From John Ray's shorter notes
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June 22, 2017
Is feminism incompatible with romance?
I think it is and I think that is a great loss. I see feminism in very black hues. At its extremes it lapses into insanity. The definition of insanity (psychosis) is loss of reality contact and I know of few feminist beliefs that are in good contact with reality.
That can sometimes be shown by the conflict between their own beliefs -- conflicts which normally seem quite invisible to them. For instance they believe in equal pay for equal work and yet when they note that women overall earn less than men they regard that as unjust -- even though it is perfectly plain that -- for perfectly good reasons -- men and women do not do equal work. Their call for equal pay for equal work justifies the inequality in pay that they deplore.
And one could go on.
But I think that by far the saddest thing they promote is their inherent hostility to romance. It may seem strange for a sober old social scientist like me to be talking about romance but I note in possible mitigation that I have been married 4 times. There has to be either insanity or romance behind that but I will leave it to readers to decide which.
Mostly here I want to draw attention to romance in popular music and I think my purpose is well served by drawing attention to an evergreen pop song called "I will follow him". Its sentiments are everything that feminists anathematize. It is about as "patriarchal" as you can get. Its lyrics follow:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I love him, I love him, I love him
And where he goes I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow
I will follow him, follow him wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep me away
I must follow him (follow him), ever since he touched my hand I knew
That near him I always must be
And nothing can keep him from me
He is my destiny (destiny)
I love him, I love him, I love him
And where he goes I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow
He'll always be my true love, my true love, my true love
From now until forever, forever, forever
I will follow him (follow him), follow him wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep, keep me away
Away from my love (I love him, I love him, I love him)
I love…
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Andre Rieu does a splendid version as follows:
Follow the whole thing through and watch the faces on both the singers and the audience. Have you ever seen so much happiness in one place? It is a song of ecstasy. Feminism is antagonistic to what is best in being human. To them the song is just propaganda but has any of their propaganda ever evoked any ecstasy at all? Not as far as I can tell. An ecstasy of hate maybe.
Now let me draw attention to one of the most popular bands in the history of pop music: Abba:
I have always rather wondered why I have never heard criticism of ABBA from feminists. Both "Mamma Mia" and "Waterloo" recount how a woman is captivated by a man that she cannot give up -- surely the reverse of the feminist gospel. And in "Money, Money", the female singer aspires to marry a rich man! And "Dancing Queen" is a simple little ballad about a teenager who loves dancing. Again not quite a feminist priority. So at least the best known ABBA songs seem quite conservative to me.
Something to remind you below. Don't ogle the beautiful blonde Agnetha too much.
If by some magic all the embittered feminists of the world could suddenly transform into normal women, the world would be a much happier place -- JR
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