Owen Jones: playing to the crowd
A few days ago I was pointed to an article by Owen Jones about ‘young men in crisis’. It is a reasonably sensible piece for the most part, though doesn’t look beyond more spending on mental health as a solution. What really caught my attention though was this little sentence, squeezed down in the meat of the article: “ Even though the women's and LGBT movements have changed what it is to be a man for the better, men are still keeping quiet as their mental health is battered by an ever more insecure world .” Owen Jones [For those unfamiliar with the jargon of the organised left, ‘LGBT’ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] Now we can’t expect writers to fully justify everything they say, but this aside that the women's and LGBT movements have changed what it is to be a man for the better set my alarm bells ringing. It’s a pretty big thing to say, let alone throw out as an aside that doesn’t need justification or evidence. Let’s unpick th...