Gus Walz
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2024 8:59 am
When I saw Gus Walz, I saw my people and thought he was absolutely adorable. I assume every aspect of a political convention is a potential cause for criticism from the other side, but it never occurred to me that moment would be a target.
The masculinity obsession on the right, and overall panic about gender boundaries, is the cause of so many irritating problems including this one. From my perspective, a big group of people has lost their minds about this issue and are projecting some kind of profound insecurity on everybody else. Nor is it an accident that right-wing media is chock-a-block with male enhancement and low t product ads.
But what perhaps upsets me even more is the reaction of people on the right who felt the only reason to retract criticism of this kid is that he has some sort of learning disability or special needs. No. Anybody who acts like he did, regardless of the reason, is just f****** fine and in fact better the way he is. So when people rolled back their criticism or acted like it wasn't appropriate only because the kid fell into a certain category - that's in a way even more insulting because it implies the messed up gender standards behind all this are acceptable. And I mention it here also because it's part of the lifelong experience I've observed and probably many of us have observed of how people react to those deemed "nerdy". It's always had that gendered edge to it, although I find that far more pronounced these days than it used to be. But the bullying is always there and I find it tragic that this bullying impulse hasn't changed any. People who feel more or think more or express more or otherwise react differently than the herd... Some people take a cruel delight in hurting them for fun. Allowing this to infect our politics is really grotesque.
The masculinity obsession on the right, and overall panic about gender boundaries, is the cause of so many irritating problems including this one. From my perspective, a big group of people has lost their minds about this issue and are projecting some kind of profound insecurity on everybody else. Nor is it an accident that right-wing media is chock-a-block with male enhancement and low t product ads.
But what perhaps upsets me even more is the reaction of people on the right who felt the only reason to retract criticism of this kid is that he has some sort of learning disability or special needs. No. Anybody who acts like he did, regardless of the reason, is just f****** fine and in fact better the way he is. So when people rolled back their criticism or acted like it wasn't appropriate only because the kid fell into a certain category - that's in a way even more insulting because it implies the messed up gender standards behind all this are acceptable. And I mention it here also because it's part of the lifelong experience I've observed and probably many of us have observed of how people react to those deemed "nerdy". It's always had that gendered edge to it, although I find that far more pronounced these days than it used to be. But the bullying is always there and I find it tragic that this bullying impulse hasn't changed any. People who feel more or think more or express more or otherwise react differently than the herd... Some people take a cruel delight in hurting them for fun. Allowing this to infect our politics is really grotesque.