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You are here: Home / Open Threads / If you won’t scold or dominate us

If you won’t scold or dominate us

by DougJ|  May 30, 20131:56 pm| 129 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Oh, Erick:

After a Pew Research report found that mothers were the sole breadwinners in 40% of American households with children, Erick Erickson said on Fox Business that it is “anti-science” to suggest that’s acceptable.

Said Erickson: “I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science. But liberals who defend this and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world — the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role.”

Also too, what’s the proposed conservative policy to combat this unnatural abomination? Just pay women less?

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Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    sparrow

    May 30, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    I suggest Erick’s woman (if he has one) emulate the natural world, preferably the Praying Mantis.

  2. 2.

    mapaghimagsik

    May 30, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    He keeps stressing his dominance. Perhaps it just posturing?

  3. 3.

    IowaOldLady

    May 30, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    “We will never give you cause to hate us.”

    It’s amazing the stuff that floats around in my brain when I can’t remember what day it is.

  4. 4.

    Jay B.

    May 30, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    Liberals are cool with women being the breadwinners. If they are single moms, that’s a lot harder and liberals would like there to be more of a support structure. What was the accusation again?

  5. 5.

    Doug Milhous J

    May 30, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    @IowaOldLady:

    I’m glad someone got one of my “Mary Poppins” references this time.

  6. 6.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 30, 2013 at 2:01 pm

    As a dude, I look at biology and I’m scared shitless with the number of species where the female kills the male after he performs his “dominant” duty to help preserve the species. I’m glad my wife let me live after I deposited my sperm.

  7. 7.

    Cassidy

    May 30, 2013 at 2:01 pm

    @mapaghimagsik: Some people never get over being bullied.

  8. 8.

    Jay C

    May 30, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world — the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role.

    OK, so is Erick Erickson going to be the first one to volunteer to take his clothes off, leave his house, and run around on all fours in the forest only eating what he can catch and eat with his bare hands, to better emulate the “natural world”??

    And will it be on YouTube?

  9. 9.

    quannlace

    May 30, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role.

    Oh please, that whole ‘King of the Jungle’ idea is pure nonsense. Speaking of which, look a pride of lions. The male takes it pretty easy; it’s the lioness’ that do all the hunting, i.e. bring home the bacon.

  10. 10.

    ericblair

    May 30, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    Blah, blah, getcher butt back in the kitchen because SCIENCE!!!!, whut?

    I thought they hated SCIENCE!!! because scientists hate oil and Jeebus. Maybe they only hate SCIENCE!!! on odd-numbered weeks or something.

  11. 11.

    beltane

    May 30, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    The men must be spending all their money on gunz instead of contributing to their children’s upbringing. Wouldn’t Ericksen consider this a good thing?

  12. 12.

    Shakezula

    May 30, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    I wonder what animals he has in mind? Can’t be the ones where the male fertilizes the female and then the parents part. Can’t be the ones where both parents work their tails off to rear the brood. Could it be the animals where a dominant male has a harem of females? Possibly.

    But not lions. The lionesses do all of the work and that would offend his Lardship.

  13. 13.

    Luthe

    May 30, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    Dear Erik bin Erik,

    Female lions are the breadwinners of the pride. The male sits on his ass all day and sometimes roars. Sound familiar?

  14. 14.

    ericblair

    May 30, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    As a dude, I look at biology and I’m scared shitless with the number of species where the female kills the male after he performs his “dominant” duty to help preserve the species. I’m glad my wife let me live after I deposited my sperm.

    Mine’s asking me about exactly how much life insurance I’ve got. I think she’s still working on it.

  15. 15.

    catclub

    May 30, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    @quannlace: Also, female hawks are larger than male ones.

  16. 16.

    Luthe

    May 30, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    @Jay C:

    And will it be on YouTube?

    Please, think of the children. And my poor bleeding eyes. *drinks brain bleach*

  17. 17.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    May 30, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Boy howdy does he not know anything about the natural world. For most species – at least mammals – the male takes off well prior to birth and has nothing to do with being a bread-winner, sole or otherwise, for the family. Even in those instances where the male sticks around (e.g. wolf packs) the female is a co-equal in helping provide food for the offspring. The male may be “dominant” socially, but when it comes to bringing home the bacon to the kids, he’s at best a co-equal, and more often than not a deadbeat.

  18. 18.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Well done, sister suffragettes. Sometimes I can’t believe my kind has been able to vote for less than a century. And sometimes I look around at the current GOP and can’t believe I’ve managed to hang onto my franchise.

  19. 19.

    catclub

    May 30, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    @Shakezula: “dominant male has a harem of females”

    Rats, Its Jonah Lardberg who reminds one of an elephant seal.

    Except, of course, for the actual harem. And the dominant.

  20. 20.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    May 30, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Argh! Me man, me king! Right, honey?

  21. 21.

    pacem appellant

    May 30, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    Some aberrant animals, in Erikson’s World:
    Sea horse males carry the eggs until they hatch in a kangaroo-like pouch.
    Praying mantis females are known to eat anything, including the male inseminating her.
    Laysan albatross females shack up and raise an egg together.
    Penguin males spend an equal amount of time nurturing the egg and chick as their female partners.
    Clown fish can change their sex on demand.

    The list goes on and on. The more one actually knows about the animal kingdom, the less one is prone to utter anthropomorphic jibberish.

    ETA: who can forget the matriarchal female hyena, whose a clitoris larger than the male’s penis?

  22. 22.

    ranchandsyrup

    May 30, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    It’s SCIENCE and the HARD TRUTH. Which he will not demonstrate even though that is the fucking point of using SCIENCE and TRUTH to justify your position.

  23. 23.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    May 30, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    Erick, son of Erick, is simply furthering the time honored tradition of troglodytes of warping science to whatever they want it to mean, even if it’s 180 degrees of what science actually says.

  24. 24.

    dedc79

    May 30, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    He also wants to eliminate the social safety net, you know, because people (including women) who don’t work must be lazy. Got that? A single mother who doesn’t get a job gets no assistance because she’s lazy. A single mother who finds a way to work while raising her children is going against biology.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    May 30, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    I guess Erick doesn’t know about all the species where the males play no role in raising the offspring. Free hint: make sure you know something about science before criticizing others for their lack of knowledge.

  26. 26.

    ranchandsyrup

    May 30, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    @shortstop: Sure, you opened your franchise in Suffragette City. Try it in Misogynyville.

  27. 27.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    @quannlace:

    Damn right. (But the male lions do always eat first. And they will hunt if no chick is around to do it for them.)

    I find this theory of human male dominance particularly amusing when it’s espoused by guys who’d clearly keel over from MIs if they goutily attempted to do the original human “breadwinning,” i.e., procurement of food minus handy modern weaponry.

  28. 28.

    ChrisNYC

    May 30, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    There is a good, which is to say extra appalling, picture of Erick at TPM. Is that terrible pig-eyed thing he and Scarborough both have related to the GOP or to Ga/Fla or both?

  29. 29.

    scav

    May 30, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    Some anglerfish, like those of the Ceratioid group (Ceratiidae, or sea devils), employ an unusual mating method. Because individuals are presumably locally rare and encounters at least doubly so, finding a mate is problematic. When scientists first started capturing ceratioid anglerfish, they noticed that all of the specimens were female. These individuals were a few centimetres in size and almost all of them had what appeared to be parasites attached to them. It turned out that these “parasites” were highly reduced male ceratioids. The presence of multiple males breeding with a single female makes this a good example of polyandry.

    Mea Wiki, but I like the image:
    Haplophryne mollis (female, with atrophied male attached)

  30. 30.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    @ranchandsyrup: It isn’t very pretty what that town without pity will do.

  31. 31.

    danimal

    May 30, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    Perhaps conservatives can now back federally-funded social science research, as long as the research confirms Ericson’s biases.

    Jackass.

  32. 32.

    Citizen_X

    May 30, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    Dear Ewick: Science /= 19th century Victorian prejudices.

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    May 30, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    @Jay C:

    And will it be on YouTube?

    Let’s fervently hope not.

  34. 34.

    ranchandsyrup

    May 30, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    @shortstop: Yep. Exile in Guyville. But sisters be doin’ it for themselves.

  35. 35.

    gene108

    May 30, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    @Luthe:

    Female lions are the breadwinners of the pride. The male sits on his ass all day and sometimes roars. Sound familiar?

    If you look at human history, it’s mostly women, who do the day-to-day stuff that keeps the family fed. They tended the crops, cook, etc. It’s only since the late Industrial Revolution that men became the sole bread winners and women “lazed” around at home.

    Men hunted for meat and – like the male lions – made sure other men, from other tribes (pride, in lion’s case) did not attempt to loot and pillage their women.

  36. 36.

    Jay C

    May 30, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    @catclub:

    Also, female hawks are larger than male ones.

    Well, look where that gets them! At least for red-tails, the most famous of them has lived to be 23 (! No one thought hawks could live that long) – and run through seven mates in the process: though some of them seem to have just run off….

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 30, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    Erick Erickson said on Fox Business

    I’d forgotten, he was shitcanned by CNN in their post-election purge?

  38. 38.

    Karen in GA (who really needs a better name)

    May 30, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    What an insecure little wuss Republican.

    FTFMe.

  39. 39.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    May 30, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    He probably believes Phrenology is still the cutting edge of scientific rigor.

  40. 40.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    May 30, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    There’s also a lot of evidence that being gay is not limited to western liberal homosapiens. Does Erick want to acknowledge that science as well?

  41. 41.

    joes527

    May 30, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    Also too, what’s the proposed conservative policy to combat this unnatural abomination? Just pay women less?

    Absolutely. Reduce their wages enough and they will self-deport. Problem solved.

  42. 42.

    Cassidy

    May 30, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    @shortstop: Erik would keel over if actually confronted by the alpha male he fantisizes about being.

  43. 43.

    EconWatcher

    May 30, 2013 at 2:18 pm

    Ah, more GOP outreach. Carry on, guys.

  44. 44.

    Roger Moore

    May 30, 2013 at 2:19 pm

    @catclub:

    Rats, Its Jonah Lardberg who reminds one of an elephant seal.

    Except, of course, for the actual harem. And the dominant.

    Biology (actual biology, not the crap ibn Erick is spewing) shows that in species that depend on sexual reproduction, sex ratios tend toward 1:1 no matter the reproductive strategy. That means that for every big bull with a harem of 10 females, there are 9 loser males who sit around on the fringes and try to sneak in for a quickie with one of the females while the bull is otherwise occupied. I think I see Jonah’s position in the system.

  45. 45.

    SatanicPanic

    May 30, 2013 at 2:19 pm

    Well if most animals do it is a good excuse I plan on crapping on Erick’s lawn.

  46. 46.

    Nerdlinger

    May 30, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    @Jay C:

    and run through seven mates in the process

    Welp, we’re all Mormons now.

  47. 47.

    scav

    May 30, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    Let us also consider the Clownfish:

    In a group of clownfish, there is a strict dominance hierarchy. The largest and most aggressive female is found at the top. Only two clownfish, a male and a female, in a group reproduce through external fertilization. Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they develop into males first, and when they mature, they become females. If the female clownfish is removed from the group, such as by death, one of the largest and most dominant males will become a female. The remaining males will move up a rank in the hierarchy.

    same wiki-source, so as not to overwhelm their science-fu. This is certainly one way to break the glass-ceiling.

  48. 48.

    nancydarling

    May 30, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    Not to mention the bonobos (Pan paniscus) where the old girls run the show. It’s not for nothing that their cousins who share the same genus are called Pan troglodyte.

  49. 49.

    belieber

    May 30, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    Liquor and whores
    Liquor and whores
    Cigarettes and dope and mustard and bologna
    Liquor and whores

    I went down
    Drinkin’ at the Legion
    I met a girl she was nice
    She was pretty and pleasing

    She said “Hey boy
    We should do some marrying”
    I said sure but before we do
    There’s something that you should know

    I like
    Liquor and whores
    Liquor and whores
    Cigarettes and dope and mustard and bologna
    Liquor and whores…

    Then one night down at the legion
    She walked in, I was drunk on gin
    Dancin with a lady friend
    She said hey boy, You’d better fly the fuck home
    I said no cause five little words I coulda
    Swore I said to you

    I like
    Liquor and whores
    Liquor and whores
    Cigarettes and dope and mustard and bologna
    Liquor and whores…

  50. 50.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    @ranchandsyrup: Pipe down, doll, I’m voting over here.

    OT, I cannot believe the number of Chicago “liberals” bitching about the president tying up traffic last night for his House fundraiser. Obama almost always takes Marine One from O’Hare to avoid bringing down the Kennedy Expressway. His copter (plus the fakeout second) often flies over my house on the nort’ side, then goes over the lake to avoid flying directly over the Loop, then cuts back over land on the sout’ side to land in Jackson Park.

    So he very rarely messes up vehicular traffic and when he does he tries to do it for the shortest length of time/street possible, unlike some previous presidents and vice presidents I could name. Additionally, we need to win some House races next year, and Obama keynoting events is the best way to raise large coin here. But these people will not stop whining.

  51. 51.

    gnomedad

    May 30, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    This word “science” you keep using …

  52. 52.

    Southern Beale

    May 30, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    The only proof we need that Erick Erickson and his kind are anti-science is the fact that they keep spouting shit that is scientifically inaccurate.

    But hey, when facts trump ideology, you know what wins: ideology. Always, always.

  53. 53.

    MattF

    May 30, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    Are we now going to get a lecture from Erick on ‘shrinkage’? “It’s completely natural. Completely. Natural.”

  54. 54.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    @MattF: Classic. He just got out of a cold pool.

  55. 55.

    J.W. Hamner

    May 30, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    Kind of awesome how conservatives will always argue that the worst consequences of any cultural issue is white men being made to feel bad about themselves.

  56. 56.

    Heliopause

    May 30, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    Actually, Erick, if you look at the natural world males of most species don’t contribute much to child-rearing beyond sperm. If the ideal is a male-female couple raising the young together then you do have many bird species as a good example, but then we should be feeding our kids insects and regurgitated fish.

  57. 57.

    Redshirt

    May 30, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    Have you SEEN most male birds?! Flashy colors, elaborate dances, extensive nest building!

    If we were to follow this natural model, RuPaul would be our masculine ideal.

  58. 58.

    Jane2

    May 30, 2013 at 2:27 pm

    The GOP should propose mandatory hiring of all American males to bloviate on US cable news. Problem solved.

  59. 59.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    @Redshirt: What if everyone turned gay, like birds?! The human race would die out!

    Sorry, working on this IL marriage equality bill (please let today be the day) has put me too close too often to hysterical antigay folk.

  60. 60.

    Chris

    May 30, 2013 at 2:29 pm

    When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world — the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role.

    Ah, that actually really depends on the animal, bro. I think you’d be hard-pressed to argue that these species of insects where the female actually eats the male are “male dominant” in any way. Hyena females don’t go that far, but are still stronger and bigger than the male. Killer whales and elephants are similarly matriarchal. Etc, etc, etc.

    Next, please.

  61. 61.

    jl

    May 30, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    @scav: Clownfish life sounds interesting. Except for the rigid hierarchy stuff, and no action for most of the poor clownfish.

    As for the women breadwinners stuff, why on earth does anyone think this means that women are “winning’ and dominant, and this is good news for anybody?

    Women still earn less on average than men doing the same job.
    Men with lower education and in certain sectors (construction and manufacturing) got hammered much harder and have been unemployed longer than in previous recessions.

    And what is the income level of these lucky ducky women? Are they raking in bucks stealing money in the big banking and finance industry?

    And of course, in our current messed up society, being a sole bread winner of the family, whether man or woman, is just a peachy situation.

    I’m not sure, but I think the statistic is more a results of our relatively crummy and weak economic recovery than anything else.

    The main upside is that the stat gives EE an opportunity to spew bigoted gibberish, which he does well, and it is amusing, if you like black humor.

  62. 62.

    Shakezula

    May 30, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    @Roger Moore: Yes. Getting kicked by an angry cow.

    @Heliopause: And with birds where both parents rear the young, both parents usually contribute equally to feeding/protecting.

  63. 63.

    Nerdlinger

    May 30, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    @Southern Beale: His line of reasoning is also fallacious.

  64. 64.

    Soonergrunt

    May 30, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    It does not shock me that Erick SonofErick* said this. It shocks me that there’s a woman who actually fucks Erick SonofErick.

    *h/t Tbogg

  65. 65.

    Shakezula

    May 30, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    @shortstop: Go! Go! Go!

  66. 66.

    bemused

    May 30, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    Oh, absolutely pay women less, much less and to guarantee the dominant natural order keep them barefoot and pregnant.

  67. 67.

    eric

    May 30, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    @shortstop: where you be on the nort’ side?

  68. 68.

    fuckwit

    May 30, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    Small. Fucking. Penis.

  69. 69.

    bemused

    May 30, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    @Soonergrunt:

    Exactly. These women are idiots.

  70. 70.

    fuckwit

    May 30, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    Small. Fucking. Pen15.

    (Also FYWP moderation)

  71. 71.

    jl

    May 30, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    And, Erickson should study the seahorse.

    Seahorses are cute. Erickson is cute (until he opens his mouth). It would be a good match.

    And seahorses can’t open their mouths much. It could be a multidimensional learning experience for Erickson.

  72. 72.

    jeffreyw

    May 30, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    Who amongst us would deny the role of Nature?

  73. 73.

    Redshirt

    May 30, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    Factcheck ErickbinErick – more women graduate college today then men, and that’s been the case for a while, and will only continue to increase.

    Or, to sum: Well, the world needs ditch diggers too.

  74. 74.

    NickT

    May 30, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    @Redshirt:

    Whaddaya mean, RuPaul isn’t your masculine ideal?!

    Splitter!

  75. 75.

    Citizen_X

    May 30, 2013 at 2:37 pm

    Needs moar Vincent Price:

    You know what I think I love the most about her is her inborn need to dominate, possess. In fact, immediately after the consummation of her marriage to the smaller and weaker male of the species she kills and eats him…oh, she is delicious…And I hope he was!

  76. 76.

    Trollhattan

    May 30, 2013 at 2:37 pm

    @Doug Milhous J:
    If I find out The Clash covered a Mary Poppins song you have officially blown my mind, man.

  77. 77.

    Shinobi (@shinobi42)

    May 30, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    It IS kindof bad that women are now the main breadwinners in so many households, because women don’t get paid as much. (Obviously I think it is fine from a social/moral/competitive bullshit standpoint. It just sucks that it is now probably these couples are making less money because of sexism.)

    But hey, if he wants my male partner to be the breadwinner that’s fine with me, why don’t you give him an F-ing job Erik the Red?

  78. 78.

    Roger Moore

    May 30, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    @Jay C:
    Birds are very good evidence for the theory that it’s problems with the Y chromosome (and not having a spare X) that leads to men having a shorter average lifespan than women. Birds have W and Z chromosomes, rather than X and Y, so it’s males who have duplicated full size chromosomes and females who have one full and one vestigial chromosome. In their case, males tend to live longer.

  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    May 30, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    @Redshirt:

    Have you SEEN most male birds?! Flashy colors, elaborate dances, extensive nest building!

    And lots and lots of singing to attract mates and mark their territory. I’m thinking that maybe Liberace is the ideal male in that system.

  80. 80.

    Anna in PDX

    May 30, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    @dedc79: As usual, women are in a no-win situation here.

  81. 81.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    May 30, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    FWIW. In the late 60’s I signed a blank check to the gov for any amount up to and including my life. A couple of years later I volunteered to go to The Most God Awful Place Imaginable (Known as West Bumfuck at the time).

    To prepare for this I was sent to a school at the amphibase at Coronado. Part of the school was survival. Some of the exercises involved being dropped off alone in nowhere for a few days with a knife of our choice, a lighter or matches, and a pack of cigarettes. They did give us a parachute for the piece where you survive along the ocean. Erickson would have been considered food once you cleaned up the residue of him having shat himself to death.

  82. 82.

    Roger Moore

    May 30, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    @Shakezula:

    Yes. Getting kicked by an angry cow.

    Unfortunately, he has not taken after his namesake and been eaten by a whale.

  83. 83.

    Svensker

    May 30, 2013 at 2:48 pm

    The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role

    If the female role is complementary, then isn’t the male role complementary, as well?

    I don’t get how this works.

    How are these guys different from the Taliban, again?

  84. 84.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:49 pm

    @eric: Nort’ Wrigleyville/sout’ Uptown. You?

  85. 85.

    JGabriel

    May 30, 2013 at 2:49 pm

    Erik Erikson

    “I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science. But liberals who defend [a 40% single motherhood rate] and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science.”

    You know, I don’t know any liberals who say being a single mother (or single father) is better than having two stable, loving parents in a stable, loving relationship.

    What we say is: the reality for most people is not that ideal. And we should do our best through gov’t. programs to make sure that single parents and their children can still get food, health care, shelter, and a good education, to ameliorate the effects of poverty that often accompanies single parent families,

    Since every Republican and Conservative disagrees, they have no business whining about the problems of single parenthood when they fucking refuse to spend the money or do anything to alleviate them.

    More Erikson:

    When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world — the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role.

    Hey, Erik. Who wears the most makeup in your famliy and who has the bigger gun? If the stereotypically traditional roles aren’t even maintained in the Erickson household, why should anyone listen to you whinge about other people not maintaining them?

    Sounds kind of hypocritical to me, but I guess hypocrisy’s what Fox pays you for.

  86. 86.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 2:50 pm

    @Trollhattan: On the rooftops of London..coo, what a white riot.

    ETA: I’m rethinking this. I was going for a rhyme with “coo, what a sight.”

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    May 30, 2013 at 2:51 pm

    @Svensker:

    How are these guys different from the Taliban, again?

    They’re here in America actively threatening our freedom.

  88. 88.

    JGabriel

    May 30, 2013 at 2:52 pm

    Svensker:

    How are these guys different from the Taliban, again?

    One calls their Flying Spaghetti Monster Allah, the other calls her God.

    Other than that, not much.

    Edit to Add: Also, what Roger Moore said.

  89. 89.

    Comrade Dread

    May 30, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    @scav:

    In a group of clownfish, there is a strict dominance hierarchy. The largest and most aggressive female is found at the top. Only two clownfish, a male and a female, in a group reproduce through external fertilization. Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they develop into males first, and when they mature, they become females. If the female clownfish is removed from the group, such as by death, one of the largest and most dominant males will become a female. The remaining males will move up a rank in the hierarchy.

    Well, that will certainly make the Finding Nemo sequel a bit awkward, what with finding out that his dad turned into a girl and they’ll be mixing genetic material to carry on the school.

  90. 90.

    Shakezula

    May 30, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    @Roger Moore: He got the being a whiny shit part down all right.

  91. 91.

    MomSense

    May 30, 2013 at 3:01 pm

    I hate Erick, son of Erick and all his ilk. So as a mom supporting three sons, a dog, and two cats I would just like to say that this attitude is BS. I think he would be exhausted at the end of just one of my weeks and would not have the energy to “dominate”.

    Grrrrrrr.

  92. 92.

    Chris

    May 30, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    @Svensker:

    How are these guys different from the Taliban, again?

    I thought the same thing when I was reading about this El Salvador case of the woman being sentenced to death for the crime of pregnancy. (Then saw someone had beaten me to it).

  93. 93.

    gbear

    May 30, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    @Cassidy: Maybe she blind-sided him with Science!!

  94. 94.

    scav

    May 30, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    @Comrade Dread: But think of the tax and inheritance benefits now available to them!

  95. 95.

    eric

    May 30, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    @shortstop: Lakeview….

  96. 96.

    Shinobi (@shinobi42)

    May 30, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    @shortstop: I didn’t even notice last night. My commute back north was a breeze. … people

  97. 97.

    RedKitten

    May 30, 2013 at 3:09 pm

    And people say feminism is no longer necessary. Sigh…

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    May 30, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    O/T but it turns out McGrumpy may have posed with kidnappers in Syria.

    http://www.mediaite.com/online/did-john-mccain-pose-with-two-known-kidnappers-in-syria/

  99. 99.

    EdTheRed

    May 30, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    After filming the segment, Erick Son of Erick was confronted by a female coworker:

    Coworker: Mr. Erickson, you are acting like a baby.
    Erick Erickson: I’m not a baby, I am a man. I am an anchorman.
    Coworker: You are not a man. You are a big fat joke.
    Erick Erickson: I’m a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That’s what kind of man I am. You’re just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It’s science.

  100. 100.

    Comrade Dread

    May 30, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role.”

    com·ple·men·ta·ry

    (of two or more different things) Combining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize each other’s qualities.

    Complementary relationships will vary between couples. A man may be career driven, willing to postpone his own latent personal goals or hobbies to achieve money or success, in which case, his ideal mate might be a wife who enjoys and has a passion for cooking and maintaining an orderly house.

    Conversely, a man may have a passion for something less lucrative or less stable, or maybe he really wants to be involved with his kids and not spend 8-12 hours away from them every day, in which case, his complementary mate would be someone who enjoyed working and the day to day office activities/interactions, that allows him to pursue the things he’s truly passionate about without having to worry about eating from day to day.

    Point being, human beings have formed mutually beneficial relationships since the dawn of time and it’s none of Mr. Erickson’s business if he happens to approve of their choices.

    You want to do some good? Work towards making sure every employee gets paid a living wage, some paid sick leave and paid vacation, as well as more stable schedules, so more families can choose to spend time at home and get more involved in their children’s lives.

  101. 101.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    There’s always some jackass attempting to justify his shitty behavior by asserting that he’s “wired” to be a fuckhead.

  102. 102.

    dmsilev

    May 30, 2013 at 3:24 pm

    Hold on, I think we’re all being unfair to Erick of the House of Erick. No less a eminent intellectual than Professor Newt Gingrich has pointed out essential differences between the sexes:

    If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get infections and they don’t have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they’re relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically little piglets, you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it, doesn’t matter, you know. These things are very real. On the other hand, if combat means being on an Aegis-class cruiser managing the computer controls for twelve ships and their rockets, a female may be again dramatically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes.

  103. 103.

    Shakezula

    May 30, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    @Suzanne: That’s fine. I’m wired to give fuckheads a hard time. Silly me! (Tee hee).

    I would also note that under the Republican Natural Model of Nature, mothers who find themselves without a male breadwinner due to death or divorce should drop everything and seek out a new mate in order to remain within the natural order of nature. Under no account though should they work. If the kids get hungry, send them to a friend’s house until the new male mate is secured.

    Women who find themselves with a spouse who is permanently disabled should gather the entire family in the living room and serve everyone a steamy cup of hemlock.

  104. 104.

    Roger Moore

    May 30, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    @Shakezula:

    Women who find themselves with a spouse who is permanently disabled should gather the entire family in the living room and serve everyone a steamy cup of hemlock.

    Couldn’t they serve the hemlock only to their disabled husband and then look for another man?

  105. 105.

    ranchandsyrup

    May 30, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    There’s no downside for Erickkk. Every colossally moronic thing he says prompts a “Great job, you’re pissing off the *tolerant* liberals” response from the Cletus Chorus.

  106. 106.

    dmsilev

    May 30, 2013 at 3:43 pm

    UPDATE: Erick ibn Erick has responded to his critics (warning: RedState link):

    I also noted that the left, which tells us all the time we’re just another animal in the animal kingdom, is rather anti-science when it comes to this. In many, many animal species, the male and female of the species play complementary roles, with the male dominant in strength and protection and the female dominant in nurture. It’s the female who tames the male beast. One notable exception is the lion, where the male lion looks flashy but behaves mostly like a lazy beta-male MSNBC producer.
    […]
    As a society, once we moved past that basic recognition, we’ve been on a downward trajectory of more and more broken homes and maladjusted youth. Pro-science liberals seem to think basic nature and biology do not apply to Homo sapiens. Men can behave like women, women can behave like men, they can raise their kids, if they have them, in any way they see fit, and everything will turn out fine in the liberal fantasy world. Except in the real world it does not work out that way.

    Just keep on fucking that chicken, Erick.

  107. 107.

    Citizen_X

    May 30, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    Hey Erick: Here’s what a man (he used to command a goddam starship! And he supports victims of domestic violence) has to say, from his own harsh childhood experience, about all that macho dominatin’:

    As a child, I heard in my home doctors and ambulance men say, ‘Mrs. Stewart, you must have done something to provoke him. Mrs. Stewart, it takes two to make an argument.’ Wrong. Wrong! My mother did NOTHING to provoke that — and even if she had, violence is NEVER, ever a choice that a man should make. Ever.

  108. 108.

    Julia Grey

    May 30, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role

    Whut?

    And hey, as long as we’re listing animals in which the female is dominant, meerkats (the Kalahari version of prairie dogs who were so popular on Animal Planet a few years ago) have a dominant female. She calls the shots. In fact, the filmmakers radio-tagged the female dominant in each “tribe” to keep track of where they went and when, because she did all the leading. She also was the only one who was supposed to breed. Occasionally one of her sisters would hook up with a wandering male and have a litter, but usually they were all driven out at the dominant female’s instigation.

    (Her partner is the “dominant male” only by virtue of his partnership with her. When dominant female Flower died, her partner Zaphod left the tribe to become a rogue male living on his own…they often don’t last long.)

    Fascinating little critters.

  109. 109.

    Brent

    May 30, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    As many others have pointed out, Erickson has his “science” wrong here. Indeed, even on his own terms, he is engaging in a category error. But I would say that arguing with him on this level also misses the point to some extent. Human lives and human relationships are not science experiments. A respect for science is not the same as saying, we should live as animals do. Not just because it might be unpleasant but because conforming our desires to the behaviors of creatures in some other realm is no more natural or scientific than anything else. Its absurd that this even needs to be explained.

  110. 110.

    cokane

    May 30, 2013 at 3:49 pm

    According to Richard Dawkins, the only consistent difference between male and female in the natural world is that one sex has larger gametes than the other. Does this mean that women are actually the dominant sex since they’re larger?

    It’s also funny to me that the sex with the womb is considered the “complimentary” sex according to Erickson.

  111. 111.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    May 30, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    Please Republicans whatever you do don’t throw us in the women’s-lib-is-anti-science patch! We’ll die DIE DIE in there!

  112. 112.

    Julia Grey

    May 30, 2013 at 3:52 pm

    Right. Someone should ask Erick: “So we should behave like animals? THEY are our ideal role models?”

  113. 113.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    May 30, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    @Svensker:

    How are these guys different from the Taliban, again?

    They don’t yet have as much power as the Taliban.

  114. 114.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 30, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    If Fucker von Fuckervitch were to be hit upside the head by Science with a Louisville Slugger, he still would not recognize it.

    BTW, I encourage Science to do precisely that.

  115. 115.

    ruemara

    May 30, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    @shortstop: Whining is a fine liberal tradition. Do not spite it.

    I’m all for creating a reserve where Republican alpha males battle for dominance. Winner gets to mate with the harem of Michelle Malkin, K.Lo., & Ann Coulter. Fairly sure the resultant spawn will destroy any that survive.

  116. 116.

    LeeM

    May 30, 2013 at 4:38 pm

    Obviously Eric the son of Eric hasn’t studied equine or big cat behavior (among many others) in his quest for enlightenment. In many animal groups, Males are good for protection from other males, but are not usually the top of the social order. Come to think of it, we primates are an example.

  117. 117.

    Calouste

    May 30, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    @Svensker:

    How are these guys different from the Taliban, again?

    Well, there’s the beards and then there is, uh, there is…., uh, I’ll get back to you.

  118. 118.

    p

    May 30, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    in animal kingdoms, the male doesn’t “bring home the bacon” then complain “the den is messy”, ignore the children, and go on the internet to watch porn or sit in front of the t.v. while he waits for his dinner…

  119. 119.

    NickT

    May 30, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    Except in the real world it does not work out that way.

    I don’t think RickyRickson realizes what he’s just said. Which is probably true any given day of the week.

  120. 120.

    shortstop

    May 30, 2013 at 5:21 pm

    @ruemara: I will spite it in this case. Talk about first-world problems. These privileged people need to pick their battles, and getting mad at Obama for adding a little time to their commute while he’s raising money to keep Democratic House seats ain’t a good one.

  121. 121.

    Elie

    May 30, 2013 at 5:23 pm

    Have to add the Hyena to the list of matriarchal leadership structures in the animal kingdom. Males are totally subordinate and on the fringes of the pack, frequently abused and killed. Leadership of the pack goes from alpha female to her daughter — but its competitive and contested — among the females only. Hyenas are rough customers and do not play around.

  122. 122.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 30, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    Said Erickson: “I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science. But liberals who defend this and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world — the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role.”
    Wow, this is guy has some real issues, doesn’t he?

  123. 123.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    May 30, 2013 at 6:12 pm

    Shorter EE: “Men go out and get their shoes muddy, women stay at home to clean his shoes.

    I bet the first thing EE did when he bought his house was to go piss on a corner of it and then bay at the moon.

  124. 124.

    Jamie

    May 30, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    Has Erik Managed to reproduce?

  125. 125.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    May 30, 2013 at 7:25 pm

    When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world

    Yep Erik Son of Eric. Let’s look at the clown fish, where the dominant sole breeding male becomes the female when the female in the colony dies.* How about that one? w

    (* Which made ‘Finding Nemo’ rather disappointing scientifically. Nemo’s mum died? Nemo’s dad would become mum. But obviously adhering to accurate biological science for clown fish would have. Freaked. Jebusland. Out.)

  126. 126.

    Cassidy

    May 30, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    A number of warrior societies were matriarchal.

  127. 127.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    May 30, 2013 at 7:29 pm

    Sorry, didn’t see the clownfish reference earlier in the thread.

  128. 128.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    May 30, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Erick is a real animal. Explains a lot about his political philosophy.

  129. 129.

    brantl

    May 31, 2013 at 7:35 am

    I’ve seen pictures of this asshole, he’d be lucky to be able to dominate a female tomato.

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