it at the time.

It has roots in our unsavoury political past and

still has sway in racial issues."

Mark sighed as he recalled his own childhood.

"What is the most difficult thing about writing about the other sex?"

"Figuring out how to portray emotions."

Mark chuckled,  

"I always seemed to write on for too long.  I had to get others to prune my works.

What did you edit out of your work?"

"A story that just didn’t work at the time. 

There was something missing. 

I rewrote it and it was accepted for the fourth Clarion Call anthology “FairyTale Riot!” this month."

Mark tapped her book on the table.

"What was the hardest scene to write?"

"Mae’s reaction to her breakup and how she worked

through it to become the Faery Queen I wrote about in other books. It was very emotionally draining."

I couldn't let Mark have all the fun, so I jumped in with a question.

"Do you ever Google yourself?"

"Of course! You need to know what pops up when

someone searches for you or your books.

 If it’s something unsavoury, you have to address the problem immediately – 

before it hurts your author brand."

Ronel smiled wide. "Thanks for having me, Roland."

C. Lee McKenzie

C. Lee McKenzie --

She is one of my oldest friends here in the blogverse.

When I read her posts or her books, 

I always see her smiling.

Lee is not smiling now.  

She has just lost her husband.  

Sigh.  

There are no words for such times.

C. S. Lewis, at the dying of his wife, wrote: 

the death of a loved one is an amputation.

When Kathryn, my fiancée, died, 

for long months, I would look long up into the night sky and whisper, 

"Come back ... even as a shadow, 

even as a dream." 

But this is about Lee ... 

and a tangible thing you can do to say "I care" during this time. 

 https://www.amazon.com/Some-Very-Messy-Medieval-Magic/dp/1939844460/

Lee's newest book has just been published.

Lee is devastated by the death of her husband.  

And promoting the book which took so long to write is the very last thing on her mind.

But we can buy it.  

We can review it.  

We can promote it.

It is not much, 

but perhaps Lee will look back at the support she received from her friends in the blogverse and feel not quite so alone.

Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/some-very-messy-medieval-magic-c-lee-mckenzie/1127622061?ean=2940154648575
 
Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/some-very-messy-medieval-magic
 
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/some-very-messy-medieval-magic/id1324257652?mt=11
 
Kindle - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079V72G8R
 
Foyles - http://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/childrens/some-very-messy-medieval-magic,c-lee-mckenzie-9781939844460
 
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37537343-some-very-messy-medieval-magic

What is SOME VERY MESSY MEDIEVAL MAGIC about?

Pete’s stuck in medieval England!

Pete and his friend Weasel thought they’d closed the Time Lock. 

But a young page from medieval times, Peter of Bramwell, goes missing. 

His absence during a critical moment will forever alter history unless he’s found.

There’s only one solution - fledgling wizard Pete must take the page’s place. 

Accompanied by Weasel and Fanon, Pete’s alligator familiar, they travel to 1173 England.

But what if the page remains lost - will Pete know what to do when the critical moment arrives? 

Toss in a grumpy Fanon, the duke’s curious niece, a talking horse, and the Circle of Stones 

and Pete realizes he’s in over his young wizard head yet again...
Release date – May 15, 2018
 
Juvenile Fiction - Fantasy & Magic/Boys & Men
$13.95 Print ISBN 9781939844460
$3.99 EBook ISBN 9781939844477

DID YOU KNOW?

C. Lee McKenzie has a background in Linguistics and Inter-Cultural Communication?

But these days her greatest passion is writing for young readers. 

When she’s not writing she’s hiking or traveling or practicing yoga 

or asking a lot of questions about things she still doesn’t understand. 

At least she's still attempting to grow, right?  

Her blog is
http://cleemckenziebooks.com

But as you can understand, Lee will be taking time off to mourn and to heal. 

LET US DO WHAT WE CAN 

TO TELL LEE THAT WE CARE.