TIME Brands Men 'Obsolete'

[WanderingWolf]

Only 2 days ago, the lovely Hanna Rosin, a writer at TIME created an article titled Men Are Obsolete. In this article, she uses blatant misandry, stereotyping and narrow-mindedness to simply say 'Women are better than men'.

The article in question: http://ideas.time.com/2014/01/02/men-are-obsolete/

Rosin uses five reasons to explain her case on why men are not needed in this society anymore.

These reasons are,

ONE: It’s the end of men because men are failing in the workplace.
TWO: It’s the end of men because the traditional household, propped up by the male breadwinner, is vanishing.
THREE: It’s the end of men because we can see it in the working and middle class.
FOUR: It’s the end of men because men have lost their monopoly on violence and aggression.
FIVE: It’s the end of men because men, too, are now obsessed with their body hair.

It's over guys, back to Mars we go.

What's your opinion on this article, and the concept of men being obsolete in general? Do you agree, that men are only need for their reproduction, or do you think that human beings should be treated as equals, with their own pros and cons?

 

[Guts]

Are men literally obsolete? Of course not,

There ya go.

This article was meant to agitate, to cast men in the same light that they have cast women in for nearly all of recorded history. And just look at the reaction:

Hey Hannah, speaking of the obsolesce of bicycles, the internal combustion engine was invented by a man. Just like everything else. In fact, everything that makes your useless life so comfortable was invented by a man. Is this why you hate us so much? Is it an inferiority complex?

disregard females, acquire currency

I hope your home catches fire, and then the male firefighters refuse to help you (after all, you agree with the author, so you should be fine with only female firefighters) and you die in the inferno (this would be poetic justice, as nobody would want you to survive anyway).

Hanna Rosin is probably one of those Jews who still whines about the Holocaust

Pretty funny, in a way. Here we have a feminist using technology created by men to hate on men. The computer. The internet. The telecommunications grid. The power grid. The power plants. These things are products of male genius and male labor. Men invented them. Men built them. Men maintain them. Men improve upon them. Somehow, though, men are obsolete. LOL... Idiot feminist.

Funny to watch dudes revert into children after reading a single article telling them that they're worthless, when women basically receive the same message every day from nearly every source of media they come into contact with.

But yeah, poor us.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

What's your opinion on this article, and the concept of men being obsolete in general? Do you agree, that men are only need for their reproduction, or do you think that human beings should be treated as equals, with their own pros and cons? [/quote]

I'll coment without having read the article because I'm having troubles loading the page and I'll do it just based on those five reasons.

ONE: It’s the end of men because men are failing in the workplace.

Both men and women are failing in the workplace, wether it's because of the economic crisis or due to the always increasing use of machines that do the same work without needing food, coffee breaks, vacations, don't have childrens and don't get sick.

TWO: It’s the end of men because the traditional household, propped up by the male breadwinner, is vanishing.

The traditional household where the man goes to work and the woman stays at home caking care of children and house was changing by the turn of century (and millenium) but using this to say that men are obsolete? From what I can tell, nowadays the roles are switching with men staying at home and women going out there. I don't see it as failure but simple as a change of times and needs (I'm not judging the model in which one member stays at home and the other goes to work, I'm just speaking about shifts inside this model)

THREE: It’s the end of men because we can see it in the working and middle class.

Again, the financial crisis is shacking the middle and working classes all over the world, afecting both men and women.

FOUR: It’s the end of men because men have lost their monopoly on violence and aggression.

If domestic violence (and violence in general) weren't such concerning problems I would be laughing because reading this one without thinking or anything else, might give the idea the author is happy because now women can hit men, hurray.

FIVE: It’s the end of men because men, too, are now obsessed with their body hair.

Yay, generalization, how I love it! I'm already imagining Mongolian men going in flocks to the barber to shave the beard and then going out shopping for cosmetics and shops to remove all hair in their bodies. Yes, I'm imagining men from cold countries being metrossexuals. Hell, East and West, South and North, we're all united, because we now have only one concern: body haaaaaair!

It's funny (sarcasm) how she didn't say that it's the end of men because sperm banks are full of it and because orphanages are also full.
I will try to see if I can load and read the article and then perhaps I'll make some changes in my post.

 

[Kecleon-X]

Wow, some people, right? I don't believe men to be obsolete just as I don't believe women are, either. I think that, despite the former oppression -- and there was oppression -- that we are all on the same level now, and the sudden butthurt about not being on the same level is just them trying to justify their "poetic revenge" (for there is no justice in it) by swinging the pendulum over in our direction to make us feel what they felt fifty, sixty, even eighty years ago. I have absolutely nothing against women -- I love women, in fact -- but what I do have a problem with is whiny people.

This is almost like filing a lawsuit two years after the event in question was resolved.

On a side note: I totally thought of that Twilight Zone episode when reading this. You, Mr. Wordsworth, are obsolete!

 

[PMJ]

This is could have been an empowering article for women, but thanks to the way it's worded, all you're doing is just asking to get verbally assaulted by guys.

 

[Chaos Jackal]

I can see what she did there, but she should have worded it differently. Of course, half the comments on the article are way more stupid, but I doubt that she gets her point across anyway.
Men are obsolete? Well, by wording the article a bit differently, one could say the same things about women. But of course, it's wrong. Nobody is obsolete, and definitely not because of his gender. Making a fuss over it is pointless.

 

[Luckyfire]

Ugh, I hate people who make a bad name for their kind, culture, people, or whatever. That's stupid.

if that gal's also blonde i will rage so hard

 

[Teal]

tl;dr, satires are no new thing

 

[professorlight]

Here you go:

Obsolete does not mean worthless. It means outmoded. The twin combustion engine made the bicycle obsolete but that doesn’t mean we hate the bicycle. We just use it the way we want to, while recognizing the necessity of efficiency and change. We don’t have to turn men into eunuchs. We can keep whatever we like about manhood but adjust the parts of the definition that are keeping men back.

Satire or not, the article does have a lot of flaws (perceived extremism, lack of sources for statistics, etc) but the conclusion is not necessarily false; You seem to have incurred into an argument from fallacy, considering false a proposition because it was reached through non-suitable statements.

 

[Athena]

This is could have been an empowering article for women...

This type of article isn't really empowering for women, no, even if it had been worded in a less inflammatory way. Most women don't really want to be associated with this kind of thing. I personally see it as no better than a slightly-different form of trolling; these kinds of arguments have been pulled out by the same tired radical feminists for the past couple decades or so at least and the only thing it's good for is stirring up attention.

 

[WanderingWolf]

Funny to watch dudes revert into children after reading a single article telling them that they're worthless, when women basically receive the same message every day from nearly every source of media they come into contact with.

While I have to agree with this almost completely, there is one thing. There are hundreds of millions of men who treat women with respect, dignity and promote equality. And this is what they get told. These men actually want to rid the world of the inequalities, and yet certain women feel the need to go ahead and do exactly what the wrong men do, and decide to call men 'obsolete' (totally didn't see the first 7 words). All men. Even the ones who actually want equality. Its not empowering at all. Its not justice. Its just wrong. I know women have to go through this day to day, but to strike back at it, in the way she did is wrong, in my opinion.

 

[Juliacoolo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law


^^^^^ That is why this article doesn't work.

 

[Equinox]

I can't tell if she's an idiot or this article is a joke, considering the last paragraph goes:

"When I think of the world after the end of men, I think of the world my son will inherit, where, if he chooses to take his kids to a playground at 3 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, no one will look at him funny, no one will wonder if he’s out of work, no one will think, “What a loser,” and no one will think he’s from Portland or Toronto, they will just walk on by and not think anything of it at all."

Either way this article is just a form of attention whoring and should be ignored.

 

[PsychedelicBreakfast]

This kind of "journalism" bothers me so much. She should be proud of the leaps and bounds women have accomplished over the years, which I'm sure she is, but putting out this trite article does nothing to advance a woman's place in this world. If anything, it pushes them backwards. It's like having someone who was losing a race during the majority of the run, but at the last moment is neck and neck with the long-time first place runner, and they finally eke out a win at the last second, but instead of being humble in their efforts and accomplishments, they turn on the second place racer and trash talk them. Who wants to congratulate someone like that?

Journalists, talk show hosts, news anchors, you name it, who are on the far left or far right of the political spectrum do nothing but turn away people who don't share their extreme views. They seek out to annoy those who don't share their extreme views, and to stroke the egos of those who are just as bad as them. Although this article is where it belongs, in Time magazine, a fairly left-leaning publication anymore.

 

[AlexanderTheAwesome]

I feel like if you're going to insult men you should learn to write an article with proper grammar, lol.

For the first time in history women all over the world are marrying down, meaning marrying men with worse prospects than they have. We have a new global type, for example, called the alpha wife, a woman who makes more money than her husband or boyfriend. Not that long ago she was exceedingly rare. Now she’s part of about 40 percent of couples in the US. And that does not count the growing number of single moms who head their own families.

Two things wrong with this statement:
1. She basically is saying that there is something wrong with people who marry some. Why is this wrong?
First off, that is morally wrong (if that is not obvious to you ).
Secondly, by that statement, women should have been considered "obsolete" years ago, when they were labeled and used for house work and house work only while the man was the primary "breadwinner"
2. "Now she’s part of about 40 percent of couples in the US." What about the other 60 percent? Is that were the households are primarily alpha-male, if so, how in the living hell is 40>60? Because that would make woman "obsolete" (I'm in no way saying that they are, I'm just saying that you don't have the right to label one gender as a lesser of the other, don't worry woman I still love you )
"And that does not count the growing number of single moms who head their own families"
Oh right, I forgot that there is no such thing as a single father. Silly me.

The next time you talk about the advancements in our society where we are finally at a place where *most* people consider men=women, why is there any reason to bash men? Why is there something wrong with writing about how women are climbing the social ladder.
This sort of discussion should be good, not a sex-bashing argument.

 

[Haunted Water]

AHAHA!
A gender becoming obsolete is hilarious. They've never heard of reproduction, have they?

 

[PheonyxXx]

well in all fairness, I don't have a link for it, but.....A few years a ago I read an article detailing how the y chromosome is dying out. And in like 1000 years or so, it will be non existent. So in all technicality, men are obsolete due to the oncoming death of the y chromosome.

 

[PsychedelicBreakfast]

well in all fairness, I don't have a link for it, but.....A few years a ago I read an article detailing how the y chromosome is dying out. And in like 1000 years or so, it will be non existent. So in all technicality, men are obsolete due to the oncoming death of the y chromosome.

1,000 years??? Even the researchers who say it'll disappear completely are saying 5 million years. Even IF that happens, almost all researchers who believe this will happen say that men are not going to be extinct.

 

[TheTPCProductionz]

I admit woman haven't been treated fairly in the past, but never have men shun them and said they are obsolete. Probably just a feminist, I hate those.

 

[Frost Mage]

I admit woman haven't been treated fairly in the past, but never have men shun them and said they are obsolete. Probably just a feminist, I hate those.

How many times have you heard the classic misogynist line, "Women are only good for cooking, cleaning, and sex"? Basically what they're saying is that they have no use as a human being with a brain. Also, to be clear, I believe you hate feminazis, not feminists. Feminists are much different, and I for one like to use the term "equalist' when talking about things like this. Suppression of women is practically non-existent in most of the developed world, so all we have to deal with now is objectification. It always bugs me how women are frequently seen as decoration, or feel like they need to act a scertain way to become famous (protip to any upcoming celebrity; there is no such thing as bad PR when it comes to attention-grabbing in the form of wearing skanky clothing for attention. Society is getting better at objectifying both men and women equally (if that's something to be proud of), so at least there's that. If men were objectified like women were and wore tank tops and showed off their abs, it would be over the top. But when a woman does it it's normal, and I am the one in the wrong if I find that annoying? As a whole, our society will never be completely objectification-free. That's what our culture was created on. But if we are going to, at least spread around the amount of shallowness to both men and women.

Back to the topic... I don't think anyone really cares about what TIME said about an entire gender. It's one of those things that is so stupid, there's no real point in pointing out its flaws or making fun of it.

Aaaand I'm reading through these other replies and yeah...

Spoiler