Saturday, January 26, 2019

that Gillette "toxic masculinity" ad

Here's a snippet of Jordan Peterson's reaction to the recent self-righteously virtue-signaling PC ad by shaving company Gillette:


Here's Ozzy Man, paying lip service to the PC crowd:


And here are two reminders of where Ozzy Man actually stands. First:


Second (not for the shy and prudish):


In case you missed the original Gillette commercial, it's here.

A "parody" version of the commercial, which is more like a snide commentary than an actual parody—and is more thought-provoking than funny—is here.

The idea that corporations ought to be "woke" is so financially suicidal as to be hilarious. "Get woke, go broke" is the chant over at Instapundit, and it's been taken up by others who are sick of the PC malaise. Why would you stake your business on a strategy that alienates at least half the country? Why not avoid politics altogether if you're trying to sell to the largest number of people possible?

The problem is, as many in the alt media have pointed out, that we're living in a moral panic, so it's necessary to declare ourselves in order not to be overrun and torn apart by the puritanical outrage mobs. In that light, I can see why Ozzy Man might be thinking about his own survival. He's pulling a Bill Burr: skirting the edge, playing both sides of an issue, and just trying to remain funny and relevant. Do I admire Ozzy Man for his savvy pragmatism in these dangerous times, or do I despise him for his apparent moral cowardice?

One last thing: Peterson, in the above video, notes the similarities between big government and big corporations. I hit on this years ago when I drew this little cartoon that made much the same equivalence:


Bureaucratic mediocrity. It's what we settle for, time and again.



6 comments:

motorrad said...

I stopped buying anything Levis 20 years ago when they announced they would no longer support the Boy Scouts due to their refusal to accept gay scoutmastefs. I'm not anti gay, I wouldn't want a man taking my daughter's Girl Scouts camping. It's just too much temptation. I've also stoped paying to see most movies because 90% of Hollywood hates me and isnt afraid to say it. Christian Bale is the latest to tell me he hates me and thinks I'm evil for voting for Trump. I don't know if it does any good, but it's my small way of sticking it to the Man.

Kevin Kim said...

I'm going to have to rethink purchasing all those Gillette Mach 3 blades....

As for the gay scoutmaster thing: I think the Boy Scouts have a right to determine their own rules for what's acceptable and what's not, just as, say, individual churches have the right to determine whether they'll allow gay couples to marry on their property. That said, I don't equate "gay" with "pederast" or "pedophile." Moral society normally draws the line when one half of a potential couple is too young to make adult decisions for itself, and besides, most adult gay men would be revolted by the idea of going after little children.

This site, admittedly somewhat polemical in tone, submits there's no real correlation between homosexuality and pedophilia. Despite the site's tone, there's a good discussion of the technical difficulties involved in trying to conduct a fair survey of sexual attitudes and tendencies. I tend to agree with the site's conclusions.

Many of the sites I briefly scanned seemed to contain a fairly obvious ideological bias, but for what it's worth, and for the sake of full disclosure, I found my results by Googling "link between homosexuality and pedophilia." Personally, I'm not convinced that much of a link exists. I think there's been an unjustified confusion about and conflation of a sexual orientation and a sexual perversion. But that's an insight I'd need to defend with more evidence, as is also true for insights that lean in the opposite direction.

motorrad said...

I was thinking more of the post puberty scouts and not so much paedophilia. My son is an Eagle Scout and I was king more along the lines of temptation along those lines. Aside said, I would not be comfortable with males being with my daughter or her high school friends on Girl Scout activities. The Boy Scouts have Den Mothers for the young Cub Scouts but then the emphasis shifts to male leaders as they move up the ladder to Boy Scouts.

Kevin Kim said...

All fair points. Thanks for the clarification.

motorrad said...

And I apologize for the auto correct on my crappy phone while typing quickly at work.

Kevin Kim said...

Not a problem.