MASCULINE/FEMININE
As I have been accepting that MAGA folks are defending traditional American values in a backlash against the threat to their values by liberal values in a changing world it seems more and more to me that MAGA traditional American values are basically masculine values, the values of macho men with large biceps and deep voices, the kind that ride motorcycles with heavy vests, real men, not sissie’s like me.
This may be too simple and a biased over generalization, but I’ll write down some reasons and see how they sound, at least to me.
One reason is that MAGA voters seem to be predominantly white males. Old white males are likely to defend traditional American values as are all older people. Male domination seems to me to be traditional American value, as it is in many cultures. Of course is hard for any old person to adapt to a changing world. But a lot of young male voters seem to feel that their masculinity is being threatened by liberal values that are weakening America. These young men are more likely to be uneducated and aimless and living with their parents without a clear goal in life. They are looking for meaning and purpose and find Donald Trump to be a great male role model because of his dominance, willingness to defend himself, his refusal ever to admit fault and his other values, even his misogyny. Central to America being great, or great again, is having a powerful army and being dominant, #1.
Another MAGA male value in my mind is fundamenatalism. Fundamentalism is the assertion that you know the fundamental truth, you are right, and everyone else is wrong in a world of black and white. It seems to me that fundamentalist Christianity is more about being right than being loving, more about other religions being wrong than being Christlike. Fundamentalist sects are usually male dominated.
Being defenders of their beliefs, with a gun or two, seems to be a natural male inclination. Armies are made up of young men willing to die for their country. This must be a result of evolution. Males feel it is their natural role to be breadwinners and defenders of the family. Feminism and women working as much as men and demanding equal pay seems to be a threat.
Males seem to be more competitive than women. Male sports are somehow more important than female sports and seem to me with their mix of patriotic nationalism with huge flags and the national anthem and invocations of god’s guidance seem to be a peaceful form of releasing male aggression. The competition that really matters is politics where men dominate and where winning seems to be the point of the game. But capitalism also is a form of competition based on winning by getting as rich as possible rather than assuring that everyone can live decently with with the basics of life. The obscenely rich are the biggest winners. Capitalism and sports seem basic to American traditional cultural values as they are in many cultures.
These are a few of the reasons, for me, that being MAGA seems to be more masculine than feminine. If you are male all this is more likely to seem to be common sense, with common sense being what is intuitively common to most other males. This comes with a suspicion of intellectualism or expertise or nuanced thinking or openness to other perspectives, all of which seem to be signs of weakness, a justification that is used both by Donald Trump and by my barber for mocking liberals as having no common sense, but to me seem to be signs of narrowness and blindness.
If you are a real male you will probably think I’m both weak and a nut. But this is some of what MAGA seems like to me.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 