We all get
strange emails sometimes. It's not spam, it's not junk mail…. so what is it?
I'm back to review one of the craziest emails I've ever received, and what it
shows about how media is used to portray and perpetrate societal concepts.
Sound like fun? You bet it does.
A few days
ago, I embarked on a massive clean-up of my email inbox. I had something like 6
or 7 hundred unread emails. Yes, the situation had reached its crux. I was
forced to act. But, what did mine eyes light upon but an invitation to a
conference (it was fairly outdated, I had never seen it before)?
Yegads!
What is this? REAL Men? Who was on this generic mailing list, anyone who could
possibly be male in the Sacramento city limits? Despite my qualms about
receiving this, my biggest concern was the content of the email itself.
The
newsletter first notes that this conference "redefines the real man",
takes the ancient, lumbering caveman, and reinvents him in a modern image. The rest
of this email, however, proves otherwise. R stands for "rejecting
passivity". Nothing wrong with refusing to stand idle in the face of
adversity. But how is that an innately male trait? How come only men are
supposed to be invested in staying active? I can only see this as a positive
trait for all people; taking action when necessary is always helpful. Expecting
men alone to rise to the challenge of action is too harsh. That responsibility
can't be carried by half the population, nothing will get done. Full support
and activity in people is vital for passivity to be discarded.
The E
represents "expecting the greater reward". Greater reward of what?
From what? Are these men taking on greater responsibility and a harder
workload, and that's why they are to expect more? Because that would be
sensible. More work, more reward. Or does it have to do with risk? Again,
greater risk, greater reward. But I can't help but feel like this maxim
insinuates neither. How does expecting more have to do with being more "real"?
How does this relate to being a man in general?
A, the
United States' favorite letter, is for "accepting responsibility".
This is good. Being responsible is great! But again, isn’t this something that
makes people better in general? Shouldn't this be a REAL Person conference, if
these traits don't just apply to one gender or the other?
We end with
L, last but certainly not least, "leading courageously". Ah, courage,
a trait that once more, benefits us all. And leadership, another universally
admirable feature. But again, how come these things are balanced precariously
on men's shoulders? I can say truthfully, a lot of people, many of which are
male, are not leaders. They aren't courageous either. In fact, I lost a friend
in the past year because of his innate cowardliness. Understandably, this
conference aims to ignite these traits in young men, starting in middle school.
But how much of an effect can this really have? And again, wouldn't it be more
helpful to the population as a whole to raise an entire generation, not just
one group or the other, to be multi-faceted and hold many talents?
It's a
little disturbing that this conference was targeting males as young as
middle-school age. It's a blatant sign that society and the media attempts to
sway minds from a young age, resulting in a perpetuation of this vicious cycle
of gender inequity and imbalance of responsibilities. This seminar was also
meant to be an "empowering exploration" with a "powerful panel
discussion" that would "build our families, communities, and nation
one REAL man at a time". What? That last line, that little gem, very
obviously notes that the main movers and shakers of any group are males. Not
true, and not fair either. The email claims that this conference will have
a positive effect on these males and
those around them. I beg to differ. I actually think it will have an
overwhelmingly negative consequence. Young men will feel pressured to accept
all of society's burdens on their shoulders, because, as this newsletter
doesn't fail to impart, males are the most important parts of a society and
must be all-powerful and alone in that power. It also encourages an inability
to view women in positions of power or accept that a woman may be better than
them at one of the above factors. Young women will be excluded from potentially
useful traits and skill sets that benefit all of society if taught to a large
group.
When it
comes down to it, it's obvious that these conferences intended to empower or
aid actually end up being detrimental to society in the long run. Instead of
being in something universal, like a newspaper, these messages are delivered to
us privately, in an email, in something that doesn't necessarily inspire
widespread response or protest. These covert media packages can hit us where we
least expect them, which is why it's important for us to always be on alert for
things that could be dangerous to our striving for healthy perceptions (if that
is indeed our goal).
As this
email tells us, be a REAL man. A REAL neurotic man.
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