You make excellent observations about power and why power fantasies are a) popular and b) good. There is nothing wrong within men imagining they they are brave conquerors or noble knights or dashing lotharios or lovable and clever rogues. It’s healthy and it might even help men overcome obstacles in their daily lives by trying to live up to these examples. This latter point is exactly why stories are powerful and instructive, and have been told since the dawn of time for this purpose. I suppose the Iliad is a power fantasy, in this regard.
Nowadays, I think video games appeal to men because men feel like they have little to no control over their lives, much less the world around them. And before anyone slides in, yes, as you acknowledge, a desire to control is predominately a male thing, and that does not make it inherently bad. Without this drive to control, we’d still be nomadic hunter/gatherers.
Anyway, games give men the illusion of control, which is good to let off steam, but the danger comes when fantasy is more attractive and alluring than reality. It’s okay to be a gamer, but not to live in and live for the games. Use the power fantasies as fuel.
My insight is that academia and activists have demonized power and the pursuit of power unless you are actively oppressed. Therefore power fantasies are bad.
They think power as expressed in hierarchy is automatically oppressive and that violence is inherently wicked (just not when they use it against evil "Nazis", of course). Their conception of patriarchy is a strawman of the worst case scenario a la the Middle East. They are unable to conceive of a hierarchy which rejects egalitarianism and promotes human flourishing on all levels.
To be honest, the typical leftist critique of power is shallow and, what is worse, boring!
"Patriarchy is defined by violence and oppression; strong men oppress weak men and all men oppress women. Thus violence is a virtue in the patriarchal society because it is the modus operandi for societal organisation. Because violence or the capacity to be violent is so highly valued in patriarchal culture, boys are raised to believe violence is a good thing and to be capable of violence is virtuous and manly."
Some people need to be oppressed and of course violence is good, the way a tiger with rending claws and gnashing fangs is good. Of what use is a harmless tiger or a harmless man?
Oppression is bad by definition and so it is not good to be oppressed. Which is not the same as saying that use of force and violence is bad, only that it can be so. Violence and force are just when used in proportionate manners for the right ends but they are oppressive when used disproportionately and for the wrong ends.
The just use of force and violence is never oppressive even if those who suffer it claim otherwise. This is why only loons claim that murderers who are punished are "victims of oppression". It is not oppression; it is just punishment. We speak of criminals being punished and not as being oppressed because we recognize the distinction.
By definition, that which is oppressive is unjust and cruel. Therefore to oppress someone (with or without violence) is unjust and cruel. There is also the implication that oppression is motivated by hatred and the chief intended end is to inflict suffering. Neither this motivation nor this goal create functional societies and hierarchies.
Baked into the feminist understanding of patriarchy is the notion that all its violence and force is oppressive and unjust - designed to inflict suffering and motivated by hatred. They are wrong and this is a strawman of patriarchies throughout history that have not oppressed women and instead embraced both sexes and maintained an order which benefited both according to their different natures.
I don't accept the feminist framing because it is false and because you lose the rhetorical battle when you do.
I wrote about the wheelchair elf here— https://alexanderhellene.substack.com/p/who-is-this-for—and asked a similar question, as seen by the title of the post, “Who Is This For?”
You make excellent observations about power and why power fantasies are a) popular and b) good. There is nothing wrong within men imagining they they are brave conquerors or noble knights or dashing lotharios or lovable and clever rogues. It’s healthy and it might even help men overcome obstacles in their daily lives by trying to live up to these examples. This latter point is exactly why stories are powerful and instructive, and have been told since the dawn of time for this purpose. I suppose the Iliad is a power fantasy, in this regard.
Nowadays, I think video games appeal to men because men feel like they have little to no control over their lives, much less the world around them. And before anyone slides in, yes, as you acknowledge, a desire to control is predominately a male thing, and that does not make it inherently bad. Without this drive to control, we’d still be nomadic hunter/gatherers.
Anyway, games give men the illusion of control, which is good to let off steam, but the danger comes when fantasy is more attractive and alluring than reality. It’s okay to be a gamer, but not to live in and live for the games. Use the power fantasies as fuel.
My insight is that academia and activists have demonized power and the pursuit of power unless you are actively oppressed. Therefore power fantasies are bad.
Excellent read.
The leftwing critique is exactly why power is good. File under woke more correct.
Not really, their framing is wrong.
They think power as expressed in hierarchy is automatically oppressive and that violence is inherently wicked (just not when they use it against evil "Nazis", of course). Their conception of patriarchy is a strawman of the worst case scenario a la the Middle East. They are unable to conceive of a hierarchy which rejects egalitarianism and promotes human flourishing on all levels.
To be honest, the typical leftist critique of power is shallow and, what is worse, boring!
"Patriarchy is defined by violence and oppression; strong men oppress weak men and all men oppress women. Thus violence is a virtue in the patriarchal society because it is the modus operandi for societal organisation. Because violence or the capacity to be violent is so highly valued in patriarchal culture, boys are raised to believe violence is a good thing and to be capable of violence is virtuous and manly."
Some people need to be oppressed and of course violence is good, the way a tiger with rending claws and gnashing fangs is good. Of what use is a harmless tiger or a harmless man?
Oppression is bad by definition and so it is not good to be oppressed. Which is not the same as saying that use of force and violence is bad, only that it can be so. Violence and force are just when used in proportionate manners for the right ends but they are oppressive when used disproportionately and for the wrong ends.
The just use of force and violence is never oppressive even if those who suffer it claim otherwise. This is why only loons claim that murderers who are punished are "victims of oppression". It is not oppression; it is just punishment. We speak of criminals being punished and not as being oppressed because we recognize the distinction.
By definition, that which is oppressive is unjust and cruel. Therefore to oppress someone (with or without violence) is unjust and cruel. There is also the implication that oppression is motivated by hatred and the chief intended end is to inflict suffering. Neither this motivation nor this goal create functional societies and hierarchies.
Baked into the feminist understanding of patriarchy is the notion that all its violence and force is oppressive and unjust - designed to inflict suffering and motivated by hatred. They are wrong and this is a strawman of patriarchies throughout history that have not oppressed women and instead embraced both sexes and maintained an order which benefited both according to their different natures.
I don't accept the feminist framing because it is false and because you lose the rhetorical battle when you do.
Neg.
Only unjust oppression is "bad."
Not all use is misuse or abuse.
The wheelchair accessible dungeon is Babylon Bee level satire.