As we all know, every problem in the world can be traced back to some form of hate perpetrated by White male heteronormative transphobic blah blah blah, but the categories which exist within the hatetriarchy are ever-expanding.

I like that term: hatetriarchy. It has a ring to it.

The latest term, and one with which I fell in love right away, is “petro-masculinity.” It is somehow perfect in its idiocy.

“Scholars like Cara Daggett have long pointed out the intersection between climate denial and misogyny through the concept of petro–masculinity, which describes the way that fossil fuel systems uphold patriarchy, white supremacy, and authoritarianism.”https://t.co/TfCPpwU3LD

— Sophia Kianni (@SophiaKianni) April 25, 2023

The idea behind the concept is pretty simple: the attachment to fossil fuels has nothing to do with the fact that without them human civilization would collapse, billions would die a horrible death, and that ever since we began using them human lifespans have increased, poverty has declined, and quality of life has blossomed for billions.

It’s because we love bathing in oil. It buttresses our hate for women.

Proof of this is obvious: so-called “climate deniers” don’t bow down to the goddess Greta.

Now in my little corner of the universe, we don’t generally set public policy and upend civilization based on the tantrums of a high school dropout. This is, I admit, an apparently idiosyncratic view. The UN, for instance, disagrees with my principle of using reason to set policies. But there are still a few stubborn people who do not worship youth and ignorance married to shrill whining.

As I have said before, it is not Greta who bothers me in the least, but the idiots who claim to take her rantings seriously and expect the rest of us to throw away our livelihoods on her whims. As a person, I have no opinion of Greta at all, except perhaps a vague sense that she has been exploited for PR purposes. If she had been allowed to grow up normally she might have turned out to be a nice and thoughtful person.

In any case, petromasculinity is enough of a thing that it is a genuinely discussed thing. I mean, it’s in the New Republic, a once-readable magazine.

I can assure you that conservatives didn’t “freak out,” except perhaps in the sense of laughing hysterically and ridiculing such a nonsensical idea. The idea that some random author invented a ridiculous concept that men have built a misogynistic identity around oil is a bit rich. I suppose we have car lovers.

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen tweeted the column, asking “Can you imagine being single right now? My god.” Fox News devoted a whole article to summarizing the column’s main points (thanks, guys!). Some commentators in the right-wing media seemed particularly offended by the word “petromasculinity,” which has been used by scholars in recent years to describe the well-documented emotional and cultural attachment of many white conservative males to climate denial, fossil fuels, and authoritarianism. Washington Examiner writer Nicholas Clairmont, in response to my article, called the term “one of the most absurd coinages I have ever seen.” Other conservative critics willfully (or hysterically?) misread the piece; a writer for The Post Millennial called petromasculinity “the left’s latest made-up reason to hate men,” although the point of the column was that the gender gap among OK Cupid users wasn’t that dramatic, and men seemed nearly as interested in rejecting the toxic politics of climate denial as women.

You really don’t need some complicated psychological or sociological theory to explain why intelligent people don’t worship the whiny white woke women who want to destroy our economy and depopulate the Earth.

It’s because they want to destroy our economy and depopulate the Earth. I feel the same way about them as I do any other climate activist. Michael Mann? He’s a nut. Those “scientists” who glued themselves to the floor? Idiots. I could make a long list of people who I think are idiots, and trust me: they aren’t all women. Probably not even half are women, but if I work hard at it I can create a racially, sexually, and every other diversity-measure balanced list.

Idiots come in all shapes, sizes, genders, and sexualities. There are gay people I adore, and gay people who I despise. Women I adore, and women I despise. I don’t know any truly gender-dysphoric people, but I am sure I could personally get along with and respect some, and I know I despise others. As long as you are generally smart, thoughtful, and reasonable I am willing to listen.

But anybody who invents a term like “petromasculinity?”

Automatically an idiot in my book.