Georgia Secretary of State blocks 53,000 voters from registering

[Yukaphile]

Um... incels are not a movement. Don't you mean MRAs? And tbf, men do need to have more of their gender rights acknowledged. I'm not dismissing that. I just think there's a lot of insensitivity from the ruling males to women's perspectives, but we do need to change a lot of social perceptions in this country, and that includes gender perceptions too.

Hmmmm... didn't Trump walk into the shower room of one of those Miss America contests he owned? With underage girls or something? And now dude is the President. Though admittedly I'm a bit fuzzy on that. It was so long ago and I just don't give a shit about democratic process as much as I used to.

[LittleRaven]

Incel is an identity, not a movement. Incels don't have any kind of unified policy goals or political or social interests. All that being an Incel really means is that you've made your inability to get laid into one of the central tenets of your self-image - if not THE central tenet.

I highly recommend this video from Contrapoints on Incels, which does a great job of highlighting exactly how ridiculous some aspects of the Incel identity are, but also takes care to point out that most Incels aren't violent or evil people...just people who are feeling a lot of pain and are not dealing with it very well.

[Yukaphile]

I know people who lean right and have indel tendencies. I'm familiar with the type. Hell, I'm that way, to a degree, though I would never let my frustration with my love life ever let me give up my belief in the need we have as a society for female empowerment. These incels I know are very anti-woman, at least somewhat. The youngest, who's like 17, called women and the LGBT community toxic, yet wants to date a woman despite his bitter, toxic, and obnoxious personality. And that he'll only seek out the prettiest girls. This other one... is less incellish than the first, but it's there, if you squint.

[LittleRaven]

These incels I know are very anti-woman, at least somewhat. The youngest, who's like 17, called women and the LGBT community toxic, yet wants to date a woman despite his bitter, toxic, and obnoxious personality. And that he'll only seek out the prettiest girls. This other one... is less incellish than the first, but it's there, if you squint.

Yup. The Incel mindset can quickly lead to a super-dark place if you let it. I mean, it's basically dogmatic hopelessness. Most Incels merely dive into despair, but it can easily direct one to rage if you want it to.

[Yukaphile]

I guess I've always believed, since I do love and appreciate women so much and their vital role in society, that true love is supposed to be about selflessness, wanting the other person to be as happy as possible even if it isn't with you. The kind of mindset. So I've never wavered or felt discouraged on female empowerment and the equalization of women and girls even once, because I'm in love with the ladies that much, if it makes sense. But then, I'm a mess of contradictions.

[LittleRaven]

You're talking about Agape, as least as Lewis would describe it. Noble, but also divine. Mere mortals often struggle with it.

And on a bit of a tangent, it's interesting to note that "female empowerment" does not seem to correlate with "female happiness." In fact, the exact opposite seem to be true.

Stevenson and Wolfers discovered that American women rated their overall life satisfaction higher than men in the 1970s. Thereafter, women’s happiness scores decreased while men’s scores stayed roughly stable. By the 1990s, women were less happy than men. This relative unhappiness softened after the turn of the century, but men continue to enjoy a higher sense of subjective wellbeing that is at least as high — if not higher — than women’s.

Research on this subject continues.

[Yukaphile]

Well, I don't think women are angels. Not by a long shot, lol. I've met some pretty rotten ones. But I'm a hopeless romantic at heart, and I always will be. That's why I could never get so bitter towards women even though I've never had a meaningful relationship with a female partner, like... once.

[LittleRaven]

Well, I don't think women are angels.

Mmmm...I fear I may have led you astray with my use of 'divine.' Agape doesn't mean 'the love of God,' it means 'to love as God.' A completely pure, selfless love that puts their interests above your own regardless of circumstance or change. Lewis identifies this as the highest form of love, but also the most difficult to actually achieve. Us mortals simply aren't wired for it, and have to work very, very hard if we actually want to attain it.

That's why I could never get so bitter towards women even though I've never had a meaningful relationship with a female partner, like... once.

That's commendable. And important - very few things are more off-putting to potential partners than bitterness.

Because where there's life, there's hope.

[Yukaphile]

No kidding. But then, of the few chances I've ever had of maybe making it work with a lady, how far and few in thirty years, I've tried to respect them as hard as I could and try to put their interests ahead of mine, at least to a degree, though I know when that's not possible, then you can compromise.

Not bitter towards women for not having a girlfriend or wife, I mean. I'm bitter in other ways, as people could tell, lol. Like how I'm basically an existentialist nihilistic misanthrope. Yet very liberal too. So... George Carlin.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

You're talking about Agape, as least as Lewis would describe it. Noble, but also divine. Mere mortals often struggle with it.

And on a bit of a tangent, it's interesting to note that "female empowerment" does not seem to correlate with "female happiness." In fact, the exact opposite seem to be true.

Stevenson and Wolfers discovered that American women rated their overall life satisfaction higher than men in the 1970s. Thereafter, women’s happiness scores decreased while men’s scores stayed roughly stable. By the 1990s, women were less happy than men. This relative unhappiness softened after the turn of the century, but men continue to enjoy a higher sense of subjective wellbeing that is at least as high — if not higher — than women’s.

Research on this subject continues.

I really have to call you out on trying to narrow down a shift in happiness levels over two decades on the "empowerment" aspect of gender.