December 2, 2012
Dear Rupert Murdoch
It is in human nature to want a governing force with the
interests of all citizens in mind to create a more utopian society, and this
notion of catering to specific demographic is outdated and oppressive. There
have been numerous circumstances throughout history of tyrants and greedy men
in power who have blatantly used their influence to benefit their personal
gains with no regard to the well-being of the people they claim rule over. Inequality is a common enemy to all the human
race and anything that can be done to combat it should be considered admirable.
Discouraging education, healthcare, women’s rights and the staples of life to
women and minorities is in itself the war every human is fighting. This is a
balancing act between allowing those who deserve opportunities a chance to make
a difference while maintaining a centralized government with those in power
acting responsibly. Masculinity in society is a powerful tool used by those in
control to retain the status quo of the culture and reap the benefits that come
with oppressing the less fortunate.
The working class has been dominated by men until recent
history, and while this is considered a social norm we can never see true
equality at home. The culture of the world is changing with new jobs in new
fields being created every year we have a need for a diverse work force with a
variety of different skills that do not necessarily cater towards men and their
masculinity. Rather than having the men be the main bread earners there should
be an equal balance between the sexes as to what their individual
responsibilities truly are. Already we are seeing women snatching a vast number
of jobs as they become available because they are qualified and have the need to
make a name for themselves on their own. According to the “Educational
Attainment in the United States:2010” 36 percent of women ages 25 to 30 hold
bachelor’s degrees or higher while men hold only 28 percent, this alone proves
that women are preparing for a work force shift that men are not ready for.
They are getting educated, motivated and properly equipped to not only enter
the workforce, but take control of it. The notion of a stay at home mom is
disappearing as well with numbers of employed women holding more jobs in the
United States than men. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
women now hold 51.4 percent of managerial and professional jobs—up from 26.1
percent in 1980. So, with women getting more prepared to work and taking more
available jobs we see how it is imperative for men to stop fighting this
clearly evident movement of women in the workforce and learn to relinquish
power when it is in the best interests of those capable and prove to get
results.
Greed and power seem to coincide in every culture and those
that suffer for it are the lower and middle class when their needs are not
being met by a masculine driven ruling class. Rather than having one
demographic making decisions for an entire populace it should be more equally
dispersed to reduce the overwhelming odds for or against a bias cause. The
recent depression was caused by greedy men spending frivolously with no
consequences which resulted in the majority of the working class paying for it.
Having more women and minorities in power would reduce this unchecked greed and
provide more equality for a vast demographic. We have seen instances of women
in power throughout Europe and Asia and the apparent good they have done for
their countries. Iceland is called the most feminine place in the world and
after the bank crash in 2008 they had to go into crisis mode. After firing a
number of male administrators and replacing them with women along with not
bailing out 3 of their biggest banks, Iceland fared much better than other
European nations. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, as of 2012
Rwanda, Andorra and Cuba all have a majority of women that are occupying lower
house seats and many others that are approaching very quickly. With the world
moving towards a fresh look at women in power we see results and attitudes
shifting towards the better for equality and general well-being. Now not all
men seem so gung-ho to refute this feminist movement and reduce the male
overall power monopoly. In fact since the birth of this country we have seen numerous
male figures get involved in the feminist movement for example “men such as
Thomas Paine, John Dewey and Ralph Waldo Emerson supported women’s campaigns
for property rights, equal access to education and suffrage” (Kimmel and
Mosmiller 1992). During a lecture on women’s suffrage Emerson continued his
support by saying “[L]et the laws be purged of every barbarous impediment to
women” (Emerson 1992: 219). If the
general consensus around masculinity is that educated, successful and influential
men are joining this movement for whatever reason be it rational or not, there
is merit to it. This merit adds power to the movement allowing the idea of a
more diverse ruling class to take form in the minds of all citizens.
How women are perceived is a mixture of a self-perpetuation
by individuals who see an easy road to what they want and how that is all
tailored to what men want because they hold all the prizes. Masculinity thrives
on these pretenses by allowing women to make their own rules as to who is on
top through the lens of a male perspective. Ultimately it is causing
self-inflicted wounds to women as a whole thus holding back entire nations.
Masculinity views these women as objects to a man’s needs for success in the
eyes of other men, a completely natural cycle to show who is dominant. The
byproduct of this nature vs. nurture approach is an increase to men’s
entitlement to women and power which seemingly separates all classes and walks
of life at a fundamental level. Rather than having women of certain classes and
social standing deciding what they want and how to get there, it should be a
universal understanding between women about their struggles and what a common
goal for all of them could be, in this instance : equality. This movement of
women as equal citizens cannot possibly come to fruition if there are those
still trying to claw their way up the social ladder, both genders are
susceptible to this easy path of playing off the advantages you have as opposed
to working hard and showing moral fiber.
As a competitive race, we have always enjoyed sports and
idolizing certain skills and abilities. This in itself doesn’t aid in the
separation of equality but does outline masculine traits that help define
cultures. In the United States American football is vastly popular and in some
cases can be perceived as a religion which results in many families integrating
masculine competition into their daily lives. Approaching life from a
competitive stand point not only gives people a one sided and ignorant view on
how to approach problems but how to approach people, particularly women.
This idea of sports playing a role in masculinity is dwarfed
by the obvious employment of video games, movies and music in society. All
media seems to revolve around bettering yourself through material goods, drugs,
strength, power, money; essentially everything you truly don’t need in life is
being advertised at every corner. This constant bombardment of simply wrong
undertones has given people of all ages wrong impressions of what they need out
of life. Saying men need to be stronger, more independent and have everything
under their control and women need to be sexier, younger, able bodied and also
more independent shows who is really running this garbage and what their end
goal truly is. Everything you see in the advertising world is run by those in
power, those who seek to control and influence for their own personal gains
which is drastically spreading inequality in solidifying what they believe
masculine and feminine means and how they can use that definition to their
advantage.
Men have the opportunity to change the face of this planet
and the future of the entire human race, and all that is required of them is to
relinquish power that they have proven incapable of handling on their own. As
the geography of the planet changes, the human race must adapt in order to
survive. The same can be said for this new generation of workers and a new era
of equality. Learning from our mistakes is one of the most valuable tools we
have been given and to squander that gift is committing to ideals that will
limit us. Masculinity is what we make it to be, our living standards are what
we make them to be and if our goal is to make a better society for all humans
our definition of masculinity must coincide with that of equality and
understanding.
Sincerely,
Ethan Ahlstrom
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