As someone who spent his career being the guy that clients and employees came to for the right answers, I recognize that there were many times when I was wrong. The important thing is that when I was proven to be wrong I adapted my understanding and fact checked myself so that I learned something from the experience.
The most ignorant and arrogant statement I ever heard was from the silver spoon fed son of a good client who when I apologized for making an error said these words and will never forget them. "A real man never admits that he was wrong and never apologizes for his mistake." I still find those words to be haunting and they make me fear for our future as a species.
Toxic masculinity. Arguably the most destructive social force in our society, with the exceptions of pure greed and racism. I am quite happy to reject the bullshit claim that a man has to "be a man!" at all cost. Fuck that repressed, dickish bullshit! Western traditional notions of mascultinity are directly responsible for many of society's worst problems. Again, a respectful nod to the problems of racism and the power of wealth and the ruthless greed it motivates.
BTW (I realize this is a digression, but it is all-too-illustrative of the point of the post), all three of these horrendous "values" are embodied in former Prez Twitler. The fact tens of millions of Americans fawn over that monster is sadly telling. I console myself with the fact the orange turd's minions still represent a minority. But it is an appalling minority that has managed to hijack an entire major political party.
Eric, political fundraisers use fear to get money from conservatives. We can hear Trump and his allies on the media stirring the fears of evangelicals.
I saw an interview with a woman who had defected from North Korea and she drew a direct connection between how the North Korean government uses fear to control people and the same fear that Trump tries to culture in people. Who knew that all those Commie hating rednecks would be so eager to follow someone like Trump who wants to give them the very oppressive regime that they say they hate.