The Honorable Man
By Tim Goldich
If, as feminism insists, men have the power and women are the victims, then it would seem that men, the ones with the power, must be the victimizers and powerless women must be the “innocent” victims. Believing that men have the power and women are the victims, we’re compelled to believe that men are Bad (over-empowered oppressor/victimizers) and women are Good (innocent victims). How will the honorable man cope within this ManBad/WomanGood (MB/WG) gender belief system?
The Honorable Man “knows” (has been taught that) masculinity is the source of sexism, oppression, criminality, violence, and all things bad. Yet the honorable man needs to experience himself as honorable. How then will he retain the sense of personal honor he needs to have when he “knows” himself to be a member of the Bad sex?
Well, by what other means could the honorable man distinguish himself from the vast sea of ignoble men except by aligning himself with the feminine? What other honorable choice is there but to fight for goodness and fairness against evil masculine forces that only victimize and dominate, wage war and despoil the earth? In fighting “the good fight,” the honorable man retrieves his personal honor out from the morass of evil masculinity.
   In turning against his own kind the honorable man believes he is rejecting the low dictates of self-interest in favor of the higher cause of equality and justice—a highly honorable stance to take. While women dedicate themselves to the interests of sisterhood, honorable men disavow loyalty to their own kind, now decried under the umbrella term, “male chauvinism.”
The Honorable Man does not shirk accountability. He “knows” (has been taught that) All Fault is Male and he is not about to evade his guilt. Because the honorable man owns his guilt and fault as a matter of pride, the honorable man rejects evidence that would mitigate his guilt and fault. It is through strict unflinching ownership of his guilt that the honorable man earns his honor. So he embraces the truths of feminism but rejects the mirror-opposite truths as if these truths threatened to strip him of his honor.
   The honorable man “knows” (has been taught that) powerful men pay powerless women 74 cents on the dollar just because they are women. Men who would present evidence to the contrary are assumed to be self-serving evaders of well-earned guilt. More contemptible even than those men who would exploit women are those men who would deny it! The honorable man “knows” (has been taught that) domestic violence equals evil men beating up innocent women. Men who would present a more balanced picture are judged in the worst way. The honorable man will leave it to lesser men, men who fail to take Full Responsibility, to hide behind “excuses.” The honorable man knows masculinity to be the source of all things bad and believes it only proper that masculinity be shamed and punished accordingly.
The Honorable Man is a chivalrous man. His code of honor demands that he protect the “gentle sex,” whom he assumes to be generally more virtuous than himself. He “knows” (has been taught that) feminism is the voice of women so he protects women/feminism as if they were one and the same. He will leave it to lesser men—weak, shameful, self-serving men—to critique the voice of women. The honorable man dutifully accepts the moral authority and admonitions of his moral superiors.
   The honorable man is a masculine man. Who needs compassion when you’re “tough as nails”? Men don’t need empathy; men need what they always need—a good swift kick in the pants. The honorable man can’t abide the complaints of men. Men who would protest are “whiners” to be regarded with contempt.
   Toward men, the honorable man directs accountability without compassion, never realizing how ruthless that is. He respects his fellow man, but he is too invested in “toughening up” his fellow man to think in terms of loving his fellow man. Toward women he directs compassion without accountability, never realizing how infantilizing that is. He loves women, but the gift of accountability is something he keeps strictly for himself. Compelled and determined to take Full Responsibility, he’s in denial of Woman’s power and her half of the adult accountability that goes with it.
Neither the feminist nor the honorable man, want either Female-Power or MaleVictimization revealed. Neither the feminist nor the honorable man want to see women held accountable. Neither the feminist nor the honorable man can abide male complaint.
   The Honorable Man is indeed honorable, but all too often he is something else as well. He is the perfect feminist patsy. He is the manipulated male personified. Cultural misandry has the honorable man experiencing himself as if he were the rare exceptional man but, in truth, he is the common man.
   So long as he believes men have the power and women are the victims, he believes that men have no business protesting and women deserve every advantage they’re given. Though the MalePower/FemaleVictimization paradigm leads Man down a path to diminishment, it simultaneously guilt-trips him into rejecting any truths that would refute it! Man passively watches his own decline without lifting a finger. His belief system renders him helpless against feminist machinations and precludes mobilizing on his own behalf even though he suffers comparison with Woman in nearly every measure of wellbeing.
Through feminism, the feminine shadow has constructed the perfect male conundrum and escape-proof ideological trap. Woman’s shadow works its power to attack, take from, and disparage Man, all under the guise of having no power.
   No matter what ruin a drug wreaks, how will addicts respond to that which threatens to take their drug away from them?
   While Man rejects the victim that Woman grasps with both hands, Woman rejects the shame that Man grasps with both hands. I’m not surprised women and men are hostile toward the other half of gender reality. Introducing balance and fairness into gender ideology would deprive Woman of the victim to which she’s addicted and it would deprive Man of the shame to which he’s addicted.
By Tim Goldich, Author of – Loving Men, Respecting Women: The Future of Gender Politics. Available now on Amazon.
