Pharma Sister

Came across this meme…

This meme brought to mind a thought that has grown in my mind for a while. Oh, and by way of transparency: I am a middle-aged, white male in the United States. I’m not saying that my being so is evil, and I don’t think self-flagellation is productive. In fact, it is my view — and I am open to hearing counters to this — that no person’s born-into identity is evil in and of itself. That said, back to my burgeoning thought. That thought revolves around women political leaders and this male-dominated culture, of which I am a participant. I think we live in a time of imbalance. From my standpoint I see this imbalance as being one of the masculine over the feminine and I do not see it as a positive thing. I think it is not a positive thing for this world and further, I believe people of any gender ought to fucking recognize that.

Overall, I think we ought to be, as a society and as a people, saddened, angered, concerned that by the flagrant greed and constant pursuit of dominance (including dominance over the very environment itself, with its attendant, catastrophic problems). I find it troubling that we seem to celebrate this “glass ceiling” broken through by women who seem to make a mockery of the very notion of genuine social progress. On the contrary, I would argue that many seem to be — very ironically — furthering male-domination (or maybe masculine-energy-dominated is better) and its paradigm.

By way of example, take Hillary Rodham Clinton’s role on the board of WalMart even while the latter’s leadership decried the evils of unions and how their only reason for existence is laziness. Clinton played an active role on its board as WalMart single-handedly gutted the manufacturing sector of our country. Now contrast this with the positive side, take a look at genuine leaders like Tulsi Gabbard, Nina Turner, Pramila Jayapal, Kshama Sawant, Zephyr Teachout and others. It’s worth nothing that these women’s politics are centered on inclusion, on environmental respect, on the avoidance of unnecessary conflict. As a man, I would very gladly follow leaders like that with pride and much respect. (Oh, and, despite my being called “a sexist” for saying so, I support Jill Stein for President.)

So in terms of the above meme, and my allusion to that paragon of male domination, Martin Shkreli, I want to add a note. I saw that Mr. Shkreli has taken to attacking Candidate Clinton for the misbehavior of Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan. Aside from modeling near-textbook sociopathy, Shkreli has also exposed a fact that the vilification of him last year that many seemed to miss. The outrage directed at him as an individual largely missed a far more important point: the system, the socio-cultural-political-economic system is corrupt on the most fundamental of levels. I hope that it gives no one any joy seeing a woman participate in this system that was brought about by a male-dominated, domination-centric impulse, a kind of dark side of masculinity, if you will. My hope is that women and men of conscience will shatter that structure, and cease to laud anyone’s ascent to the heights of said male-dominated, corporate structure, no matter what their gender. Until we shatter this Leviathan, what D.H. Lawrence called “mechanized greed,” there will be plenty of private power and profit for the very few, at the expense of The People and the earth whose air we all breathe.