@Robert Gentel,
Quote:My take is that they are just irrationally masculist. I think most of the insinuations that they are something more sinister only serve to reinforce their persecution complex and make them even more irrationally biased.
I agree that they are both irrationally masculist. Knee jerk masculist.
But, in the case of Hawkeye, he describes himself as being a sexual deviate, and he's not joking about that. And many of his views regarding sexual assault laws clearly stem from his own sexual preferences regarding BDSM, and his fears that aspects of his particular sexual lifestyle might be eventually regarded as criminal--and he has said such things rather directly. On the topic of child pornography, he does not feel that possession should be a crime, or that many of the images that are considered, by the government, or by general consensus, to be pornographic, reach that level
for him. In this realm, his standard does deviate significantly from the norm, and he doesn't deny that.
So I'm not sure that much insinuation is going on that Hawkeye either doesn't validate, in his comments about himself, or that he isn't actively encouraging. He sees all "sex laws" as an attempt to persecute him, or to deprive him, personally, of his particular sexual preferences, preferences which do appear to be at odds with existing law. These things are more reflective of Hawkeye's egocentrism than they are of a masculist orientation.
In not just this thread, but in other threads on child pornography as well, BillRM has been fast to offer helpful tips on how to encrypt your computer so such material cannot be detected, even by the government. Why someone would want to assist anyone in concealing child pornography is open to speculation, but it is also speculation that BillRM seems to invite by specifically offering his encryption advice in threads on this particular topic.
I think the two of them need very little encouragement, in the way of perceived persecution, to become irrationally biased, or
more irrationally biased. And, in the case of both, the masculist attitude is considerably colored by their particular personal biases in other regards, and by glimmers, from both of them, of something more sinister beneath the surface.
Personally, I find the discussion more interesting when it focuses on the topic rather than on either of them.