Gender and Sex

“The Ethicist” Finds a Rationalization! Welcome #64 A: “It Didn’t Mean Anything”

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

Rationalization #64 A, The Cheater’s Defense or “It Didn’t Mean Anything” is a rather narrowly applicable addition to the list: it arises when a half of a supposedly committed couple has sexual relations with a third party. I have entered it as a sub-rationalization to the infamous Yoo’s Rationalization (“It isn’t what it is”) because betraying a spouse, partner or lover does mean something, probably many things.

The Ethicist received a question from, as always, “Name Withheld,” whose partner had cheated on her and used that phrase, “It didn’t mean anything.” She asks, years after the event, “I still don’t understand why cheaters use the phrase ‘‘(She/he) didn’t mean anything to me.’ How does one even respond to a statement like that?”

Kwame Anthony Appiah, in his usual measured fashion, says that the line “is how cheaters try to reassure their partners that their infidelity wasn’t going to lead to a serious relationship and needn’t spell the end of their existing one; that a fling was ‘just sex.’’’ But that still doesn’t translate to “It didn’t mean anything.” Having sex out of one’s committed relationship probably means, among other things,

  • The cheater isn’t as committed as he or she had led the betrayed partner to believe.
  • The cheater cannot be trusted.
  • The cheater has a drinking or substance abuse problem.
  • The cheater has some apparent needs that the supposed love of his or her life isn’t supplying
  • The cheater lacks some degree of impulse control.
  • The cheater is an easy mark for an aggressive come-on from an attractive member of the opposite sex (in other words, the cheater is a typical heterosexual male.)

Of course it meant something. The statement, like many rationalizations, is a lie. “The Ethicist” concentrates on what the use of the rationalization means: that the cheater, in addition to cheating, is manipulative jerk. “Cheaters demean the people they cheated with by dismissing them as meaningless, demean their partner by implying their pain is unjustified and demean their relationship by saying that they betrayed their beloved’s trust for a liaison they insist was insignificant,” he concludes.

Yeah, that too.

Ethics Dunce: Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.)

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

Rep. Moulton must have read wrong. See, Teddy Roosevelt said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Somehow the Massachusetts Democrat thought the sage words were, “Speak loudly and be a big weenie.”

After the election last year, Moulton criticized his party for avoiding controversial issues like biological men competing in women’s sports. “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest…I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.” The reaction by his constituents confirmed why: His comment on the topic were widely criticized and there were resignation from his staff. 

But Moulton continued to channel “Profiles in Courage.” “I stand firmly in my belief for the need for competitive women’s sports to put limits on the participation of those with the unfair physical advantages that come with being born male,” he said. “I probably will be primaried,” he told CNN. “And that’s great. That just proves my point: you can’t speak a sentence that’s out of line and not get backlash from the left. But that’s OK. This is a democracy.”

Impressive. Then, last month, Moulton quietly voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which bans biological males from competing in girls’ school sports. Only two Democrats voted for the bill. He had been the most vocal Democrat in supporting its purpose, but when the time came to vote consistently with his fervent devotion to the safety of his daughters in their future athletic pursuits, he decided that he didn’t want to be primaried after all.

Coward. Liar. Hypocrite. Weasel. Hack.

Unethical TV Commercial In Oh So Many Ways: 2024 Hyundai Tuscon SEL

/ Jack Marshall / 8 Comments

Here’s now sinister this ad is: I must have watched it six or seven times before I thought, “Hey…wait a minute!”

The male “bad date” in the ad is so disgusting a viewer is half-hoping the woman pulls out a .44 and shoots him right between the eyes. This is masterful manipulation at work…he begins with an insult framed as blame causing him disappointment: “You’re too short.” Asshole. Then he reveals his narcicissm and boastfulness, showing the selfie “by the dumbbells.” Giant asshole! Next the air-drumming comment…UNBELIEVABLE asshole! When he gets to the bit about forgetting his wallet and “Sugarmamma,” the viewer is seeing red, and feeling that the victim of this toxic creep is being noble by just sneaking out rather than setting him on fire.

But she isn’t. She’s being an asshole too, just a slightly better one. Leaving the table on false pretenses to escape is cowardly and indefensible. Moreover, someone who misbehaves as outrageously as the “bad date” needs to be told just clearly how unacceptable his conduct is and why, since he obviously doesn’t know. His next victim will at least partially be the runaway date’s fault.

The commercial also showed an anti-female bias by making the bad date a male and his victim female. A genders switched version would inspire at least a substantial reaction from viewers of “What a weenie! The jerk doesn’t have the guts to confront that jerk!” But teh woman in the ad is also a weenie—it’s just that the Hyundai marketers are calculating that running away from confrontations and unpleasant situations is a girl thing, and socially acceptable.

No, it really isn’t. This is not only a stereotype, it’s a damaging one. Why haven’t we elected a female President yet? Accumulated cultural poison like this commercial is one of the reasons.

Incidentally, I hope that actor who plays the asshole was well paid for his performance, because he may end up dying single and alone as a result.

Look! Another Study Showing That What Everybody Knew Anyway Is Probably True…

/ Jack Marshall / 4 Comments

A new study concludes that parents probably do have a favorites among their children.

Parents always deny this, of course. Such a preference would make any parent feel guilty, so they are in permanent denial. The favorite child reaps the benefits of his or her status, and the lesser regarded children are told that they are petty, jealous, and paranoid. Frequently, in my experience, the “Mom likes you best!” accusation works wonders, and the guilt-ridden parent will then bend over backwards to avoid any appearance of favoritism, even to the point of favoring the other child or children.

The study in question, however, seems pretty worthless. Lisa Strohschein, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta and the editor-in-chief of the journal Canadian Studies in Population, thinks that all the study does is confirm what most people already believe. The researchers acknowledged limitations in the study, and write that “the reasons why parents treat their children differently are likely more complex and extend beyond the factors explored.” Oh.

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And This Is Why DEI Must DIE…

/ Jack Marshall / 9 Comments

Three impressive, qualified, white male law professors applied to join the faculty of Northwestern School of Law. They were First Amendment expert (and Ethics Alarms favorite) Eugene Volokh, Ernest A. Young of Duke University’s Law School, and Ilan Wurman, a distinguished professor at The University of Minnesota Law School. All were rejected in favor of DEI hires, despite being objectively better qualified than the successful candidates. Now “Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences” (FASORP), a collective of professors and lawyers who seek to expose and stop racial and gender preferences in higher education, is suing on the professors’ behalf.

“As a result of the [DEI] mandate, Northwestern University School of Law refuses to even consider hiring white male faculty candidates with stellar credentials, while it eagerly hires candidates with mediocre and undistinguished records who check the proper diversity boxes,” the complaint alleges. Northwestern violates the law by “hiring women and racial minorities with mediocre and undistinguished records over white men who have better credentials, better scholarship, and better teaching ability,” the suit says.
“But this is prohibited by federal law, which bans universities that accept federal funds from discriminating on account of race or sex. University faculty and administrators think they can flout these anti-discrimination statutes with impunity because they are rarely sued….But now the jig is up.”

The case of Volokh would seem to be particularly difficult to refute. The suit asserts that Volokh’s accomplishments exceed those of nearly every professor currently on the Northwestern Law School faculty, but because he is a white man and “neither homosexual nor transgender,” he was judged unacceptable.

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“The Ethicist” on Ogling [Updated]

/ Jack Marshall / 11 Comments

Now that “The Ethicist” has finished his mission of pandering to the Trump Deranged among Times readers, he is moving on. I wonder if that ex-Washington Post cartoonist will draw a carton showing him “bending a knee” to the new President? At least his latest topic is a legitimate one as opposed to “Should I shun my mother because she supports Trump?”

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“Superman II” Plot: After Trump-Deranged Sen. Murphy Makes An Ass of Himself, Vogue Says “Hold My Beer”…

/ Jack Marshall / 35 Comments

The previous post discussed the level of hysteria now being attained by the Trump Deranged, with a U.S. Senator yesterday joining in the bonkers conspiracy theory that the Trump administration is a cabal of actual Nazis . Chris Murphy’s echoing the ridiculous Big Lie that Elon Musk gave a deliberate Nazi salute—you know, like Superman when he’s flying—

….managed to surpass even the late campaign claims by the dumbest sub-species among the Axis of Unethical Conduct that Trump was emulating the American Nazi Party when he held a campaign rally in Madison Square Garden. Yes, the Nazi salute smear on Musk is even worse than that, though redolent of the “OK” secret white supremacy hand signal insanity that the Mad Left used to slime everyone from lawyers to baseball fans during Trump’s first term.

Here is Vogue, writing about the cool necklace Ketanji Brown Jackson (above) wore to the inauguration:

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Ethics Alarms Wants To Thank President Biden For His Continuing Efforts To Confirm Its Verdict That He Is The Worst U.S. President Ever

/ Jack Marshall / 9 Comments

…as with today’s idiocy, that “statement” above.

The President has no say whatsoever in when proposed Constitutional amendment have been ratified (or not). He can express his approval of one, and lobby for it with legislators, but he cannot make a ruling that the [completely superfluous, virtue-signaling] Equal Rights Amendment has been properly ratified (it hasn’t been). He might as well put out a statement that Barry Bonds should be voted into the Hall of Fame, or that broccoli is good for you. This is the President whose party made failure to uphold “democratic norms” one of its main Big Lies against Donald Trump, and Biden’s Presidency has ignored more norms than any Presidency at least since FDR tried to be President For Life. (Come to think of it, he succeeded!)

Making this presumptuous and gratuitous endorsement even worse is the fact that everybody knows now that Biden is in no shape to declare anything of substance, especially a matter of constitutional law debate. This isn’t Biden talking, it is some phantom activist in the White House using Biden’s name and office to advance a personal agenda.

Since his historic, DEI VP was selected by his party’s oligarchs to run for President without any components of the modern nomination process (and I doubt that Harris would have even survived the old-fashioned “smoke-filled room”) Biden—-that is, his puppeteers—has set an all-time Presidential spite record by filling his final months with obstructions for Donald Trump, as well as leniency for murderers, civilian honors for despicable civilians, more unethical student loan waivers, obstacles to U.S. energy independence and climate change grandstanding. Then there was this week’s head-exploding call for censorship in his Orwellian farewell speech.

Meanwhile Ruy Texiera, a generally objective, fair, and honest analyst, is having none of the obsequious claims from the Axis that Biden, in addition to being a figurehead President, was somehow also a good one who will be vindicated by history. On his substack “The Liberal Patriot” he authors a much more exhaustive description of Biden’s failures than I did in selecting poor Joe as “The Worst President Ever,” as well as chronicles Biden’s betrayal of the voters who thought they were voting for a moderate in 2020. (They also thought they were voting for a cognitive functioning leader rather than a marionette.)

It’s a superb piece, and you should read it.

Even if Biden puts out a statement saying that you shouldn’t.

The Country’s In the Very Best of Hands! Reps. Mace and Crockett Disgrace Themselves, Congress, and Nation

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

During the debate over the House bill to stop males “transitioning” to glorious womanhood from injuring female athletes while cheating their way to taking their scholarships, records, championships and safety, two of the worst female members of Congress—and that’s quite an achievement, given the competition— showed (again) why the public no longer trusts its republic. The two women showed themselves to be ethics dunces, incompetent elected officials, disastrous role models and, to get technical about it, assholes.

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Incompetent Elected Official of the Month: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

/ Jack Marshall / 6 Comments

This one is too easy.

If anyone really wants to know why the United States has yet to elect a female President, all that is required is to look at the talent pool. Members of Congress who have no executive experience are usually unqualified to take on the toughest leadership job in the world, so women with a background at least theoretically justifying a run for the White House must have shined as a state governor or a big city mayor unless their entire case for being elected consists of “I’m a woman.” When Gretchen Whitmer is the only female governor ever mentioned in the same breath as “President,” that tells you how deep the state house talent pool is…and then we have the female big city mayors. London Breed in San Francisco, a slow motion car wreck. Uber-woke mayor of Boston Michelle Wu. The Black Lives Matter worshiping mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser. Lori Lightfoot was so inept and obnoxious in her term as mayor of Chicago that she was defeated in a landslide by a Marxist.

But the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, makes all of those look like Fiorello La Guardia in a pants suit. In a classic of bad timing, Bass cut her city’s fire department budget for this fiscal year by more than $17.5 million. Then, the National Weather Service warned that Los Angeles would be in peril in the next few days with this announcement:

“..LIFE THREATENING, DESTRUCTIVE, WIDESPREAD WINDSTORM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR PORTIONS OF LOS ANGELES AND EASTERN VENTURA COUNTIES– WITH LONG DURATION OF RED FLAG CONDITIONS INTO THURSDAY– POSSIBLY EXTENDING INTO FRIDAY… …RED FLAG WARNINGS IN EFFECT FOR LOS ANGELES COUNTY AND MUCH OF VENTURA COUNTY—SEE TIMINGS IN HEADLINES BELOW… ……Offshore winds are now expected to develop rapidly early Tuesday morning, leading to an earlier start time of the Red Flag Warning for many areas. Confidence is high for a life threatening, destructive, widespread windstorm with dangerous fire weather conditions Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning, especially focused on the San Gabriel mountains and foothills, San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley, Hollywood/Beverly Hills, coastal areas adjacent to the Sepulveda Pass, Simi Valley, and Santa Monica mountains into Malibu. Strong mountain wave wind activity will likely impact many of these areas, resulting in very strong, erratic, and damaging wind gusts, capable of widespread downed trees/powerlines, as well as widespread power outages. This windstorm will likely be as destructive as the 2011 windstorm that impacted Pasadena and nearby San Gabriel Valley foothills. This is a high end Red Flag event. Any new fires will have a high risk for very rapid fire spread and large fire growth, extreme fire behavior, and long range spotting.“

So, forwarned, the next day, Bass took off for Ghana as part of a Presidential junket. When the fires started raging, it took her more than 24 hours to return to do her job. (Ghana has exactly no relationship to being mayor of L.A. at all.) By the time she arrived, more than 5,000 homes were burned or burning, as fire hydrants ran dry because water demand was so high it drained the city’s reserve tanks. She returned to face pointed questions about her leadership, or lack of it as the crisis loomed. Bass chose to shift into political BS boilerplate, saying,

“Let me just say first and foremost, my number one focus—and I think the focus of all of us here—with one voice is that we have to protect lives, we have to save lives and we have to save homes.”

Asked about Bass’s performance, Christian Grose, a political scientist at the University of Southern California, explained that Bass’ specialty is building legislative consensus behind closed doors “Her skills are building coalitions and working with people,” Grose said of Bass, who is in her first term. “This moment demands a true executive who will stand up and say, ‘this is what we’re going to do.’” Yeah, it’s that thingy called “leadership.” Building consensus is a stereotypical form of female management, but it’s not enough. if the stereotypical male leadership style of taking change and giving everyone confidence that there is someone in charge who knows what to do is too confrontational and icky for female mayors, the White House is going to be a loooong way off.

After she crashed and burned in interviews when she finally arrived on the smoky scene, Bass said, “When the fires are out, we will do a deep dive. We will look at what worked, we will look at what didn’t work, and we will let you know. Until then, my focus is on the TV screens behind you that are showing devastation that has continued. Thank you.”

The tone deafness and absence of leadership instincts that such a statement represents is mind boggling. “Don’t worry! After everything has burned down we will do a thorough analysis!” Just what citizens whose houses are in flames want to hear….