Facebook must be some sort of spyware. I don't even have a Facebook account yet it somehow managed to find me and to push me some sort of short story (in Dutch) which I then got hooked on and ended up reading all of it. And that is what I want to talk about today.
It starts with a woman throwing her partner's teenage son's dirty laundry out of the window and declaring that she is not a cook and not a maid and is not going to take care of him any more. Let his father do it. The boy and his father then stage some sort of protest and keep leaving food and dirty dishes everywhere until she decides to kick them out.
Women below in the comments applauded (predictably).
The story left me wondering. There are so many details we don't know. First, they are evidently not married since she says something along the lines of deciding to live together with a man, not his son. (This is her first mistake). The story insinuates strongly that both he and his son are freeloaders (the son plays computer games the whole day), yet if the man is such a loser why on Earth did she move together with him? Whose house is it? Presumably hers since in the end she decides to change the locks. But again, something in that particular guy must have attracted her in the first place, didn't it?
Does she work? Does the guy work? Who is the main breadwinner? Why did the son move with them in the first place? How old is he really?
There are a couple scenarios which come into my mind. Number one, the guy is a total moocher who moves into her house and sponges off her while not contributing financially and refusing to do any housework and then invites his son who is just such another. In this situation, her reaction is understandable but her decision to let him in in the first place is not. In fact, it portrays her as a total idiot (sorry) who finally gets some sense, not a victim of some imaginary patriarchy or whatever the story tried to convey.
Or may be it's an average couple (what passes for family nowadays) where the woman works slightly less hours than the guy and thus does laundry and cooking (and the guy, in fact, asks her since she already did it for him, why would she refuse to do it for his son). Then the son probably quarrels with his mother and decides to move in with the father and his new girlfriend. If we presume that his father provides for him what then is the lady's problem? Her children aren't mentioned at all so she probably has none.
Why on Earth can't she be more maternal and show some love to a troubled teenage boy (I think the story mentions that he is still at school so he can't be really that old), especially since she is already in love with his father? While women of other cultures pride themselves on being hospitable, caring and maternal, Western women apparently should pride themselves on being total b8tches nothing of the sort.
But then, a decent woman from a traditional culture wouldn't have moved in with a man she wasn't married to. Her family wouldn't have allowed her to...
"But then, a decent woman from a traditional culture wouldn't have moved in with a man she wasn't married to. Her family wouldn't have allowed her to..."
ReplyDeleteSo how do we know that even she did it your way things would be better. That's an assumption and nothing more. Even "traditional cultures" sometimes fail. I had an Indian lady colleague who was back home and the father founder her a husband to marry. One year later or so, a son is born but he leaves her and so her mother and her sister are raising this baby and the grandparents don't even bother to see their grandchild. The father is out of the picture to. This is in India where arranged marriages to some extent are still done. Now, I don't have any other details to go by other than one side of the story, but thought I would throw that out there that even tradition can fail.
Also, I've been told all my life how women are mature right out of their mother's womb. I guess we did not see that here with the woman in question. Maybe women are too dumb at any age to choose their own spouse?
I'm afraid I'm not so well informed about India. I do know they have very little divorce there. Obviously sh8t happens everywhere. Traditional countries are more clannish and the men of the family are supposed to look after the interests of their womenfolk. They often do marriage contracts, too, for the very same purpose.
ReplyDeleteAs for your last point, if I agree they'll throw stones at me;) But yeah, many women do choose badly. That's why in my country in the past you weren't allowed to marry without the parents' permission until like 30. They only abolished this law after the war, when you folks liberated us. I think many Americans underestimate how conservative European countries used to be in the recent path. I think that France didn't even have female suffrage until 1945.
That's interesting to know about pre WWII Europe. I've read up on some things over the years and think the US should have stayed out of WWII or should have helped someone destroy Bolshevik Russia. I had three uncles that served in support roles in Europe in the US military. All three safely returned.
DeleteI have some international friends, so my understanding is that the Indian couples get to meet each other a few times if they like each other and then make a decision. I had one friend that did not like arranged marriage system. The marriage is not forced since they at least see that both sides need to feel something good about it. There is also a dowry involved as well. This lady co worker in question always hated the part where as she put it 'haggled over like one was selling some vegetables.' I'm not sure if she ever married and probably aged out of the system. I felt bad for her in that regard since I think she really wanted someone in her life that would have been good.
I can say that Hindu weddings are very elaborate and even Catholics can't do it better. :LOL:
"I've read up on some things over the years and think the US should have stayed out of WWII..."
DeleteThere was a book by Pat Buchanan on this topic.
It's interesting that in India women have to provide dowry including Muslim families while in the Middle East and Turkey it's vice versa. The man and his family have to pay for everything basically and many of these countries nowadays have life long alimony unless ex-wife marries.
Though I think in India it's the case, too. Wasn't there a case when the Indian judge ruled that if a man lost his job he should steal or beg but is still obliged to support his ex-wife? Compared to that, do Western men really have it so bad?
My take on those kind of stories is as follows:
ReplyDeleteThere are individuals who are attention seeker for one reason or another. Today they are called ''influencers'' because it is possible to make a living that way. If Facebook works anything near like other platforms of social media, those who post are being rewarded/paid for the clicks. The more controversial or ''shocking'', the better.
So, without knowing any details, none of them works in traditional jobs. Her/their channel is what they focus on. It is scripted and acted, following the principles of how to handle masses. Keep it short, simplistic, and emotional, preferably victimize yourself.
Looks like she hit her goal.
My husband thinks it's AI-generated.
ReplyDelete