4 ms·

I don't know if I'd call it a benign paragraph. Leaving woke-ism or whatever else out of the question, it's pretty clear that the writer of the paragraph in que

I don't know if I'd call it a benign paragraph. Leaving woke-ism or whatever else out of the question, it's pretty clear that the writer of the paragraph in question is a huge douchebag.

fareesh 5y ago
It was referring to his preferences about women in the context of marriage. Should companies concern themselves with the marital preferences of their employees? This is a person writing his autobiography and discussing his marriage in the context of previous failed romances. It seems like the entire marriage context is left out and the statement is presented as some kind of opinion on all women in general. It's quite bizarre to choose to not have a charitable view of these things when one quite obviously exists. Purposely looking for the worst possible interpretation of things is not useful in society. It leads to everyone attacking each other for hidden meanings and agendas.
- rdiddly 5y ago
  I admit it, I don't have the full context, so to some extent I "fell for it" (the outrage-bait) just like everyone else. And in fact I agree with your principles here. So I should at least be clear that while I said the quoted bits are not exactly benign, they're not a frigging war crime either. It's not like he forced hundreds of Chinese workers to work 84-hour work weeks until they wanted to commit suicide, and then built jump-nets to stop them doing that, oh snap, what'd I say? Who was that typing on my keyboard? Get out of here, anonymous keyboard-typing guy, how'd you get in my house? Yeah you BETTER run! The things that made me think "douchebag" were more subtle - like thinking what you'll need in the event of the 'pocalypse is shotgun shells and diesel. That's cute. Maybe if you control the spice, as well? Anyway for the record, what you'll need is boring mature crap like neighbors and friends, and friends among your neighbors and/or neighbors who are your friends, and doing nice things for them sometimes. Preferably a few Republicans among them, to watch over your house. I don't need shells if my 4th-amendment neighbor has them. And (from another excerpt) the thing about seducing five women. Tacky! Plus, I've never seduced anybody. That's my "handsome privilege" talking of course, but yeah, they all seduce me. Don't work so hard. (Now who's a douchebag?) Finally, as a small but still-worth-mentioning footnote, the fact that (back to the first excerpt) to get all the shotgun shells and diesel, he would "trade" a female human. That probably contributed to rankling some people.
  - fareesh 5y ago
    I would agree with all of that if it were remotely serious but the tone of that entire section is written in jest, and I don't know what is gained out of taking someone's intended jocularity as a serious plan of action. The principle conveyed is true but the exaggerations are purely for writing. It's a book after all, and he is trying to entertain the reader. He really doesn't think of the apocalypse. In fact I would not be surprised if a ghostwriter or editor did those embellishments.

I don't know if I'd call it a benign paragraph. Leaving woke-ism or whatever else out of the question, it's pretty clear that the writer of the paragraph in question is a huge douchebag.

fareesh 5y ago

It was referring to his preferences about women in the context of marriage. Should companies concern themselves with the marital preferences of their employees? This is a person writing his autobiography and discussing his marriage in the context of previous failed romances. It seems like the entire marriage context is left out and the statement is presented as some kind of opinion on all women in general. It's quite bizarre to choose to not have a charitable view of these things when one quite obviously exists. Purposely looking for the worst possible interpretation of things is not useful in society. It leads to everyone attacking each other for hidden meanings and agendas.

rdiddly 5y ago
I admit it, I don't have the full context, so to some extent I "fell for it" (the outrage-bait) just like everyone else. And in fact I agree with your principles here. So I should at least be clear that while I said the quoted bits are not exactly benign, they're not a frigging war crime either. It's not like he forced hundreds of Chinese workers to work 84-hour work weeks until they wanted to commit suicide, and then built jump-nets to stop them doing that, oh snap, what'd I say? Who was that typing on my keyboard? Get out of here, anonymous keyboard-typing guy, how'd you get in my house? Yeah you BETTER run! The things that made me think "douchebag" were more subtle - like thinking what you'll need in the event of the 'pocalypse is shotgun shells and diesel. That's cute. Maybe if you control the spice, as well? Anyway for the record, what you'll need is boring mature crap like neighbors and friends, and friends among your neighbors and/or neighbors who are your friends, and doing nice things for them sometimes. Preferably a few Republicans among them, to watch over your house. I don't need shells if my 4th-amendment neighbor has them. And (from another excerpt) the thing about seducing five women. Tacky! Plus, I've never seduced anybody. That's my "handsome privilege" talking of course, but yeah, they all seduce me. Don't work so hard. (Now who's a douchebag?) Finally, as a small but still-worth-mentioning footnote, the fact that (back to the first excerpt) to get all the shotgun shells and diesel, he would "trade" a female human. That probably contributed to rankling some people.
- fareesh 5y ago
  I would agree with all of that if it were remotely serious but the tone of that entire section is written in jest, and I don't know what is gained out of taking someone's intended jocularity as a serious plan of action. The principle conveyed is true but the exaggerations are purely for writing. It's a book after all, and he is trying to entertain the reader. He really doesn't think of the apocalypse. In fact I would not be surprised if a ghostwriter or editor did those embellishments.