Your thoughts on: the "Manifesto for Conscious Men,"?

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uRIMUBnvw

[Elfriede Ammann]

after more than a month on youtube the collective apology by men to women on the video "Dear Woman" has been visited 537.606 times by now. quite some publicity on the two gentlemen Arjuna and Gay who have started the project "Manifesto for Conscious Men" on facebook.
in one of their teleseminars on the rather violent reception by the youtube mainstream they gave flwg figures:
80% of the men and 20% of the women viewing the video had negative (including vile) comments on the video.
the majority of the women are glad, relieved, moved to tears, to hear the public apology of men to women (in general) for 5000 years of male dominance.

There is going to be (has to be) a huge reaction... found modern mystic and woman's activist Lucia René the author of the best seller "Unplugging the Patriarchy".
it is rather unusual though to come across a vicarious apology. and it hit the public nerve, it hit the ordinary programming (brain circuits?)

quoting Lucia René:
"All over the planet women are indeed standing in their power. [...] If you are in relationship [with a man] you have to be willing at this stage as a woman to do what you know you are being asked to do, to do what is right [...] for the planet. And what is right for the planet at this point is for the masculine and feminine energies to be rebalanced. Women must act first. [...] We live in a repressive society where women have been taught that they are second-class citizens. And those who have perpetrated repression never come throughout history to the repressed and say 'I am so sorry. I have a change of heart. I am going to let you be an equal now.'
The repressed must rise up which does not mean violently. It simply means in integrity. It means energetically. It means in terms of consciousness.
You must be willing as a woman to stand as who you are and have the forbearance to allow the men in your life to react to you because only when the men are allowed to react to you will they be able to balance the masculine and feminine within themselves. They must reclaim that which they perceive as feminine. It's an extremely difficult thing for men to do. The wounding of the masculine has been in some ways more horrific than the wounding of the feminine during the patriarchy. They have their emotional bodies completely shut down. They have a male ego structure that won't allow them to look at this. The kindest thing that a woman can do for the man in her life for the next year and a half probably is to stand and allow him to react and to help him through her heart to find his own way. But the reaction has to happen [...] and the reaction is going to happen globally."
minute 35:44
source: Audio radio interview with Lucia René, US American mystic, author, spiritual teacher, woman's activist, Unplug from the Patriarchy! Women You Have The Power Now!, presented by Blogtalkradio station Snap Out Of It, host Dede Murcer Moffett, 60:13 minutes duration, aired 3. August 2010

[Simon Klein]

In the comments to that video, someone asked if the Germans apologized to the Jews. Germans has made quite large payments as reparations to Jews. My wife, who worked for a German company for several years, was nervous going to the home office the first time, found Germans quite solicitous for her welfare. She tells the story of dining with some of her co-workers, and seeing schmaltz on the menu, which in Yiddish refers to chicken fat, but as she was about to order it, her new friends warned her that in German it is lard, and hence not kosher.

I do think our society has a bias against women. A tom boy is cute; a sissy is bullied. I am embarrassed, saddened, and angry at what has been done to women and girls I know, simply because they are female. An apology would be nice; justice would be even better. I have a feeling this apology perpetuates some of the stereotypes of men and women. And while, I would join a group of People Opposed to Sexism (and am a member of the League of Women Voters), I would never join a men-only Conscious Men.

Further, I object that the group "worships women". That doesn't sound better than putting a woman on a pedestal, which has been done before. While I acknowledge and hope I respect a person's race, religion, gender, etc., my goal is to relate to each individual as an individual.

S

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

Simon, well said! I think men tend to think more deeply about this issue when they have a daughter and a wife whom they respect and watch the various ways in which women are still taken less seriously. thank you for your thoughtful comment. Louann

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

i particularly agree with Elfriede who says  "You must be willing as a woman to stand as who you are and have the forbearance to allow the men in your life to react to you because only when the men are allowed to react to you will they be able to balance the masculine and feminine within themselves." Being able to stand in ones own integrity and to be authentic is what we would all hope for every human being. Sadly, women around the world are not able to do this due to continued repression. (I know that this is not always an easy task for men either). Louann

[Joel Huber]

Most of those men seem like there from enlightened cultures, where there is equality, the redundancy of these men who are enlightened to say for now on they'll be enlightened is a bit annoying to say the least, now if they had some Sadi Prince on there spouting feminism, That my friends would be something new! Or maybe even dare I say a video of women accepting men?

[angel macedon]

I personally know very little of this 5000 years of domination by men and do not feel as though i have anything to apologize for. I am not saying that in some instances that statemwent isn't true, but i am saying a one size fits all apology from all men makes very little sense to me since that has not been my experience. All men are not a part of the power structure nor have they shared in the benefits. In this country, Afircan American men are still oppressed. How can you equate the condition of Afircan American men with that of white men when we didn't even acheive the rights of full cictzenship until the passage of the civil rights act in the sixties? How can you say that when at least 5000 blackmen( not white men) were lynched? How can you say that when the laws of this country specifically forbade blackmen from BEING MEN? And what of Native American men who were wiped off the face of the earth  precisely because they were men?

[angel macedon]

How can one man or woman speak to everyone's experience?There is not one black's persons signature on the declaration of independence, the constitution,  or the magna carta. In this country, it is American culture--- white men and women------ who have benefited from the oppression of others and somehow white women get off the hook and blackmen get lumped in with white men as part of a global oppression against women? if we all look hard enough, we can all find something to apologize for to somebody. These simplistic analogies that deny everyone their just do by reducing everyones experience to that of the elites don't work, at all. There is a laundry list of negative cyclical behaviours that women are responsible for globally its just not pc to talk about. Its not about apologies, its about taking responsibility and finding balance between the needs of both genders.

[Elfriede Ammann]

"Over the next half-century or so, poor nations will find ways to force the developed world to grant them comparable dignity, much as blacks and women did in the last 50 years, and as gays are doing now. In most parts of the world, it is no longer acceptable to insult the members of these groups. At some point, that will be true for any human being."
Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., dignity researcher, The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007  

The White Male System (WMS of hetero men) is sustained by four myths/taboos.

1. Myth: the WMS is the only thing that exists. It offers the only valid way to see the world.
2. Myth: the WMS is innately superior. (innately contradicting myth #1)
3. Myth: the WMS knows and understands everything.
4. Myth: it is possible to be totally logical, rational and objective.

when white hetero males apologize for 5000 years of patriarchy a mile stone has been reached.
this is myth busting.

[Elfriede Ammann]

Jesus is a symbolic sacrificial lamb.

collective apology works. the South African truth and reconciliation committee worked also.

the laundry list of "sins" of both genders resulted from patriachy (male dominated system).

Dr. Warren Farrell is the spokesman of men's liberation. he is men's rights activist, and a former director of the National Organisation for Women. it's neither feminism nor masculinism - it's about bridging the gender gap.

http://de.spiritualwiki.org/Wiki/Maennerliteratur#toc9

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

Let's hear it for myth-busting and dignity!  In the past 5 years as i have been speaking around the USA and abroad in Western Countries, the myth that men still cling to is #4: Myth: it is possible to be totally logical, rational and objective. And the believe that if only women 'would set their minds to it' they could be that way too.