I was watching a video the other day that provided a moment of insight where I realized that I might be a chauvinist. I suppose it depends on how a person defines chauvinism, because in the social environment of the Western world, the word has kind of been hijacked to mean men behaving poorly toward women.
And that’s not precisely what chauvinism means. The actual definition is much more inclusive, as illustrated with a cut and paste from Merriam Webster:
1: an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex- male chauvinism also : behavior expressive of such an attitude
2: undue partiality or attachment to a group or place to which one belongs or has belonged -regional chauvinism
3: excessive or blind patriotism
I think that the accuracy of my hijacking remark is substantiated by the dictionary author using male chauvinism as an example in their definition. But the reality is that females can also be chauvinistic. In fact it seems to me that if you’re female and use terms like male chauvinist or toxic masculinity, that you’re implying that certain males are below you. Inferior so to speak, and that attitude by definition is chauvinistic. I’m not certain how the word applies to non-gender specific persons. I guess that the more genders we have the more opportunities there are for people to be chauvinists.
I’m thinking that Merriam Webster might need an annotation or two.
I should add that I wasn’t aware that items 2 and 3 of the definition were applicative. I can’t say that I’ve ever heard a commentator describe the MAGA crowd or the Russians as chauvinists, but by definition that description would be germane.
Anyway, I was watching this video. This couple were at some sort of African safari park. I don’t know if it was in Africa and the video didn’t specify, but it was a park where the big cats are free to roam. In this instance the cats in question were Cheetah’s. Two of them who were as described. Free roaming.
For some reason I cannot fathom, this couple decided that it would be a good idea to get out of their car for a photo op. The female member of this Mensa duo was also carrying a small child. The cats saw them get out of the car and after a moment of feline astonishment, the cheetah’s approached the human family in a mode that I would describe as hunting instincts activated. The cats were a bit wary though and the adult human male took advantage of that pause to run back and jump into the car. The female human was left holding the infant as the cats moved in for a closer look. Fortunately for her, the cats were kind of confused with the Uber eats delivery, and she was able to make it safely back into the car as well. Luckily her heroic husband hadn’t locked the door and so she escaped unharmed. The video ended with no deaths or mauling, but I was left wondering what the conversation might have been like in the car regarding the runaway male.
I don’t know these people and I had instantly decided that the male was a dick. Perhaps the female in question also felt the dick description was appropriate, and dickage was the subject of the automobile discussion I mentioned being curious about.
But was he really a dick, or was he the embodiment of gender equality?
After some though I decided that I had applied the dick label to this acinonyxphobiac gentleman because I was conditioned to believe he had a responsibility to make sure the woman and child were safe before he scarpered.
And after some more thought I decided that my opinion was chauvinistic. Because if he was the one holding the kid, I wouldn’t have thought any less of the woman if she had abandoned them for the safety of the car. So, my expectation in that situation was higher for the male than it was for the female.
In defense of my chauvinism I have to say that I’ve been conditioned to believe that it’s a male responsibility to protect females. Not in every instance obviously. Sometimes people deserve an uncomfortable consequence regardless of their gender, but for the most part I’ve been trained to accept the concept of women and children in the lifeboat first. Having said that, I’ve never had to apply that training in the presence of two hunting Cheetah’s, but I remain hopeful that my schooling would hold and I wouldn’t run away like a scaredy cat.
Out of interest sake I showed the video to my wife to get her reaction. She also thought runaway guy was a dick. But she acknowledged that she’s also been conditioned to accept dated gender roles and expectations. She summed it up succinctly by stating that she was comfortable with my job being to do whatever it took to buy her time to get away.
Zombies, muggers, snakes or Cheetah’s. It was my assignment.
But the times they are a changing, and those changes demand that all of us make an attempt at some insight into how our conditioning is reflexive, and not necessarily cerebral. More plainly, what I’m suggesting is that it’s incumbent for rational beings to take time to consider why we feel and behave a particular way. Because there’s an outside chance that the decisions we make aren’t really our own, but rather are an antiphon provided to us by years of social conditioning.
So, once I started questioning the reasoning for my Cheetah guy contempt, I felt like it was necessary to explore how many other perspectives I had that were imposed upon me with enough craftmanship that I believed the choices were my own.
And here’s what sucks about this particular rabbit hole of reflection. The answer is all of them. Every perspective I own has been learned from my experiences within a certain social structure. What’s odd is the certainty we all possess that our perspectives are correct. It’s odd because all we have to do is look around and we’re going to find a different set of perspectives generated by a different social construct. And unsurprisingly, the people adhering to those perspectives are equally certain they’re correct.
And that’s how we’ve built our civilization. Tribes, political parties and nations are based on a group of people all in possession of the same perspectives. Those viewpoints then become law, either written or unwritten, and all future generations are indoctrinated accordingly.
What’s happening in the world right now is the largest amalgamation of perspective that the human race has been able to generate to date. Travel and technology have allowed a coalescence of conflicting ideals that has no equal in our history.
And I’ve got to say that we’re struggling with establishing a new set of norms. In fact the Russian have responded to the amalgamation of cultural perspectives with an invasion, and the Americans have responded with MAGA.
Apparently the insight I’m talking about is so discomforting that we’d rather find ways to eliminate disparate points of view than give them some civil consideration. In fact we much prefer the age old three V method. Vitriol, vilification and finally violence.
Because that’s how we’ve been conditioned, and to be honest I think that as a race we have a lurid attraction for the three V method. It could be that we’re just a pragmatic bunch and the v’s are easy to understand and relatively simple to implement. I’ve said this before, but it’s much easier to be inciteful than it is to be insightful, so we’ve got to go with our strengths. No point messing with a formula that’s been effective for millennia right?.
I wonder sometimes about the signs of the violence part of the three v’s taking effect. What I’ve decided is that the more absurd and moronic the vilification and vitriol become then the closer we are to violence.
Or to put it another way, when Alex Jones provides inspiration then we’ve reached a tipping point in our acceptance of idiocy and malevolence, and violence is pretty much inevitable.
Some personal insight would help. But that insight can’t be compelled. The process needs to be undertaken by choice, and it requires some personal effort and maybe some sacrifice. Also, to complicate matters, the insight I speak of needs to happen to the adherents of both sides of a perspective. If only one side strives for meaning through introspection then they’re likely going to get their asses kicked.
So, I’m thinking that this introspection path that I’m currently travelling isn’t a terrible exercise. But regardless of any enlightenment I may achieve, I’m still going to keep the three V practitioners in sight.