Female
Influences - White Knights
written for Going Your Own Way forum
Let us
first examine and define what White Knights or Traditionalists are. According
to The Society of Phineas (2012), white knights are men who view themselves as
chivalrous heroes saving damsels in distress. Edmund Burke wrote this regarding
Chivalry
“I thought ten thousand swords
must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her
with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone. Never, never more shall we behold
that generous loyalty to sex and rank, that proud submission that dignified
obedience.”
Proud Submission and Dignified Obedience.
To whom do men owe this proud submission and dignified
obedience to? In medieval times, you owe this to god, country and women but by
the Victorian era, Chivalry became synonymous with everyday gentlemanly
behaviour (Gosden, 2011) Chivalry today, is proudly submitting yourself and
giving your dignified obedience to women, all women, just because they are
women. Unfortunately, Chivalry is not dead; no thanks by and large to the
Chivalrous tenet of Courtly Love, which is a medieval European term to describe
a lover idealizing his beloved lady and spoke to her or about her in the
exalted language usually reserved for a deity (Moore, 1979: 622).
Nobel Prize Winner Gaston Paris described that in Courtly
Love, the woman is elevated, haughty, and even disdainful. The man must earn his
lady’s affection by undergoing many tests of his prowess, valour and devotion.
Courtly Love is the white knight’s idolization of his lady and he willingly
sacrifices his time, resources and effort in order to win her affections. Feminists often yap that chivalry
implies that women are weak but in reality, the Traditionalists’ code of
chivalry gives women immense power by elevating her to idol status. Because of
Chivalry, the woman is always seen as never in the wrong, never to be punished,
never accountable for her misdeed, worthy of worship and be paid tribute in
cash, cars, house and whatever else pleases her.
Chivalry
is proudly submitting yourself in servitude to women whom you regard as heavenly
and treat with dignified obedience.
How is
this behavior bad? Well, let us flip the gender and then view this in a very
modern context. If women gave proud submission and dignified obedience to a
man, sees herself as inferior to this man while he is elevated, haughty,
disdainful, and then she tries to earn this man’s affection by undergoing many
tests of her prowess, devotion and valor; what do we call this?
We call
it the Manson Family.
Charles
Manson and his followers – called the ‘Family’ – which included a small
hard-core unit of impressionable young girls, became infamous serial killers in
the late 1960s. Manson gathered a group of his most loyal Family followers to
carry out a spree of murders in Hollywood including seven months pregnant actress
Sharon Tate as well as Leno and Rosemary LaBianca (Bio, 2014).
Some
might say that comparing a normal person’s family life to Charles Manson’s is a
stretch but that is not the point. The point is that the White Knights and
Traditionalists display the same varying degrees of devotion to their women –
be it family members or lovers – as the Manson girls do to their man. Some will
then say that what Charles Manson did was manipulating his followers. I respond
by saying that Traditional Values are no different because it manipulates us
into adhering to tradition even when it harms the individual man.
This is
because just like Psychological Manipulation, Traditional Values such as
Chivalry are social influences that are used to alter the perception of others
through underhanded, deceptive and abusive tactics such as shaming and guilt
language. The traditional values purported by society are no different from the
methods that cult leaders used to brainwash their supporters.
Both
White Knights and the Manson Family displayed the same Proud Submission and
Dignified Obedience to the person that they gave their Courtly Love to.
Harvard
Professor Robert Jay Lifton stated that there are 3 characteristics of a cult.
antidestenimovement (2012)
·
The person becomes worshipped rather than the principles – the man loves his wife, mother,
whoever and slaves himself all day to earn her/their love.
·
Systematic indoctrination with a great focus on confession and
self-criticism –
shaming and guilt rhetoric as well as societal expectations like ‘man up’ to
control men.
·
Heavy exploitation from above and that exploitation tend to be economic
and sexual –
government taking the role of fathers, forced fatherhood, paternity fraud,
alimony, and child support as well as rape hysteria and sexual objectification.
Don’t
believe me?
JeremyMarriedGuy (2009)
An
argument can be made however, that manipulation and social influence are not
all negative and in fact it can be used for good. Doctor Leon F. Seltzer (2013)
stated that this contrivance if not intended for personal gain and is
strategically designed to turn antagonism and resistance into cooperation and
resolution, can be a good thing where the motive is not to bend others to your
will but to bypass stubbornness and illogical defenses.
Seltzer
gave an example of giving an “inspired fabrication” to motivate a
colleague from work to seek therapy to help him deal with his problems that is
affecting his working life before he is made redundant. Despite the obvious
unethical connotation, Seltzer has a point and that is if it works and if it
saves lives, then why not. However, Traditional Values is not positive
manipulation because traditions and values are not for the benefit of the man,
but for the benefit of women and society.
Traditional
Values such as Chivalry is the Exploitation of men and we as Men Going Their
Own Way recognize this exploitation and refuse to participate in it. BeijaFlor
(2014) commented
I think that, more than
anything, the "redpill" perspective, the "redpill"
understanding, reveals to us that we never had "what we've lost."
It's all about seeing through the illusion ... It's a perspective where you
see, unmistakably, that you can spend your time, resources, and life "being
a dick, chasing cunts" or "being Your Own Man, pursuing Your Own
Dreams."
As Men
Going Their Own Way, we encourage rational and critical thought and learning.
We do not simply and blindly adhere to social norms simply because it is
tradition. Our actions must be justified with reason and evidence for the
betterment of the self and those who share our way of life. If we see a wrong,
we speak out and oppose that wrong even in the face of overwhelming public
opinion, for we are right in what we say and we have evidence to support it.
Reference:
antidestenimovement
(2012) 3 Cult Characteristics. [online video] Sep 6, 2012 available at
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjSnYhtVfb4
[accessed Mar 22, 2014]
Bio (2014). Charles
Manson [online] available at The Biography Channel http://www.biography.com/people/charles-manson-9397912
[accessed 08:32, Mar 22, 2014]
Gosden, E (2011) Chivalry explained: from
knights honor to women’s lib. [online] Jun 15, 2011 available at The
Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8576246/Chivalry-explained-from-knights-of-honour-to-womens-lib.html [Mar 20, 2014]
JeremyMarriedGuy (2009) Mark Driscoll
Screaming How Dare You. [online video] Apr 8, 2009 available at Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkaeAkJO0w8 [accessed Mar 22, 2014]
Moore, JC (1979) Courtly Love: A Problem of
Terminology. Journal of Historical ideas, vol 40, no. 4, John Hopkins
University Press pp. 621-632
The Society of Phineas (2012) Defining White
Knights and Mangina. [online] Dec 1, 2012 available at The Society of
Phineas https://societyofphineas.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/defining-white-knights-and-manginas/ [accessed Mar 20, 2014]
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