(0755) Morning all … it’s confused in the sky out there. Please don’t forget the opening post on Alberta weekend, also Aberfan tomorrow.
ddddd
4. Quora this morning (US site, remember)
How come men aren’t sympathetic to the female loneliness epidemic
I’m going to answer this as a guy whose friends are mostly (>50%) are women. Most of them are my age, plus-minus 10 years, and most of them are indeed single.
In these gender discussions online, on Quora included, I feel like I’m the outlier because I’ve rarely found anything resembling what the typical answers by men say. This question is no different. And I think this is because I do talk to my women friends freely about their (and my) romantic life.
Many of them are single because the men they kept finding does NOT meet the bare minimum standard. And I don’t mean any crazy lofty things like high 6-figure salary or their own house right after college (in fact, none of them ever mentioned material wants—maybe because most of them have Master’s or PhD and/or a good job, so can take care of themselves), but just being a decent guy. I’m talking about basic hygiene, a little common sense, and not being misogynistic. They will get hundreds of likes on Tinder and the likes but this simple filter eliminates an unbelievably huge number of them.
I can dismiss this as a fluke if this happened to one person in one place, but since there are many of them and they are spread through the entire length of continental US, then it’s got to be more than a coincidence.
Firstly, they want someone who have similar views about relationships. Many of them, at this stage, want a permanent partner, i.e. old-school marriage. No, as far as I know, they don’t sleep around campus back in the day (I’ve been friends with some of them for nearly 10 years and it would be obvious), so there goes your typical incel rant against them. But despite all that craze surrounding tradwives, not many men of my age are really committed to marriage.
After that, they will also filter for personal preferences. Political views can be one (and in this age of Trump, that’s more important than ever for many of them). Interests could be another, after all you better have a common ground to talk about when you’re spending time with each other. Similar level of intelligence and education is also good. I’m not being elitist with that one because one of them went out for a few dates with this guy who has an expensive Master’s degree from a private college and yet is dumber than a bag of rocks and has the awareness of a koala when it comes to anything beyond his daily life; it was impossible for her or me and my friends to talk to him. The funniest one was how one of them broke up because he’s a vegetarian and she’s not and she can’t really go out to eat with him. I don’t see that being petty; it’s bound to cause issues later on if not discussed early.
After this, only very few guys are left, if any. Many of them simply never got more than a few dates before they realize they aren’t compatible. In a way, I do feel honored that I must have passed their filters as a friend.
What about friends? You ask. Similar filters, but less stringent. However, it still baffles my mind just how many guys can’t pass the misogyny filter. I wish I’m exaggerating, but there is indeed a significant number of young men who still can’t see women as equals. I’ve experienced it myself as a teaching assistant, where students act differently in front of me vs one of my friends even though we are quite similar in physical build and academic qualifications—others have it even worse.
If there’s a takeaway from this is that women are generally reasonable but many men can’t meet their requirement. However, I can say the same with many women too. And it’s not hard for men to be sympathetic; we just need to sit down and listen.
3. DAD at 1518
a) French flee as Mélenchon unveils radical 2027 budget plan. Wealthy French citizens are rushing to move assets abroad amid fears that far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s proposed 100-billion-euro tax increase could devastate their fortunes.
b) French Member of the European Parliament Marion Maréchal [niece of Marine Le Pen] denounced the “taboo” around discussions of the underlying causes of the youth revolt spreading across the country, which she said is the failure to assimilate immigrant groups into French culture. The demonstrations and riots ostensibly over a lack of school funding will hit their one-month anniversary this week, with mayhem and violence continuing despite thousands of arrests.
c) Migration has cost German taxpayers at least €400 billion since 2016. The €400 billion figure does not include education, police, court, prison, and healthcare costs, just to name a few, which means the real burden on German taxpayers is far higher.
d) The modern welfare state is a European invention—but can it survive? At the Social Sciences Plenary, Stein Kuhnle traced its golden age, its crisis decades, and rising social spending across OECD countries, before asking whether economic, political, and moral sustainability can hold amid demographic change, geopolitical crises, and deepening inequality.
e) E85 Superethanol Under One Euro Per Litre Wins Over Drivers. Sales of conversion kits enabling petrol vehicles to run on cheaper E85 biofuel are soaring across France, with some manufacturers reporting tenfold increases as motorists seek relief from pump prices. The conversion devices range in price from approximately 600 to 1,200 euros depending on engine size and manufacturer.
f) (Situation in France)
2. Poor Ukraine
… to have such monsters running it.