Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

Iron Man

There was a poll about whether people in Britain perceived god as having a gender (if you are interested there's more here). But I wasn't going to talk about that, it was this comment to the story which I'm interested in.

God is not male, HE is MASCULINE. As in the “universal” meaning of masculine which is in contrast to the “universal” feminine. This is because God can only act or affect others, He cannot be acted upon. In other words, nothing can change God. There is nothing in all of creation which can change God. This is the definition of masculine.
To say that God can be feminine, is to say that He can be influenced or changed by things exterior to Him. In other words, to say God is feminine is to say God is not perfect


I've said before that I think people feel great fear at the vulnerability of their own existence as fleshly creatures, and that many people deal with that fear by projecting it outwards onto others. So women, ethnic groups, gay people, jews, catholics (or whatever) are identified as 'weak', 'fleshy', 'lustful', 'greedy', 'corrupt' etc. And then punished or controlled by the white/male/gentile etc. etc. types who set themselves apart from the Others.

The comment I have quoted exemplifies this so well it's almost laughable. 'Masculine' means you can act, but you cannot be acted upon, nothing can change you, you are not influenced by things external to you. You are almost inorganic.

Of course no real man can exist like this. In reality men are just as organic, just as 'acted upon' by their environment as women are. They need to breathe, eat, feel pain, they die just like women do. I think this dissonance between the ideal and the reality affects young men harshly, and that may be why they can be harsh on others.

And I'm thinking that many modern films, such as Terminator, or Iron Man (not a criticism - I loved Terminator in particular) dramatise this ideal of an invulnerable, inorganic, unstoppable, masculine being. Both those films, being a cut above the idiotic, question and subvert that ideal, but they also reflect it.

It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.
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  • Phew what a scorcher

    I see Gove has backed down on climate change and it's back in the curriculum again.

  • GCSE Computer Science

    My book is now for sale

  • LJ Settings

    At the moment I have set up this journal so that only friends can comment. I hate doing this, but I was just getting too much Russian spam.