The Ghost Writer's Gallery: November 2017

Monday 27 November 2017

Disability, isolation and the human connection

Mankind is and always has been a social species, our continued survival is predicated upon how well we can interact and co-operate with each other. The thing about being disabled though (particularly in a country like South Africa) is that normal human socialisation is made extremely difficult.

I am 27 years old, but I live like someone far older. The cost and physical difficulty of a public life in a nation which is hugely lacking in accessible infrastructure means that I rarely leave my home. For the same reason, it's tough to be a contributing member of the local economy (which isn't particularly welcoming right now, even to normal folks).

However, these problems are not unique to me; many disabled South Africans are lonely and disenfranchised, but I wouldn't attribute these problems to bigotry or willful discrimination. As I see it, the struggles we face are merely a symptom of those in power lacking the motivation and work ethic to create an environment in which industrious citizens may thrive.

All this is just the backdrop for my main point, the importance of human connection. Increasingly in today's mainstream media, men are portrayed as lecherous beasts who only value women for their bodies, often implying and sometimes outright stating that men are slaves to a malevolent patriarchy and that we all harbour a deep-rooted urge to rape and subjugate women. This is a cornerstone of modern feminist theory, which itself falls within a broader movement commonly known as "social justice".

I place that term within quotation marks because I do not believe that it represents any such ideal.
Under the guise of words like "empowerment" and "diversity" Those who push an ideology more akin to authoritarian marxism would have us believe that men (especially white ones) serve an agenda whose only aim is to make women and non-whites suffer. Definitions of words such as "racism" and "sexism" are forever expanding to include trivialities like calling a stranger beautiful or asking someone of a different ethnic background where they are from. They are thrown around so frequently as to become meaningless, so that when an example of actual bigotry occurs, it's far less likely to be taken seriously.

Furthermore, "social justice" seems determined to make casual hatred trendy. Hashtags like #FuckWhitePeople and #MenAreTrash have become prevalent on social media and any man who dares to suggest that they are divisive and unhelpful is either labelled "part of the problem" or told that their race or gender make their opinion irrelevant. Women who oppose these narratives are branded as suffering from "internalised misogyny", because apparently, having a vagina renders one incapable of independent thought. (Empowering stuff, isn't it?)

As someone with very little romantic experience, I want to make something perfectly clear; MEN ARE HUMAN.

I have had one intimate relationship in my life, which was brief and ended so horribly that it sent me into a suicidal depression, the remnants of which I'm still dealing with more than a year later. If decent, well-meaning people continue to act as useful idiots in these times of cultural strife, I genuinely fear that men and women will drift away from one another, driven by constant fear of what either one might do.

So no, I am most certainly not an advocate of "social justice". I think I'll do just fine sticking with equality and individual liberty.