In this week’s Spectator I’ve written about female privilege and how it accounts for public policy wrong-turns, such as the lockdown and Net Zero. Here’s how it begins:
A few weeks ago I had a crack at coming up with my own sociological ‘law’ and my first effort went as follows: “The more progressive a country is when it comes to sex and gender, the more authoritarian it is when it comes to speech and language.” I was thinking of Ireland which, having legalised abortion in 2018, is about to impose the most draconian speech restrictions in Europe. I now propose a second law: “Any group described as privileged is in fact marginalised; and any group described as marginalised is in fact privileged.”
A case in point is white men – and in particular cisgendered, heterosexual, able-bodied, middle-class white men – who are now at the bottom of the intersectional hierarchy of oppression in most professions. But to add to their misery, these poor, benighted souls have to pretend they’re at the top of that self-same pyramid if they’re to retain their jobs, apologising for their ‘privilege’ in front of their more powerful black, female, non-binary, gay and disabled colleagues.
Some will think I’m being deliberately provocative, so I’ll reel off some facts and figures to illustrate this point with respect to just two groups: men and women. Their relative status is the exact opposite of how it’s usually described, making it the perfect illustration of Young’s Second Law. Some of the stats about just how underprivileged men are probably won’t come as a surprise. We all know boys fare worse than girls at school, one reason 35,000 fewer 18-year-old boys will go to university this month than 18-year-old girls. We also know that men are more likely to be addicted to drugs and alcohol, account for three-quarters of all suicides and almost 90% of the homeless. But did you know men make up 96.2% of Britain’s prison population and are 23 times more likely to die at work than women? Research carried out by the Future Men charity found that 29% of young men feel ignored, which perhaps isn’t surprising given that we have a Minister for Women and Equalities and a Women’s Health Ambassador, but no minister for men.
The idea that women are the less ‘privileged’ sex is a cliché that men are obliged to trot out if they’re to avoid social ostracisation or worse. But it’s a myth, as the American journalist John Tierney pointed out in a brilliant article in City Journal last week. “If the patriarchy really did rule our society, the stock father character in television sitcoms would not be the ‘doofus dad’ like Homer Simpson,” he wrote. “Smug misandry has been box-office gold for Barbie, which delights in writing off men as hapless romantic partners, leering jerks, violent buffoons and dim-witted tyrants who ought to let women run the world.”
Unfortunately, they do. I’m not just thinking of the success of politicians like Angela Merkel, Nicola Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern, but the way in which public life has become feminised over the past 25 years. Women may still be a minority in the chancelleries of Europe – although for how much longer? – yet because they’re so much more confident and morally forthright than their ‘privileged’ male colleagues, they’ve become the key decision-makers. How else to explain the emergence of ‘safety’ as a sacred value in all areas of public policy? Women are, on average, more risk-averse than men, which means they’re less hesitant about jettisoning hard-won liberties to reduce the likelihood of various worst-case scenarios materialising, whether it’s locking us in our homes to ‘protect’ us from a flu-like respiratory virus or forcing us to drive at 20mph to avoid thermogeddon.
Worth reading in full.
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I always knew the Stones were superior to the Beatles.
That is known as damning with (very) faint praise!
Spot on Mick.
The only deadly variant is next one out of Downing Street.
It’s great.
Legend.
Mick Jagger just rocketed in my esteem so fast, Warp 10 isn’t in it.
I’m strutting around my kitchen in loon pants now. Yeah yeah.
Good lad!
I can’t get no vaccination
Good fun but the lyrics are typically ambiguous. Indeed, the BBC has already given this song a positive review. Jagger has always known how to appear radical without actually committing himself to anything. That way he sells more records.
My thoughts exactly. I fail to see how this can’t just be interpreted as chronicling the “effects of the virus” and general stupidity. Hardly coming out as a sceptic.
The journalism on here is going down the pan.
Have to agree. I thought, great, Jagger’s a sceptic, too. Then I listened to the song. Not convinced in the slightest.
Yeah but he’s trying
Don’t knock the lad (grandad).
The original rebels finally speaking out. We need a modern day protest movement with millions out on the streets showing their defiance.
Rocking 80 year old putting younger generation to shame. How refreshing it would be to see this generation emulating him and show some anger and revolt through song.
with pleasure my friend!
I’m not sure the support of these degenerate cretins is needed. We need more like Fuellmich,Yeadon,Cahill and Sucharit Bhakdi.
Remember Dylan?
We need protest songs to connect with people, something I was only thinking yesterday; shame it’s an old fart from yesterday that’s first to step up to the plate.
If this was the late 1970s the “Yuf” would be in uprising!
Still, a good effort backed up by Dave Grohl no less (guitar & drums).
Oh the power of rock ‘n’ roll.
We need another Them Crooked Vultures album, certainly …
It’s not bad, but distinctly old skool rawk…
Can they sing?
Hear hear!
Yeah, but it’s nice to have some tunes as well..
Would have been a little more credible and useful if he’d done it a year ago.
I’m not sure Bill Gates and Mind Control are fake! Certainly, the fear being propogated, the social conditioning all look like mind control to me. The fact Bill Gates is the major funding source for the WHO and large contributions to BBC health dept and Imperial College. Many, many other pharmas and media – all smells bad to me.
Gillian McKeith has a great twitter page to show to reality deniers lol
https://twitter.com/GillianMcKeith
Well that was a bit of a mind-bender.
Oh dear oh dear… you guys managed to totally miss the target on this one. Mick is saying exactly the opposite of what you think he’s saying. In fact, he’s taking the piss out of you all!
And if you lack the ability to detect the sarcasm in his new song, just go a read the Rolling Stone magazine interview with him where he spells out the meaning of it for you. He is NOT on your side!
Agree. Mick Jagger Talks New Song With Dave Grohl, Pandemic, Vaccines – Rolling Stone
Good to see someone else noticed this. I wonder how many people read that last section of the article (picked apart in my comment below). It becomes more obvious by the day that the authors of this website are controlled opposition.
Oh dear oh dear… you guys managed to totally miss the target on this one. Mick is saying exactly the opposite of what you think he’s saying. In fact, he’s taking the pi$$ out of you all!
And if you lack the ability to detect the sarcasm in his new song, just go a read the Rolling Stone magazine interview with him where he spells out the meaning of it for you. He is NOT on your side!
Jagger for PM!
Fully vaccinated Sir Mick Jagger considers anyone questioning the vaccination program here as an anti-vaxxer. For those waiting to see the longer term effects or what happens when the trials end in 2023 no discernment just straight into the anti-vax camp.
Bad enough that we fawn over celebrities even worse when they are openly ill-disposed to our views.
Toby Young
Here we go again with the whole ‘conspiracy theorist’ malarkey. Let’s have a look at the lyrics in that last verse:
Shooting the vaccine
Bill Gates is in my blood stream
Is Jagger (and Toby) denying Bill Gates has involvement in this sordid affair?
It’s mind control
Yes, yes it is. And no, I’m not talking about the unknown substance being pumped into people’s veins. I’m talking about the universal message reading out from every orifice of public life that there is a deadly virus and we all need to behave like we have it. Are you now denying this has been happening Toby? I’m sure Jagger is doing his bit right here with these lyrics…
The earth is flat and cold
It’s never warming up
The Arctic’s turned to slush
The second’s coming late
And there’s aliens in the deep state
Congratulations, Mick, you did a fine job conflating real, seriously important issues with turgid shit. Toby is applauding your efforts.
I’ll now go and sit in the naughty corner with my tin foil hat. Thank you.
Who gives a fuck what he, Doily Parton Elton John, McCartney think about sweet F. A. Oh, and that erbert from… Showadywaddy, it’s great to get inspiration from geriatric teddyboys.
Miles Mathis put Jagger down as another deep state asset, a while ago. His ideas usually seem too far out, when I read them, but then I later see some corroborating evidence.
Michael Caine’s been the one to upset me most, so far, in the propaganda campaign.
This is an ad campaign for the upcoming, Gates funded “VaxLive”.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/media/vaxlive/
HOSTED BYSELENA GOMEZPERFORMANCES BYJENNIFER LOPEZ EDDIE VEDDER · FOO FIGHTERS J BALVIN · H.E.R.
The list of VaxLive performers advocating global Jab-er-Woke probably meant nothing to most LDS readers. But if they read ATL here they should know ex-Nirvana tub thumper Dave “Eazy Sleazy” Grohl is the Foo Fighters front man & guitarist. Now, square the circle…..
Good on Him…..BRILLIANT