two m's, two t's

more and more i feel like the political divide in my life is "are you a prison abolitionist or not", not because it's all that matters, but because the questions and beliefs contained therein seem to be the root of all other political subjects i care to care for.

Do you believe in retribution? Do you believe some people are undeserving of community? Do you believe that people, human beings, have the right to kill each other? Do you believe that harm is a matter of personal responsibility? Do you believe violence is individual instead of systemic? What do you believe should be illegal, and what should we do when someone breaks the law, and who is it that should make th laws, and what does the history of our country say about what we deem acceptable, and what does someone deserve as compensation for their labor, and are we still built on a foundation of slavery, and can the state compel you to labor, and what is punishment itself? What does it mean for a people to be free?

any time a man exhibits any positive trait or behavior it will be attributed to his "healthy masculinity", but this is especially true when the trait/behavior in question is something traditionally seen as feminine. when a man does things such as caring for his children and spouse, being gentle, or being nurturing, it will never prompt the average person to reconsider their stance on men being Feminine let alone the idea of gendering behavior to begin with. it will only ever result in the concept of masculinity being laundered in real-time to subsume any and all qualities a person generally regards highly. we can not let 'masculinity' be a rhetorical stand-in for being an admirable person, even if we stick the word 'healthy' in front of it. if we concede that we need a special term for being a decent human being As A Man then i fear we concede the most basic premise of feminism alongside it.