Keeping Women Down

When I was young, and a young witness to the social revolutions occurring in our country, it was my assumption that (radical) feminist would win their campaign, and that the country, for good or ill, would enter an era when "gender equality" would be the norm, whether or not that comported with our natures.

I no longer worry about that.

Instead, what's occurred is that women are now more repressed, in real terms, than ever before. And that's becoming worse every day.

The reason for this is the disturbing trinketization of women that has been occurring at an every alarming rate over the past few decades, starting with the publication of the first issue of Playboy magazine in 1953.

Allow me to state this bluntly.  In this electronic age, as long as our society in general, and women in particular, tolerate pornography, women are never going to achieve equality in anything.  Rather, with each increasing day, they're becoming more and more disposable chattel, not to be taken seriously.

Women and men are not wired the same way. There's a shocker I know, but proponents of absolute liberty of publication, and proponents of feminism, either don't know that, or refuse to acknowledge it.  This is true in an entire host of things, but is particularly true in regards to sex.  In regards to sex, men are very visually triggered.  Women are not.

Prior to 1953, "girly magazines" were largely nasty trash.  Sure, they existed.  And there have always been women willing to prostitute their images to appear in them.  Indeed, prior to 53, they very often were in fact prostitutes.  If a woman is selling her body, selling her image isn't a great leap in action.

The first issue of Playboy came out in 1953.  Contrary to later legends, the genius of Playboy was not in issuing a rag with the publication of nudes in it.  That had been going on for a long time.  The genius of Playboy was marketing.  The magazine was slick, included some legitimate articles, and was packaged up as part of a phony philosophy.  Earlier magazines made no such effort.  They might have articles, but they were all about illegitimate sex.  Playboy, however, pretended that what it was about was the life of the sophisticated male, who was too much about town and in the world to marry, which would only drag such a sport down, but who could have limitless sex with well endowed young beauties. 

Some commentators on Playboy have argued that the magazine also argued that "sex is fun for women too", and by that they meant "unmarried women in their late teens and 20s". But that's bull.  Playboy has never had any interest in women as human beings, bur rather only in women with big boobs, nice faces, and no brains.  These women, the magazine suggested, were willing to hop into bed at a moment's notice.  Moreover, even though the secondary female characteristics the magazine focused on are those which, in part, serve to help keep the infants produced by sex alive (shocker, boobs are mammary glands, curvy hips are a product for ease of child birth) the magazine essentially also suggested that all such women were sterile.  They not only were craving sex, but nothing would ever be produced by it.

That started to be somewhat true in the early 60s, when a means of making women temporarily sterile or spontaneously abort came about in the form of the pill.  Birth control now meant that men could demand that women live down to the Playboy standard as they would probably not get pregnant, or if they did, they'd likely spontaneously abort (that latter aspect of the pill being a fact, but a very rarely noted one).  The widespread adoption of the Playboy mystique by men, their increasing demands on women, and the pill combined to break down conduct society wide, confuse people on what sex actually is for, and gave us the current sorry situation.  Now libertine sexual conduct is regarded as the norm and, as crude as it may seem, women in their teens and early 20s are expected to "put out".

This has lead to psychological misery for women.  Beyond that, it's destroyed the image of the serious female.

If a woman is expected to yield to a sexual demand based upon nothing more than the provision of a cheap meal, that means that our society has retreated all the way back to the most primitive societies, where that is also the rule.  Thousands of years of societal development are stripped away, and at that point, women are toys.

What women are not is powerless.  Not yet.  But until they exercise that power and condemn such behavior, and condemn it most particularly amongst their sisters, this trend will only continue.  Indeed, it is continuing as we speak. Soon, television will feature the glamorization of the "Playboy Club".  If women are serious about being taken seriously, they'll speak up and that won't be around long.

Saturday, September 30, 1911. The Virginian opens.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 30: 1911. The Virginian Hotel opened in Medicine Bow.

It's named after the central character in Owen Wister's classic Western novel written in 1902.

The Virginian, Medince Bow, Wyoming.

Medicine Bow Union Pacific Station, Medicine Bow Wyoming

This a classically styled small town railroad station, located in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  It's now a museum.

View with the Virginian Hotel just in the background, showing the typical arrangement between train stations in hotels in the days when long distance transportation was generally by rail.

The concrete dam maintained by Bayless Pulp and Paper Mill outside of Austin Pennsylvanian burst killing 78 people 

A baseball game in Madison, NJ>

Main & Genesee Streets, Buffalo, NY, September 30, 1911.

Last edition:

Friday, September 29, 1911. Italian Navy at Tripoli.

Labels: 1840s, 1847, 1910s, 1911, Catholic, Christianity, Italian Navy, Italo-Turkish War, Libya, Libya (Tripoli), Mexico, religion, Tripoli Libya

Friday, September 29, 1911. Italian Navy at Tripoli.

The Italian destroyer Garibaldino sailed into the harbor at Tripoli and demanded the Turkish surrender of the city, which was declind.

Archbishop José de Jesús Ortiz y Rodríguez of Guadalajara signed an official document validating the 1847 apparition of Jesus Christ in Ocotlán, Mexico.

Last edition:

Thursday, September 28, 1911. The start of the Italo-Turkish War.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Ireland, Italo-Turkish War, Italy, Libya, Northern Ireland, Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Ulster, United Kingdom

Success and Failure

I've been thinking a lot recently about the meaning of "success". What does it mean?  And who defines what it means.

There's a bunch of reasons I've been contemplating this, but it is an interesting question in a way.  I wonder if, individually, we're satisfied with the societal definition of success, and whether as a society of over 300 million, we're capable of really tolerating the individual definition of success?  The answer to the latter is, I think, yes, but it's not a clear matter.

We only live once, in spite of what Hindus may assert, so this go around is it.  Given that, our time on earth is quite short compared to eternity, and our own definition of success hardly matters. Even the most successful amongst us ends up dead and forgotten.  Who remembers the individual rich in Rome?  Not many.  I'm sure you could find some of their names if you were of an academic bent, but by and large, all secular success yields to the Roman Maxim that "All Glory is fleeting."

On that scale, the only success is a life worth living on a metaphysical scale, a standard that is not likely to get you much accolades, and even fewer physical items, than any other sort of success, but which is still a true success.

But, while keeping that in mind, let's consider the smaller definitions of success.

In this day and age in the United States, the only real standard of societal success is considered the accumulation of money. That is, you are a success, society will hold, if you make a lot of money, both annually, and over a lifetime.  This has always been somewhat the held up standard in the United States, but it is virtually the only standard right now.  It's the standard that schools aim for in education.  It's the standard that is talked about in the news.  It's the standard that Americans are supposed to shoot for.

This cannot be overemphasized.  Individuals are expected to leave home and family to achieve an education that allows them to achieve this.  They're expected to follow that brass ring where ever it goes.  If that means leaving a small town and ending up in a string of big cities, you are expected to do it.  It means that perhaps you are supposed to end up in a wealthier subdivision of a sweltering hot southern US city that you will virtually never leave during the average week.  If you are female, it means you are to postpone marriage and children for a career, and when you marry, you are to marry based on wealth, not on any other factor.

And some people do indeed crave that sort of life.  I guess they are the societal models.

The problem is that it is quite well established that this sort of life doesn't lead to personal happiness, and actually tends to destroy it, for most people.  Money and trinket acquisition generally doesn't make people happy, but people are sacrificing everything to get it. Why?

Well, partially they do it because it's an instinct.  Back in our early, aboriginal, days, acquiring what you could was good insurance against the coming lean periods.  That was true for many people many millennia later as well.  Of course, in those days you couldn't acquire on credit, so acquisition really was a hedge against starvation.  Say, the lean times come and I need to get some food for my family. . . will you take seven horses?  So it made sense at that time.  Now, of course, as the Seven ATVs and the Condo in Ft. Lauderdale were acquired with credit, that won't work.  The instinct remains, however.

Partially do that, however, as modern society schools us accordingly.  Study hard, go to a good college (on credit) get that good paying career, and follow it.  Postpone marriage, children, and live where they send you.  People are taught this, and most people are very obedient to what they are taught.

This was not always the case.  Really, up in to the 1950s there were entire sections of the population, perhaps even a near majority of the population, that was taught to emphasize family.  People didn't feel compelled to uproot, or to force their offspring to uproot, for a job.  People often found local work, married relatively young, and didn't move much. Family, church, and local society tended to be their focus.  They were likely much happier than people generally are today.  Get in close with people living "the dream" and you find many are not very happy.  Indeed, entire occupations and demographics are bitterly unhappy, mostly because they ended up where they are by focusing on career and money.

But now, with our current society, do we even have a choice? The American economy is in trouble, we all know. But it depends on this model.  Basically, our economy depends on the sale of really cheap goods manufactured overseas, and sold by those making low wages, which the rest of us buy through money acquired by our careers.  If we don't focus on career, who is going to buy the condos, the Lexus cars, the ATVs, etc. etc?  So, we are making ourselves largely miserable in order to support a system of misery.  Our entire modern economy depends on it.  In order to escape working for the Walmart Empire of Doom you need to be educated to fit into a career that will free you from the lowest economic level, seriously, which will tie you into a career of economic slavery and nomadism.  The economy truly depends on it.

Not all societies are as enslaved to this system as we are.  Even today, Europeans, particularly those European societies currently being dumped on, are not.  We seem to irrevocably be, however.

What you reall need is a Holley Carb. . .

I've come to the conclusion that those who work as computer geeks today are drawn from the same section of the population that once went into small shop mechanics.

Back in the 70s and early 80s, before computers invaded the automobile world and changed auto repair from a trade into a computer lab project, there were many small auto mechanic shops staffed by men in their 20s who wanted to mess with your car.  No matter what your problem was, when you contacted them about the repairs to your car, you were soon confronted with the "performance" changes that they wanted to make to it, or worse, already had.  "Man. . . this baby needed a Holley Carb!  I just ripped that old stock carburetor off and . . ."

At that point, you were doomed.  No aftermarket performance part so installed ever worked, and at best, with enough tinkering, your car might get back to the original state of performance, more or less.

Computerization of automobiles ended that.  So now, the same people go into computer programming.

If you work in an office, you know this is true. The moment your system is really working well, you are going to face an "upgrade", or worse, and entire new system.  If you are lucky, after days of messing with it, and hours and hours of lost work, you'll get a system back that is close to what you had.

Thursday, September 28, 1911. The start of the Italo-Turkish War.

The Italo-Turkish War commenced over Italian claims to Libya.  

It's common in some circles to assert that prior to World War One Europe had a long period of peace, but it's simply not correct. There were multiple conflicts leading up to the Great War.

Ulster Day set aside to allow for Ulster residents to protest being part of Irish home rule.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 26, 1911. Tragic accident.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Aircraft, baseball, Equine Transportation, Wyoming (Casper)

Tuesday, September 26, 1911. Tragic accident.

U.S. Army Lieutenant Thomas DeWitt Milling piloted a Burgess Wright biplane for 1 hour, 54 minutes, and 42.6 seconds setting a record and winning, as a result, a $1,000 prize

Today In Wyoming's History: September 26: 1911 This item from the Natrona Tribune, as later reprinted by the Casper Star Tribune:

William A. Ford was run into at noon yesterday [Sept. 26] by a run-away team hitched to a wagon, and sustained injuries from which he died half an hour later. He was working on a cement cross walk in Park addition near W. F. Henning’s residence, when the electric light whistle was blowing for 12 ‘o’clock. His son Arlie was with the team unloading some dirt in the old oil pond. The team became scared at the whistle and ran up the road toward Mr. Ford, who had his back to the team and did not see them coming. Mrs. Henning saw the danger he was in and called to him, but he did not hear her. The team was soon upon him, the tongue of the wagon and the neckyoke striking him in the back and crushing numerous bones. He was then thrown under the wheels and was carried for about 60 feet, going around with the wagon wheel. ...

He was carried into the home of Ed. Davidson where he died in half an hour. ...

Mr. Ford was one of our most highly respected citizens; he was a member of the town council and has held a number of offices of trust, and he has a large circle of friends who sympathize with the beloved ones in their great sorrow.

The Philadelphia Athletics took the pennant. 

Last edition:

Sunday, September 24, 1911. Governor Richards daughter and son in law murdered at Richards' Red Banks ranch on the Nowood.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Blog Mirror, Canada, Crime, DeForest Richards, Taxes, This Day In Wyoming's History, William Howard Taft, Wyoming

Sunday, September 24, 1911. Governor Richards daughter and son in law murdered at Richards' Red Banks ranch on the Nowood.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 24:  1911  Governor Richards daughter and son in law murdered at Richards' Red Banks ranch on the Nowood.

The impact of protective trade barriers was on the front page of the Cheyenne newspaper.

Last edition:

Saturday, September 23, 1911. First air mail in US.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Aircraft, Ireland, Mail, New York, Northern Ireland, panoramic, Post Office, The Big Picture, Ulster, United Kingdom, Wisconsin

Saturday, September 23, 1911. First air mail in US.

Ulster lawyer Edward Carson led a march of 50,000 Unionists from Belfast to Craigavon, the home of James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon.

He there delivered an address which included; "We must be prepared.. the morning Home Rule passes, ourselves to become responsible for the government of the Protestant Province of Ulster."

Pilot Earle Lewis Ovington in a Bleriot XI airplane, Postmaster General Frank Harris Hitchcock and Edward M. Morgan, postmaster of New York, September 23, 1911.

Earle Ovington made the first official airmail flight in the United States flying a Blériot XI from Nassau Boulevard aerodrome, Garden City, New York to Mineola, New York.

Janesville, Wisconsin, September 23, 1911.

Last edition:

Friday, September 15, 1911. Taft starts a trip.

Labels: 1910, 1911, California, panoramic, The Big Picture, William Howard Taft

The disappearance of the Federal Courthouses

Presently Wyoming has four Federal Courthouses. One in Casper, one in Cheyenne, one in Jackson and one in Yellowstone National Park. The Casper and Cheyenne courthouses have sitting judges and are by far the most active. Wyoming has three active sitting judges.

At one time, not all that long ago really, the state had a lot fewer judges, but a lot more active courthouses. This is, suffice it to say, an odd turn of events.

At least Green River, Lander, and Sheridan Wyoming all had federal courthouses, even during the era when we had a single Federal Judge. Sheridan's nice Federal Courthouse, now in private hands, was built in 1918. Green River's and Lander's appear to have been built about the same time. The much larger Casper courthouse was built in the 1930s. The current Cheyenne courthouse is much more recent, it was probably built in the 1970s.

Why the change? I don't know, but I suspect it was because of changes in transportation. At the time the older courthouses were built, the judge likely traveled a circuit to these regional courthouses. And at first he likely traveled it by train, probably up from Cheyenne. As transportation improved, this ceased to be the case and by the 1940s these courthouses may all have been basically disused, save for the Cheyenne court. The Casper courthouse was rebuilt in the early 80s, when population increases necessitated the use of that large courthouse, but the others have been sold off or rented out. Now only great distances from Cheyenne, or major populations centers, merit their own Federal courthouse.

It's a shame, really. The Lander, Green River, and Sheridan courthouses were all very nice, if small, Federal courthouses, and it's a shame that they aren't receiving their original intended use.

See also, What One Building Says About the March of Time.

A great number of military installations.

I was in Sheridan Wyoming recently, and took the opportunity to run up to the VA hospital and view the grounds of old Ft. Mackenzie. The grounds are really impressive, to say the least, and it is a very well preserved old Army post, still in use as a modern VA hospital.

Some scenes of the same are posted above.

What struck me about this, however, is that this post wasn't built until the very late 1890s. It was converted into a military hospital, after more or less being occupied since 1913, in 1918.

It's really surprising, as the SMH thread above notes, that the Army was building posts as late as 1899 in Wyoming. What could their purpose have really been? But not only were they still building, but up through the first quarter of the 20th Century there were a surprising number of military installations in Wyoming that either existed, or had just been closed.

Here we seen Ft. Mackenzie, but not all that far away there had been a Ft. McKinney, which had only been closed in 1894. Ft. Washakie, which is not near this post, was still open when this one built, and remained open until 1909. Ft. D. A. Russel was open, and has never closed, as it later became Ft. F. E. Warren and is now Warren AFB. Its one of three military installations that now exist in Wyoming, the others being the substantial Army National Guard installation at Camp Guernsey and the Air National Guard base in Cheyenne. Ft. Laramie had only been abandoned as of 1890. Ft. Fred Steele had closed in 1886.

Money

Today's readings from the Roman Missal:

First reading:

Beloved:
Teach and urge these things.
Whoever teaches something different
and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the religious teaching
is conceited, understanding nothing,
and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes.
From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions,
and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds,
who are deprived of the truth,
supposing religion to be a means of gain.
Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world,
just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.
If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.
Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap
and into many foolish and harmful desires,
which plunge them into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is the root of all evils,
and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith
and have pierced themselves with many pains.

But you, man of God, avoid all this.
Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion,
faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.
Lay hold of eternal life,
to which you were called when you made the noble confession
in the presence of many witnesses.

From:  1 Tm 6:2c-12

Second Reading, from the Psalms:

R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Why should I fear in evil days
when my wicked ensnarers ring me round?
They trust in their wealth;
the abundance of their riches is their boast.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Yet in no way can a man redeem himself,
or pay his own ransom to God;
Too high is the price to redeem one's life; he would never have enough
to remain alive always and not see destruction.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Fear not when a man grows rich,
when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
his wealth shall not follow him down.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed,
"They will praise you for doing well for yourself,"
He shall join the circle of his forebears
who shall never more see light.
R. Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!

Friday, September 15, 1911. Taft starts a trip.

"Fallen Monarch", September 15, 1911.  Mariposa Big Tree Grove

President Taft concluded his vacation at Beverly, Massachusetts and embarked on a 15,000 mile tour of 30 states.

Last edition:

Thursday, September 14, 1911. Stolypin shot.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Ethnicities, La Matanza, Pyotr Stolypin, Russia, Texas, Texas (Laredo)

Thursday, September 14, 1911. Stolypin shot.

Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin was shot in the stomach by Dmitry Bogrov, a young Ukranian Jewish lawyer, at a play.  He would die four days later.

Bogrov had been an anarchist turned informant.  He had recently started practicing law in St. Petersburg where he was horrified by Russian pogroms. 

Ironically, Stolypin was a reformer.

El Primer Congreso Mexicanista convened at Laredo, Texas under the leadership of Nicasio Idar to advocate for civil rights for Hispanic citizens. The convention approved the formation of La Gran Liga de Beneficincia y Proteccion.

Last edition:

Wednesday, September 13, 1911. That high lonesome sound.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Bluegrass, China, Chinese 1911 Revolution, Music, Personalities, Qing Dynasty

Jean Jacket

Does anyone know where a person can get a good Levis jacket, or Lee jacket, if they are still made.  Not the weenified metrosexual version that Levis now makes as a "trucker jacket", but the real deal, the old heavy denim one.

I lost my Levis jacket, and my old Lee jacket doesn't fit.  I'd like to get a new one, but the Levis jackets I've seen around are all prewashed and cut slim.  Pathetic.

Wednesday, September 13, 1911. That high lonesome sound.

The Qing Dynasty, hoping to hold off growing revolutionary impulses in China, promulgated a new constitution featuring some democratic reform.

Legendary Bluegrass musician Bill Monroe was born in Rosline, Kentucky.  He is regarded as the father of Bluegrass.

Monroe, left, with his brother Charlie, 1936.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 12, 1911. Trap.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, China, Chinese 1911 Revolution, Railroads, This Day In Wyoming's History, Wyoming (Meeteetse)

Aldo Leopold on Farming

There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.

Aldo Leopold

 

Tuesday, September 12, 1911. Trap.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 12: 1911   Edward Conia of Meeteetse received a patent for an animal trap.

The Viceroy of Sichuan was ordered to suppress labor unrest and "to destroy the rebels to the last man."

Last edition:

Monday, September 11, 1911. The Bird of Paradise.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, baseball, California, China, Chinese 1911 Revolution, Education, Geology, Germany, Hawaiian Music, Italy, Music, Nationalist Chinese Navy, Qing Dynasty, Republic of China, The Blues

September 11

Monday, September 11, 1911. The Bird of Paradise.

 The Bird of Paradise opened introducing Hawaiian music to the mainland US.

Hawaiian music would enjoy a major following in the US in the mid 20th Century and the guitar style it featured would influence the blues.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, third place in the National League, lost in an expedition game to the local all black West Baden Sprudels in West Bend, Indiana.

California State University, Fresno, Fresno State, began classes as the Fresno State Normal School.

A massive German military war game of 900,000 troops began.

Mount Etna erupted rendering 20,000 people homeless.

The Chinese war vessel Hai Chi arrived in New York, the first Chinese warship to do so.

Commissioned on the eve of the 1911 Chinese Revolution, she'd serve in the Imperial Chinese Navy and the Republic of China's Navy.  She was scuttled in 1937.

Last edition:

Friday, September 8, 1911. Disarming the Moros.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Army, John J. Pershing, Moro Rebellion, Philippines