Forgive me but what I’m about to say — not just imply — will be considered rude, but I have an obligation to say what everyone is thinking: this essay was filled with contradictions, fallacies, displays of projection, and was all over the place. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the run-on-sentences and overall poor grammar coming from someone who claims to be a writer, but I digress.

At one point you say that men don’t want to work. Fine, I’ll submit to you that in society, there are a lot of men that don’t want to work. There are quite a few men that will stay at home while their wives or girlfriends work. There are some men that are homeless because they either don’t want to work, can’t work, or have mental issues that have gone without proper treatment, as you’ve stated.

But, then you got into the weeds about how the economy is trash (my inference), the corporate world is basically hurting everything, and we’ve been infantilized (my words) by marketing departments into buying a bunch of crap we don’t need, pushing us into some form of indentured servitude — I agree. There’s definitely a problem in our country with consumerism, sure.

But, your argument fails because you’re brow-beating the corporate world then immediately brow-beating those who choose not to participate and try shaming them into that corporate life instead of allowing them to pursue that which makes them happy: music, acting, art (read: entertainment).

You claim — implied — that money means something while trying to argue that it is ruining us but those people who do things YOU don’t consider work need to grow up or stop asking for handouts while conveniently omitting the fact that those people are working…you just don’t personally see any value in what they do.

Is there not value in a man that stays home, takes care of the home and raises his children? If not, then would you agree that a woman doing the same is valueless? Why, if either sex decides to focus on producing another generation of people (and opts out of the corporate, consumerist world), does that mean they “owe” everyone else something because they — according to you — rely on others for their needs?

Is a woman who takes care of a man incapable of making her own choices? If she is okay with taking care of a man who stays at home, then what business is that of yours and what makes you believe that’s wrong? Are women helpless and incapable of making their own choices?

As for men that “scam” women out of dinner — I agree that it’s a pretty unethical thing to do, but let’s face it — women have been scamming men out of money for quite a long time, and they still do it.

I know several women that go into a casino, find some poor schlub, bat their eyes at him, make some sexual references and end up walking out with rent money while having provided that man with no sexual trade. I don’t see a lot of men being able to pull that one off. I’m sure there are some that can, but those men are few and far between. Why not bring them up in your article?

I don’t want to play the whataboutism game here, but you outright claimed that “ … I don’t have the same experience with my corresponding female friends,” then base your entire argument on your experience with females, though I’m pretty certain you’ve come across the same amount of bottom-of-the-barrel women as you have bottom-of-the-barrel men.

Your argument might be more fair if you had targeted a more specific grouping of people and not simply men in general but you did and now you have to own that.

There has always been, and will always be, people that try to skirt through life on the dime of other people; unfortunately for your article, you’ve lumped people that don’t value life in the same manner as you into your “men” category instead of pinpointing those (including women) that prefer charity over hard work.

I’d also argue that your attempt to shame men who value things other than playing a corporate game is doing more harm for the underlying premise of your essay — you’re telling people they MUST participate in a failed, flawed, and unfair system because ‘it is what it is’ which does nothing more than perpetuate the system. The only way to fix this system is to thoroughly break it. You cannot break a system you are shaming others into continuing to participate in.

This flawed system is producing mindsets like the one you attempted to display in your essay. Those same corporate behemoths you railed against are the ones indoctrinating people like you into shaming those that refuse to play their game.

You make some fair points but your execution was poor. You couldn’t stay on topic, failed to cite any sources to back up any of your claims while contradicting yourself. Oh, and your grammar is, while better than others, very poor for someone claiming to be a writer. My suggestion? Go find a real job, find a girlfriend, and focus on yourself instead of generalizing and over-simplifying a very complex topic.