Generalization: It’s The Name of the (Most Annoying) Game
I just read this ‘piece’ in Kuwait Times, and I don’t know if it was meant as full-on joke (I’m sure at least a part of it is), but it seems to compare “the Kuwaiti man” with every other kind of man from around the world–because men are divided into several genealogical species, don’t you know?–and, apparently, to the sorry luck of Kuwait’s female population, they’re stuck with what seems like the male equivalent of a living, breathing, 21st century Neanderthal.
At least when compared to the males from every other Eastern Asian and European country which–hello!–are so wonderful and perfect they could make Barney the Purple Dinosaur look like a fiend.
Aye.
Look, I’m not Kuwaiti. I don’t really know many Kuwaiti men (or even had all that much association with them). In fact, the extent of my knowledge about Kuwaiti men has been mostly what I’ve heard from my spurned girlfriends. Honestly, there isn’t a reason in the world for me to start standing up for the Kuwaiti brethren all of a sudden.
But, I have to say, I find this kind of weird ‘article’ (if you must call it that) somewhat annoying. Here’s why:
I understand that the writer tried to spin it in this comical, tongue-in-cheek kind of way (and, I swear, no one appreciates a witty, harmless jab like me), but something about this article just reeks of this supreme, look-down-thy-nose attitude that kind of muffles any attempt at harmless humor.
I mean, when you list all these commendable attributes that men from places like Switzerland, Malaysia, and Korea have which the Kuwaiti man does not only lack but represents the exact opposite of you’re not just poking harmless fun. As the writer of an article in a widely read news source which many people who are unfamiliar with Kuwait could definitely read, you’re now officially helping perpetuate several negative and, in some cases, quite scary generalizations about the nature of an entire population.
And that right there is no laughing matter.
It’s not even really about Kuwaiti men. Its about all these insanely annoying, unfair, overdone, very negative generalizations that I’ve heard constantly plastered on whole racial groups that later become a part of their identifying characteristics which the rest of the world is supposed to chuckle at all the way up from that high horse of theirs (trying to pretend that there isn’t yet another group sitting above and similarly laughing at them).
It’s polarizing and harmful and just not amusing.
So as someone who’s never really had any meaningful encounters with a Kuwaiti man, has no ulterior motives, and who, actually, fits the perfect profile for someone who might possibly buy into these generalizations, I actually think I’m a little offended here.
Not because I have any specific interest in the way that any man is portrayed to the world, but because I just don’t like seeing something as big as–oh, I don’t know–a population of millions all painted with the same crazy annoying brush.
All my love!
