Whatever definition of chivalry you might have, I reject it.

Chivalry is vassalage and mounted combat – both of which require self-control and courtesy. The “courtly love” business is a separate thing.

However, the notion of chivalry as protection of the weak is relevant to the twisted “father-daughter” meme. Judges in divorce cases are acting like ultra-powerful father-figures. Power is a rush. Judges who cannot be corrupted by money can be corrupted by the thrill of wrecking a man’s life.

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

There is another way. I was thinking about it today while walking in the tall grass of Genessee.

I’ve seen the reciprocal (mostly in older generations) : Husband-father/wife-child. The husband dominates and tramples the wife until her esteem, emotional and sexual passion wilts.

In the later case, it would be interesting to speculate as to who suffers or advantages from his brand of patriarchy.

That is all that seems to remain.

WLindsayWheeler // Aug 27, 2009 at 6:20 am

You mention “gender equality” in the post; are you advocating that, if so you are shooting yourself in the foot.

I was making a point about the hypocrisy on display.

As far as gender equality, I think there should be more in some professions, e.g. teaching, but I don’t think the genders are “equal” by any means.

Again, we live in a heavy socialistic culture outside of any norm and woman’s suffrage. You mention “gender equality” in the post; are you advocating that, if so you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Are we to have gender equality or not?

Next, Larry McMurtry, the author of Lonesome Dove and who also cowrote the series with an Afrian American woman, also did some work for the screenplay of “Brokeback Mountain”. Is that not a little strange to you? Does that skewer your take on the series?

a lot of male somebodies unconnected to such activities are going to pay for that little indulgence, and your essay, in part, explains why

“In Tom Jones Squire Western has an especially close relationship with his daughter Sophia. Western, a boorish man with excessive appetites and a fondness for the hunt, is violently protective of his daughter, who cares for him and sings to him when he is drunk and sentimental. So we see that our American dilemma is nothing new, and was in all likelihood inherited from the motherland.”

yes squire “Western”

the pathological dynamic you describe has anglo-european roots, magnified in a matriarchy like the u.s. — because the son (potential husband) receives the violence not only of the paternal authority, but of the maternal, raging like demeter

the p.a. is conflicted over responsibility vs attraction to the daughter/girl, which must remain unconscious/unspoken if their particular dynamic is to abide (the potency of the dynamic is in the energy of libidic tension)

toss financial and power incentives into the mix, things get even nastier

esp in the past half-century, the p.a. and “daughter” act in (largely) tacit alliance against the “sons of the nation”

the film “there will be blood” touches on this issue, but only tangentially to themes mostly involving money and (nonsexual) power

“It is, in essence, the father murdering the husband to assert his authority over and rights to his daughter.”

his sexual authority chiefly, yes

this is primal stuff, from the reptilian and early mammalian parts of the c.n.s. — you cant reason people out of this, but you can rub it into the face of collective consciousness

” This act is played out in millions of divorces across America, sometimes quite literally. It is the secret, smoldering passion that drives the abuse of American men by the paternalist power structure.”

exactly

and not just divorces, by any means

the destruction and trauma translates into homelessness, legal iniquities, vast prison networks, and all manner of retribution, shaming, etc, stemming from an unreqitable attraction

the mother/son cults are as ancient as humanity, it was v difficult to dislodge them from the western world, but the embers always remained

now theyre back bigtime

as in modern america, the “son” role in those cults was filled by the paternal authority/tyrant, nicely personified by squire western

jung or erich neumann would call the p.a. the mother’s brother or sinister uncle of aboriginal or tribal kinships

most of the founding fathers, btw, were p.a./mother-son cult guys, dedicating their states, cities, and nation to the “great goddess”

the current admin is perfectly representative of social arrangements in ancient mother-son cults

you look at a group shot and obie is, really, just one of the kids…. has he even camped-out on his own?

the mother/dauther unit dominates
america, and not coincidentally the white house — obie’s a p.a., yes, but mostly just kind of a functionary, executing the wishes of the mother/daughter and the p.a. elite, drawn largely from corporate, military, closed fraternal orders, political and church “leaders,” and of course old money/power

the loser in such a culture has to be the vast numbers of “potential husbands” (the “son” or unconnected male) and the gulag proves how far they’ve been willing to go to preserve — and further — the dynamic

outstanding post here, it’ll last