July 24, 2013

2013.07.24
Sure it mattered. When you get to my age you discover that everything mattered. Life isn't a series of good and bad choices. It's harder to steer it one way or the other than most people think. You just get pulled along. You look back and you wonder 'could I have changed the course of my life?' Maybe you could've ... but it would probably have taken a tremendous force of will.
Old Man in Seth's "It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken", a graphic novel (recycling this quote from 5 years ago -- the "everything mattered" line has stuck with me, but I had forgotten the source)

Every 2 minutes today we snap as many photos as the whole of humanity took in the 1800s. In fact, ten percent of all the photos we have were taken in the past 12 months.
I'm not 100% sure I buy the 10% line, but maybe!
If I had a dollar for every time someone called me an entitled white guy the problem would be even worse

Great quote from this goodmenproject article:
The core issue is this: many, many men in our society feel they have to be needed, because they can't imagine they could ever be wanted.
I wish the article pushed a little farther, though, to think about the background of this: the old trope of men as proactive subject, women as passive object. The old (and still around, alas) "male as default", especially for active roles. As society slowly gets better at accepting women as subject, men will be better served if they can accept a corresponding role as possible "objet du desir", someone you'd LIKE to have around than NEED to have around.