Men have always been raised to believe they are superior. Our primary religion insists on it. Men still control almost all the levers of power. Our whole culture is built on a base of male superiority, and men somehow feel like society doesn’t care about them? I think that’s telling.

Religion might be the biggest stumbling block. Since Christianity is predicated on inequality, tribalism, and division, most of our nation’s problems may not be solvable in the short run. But they are $#!+heading their way to irrelevance, so maybe we can deal with it, assuming they don’t succeed in burning everything down first.

However:

I agree with you in part— part of that power has always included a diminishment of male emotions and an insistence they suffer in silence. Women are an important cog in the patriarchy and are complicit in stunting male emotional health. I’ve been saying for more than a decade that women are on an upward trajectory while men are trending downward. But like pandemic preparedness, you have to look forward because by the time you notice it, it’s too late.

What I didn’t count on was — and this is embarrassing — that the right wing would f*ck everything up. I can usually tell what they’ll do by assuming the worst, but sometimes they get under that low bar, even if they have to dig.