I really liked the paragraph above. In fact, I'd recommend you check out the entire piece, as well as the entire Chuck Klosterman library. (I have read three books in succession, so maybe I am a little biased at this point. The fact remains, though: this guy can write.)
The reason I am writing about this is this brought to mind a Chris Rock skit about if women didn't hate one another, they would rule the world. This is true. What is also true, and why I think women AREN'T ruling the world as of yet, is that women suffer BECAUSE they understand human dynamics.
The fact that women understand human dynamics so well is the thing that puts a hamper on their goals of world domination (if in fact they have such goals). Women are so consumed by this nemesis/archenemy archetype that it guides their every move. This would be fine, but this just in ladies, you need to evolve.
I'm not talking about evolution in the Darwinian sense. Where I think Klosterman is limiting his argument is that men don't need their nemeses or arch enemies to be other men or women. Men understand that their arch enemy is the one who is standing in the way of them attaining their goals. Sports is the perfect example of this.
When Michael Jordan first got into the NBA, the main hurdle between him and winning a championship and attaining greatness was, at first, Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons. (It might have been Bird, but I think Michael's enemy was always Isiah. Even when he ripped him to shreds in 1991, he still harbored some resentment towards him, and he always will.)
When the Chicago Bulls beat the Pistons, Mike shifted his focus to Magic Johnson. Then Magic got AIDS. (Coincidence? I think not. You don't want to mess with Mike.)
Tiger Woods is another example. Tiger chose golf as his arch enemy. (Not really, but hear me out again. This works.) When he was done breaking golf records and being lauded as the greatest golfer of all time, he chose a bigger foe: women. Tiger wanted to fuck them all. (And he would have too, if he didn't make the mistake of getting married. The dude is as dedicated as a Buddhist monk. I so would have bet on Tiger.)
I guess this means that Tiger lost to his arch enemy (and paying 150 million dollars to your ex wife almost certainly qualifies as a loss), but he's got 121 notches under his belt, and those are the ones he admitted to.
But I digress.
I don't normally disagree with Klosterman, but he missed the boat on this one. Men have nemeses and arch enemies. They're simply not as tangible as women's.
And you call men simple minded.
4 comments:
What I understood from Chuck's article was that men who have succeeded have already realized this theory into their lives. Men who have no succeeded and keep depending on the "who you know" are the ones who have not.
Most women on the other hand reach the potentials that they wish to reach by this theory. In your head you may think that women do not rule the world but by your own example you can see how women do, Tiger Woods failure? A woman's gain. You can even see Bill Clinton's failure as Hilary's gain. Henry VIII separated from Rome and The Church for a woman..
There are many similar examples.
You may not want to accept it but women? They already ruling the world, one man at a time.
I can see your logic, and in the larger scope of things, this might be true, but what I was trying to refute is the notion that men don't understand the nemesis / arch enemy dichotomy.
While we certainly aren't as adept as women are, I believe a huge number of men do get it (as evident by the successful men you mentioned in your comment).
And if your definition of ruling the world is taking down all the men in it, GIRL, you aiming too low.
Hardly, my point in mentioning those men was to refute your notion that those men understood the dichotomy.
I think they understood it perfectly. Their mistake wasn't taking into account that a woman could be their undoing and not their nemesis or arch enemy. They never viewed the woman that was right there by their side as an enemy or a nemesis.
Never in a million years could Tiger foresee that Elin, who for all accounts and purposes he made into what she was, could be his "undoing." (Personally I don't see it as his undoing. His divorce from Elin could revitalize his career and make him focus even harder on conquering golf yet again. Of course, he could be undone by other factors.)
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