NCFM NOTE: Mr. Manners presents several subjective or controversial viewpoints, but that does not automatically make them incorrect. Interpretation always depends on the perspective of the reader. Perceive on at your own risk…
IS BEING ALL POWERFUL ANTI-WOMAN
Starting in the 1950s, hurricanes were given female names. As a result of feminist activism, this practice ended in 1979 when male names were added. Assigning only female names to these storms has been widely portrayed as anti-female sexism. Why should that be? In current times, it is not uncommon to attribute powerful storms to the work of God. In Greek mythology, the most powerful of the Gods was Zeus. Or, as he was known, the Head God Guy, responsible for thunder and lightning. Not to mention the annual Omnipotent God picnic.
Of course, there have been many female weather Goddesses, such as the Egyptian Goddess Tefnut. Throughout history, the idea that the climate has been controlled by female and male deities is commonplace. Currently, let’s not forget the God of gender determination, Gloria Steinem. The one who revealed the late Congresswoman Kay Bailey Hutchinson was a “female impersonator”. I admit, Hutchinson had me fooled.
How about the naming of storms? A number of storms have been named after saints. Sports teams have names like “The Storm”, “The Thunder”, and “The Lightning”. “The Storm” is the Women’s Basketball Association team in Seattle. Seattle being a place where it rains frequently. Why is the word storm positive enough to be a sports name, while at the same time, female names for hurricanes have been looked at as anti-women?
Mr. Manners
In fact, “Hurricanes” is the name for the University of Miami sports teams. Meaning a place known for hurricanes, is named after a weather condition that has done so much damage to the area the school is in. I have never heard a single instance of protesting this nickname.
It is true that the late black Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee was chided for suggesting hurricanes be named after black people. The criticism of Jackson’s words no doubt because feminists have taught us that being named after a hurricane is disparaging. Ironically, feminists are advocates for powerful, assertive women. In the natural world, this means conditions such as hurricanes. On the other hand, black activists are against blacks being depicted as destructive. You know, like hurricanes. So maybe we should go back to female hurricanes and without traditional black names.
Hurricanes being named after women made sense to me. After all, hurricanes are part of “Mother Nature”. Feminists don’t address all the positive aspects of being identified with Mother Nature, which means the media doesn’t either. What else is under the province of Mother Nature? It is where life comes from. Fruit comes from her trees, and vegetables grow out of her ground. Notice feminists are not trying to take the words she out of the song “God Bless America”.
America and many other countries are called she. Countries being what men are supposed to die for. What about the tools used to protect her? Planes and ships are usually given female names by the soldiers who use them. Of course, feminists have presented a contrary opinion supported by the media, that things feminine are automatically considered inferior.
One could protest that it is not true that all countries are considered female by their citizens. True. There is one whose male nickname is frequently mentioned in history. That being “The Fatherland”, a name which is most frequently associated with Nazi Germany.
While women are associated with life, men are associated with death. Let’s not forget Mother Nature’s boyfriend, “Father Time”. The anthropomorphic character death is routinely portrayed as male. One could reasonably observe, what is the big deal about the above? A legitimate response, except that such examples are absent from media observations.
So let me finish with something that I believe is problematic. In his book, “The Myth of Male Power”, Dr. Warren Farrell noted the origin of the: “word hero comes from the Greek word se-row, from which comes our word servant, as well as slave and protector.” He continued: “A hero was basically a slave whose purpose was to serve and protect.”
We hear feminists’ complaints about the disproportion of statutes, etc. that honor the dude sex. We don’t hear that so many of these men were honored because they sacrificed their lives. Or that despite all this male sacrifice, the statue that honors such heroics is of a woman. That being The Statue of Liberty.
Clearly, many self-sacrificing men have contributed greatly to our freedom. Still, we know little about whether deifying such behaviors contributes to young men taking unnecessary risks. We are far more likely to be exposed to feminist outrage about positive words about women being housewives.
What about the major holidays we celebrate? We start out the year with Lincoln, King, and Washington. Two of the three were assassinated. Next comes Easter, where we honor the one who was said to have been sacrificed for everyone’s sins, meaning males and females. Then, to “Memorial Day”, the day to honor those who died in war. We follow this with July 4, celebrating the Declaration of Independence. Honoring the start of our country, in which numerous men gave their lives in order to create the United States.
Next Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates the end of slavery. After the Emancipation Proclamation, black men died to help defeat the Confederacy. The media consistently states that over 620,000 thousand Americans died in the Civil War. As if women died at anything close to the rate of men.
Then “Labor Day”. This day honors the improvements of the once typically horrific place, the workforce. Men being the ones who have disproportionately suffered serious injuries and death at work. Also, the leaders in fighting to improve working conditions. The next holiday is Thanksgiving. Well forget Thanksgiving. How dare there be a Holiday that does not support my thesis. Then we end with Christmas. Once again, honoring the one hung from the cross to atone for all our sins.
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Mr. Manners is written by NCFM member Bruce Kanter. He has a new Substack site brucekanter1.substack.com The article is a slightly edited and renamed version from an article from that site.
