Along with the Kingston Trio classic, I'd give the nod to Tom Lehrer for the final word on misanthropy:

Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks;
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to cheek.
It's fun to eulogize
The people you despise
As long as you don't let 'em in your school.

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It's American as apple pie.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans 'cause it's very chic.
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can't stand,
You can tolerate him if you try!

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
And everybody hates the Jews.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
It's National Everyone-Smile-At-One-Another-Hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It's only for a week, so have no fear;
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!


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Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks;

Funny you should mention this, since I just returned from a lecture by black writer/scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. He was talking about surruptitiously buying the manuscript from which his new book, The Bondwoman's Narrative was taken. Since he is known as a collector of Africana, he sent a white friend to bid on the manuscript. His friend was there, as Gates said, "incognegro."

Now, to address my earlier comment: The concept of "ball busting" is often broached by misogynists, though it's usually meant metaphorically. I have a theory that because women can use both the reasoning and the emotional parts of their brains simultaneously, whereas most men can only use one or the other, some men feel "beat up" by women's superior verbal skills. They feel fear, and lash out physically, since that's the only weapon they have to balance the power, or to regain power. This is not an excuse for physical violence against women, but a possible explanation. Comments, please.

Geoff, donning flak jacket and flameprof suit.

Sometimes, and somtimes it could be they are responding to superior whining.

Having spent my fair share of living in a trailor park and other unsavory environments, what I've witnessed in these fights (having almost gotten the snot beaten out of me on several occasions for being stupid enough to intrude in these things) is that both parties are pretty stupid. Very often the woman was literally begging the guy to hit her so she could "throw his ass in jail" jumping up in the guy's face and spitting in it. I don't discount other people's experiences, but I don't discount my own either.

One thing I've noticed is that women often don't play fair. They start on the whining, carping, sniping thing and guys don't know how to respond other than to hit it.


Of course this doesn't apply to every case. Case in point. I knew a guy for a year or so before I realized he was hitting his wife. (In fact I was pretty dense about it. I made some remark - really innocent, I had no idea - about a mark on her face to a friend [also a psych] and he looked at me like I was a complete idiot, which I guess I was, and said "Don't you know what's going on?" And I frankly didn't till the second he mentioned it.) I mean, I knew the guy was a prick, I just never thought of that. He was a professional psychologist. She was trained in psychology, but had no practice. These guys never made a scene in public. She was a total babe, too. Smart, good-looking in a classy Julia Roberts in Notting Hill kinda way. No idea why she stayed with him.

Well, you asked.

k

Wasn't it Mark Russell who had a song that ended each stanza with "And everybody hates the Jews."

Myex

What do you call a man who loves women? Someone who is just plain smitten with the fair sex and how it is?

And what do you call a woman who feels the same way about the brute sex and how it is? (Just kidding, really...almost...) What do you call a woman who feels the same way about men--finds a lot to admire and love about men?

And what do you call a person who loves human beings--takes joy in our humanity?


Curious,
WW

Maybe, but I'm pretty sure Tom Lehrer did it before him.

I never liked Mark Russell's shows that much, because he was just not that good compared to TL. If I hadn't heard TL first, maybe I would have had a greater appreciation for MR.

k

He was a professional psychologist. She was trained in psychology, but had no practice.

Here again is evidence of my belief that we are 90% emotion and only 10% reason. While I've not hit any women, I was involved once with a woman whose father was an alcoholic, and she unconsciously did her best to replicate her family of origin in her intimate relationships in adulthood. She would often provoke her partner verbally, and would do the "go away closer" routine, leaving her partner totally bewildered and frustrated. One (of three) ex-husbands was a practicing psychiatrist, and she had two Master's degrees, and was a respected member of a university staff. Clearly, intellect didn't alter the topsy-turvy behaviour. I, as someone with a similar background, was easily sucked into an intolerable, insane situation with her.

>What do you call a man who loves women?

"There are philogynists as fanatical as any misogynists."
-Thomas Henry Huxley


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