is it just me... or have I run into a social trend?

[cap]

I cant figure out whether this is a trend or not... but lately, I have been running into a string of men who have been shouting me down and it is getting a bit wearing (not in relationships but at work, or the handyman who comes to fix the house, or at an organization where I volunteer) ... I cant figure out whether I have just run into a bunch of jerks lately or whether this is stuff that has been egged on by the right wing or what?

Anybody running into something similar... or am I just having a bad run?

[msongs]

1. shouting you down (?). get a new handy man and volunteer where your're wlecome nt

[Vincardog]

2. Some on the radical right think it is their duty to "Shout Down" anyone speaking anything at odds

with their reality

[SharonAnn]

5. Back in the early 90's, when some guys I work with started behaving that way, I learned

that they had all started listening to Rush Limbaugh at lunch time. Every day! I didn't know who he was, so I found out.

And since then, I have as little as possible to do with people who behave like you're describing. It's basically aggressive whining and complaining.

If I must deal with them, I usually find an opportunity to say something like "Why are you talking to me that way? You don't talk to other people that way." And I repeat it if I have to. I want them to have to face what they're doing. And if they call me a "b--ch", oh well. They were going to do that anyway.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. There's a certain type of man who can't admit that there's something wrong

with the American system or that he may have done something wrong--it has to be the fault of the "feminazis" or the "(insert racial epithet)," because in their tiny little minds, systemic causes are too hard to understand and they could never be wrong.

Such men get nastier when the economy is bad.

There is a remote chance--a remote one, I emphasize--that you are doing something annoying without realizing it. For example, I was riding the bus the other day when a group of teenagers got on. One girl was a true motormouth, going on and on and on about nothing, such as how she and her sister had saved seats for their friends at a concert and some guy had tried to sit there, all in minute detail and at great speed and high volume. I swear, she must have mastered circular breathing, because there wasn't a millisecond of silence.

Finally, one of the guys exploded and roared, "Shut the fuck up! Do you have to talk all...the...time?"

It was rude of him, but I could sympathize.

I'm not saying that that's what you're doing, since I don't know you. But if you're not doing something irritating, then it's likely that you're running into more than your share of Limbaugh-poisoned assholes.

[TellTheTruth82]

12. shout down

Let's be honest, that happens on all sides....

[havocmom]

3. goobers of all sorts are feeling insecure but they don't have the guts to look at real causes

Seems there is always more rabid reactions by the unthinking twits when the economy hits the skids. They gotta lash out at somebody, cuz lots of 'em just can't face the fact that they fell for a con when the voted the neocons in. So much easier to kick the dog or a woman to feel the thrill of being 'on top' again.

[Darth_Kitten]

4. Don't think a lot of people have manners/class/grace.....

and they take it out on everybody else.

Sound like you have run into some bullies. :hug: I'm sorry for it. :(

[kristopher]

6. No offense mean't but it sounds like you're a common denominator.

Have you examined your own actions and approach? It can be difficult to objectively look to ourselves for fault. This campaign is getting to a lot of us, maybe your stress is poking through in ways you aren't seeing?

That isn't to say you couldn't have just encountered a run of a**holes; statistically it's bound to happen.

(Hmmm, "a run" as the collective noun for a**holes? Maybe I've stumbled onto something here...)

[cap]

7. I don't know... that's why I am posting

it's hard to see one's own behavior. Or whether there's something else going on. It's just that I am running into a series of very overbearing men... and I just don't like being hectored.

I am wondering if its the campaign, the stress in people's lives, or the effects of 8 years of Bush and a demise of feminism.

[Iris]

10. You should not blame yourself.

Our culture has become very uncivilized. Maybe it's 30 years of right-wing talk radio. Maybe it's the blogosphere. Who knows? People are rude and will be rude to you if you don't stand up for yourself.

[goddess40]

9. They feel their long held position of power is being threatened

and might makes right. If I'm louder I win. The fundy churches are doing the same thing.

Although men have always shouted women down or shut them down in other ways.

The just ask me and I'd be happy to do it - and then you ask and you become a nag or a bitch double standard. Men are assertive and women are bitchy. Or when a women is angry about anything - it can't be that she has a legitimate reason to be - it must be because she's hormonal and we all know the nasty language people use for that.

It's not just men either women do it to each other. Dr. Laura's blaming women when their husbands go to prostitutes.

[cap]

11. it's hard to say...

this behavior has run the gamut from:

1. Sitting at a happy hour in a bar and some guy started going off on me as promoting sex for 14 year olds. I did not bring up this subject... This was his own shtick. The other guy who was standing around and I ended up just good naturedly making jokes and trying to smooth over this ugly scene. But this guy was definitely on a tear.... and definitely a socially conservative Catholic Republican. Really did think of calling the bartender over and having the guy thrown out.

2. My handyman deciding that he knew more than me on each and every point of household repair. I am moderately handy myself and am blessed with a husband who is a genius at this stuff.

3. While volunteering, I had a role that was just usurped by an old timer who took over my job. He just opened his mouth loudly and took over. I let him have his way... but I did not like his manner at all. Also, the same tactic as handyman... on giving directions to a place (the gas station I use every day), each and every point, I was wrong. Small stuff, so I dropped it.

4. At work, all the over 40 year old women are marginalized and put into unimportant positions. Except yours truly... and that's because I can solve things that other people can't.