The Optimist's Corner

Masculinity. What is it good for?

“The corporate world is pretty culturally neutered. A culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits. Masculine energy, I think, is good.”

Mark Zuckerberg said this while being interviewed by Joe Rogan. Can you believe it?

Meanwhile Jeff Bezos is spending time in his gym developing his biceps so he can show them off in the new sleeveless shirts he’s taken to wearing.

And Elon? Well what can you say about the richest man on the planet who pays women to have his children because he’s convinced that his genes are the best genes and should be scattered far and wide.

Remember that snake I was describing a couple of newsletters ago? You know, the one where I said that patriarchy today is like a large, poisonous snake impaled on a pitchfork, and while it is surely dying, the death throes will still be able to do some significant damage before its demise?

Well this is one of those instances. The Orange Clown wins and look who gather around him on coronation day. The richest men in the world. Did somebody say Oligarchs!?

It’s funny….I’m seventy- four and only became aware of the word ‘oligarchy’ several years ago, specifically after the fall of the Soviet Union, a Communist nation where theoretically everybody owned everything together. When the Iron Curtain fell and there was no more communism all the property in the USSR came under the control of a small number of men. After a little time our news media started to refer to these men as ‘oligarchs.’ Some people think that the real richest man on the planet is not Elon Musk at all but rather Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia since 1999 and is in charge of these men. I’ve recently learned that oligarchy was a term introduced by Aristotle in ancient Greece and meant—the rule of an area by a small group of the richest men in that area. Another definition is rule by the few. When I was growing up I never read about oligarchs in history, only kings and queens or emperors and empresses and other nobility. But apparently there existed times and places where the rich were the rulers, not the nobility.

While writing this piece I’ve learned that America has been controlled by an oligarchy twice in its history—periods when power and wealth were concentrated in a small group of elites. In the final months of his presidency Joe Biden warned of a third oligarchy being formed if Trump were elected.

The first oligarchy consisted of the founding fathers, most of whom were wealthy land and slaveowners. The new country these men created consisted of an agrarian society made up of free white people, and enslaved black people. Most white Americans worked as farmers, indentured servants, or artisans, and most of these people struggled to make ends meet.

All black Americans were enslaved and often suffered from brutal exploitation. The consequences of this system still affects us today, shaping disparities in wealth, opportunity, and education.

This new Republic was far from being a democracy. Only white, male property owners were allowed to vote and it wasn’t until the Civil War was fought that this first oligarchy ceased to exist.

The second oligarchy existed right after the CivilWar, in the late 19th century, in what has become known as the Gilded Age. A few of the names associated with this time are Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and J.P.Morgan. These men and others controlled the companies that controlled all the components of the new industrial age. After a few years they came to be called ‘robber barons.’

The gap between rich and poor widened dramatically. The people doing the hard and dangerous work to get these new businesses in factories and mines going and growing endured long hours and low wages, with many years of violent suppression of attempts to unionize. The robber barons used their wealth to manipulate elected government officials to pass legislation that would benefit them like stifling competition and tax evasion. They were the men who basically ran the country starting in 1877 during the presidencies of Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison and ending with William McKinley in 1901. In history books these presidents are referred to as the forgotten ones because they didn’t accomplish very much.

Theodore Roosevelt was the president after McKinley and was responsible for ushering in the new Progressive era, when the power of the robber barons started to slip. I find it interesting that Trump likes to be compared to McKinley.

Yes things are looking bad for us these last few weeks but it won’t last. There will be another Teddy Roosevelt coming along soon, and this time women will be able to vote. I really think that when this Trump virus is gone, we will enter another Progressive era.

Oligarchies have always been run by men, in fact the very nature of an oligarchy is one where the females in society are there for the pleasure of the males. At least when nobility rules a place there are also noblewomen. Not so in an oligarchy. (Yes there might be some women who may play a role in this one, but they certainly do not have the best interests of women at heart. Maybe in the future there will be words to describe men and women who support the other side.)

So let’s enjoy the show and watch how Zuckerberg, Bezos and Musk wind up. I predict the Orange One will be gone before his term is up.