Apr. 5, 2007

Jon Moffett’s Two Cents
Jon Moffett
jrm001@marietta.edu

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…welcome. Welcome to the debut of my new column. I hope that readers of the now defunct Captain’s Log will find refuge in these words as well.

This time around, however, we’re going to try something different. In the past, my column was a brash look at the world through my eyes. Now, I intend for this piece to be a brash look at the world through my eyes, but with a little more purpose.

To start off this inaugural piece, I’m going to tackle an issue that really bothers me. I luckily cannot say that I know of anyone who has personally dealt with this issue, but at the same time I feel that every case is personal to me. That issue is domestic abuse.

“Do you feel like a man when you push her around? Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?” Sure, these lyrics from Face Down, by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus seem a bit harsh, but this is the sad reality in some cases.

If there’s one type of people that I hate most in this world, it’s those ‘men’, and I use that term lightly, who think that intimidating and physically harming women make them more masculine. As the lyrics demonstrate, the man feels empowered by his physical dominance over the women, and it’s almost as if he feeds off her frailty.

There is absolutely NOTHING masculine or macho about using physical force or intimidation on a woman. Doing things like this don’t make you more of a man; they make you less of one.

Plain and simple, men who hit women are cowards. If you really want a fight that badly, I’m sure there are plenty of other men out there you can find who’d gladly punch your teeth in so you can get your fix.

In my perfect world, a man who hits a women would be locked up in a prison somewhere, and receive a quality beating daily. This will serve as a reminder to him as to why he is where he is. Is it cruel? Yes, I would probably say so. But maybe if this man had to deal with all the physical and emotional pain that he’s been causing, then perhaps he’ll think twice the next time his testosterone is pumping and he finds the need to feel more masculine.

If I ever found out about, or personally witnessed anyone ever hitting one of my sisters or my girlfriend, that person would have to pray that the death penalty came their way before I did.

I don’t care what the law says, or teachings about turning the other cheek; if someone decides they need to impose themselves physically on someone I know and care about, then I sure as hell will decide that I need to do the same to them.

The fact of the matter is this, in the unwritten law of what it means to be a man, there is no mention of hitting a woman. A real man fights for a woman, not with her.

Society has really misconstrued what it really means to be a man. Being a man simply entails doing what is right and taking responsibility for your actions.

Now, I am in no way trying to make women seem helpless, because that is simply not my intention.

But for all those men out there who think that it’s acceptable to hit a woman, I pray that God has mercy on your soul at the end of time. Because if it were up to me, there would be none.