American Sniper

The film American Sniper has been the subject of much controversy since its release and subsequent nominations for the Academy Awards.  The polarization is not exactly typical, however.  Instead of being split along party lines as one might expect, the rift goes deeper.  Much like the movie Fury, also released recently (though not accompanied by such high praise), some people see a clear anti-war message, while others see it as glorification of violence.  Others still say that both these films failed to deliver a clear and coherent message, and instead portrayed the chaotic dichotomy of war and valor, without drawing any meaningful conclusions.

At first glance, I can see why many (mostly those on the left) claim that American Sniper is a clear glorification of the war on terror.  The movie does seem to white-wash the military ambition, casting it in a light of long-suffering patriotism, devoid of any contradictory evidence or arguments.  With a little more thorough analysis, however, one must consider the possibility that Clint Eastwood is being a bit more clever in his portrayal.

To those in the camp that consider American Sniper little more than a recruitment strategy of the military, sponsored by a big Hollywood conservative, I would draw attention to two previous films by Eastwood: Flags of our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima.  The two films were shot back-to-back, from the perspective of the U.S. soldiers and the Japanese soldiers respectively.  Eastwood has a singular talent for portraying an individual perspective on film, free from alternate viewpoints and distracting controversy.

Eastwood is very subtle in his criticisms (as he seems to avoid revealing them), and it takes a keen eye to catch the true message behind his work.  The message is buried in the story, and is completely independent of Eastwood’s own opinions.  The message is in the perspective.  Chris Kyle’s perspective is obviously flawed; so obviously that any intelligent audience member questions the underlying motives for his actions.  They cause one to question the efficacy of his actions, and of the actions of the military as a whole.  The perspective is so one-sided that it begs many questions-- exactly the questions that are being asked by those against the war on terror.

The reason the film seems to some like pro-military propaganda is that they do not believe that a worldview like the one portrayed in the film exists.  It’s such a foreign perspective to so many leftists, they have a hard time accepting that it could be real.  The genius in the film lies in its ability to pass along this perspective, with no judgement, no criticism, and no translation.  It was Chris Kyle’s life as he saw it, with no distracting internal contradictions; except those apparent to the audience.

The simplistic (and inaccurate) rationale that drives Kyle into the military in the first place was the first quirked eyebrow for me.  As the film goes on, the hints that this is not merely a hero-making bio-flick keep stacking up; the flippant, dogmatic justifications for violence; the denial of PTSD; the obsessive dedication to “country” at the expense of his family (all the while claiming it was all for his family).

This approach reminds me of the riveting German film Der Untergang, portraying the final days of the Third Reich.  The filmmakers do not need to go to great lengths to demonize the leaders of the Nazi regime.  They portray the characters in the film as realistically and as humanistically as possible.  In many ways, Hitler and his minions are undeniably courageous, committed, and intelligent; that’s what makes this movie so spine-chilling.  These are not cartoon villains stroking oiled mustaches while tying a woman to a railroad track; these are people that think and feel and act, as people do.  The filmmakers do not offer the alternate viewpoint shared by the allied powers.  They portray a singular ideology, virulently held by those it infects, and dissent is never so much as acknowledged as a possibility.  This is what makes the film so effective.  The filmmakers trust the audience to look into this historical petri dish and recognize for themselves-- better than the filmmakers could consciously portray-- the nefarious elements of the ideology.

I will admit, it’s easier to do with Nazis.  Partially because it is so long past, and partially because it in such an extreme ideology, it is easier to portray without worrying that people will think you are promoting Nazi ideology.  Consider, however, what the response would be like if about half of Germany were openly Nazis, and the other half held viewpoints that are normal in Germany today.  I predict those Nazis would praise the movie as a glorious portrayal of the valiant fall of the Third Reich; while much of the “normal” half would decry it as a disgusting piece of Nazi propaganda-- but is the latter response not inspired primarily by the reaction of the Nazis?

Is this not similar to the situation we have in the U.S.?  If American Sniper was made fifty years from now, the audience would view it as an honest portrayal of a singular viewpoint that existed in the past, warts and all.  Eastwood is ahead of our time.  Apparent by his work, he is a student of history, and history cannot be held to an objective standard; as a matter of fact, any historical account claiming objectivism can be immediately dismissed.  History can only provide various perspectives and experiences, and can only be measured against physical evidence, and weighed against contradictory perspectives and experiences.  Eastwood has greater ambitions than can be realized at the box office.  His work will outlive everyone in this dispensation, and be viewed as part of a historical shift in cinema; where drama meets documentary.

Fury is similar in this regard.  We are entering into a new age of war cinema, and this contemporary approach has yet to be fully appreciated by modern audiences that generally have limited expectations when it comes to war movies.

Fury does not overtly seek to strike any balance between the horror and the valor of warfare, but it accidentally does.  With a modest acknowledgement of both paradigms, this film gains credibility on all sides.  It does so by implying that the valor is only possible because of the horror, and the horror is only bearable with valor.  I suppose it is this element of duality that made it incomprehensible to some in the audience, rendering the conclusion as nihilistic or chaotic, but I see more than that.  I see an honest portrayal that shows all sides, that shows war as it happened, and allows the audience to draw their own conclusions.  There is no preaching, no hyperbole.  The film is a statement with an implied question.  The statement is, “this happened.”  The question is, “why did this happen?”  and then, “was it worth it?”  and then, “how can we avoid this happening ever again?”  I love and appreciate that the film does not offer any answers; that’s probably why it was so frustrating to the audience and critics alike.  The onus is upon the audience.

Gone are the days of Apocalypse Now, in which the message is clear and the response predictable.  Full Metal Jacket has a place in history, but that strident “horrors of war” approach is extinct in American cinema.  The new age of war movies will be like American Sniper, Fury, and Der Untergang; visceral, unabashed, and singular in their aim of portraying an isolated viewpoint within a time in history.  In retrospect, earlier war films will seem condescending, overbearing, and simplistic by comparison.  Filmmakers seem to be trending toward an approach that allows history to speak for itself, which I find immensely exciting.

The Future Human

Future archeologists will scrape petrified chewing gum from the undersides of plastic tabletops, and brush dust from the labels of soda cans.  They will analyze, record, and categorize soil samples from the ancient plains of suburbia. They will struggle to find empirical examples of specific human actions that led to an increase in human happiness; with the hope that there may be some discernable behavioral pattern evident in the analysis.

Future historians will read electronic media records, personal correspondences, and financial records, looking for evidence of consistent biological and praxeological drivers.  They will mine hard-drives and discover Facebook, reproduce the code, and develop simulations and algorithms in order to predict what happened to produce such a program; and what happened after such a system as so-called “social media” was introduced to the world?  The future writers will look at portraits and landscapes and selfies and infographics, in order to get an intimate feel for what it must have felt like to be alive at our time.  They will look at our art, our cinema, our news media, and our music; and they will look at our violence, materialism, and ignorance.  They will see our abuse, our cowardice, and our self-pity.  They will see our confusion, our trauma—and our ironic intelligence—and they will all be baffled.

The future human will shudder to think how we can wake up every morning and not just weep out of pure hopelessness.  They will marvel at our ignorance; but they will probably excuse it partially due to the fact that we must numb ourselves to survive the rampant aggression and oppression and depression thrust upon the individual.  They will correlate our vices with the limits of our oppression, and these correlations will be hotly debated in future philosophical discussions.  The future human will wonder how we managed to lace our over-sized shoes, given the level of logical contradictions apparent in the evidence of our culture.  They will read Shakespeare, Aristotle, Socrates, Rand, Nietzsche, Twain and Molyneux; they will read textbooks, The Huffington Post and The Bible—and they will be baffled.

They will ask, “How the hell did they manage to live so long, while pumping all these toxic substances into their bodies?”  “Why did they develop these obviously inefficient systems of ‘social engineering?’” “How did the market survive massive, seemingly random, self-inflicted fluctuations in population, supply, and demand?” “How did they function under such high levels of stress, and continue to innovate?” “Did the average human learn to read only so they could read labels and basic instructions?” In their minds, our intelligence and resilience will be matched only by our self-destruction and stupidity.

The future human will analyze arguments using logic and reason (in true Vulcan fashion) to determine their value.  They will not consider status, or wealth, or success, or charisma, or power; that is, outside of the respective effects these things have on our paradigm.  Linguists and sociologists will bicker over the definitions of jargon such as “love,” “race,” “religion,” “cult,” “government,” and “family.”

The words of the early 20th century Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, strike me as appropriate in introducing this discussion:

 “...our test of truth is a reference to either a present or an imagined future majority in favor of our view.”  

(emphasis is mine)

      I have my qualms with Holmes' ideas, but a full analysis of my objections is beyond the scope of this essay—better at this point to focus on our agreement.  Though I do not think that the ultimate test of truth lies in our imagination, I do think it is a useful exercise to ponder what a future human would think of our society.

It is my ultimate ambition to adopt the perspective of an imagined superior future majority.  That is not to claim my imagined future is accurate, or even rational, based on the trajectory of human society.  Rather, envisioning a superior future majority is a way to visualize an ideal society, and work backwards logically to contribute to the outcome of this ideal future society—or at the very least, progress toward that ideal.  

 This method of visualizing the outcome before and during the development of a strategy for improvement has been consistently successful in many areas of personal self-improvement. Athletes, for instance, benefit immensely from a consistent regimen of mental rehearsal: a detailed visualization of success.  Musicians, and other performing artists report similar benefits.  Though visualization is not, of course, sufficient to produce the ultimate results (the athlete still must do the grueling physical labor), the practice of visualizing the goal with immaculate clarity is a powerful tool for developing strategy and providing motivation.

The Future Human is an attempt to reverse-engineer solutions to world problems, from the ideal of a potential future humanity. This blog will explore modern political philosophy, as well as examine current events for their future historical significance.

Latter-Day Anarchy

Better known as the Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the fastest-growing religious institutions in the world.  They are best known for the young men and women who walk in pairs, door-to-door, sharing their “message of the gospel;” or perhaps for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (esteemed as “America’s Choir”). As far as religion goes, it’s not the worst you can do.  The membership is largely intelligent and successful.  LDS members exceed their demographic counterparts in income and education.  There are aspects of this church that are particularly interesting in sociopolitical discourse; specifically, the welfare program, and abstractly, the overall organization and methodology.

Why, you may ask, would an atheist take the time to praise the virtues of a religious institution?  The answer is that it serves a higher ambition than my scruples with superstition: the cause of anarchy.  Of course, I have my problems with the doctrine and culture of the church, but I will save those for another time.  The virtue of the institution lies mainly in their practices regarding charity, frugality, and efficiency.  The success of the church’s private welfare program, and overall organization, is clear evidence that charity not only takes the place of government welfare in the absence of a state, but far exceeds it in achieving the stated goals of eliminating poverty, or to “promote the general welfare.”

Murray Rothbard offers a keen perspective on the matter.  On page 149 of his book, For a New Liberty, he writes, “A highly successful private welfare program in the present-day is the one conducted by the three-million-member [now much greater] Mormon Church. This remarkable people, hounded by poverty and persecution, emigrated to Utah and nearby states in the nineteenth century, and by thrift and hard work raised themselves to a general level of prosperity and affluence. Very few Mormons are on welfare; Mormons are taught to be independent, self-reliant, and to shun the public dole.  Mormons are devout believers and have therefore successfully internalized these admirable values. Furthermore, the Mormon Church operates an extensive private welfare plan for its members—based, again, on the principle of helping their members toward independence as rapidly as possible.”

Rothbard conducts a much more thorough economic analysis of government versus private welfare than I am going to provide here, and I can’t recommend his work more highly in this regard (and any other, for that matter).  This essay will act as more of an individual perspective, rather than an in-depth analysis.  Reading just this brief quote, however, it is easy to see how government welfare is different from private charity, and why the latter is almost always successful in reducing poverty, and why the former inevitably fails.  It comes down to a matter of economic incentive.

The congregation and leadership of the church, for instance, benefit greatly from lifting an individual out of poverty and placing them on the path of independent prosperity.  Such success grants credibility to the institution, and those thus improved are more likely to remain members of the church, and provide a higher tithe (since the church requires a 10% tithe on the income of all members whom can afford it, in order to receive the full “blessings of the gospel”).  Beyond the income tithe, the church requires a “fast offering” in order for a member to be considered in good standing.  A fast offering is collected from members once per month, and is meant to reflect the savings made by the household in foregoing two full meals on a given Sunday.  The LDS Church receives a substantial income from tithes and offerings, and it is worth emphasizing the voluntary nature of these transactions.

Furthermore, the members recognize the overall benefit to the economy that comes from self-sufficiency, as they are taught to appreciate such, and are therefore eager to help their neighbors achieve this status.  They also receive emotional gratification by securing their place in “god’s presence,” by fulfilling what they see as two of the most important commandments: love thy neighbor, and rejoice in charity.  Moreover, these values are promoted socially on a frequent basis.  Church members are discouraged from receiving benefits unnecessarily, and there is shame in taking undue advantage of the program.  The church members are thus incentivized to promote, and the leaders are incentivized to provide, efficient, effective welfare.  There is no benefit to the community or the institution in maintaining a downtrodden underclass with which to procure political support, as we find with government welfare.

Government welfare, by its very nature, creates and supports all sorts of perverse economic incentives; that is, incentives that tend to hinder the individual, their family, and their community both economically and morally.  The prime incentive created by government welfare is the incentive for the recipient to continue receiving welfare benefits beyond their need, for lack of social or legal consequence. In fact, welfare recipients are largely encouraged to take full advantage of the available benefits, to the furthest possible extent of the letter (if not the spirit) of the law.  Because government welfare holds such a low standard for refusal, and requires little to nothing in the way of accountability, it is easy to continue collecting it whilst avoiding the social and legal repercussions of freeloading and fraud.

Government welfare also creates the perverse incentive of vote-bribery.  Politicians that propose fewer barriers to receiving benefits are more likely to get the votes of those who are seeking or receiving welfare benefits.  Politicians who do not support welfare programs are at a severe disadvantage, considering the high percentage of individuals that receive benefits.  Mitt Romney was demonized in the 2012 presidential election for stating this simple economic fact, leading from the unpopular truth that people are largely driven by economic incentives.  This simply reflects the pervasive inconsistency regarding economic incentive and political affiliation.  Though the principle of fundamental economic incentive is accepted in the vast majority of social interactions, when it pertains to political affiliation, the correlation is vehemently rejected by advocates of welfare programs, with feigned moral apprehension, and an air of righteous indignation.

But wait!  There’s more!  Government welfare also incentivizes employers to pay their workers less.  The employers know the laws, and they know at what income level their employees are eligible for various benefits.  They are actually at an advantage paying their workers a little less on the lowest part of the income spectrum, because then their employees are eligible for more benefits, and are thus more likely to be satisfied with their income.  Wal-Mart has perfectly demonstrated the riding of this line.  Many people criticize Wal-Mart for providing such little compensation, but the ones actually receiving it are generally not among them--and those that are may only be interested in working fewer hours while maintaining their place just below the poverty line.  This is because those part-time employees around minimum wage can keep their income below the poverty line intentionally, in order to be eligible for an average of $40,000 in benefits annually.  This number is a federal average, and does not take into consideration those who may also be receiving benefits from state-funded programs.  So the result is employers and low-wage employees relying on welfare as a part of income.  Considering a Wal-Mart manager usually makes $36,000 to $69,000 annually, it makes sense that a part-time employee making around $12,000 per year, and receiving $40,000 in benefits would shirk the increased work-load that a manager takes on.  This is speculation, of course, as I could not possibly know for certain the ambitions and intentions of the employees of which I speak.  I only claim to draw rational conclusions from the inevitable market incentives of the current welfare system.

On the other hand, the LDS Church has had great success with their system, which facilitates lofty ambitions and strongly discourages exploitation.  The church welfare program almost always finds work for an individual seeking it, whether it be through one of their many businesses, such as the Deseret Industries thrift stores or food storage companies, or provided by a member who owns a business that is in need of entry-level labor.  If an individual is willing to work hard, they rise quickly through this system.  If they seek only to collect benefits, they are not necessarily shunned; rather, they are limited to a level of benefits that allows for subsistence living, which works as an economic incentive by itself.

The LDS Church has not only had monumental success with their employment services, but has also made a substantial impact with their humanitarian aid programs overseas-- much more so than the government.  Take, for example, government aid to Africa, which has been not only ineffective, but proactively disastrous.  Haiti is another good example of how detrimental foreign aid by government has become.  I could provide myriad examples of how government foreign aid has crippled impoverished nations, but there are already volumes on the subject, some of the most notable of which can be found in the links above, so I won’t dwell too much on that failure.  Instead, I will present the successes that private institutions have had.

Part of the success the LDS Church experiences is due to the ease with which they can summon volunteers in times of crisis.  With missionaries stationed all over the world, they can respond immediately to emergencies.  In fact, aid from church members often arrives at disaster sites before the Salvation Army or the Red Cross.  They also take care to stock emergency provisions at strategic locations, and have predetermined logistical strategies in place for emergency response, including allocation of food, water, shelter, transportation, and medical supplies.  In short, the fact that much of the congregation and leadership is made up of Boy Scouts is apparent in their approach to disaster relief.

Even outside The Church as an organization, the individual members are taught to be charitable, and tend to live up to this expectation in their private lives.  Many members volunteer for, or donate to, nonprofit organizations.  Some go so far as to create their own private charities.  I personally know of Mormons that have started nonprofit organizations promoting reform in education for children of low-income families, providing education, jobs, food, and housing for African orphans, as well as funding cancer research, arthritis research, and multiple sclerosis research.  

Wal-Mart effectively displayed the ability of private non-religious organizations to provide disaster relief most acutely in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.  While FEMA was struggling to secure funding, resources, transportation, and approval, Wal-Mart delivered relief to the storm-struck area with few logistical barriers.  Not only did they provide truckloads of free merchandise, over 100,000 free meals, and job offers for any and all facing reallocation; they provided it without costing taxpayers a dime, and began deliveries days before the federal government.  Not only was the government ineffective; they were actually counterproductive the relief efforts by refusing to allow aid shipments into the affected area!  The attitude of each entity can be summed up in the following dialogues:

Wal-Mart’s response:

“When a district manager calls from the field to tell the operations manager in the center that he needs 10 trucks of water, the operations manager can turn to the person manning the replenishment systems.

The replenishment manager then checks his supplies. "He says, ’I can get you eight [trucks] today and two tomorrow,’" says Jackson. "He then tells the logistics guy. This all takes place in a matter of seconds."”  (source)

The LDS response:

“When Hurricane Andrew struck [in Miami-Dade County] in 2002, the stories went around that the Mormon relief trucks were on the way to Florida before the hurricane had even made landfall. In the Hurricane Katrina of 2005 we know that once again the trucks were there before the National Guard was even allowing relief through. So the response is incredibly fast, incredibly efficient.”  (source)

FEMA’s response:

“The only FEMA official on the scene in the early stages, Marty Bahamonde, has testified to Congress that he begged FEMA director Michael Brown for water, food, toilet paper and oxygen, saying that "many will die within hours." Brown's press secretary, Sharon Worthy, responded that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that [sic] 20 or 30 minutes," Worthy wrote. "Restaurants are getting busy," she said. "We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise [sic], followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc."”  (source)

Faced with this overwhelming contrast, is there any question about the effectiveness of government initiatives?  Is there any question about the efficiency of the private sector?  Is there any evidence to fill the vacuous assertions of the nobility and necessity of government welfare programs?  I have found none, though I welcome any and all criticism on the subject.  If I am wrong, please help me overcome my bias.  If I am right, the next step is to dedicate time, money, and/or effort to the cause of private welfare programs.  If you still like the idea of government welfare,  it is up to you to provide a path of action that will reverse the contrary incentives and improve its dismal results; I can’t think of one.  If you don’t support government welfare programs, then invest heavily in alternatives with more productive results, in an effort to wean those dependent on it from public to private welfare.  As it stands, private welfare will not overtake the public dole in my lifetime, but it is up to us to take the first few steps; show what is possible, and discourage the perversion of charity by the state.  I admire the LDS Church in this regard, and hope they manage to continue to compete with the leviathan of government welfare.  I can’t say what charity would look like in a free society, but I imagine it would be very close to the practices implemented by this institution.

Feminism, Part 1: The Gender Pay Gap

In philosophy, there is an element of triage in addressing social problems.  Like a medic on the battlefield, a philosopher must assess which maladies are most urgent, and among those, which are within his ability to improve.  Most of the issues put forward as problems by modern feminists fail the test of urgency, and also the test of improvability.  In this essay series, I will present some common complaints by modern feminists.  I will show how they explicitly fail the test of triage. I will show that it is difficult to argue that some of these issues are problems at all, either for lack of evidence or lack of definition.  Finally, I will compare these issues to other social problems, to demonstrate the fact that there are things more worthy of consideration; solutions to which may indeed remedy the very maladies that are initially put forth.

The type of feminist to which I refer is defined by the arguments I put forth.  I recognize that not everyone that thinks of themselves as a feminist supports the positions I will present (myself included), but it would be tedious for both you and I to wade through the numerous caveats necessary to produce a pertinent definition of “feminism” in this context.

One of the most important distinctions I will discuss is between arguments of victimhood, and arguments of empowerment.  This is crucial to the improvability element of triage.  It is often important to point out victimhood, but be wary when this is not followed by a strategy of personal empowerment; thus is laid the snare of rhetorical treachery.

Part 1: The Gender Pay Gap

One of the most common complaints is the income disparity between genders.  This disparity is presented as proof that there is a general bias against women in the workforce; that there is a patriarchal conspiracy granting men higher pay for the same work.  Barack Obama said it like this: "Women (are) paid 77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men" (It is interesting to note that the White House itself demonstrates a significant gender pay gap).  I explored this 77% claim briefly in another essay, Sexting and the Sexes, but will now go to a greater depth to reveal its fraudulence.

First, a look at the hard data.  The 77% claim originated in a report from 2010 by the U.S. Census Bureau.  On page 5, it says, “In 2010, the female-to-male earnings ratio was .77…”  Contrary to the common claim, this figure does not take into account what kind of work is being performed, and only takes into account those working full time.  Pew Research has published several reports on the gender pay gap that offer an infinitely vaster perspective on the issue than the single cherry-picked figure of “.77.”  In one report from 2012, they claim .84 to be a more appropriate figure.  They explain how their method of measuring income disparity is different from the government’s, and why the difference may render more accurate results.  Still, there is disparity, you may say; but is there inequality?  Is there discrimination? Do women earn less just because they are women?  To find out, we need to look deeper.

To gain insight, let us look at a few statistics that contradict this trend.  When do men earn less than women?  Young women working in big cities can earn over 120% (about +8% average) of what the males in their peer group make.  The same Pew report linked above states, “women working part-time earn 104% as much as men working part-time; and, at the extreme, women who worked five to nine hours in a week earned 119% as much as men who worked the same number of hours.”  This helps explain why the gap was narrowed by including part-time workers in the analysis.  Beyond those outside instances, men do earn more, but what about the “working the same job” part?  If you consider what men and women working in the same field earn, the gap closes considerably, from 23% to 1-4%.

So what is the explanation for the lingering disparity?  Motherhood seems to have a lot to do with it.  Mothers earn 7-14% less than their female peers without children.  I couldn’t find a statistic or analysis comparing childless men and childless women with similar experience, but it’s probably close to the data we get from observing men and women fresh out of college; which tends to be about equal.  Many sources claim the contrary, and there is something to this claim, as it is crucial to weigh the differences in career selection (fig. 3).  Men tend to go into higher-paying careers, such as engineering and information sciences, whereas women more often major in things such as education, social sciences, and the humanities.  When this tendency is compensated for, the income disparity is substantially less significant.  Still, it exists, however.  The reason?  For now, I’ll just say my theory considers, “potential future losses” and leave it at that, but I will explore this more toward the end of this essay.

“But wait!”  you may say, “men earn more after they have children, but after women have children, they earn less!  This is clear proof of the patriarchal conspiracy!  This is proof of sexism!  All other things being equal, men benefit from the patriarchal construct of breadwinning!”  To see why this is the case, we need not analyze social trends and constructs; rather, it is simply a question of biology and economics.  As we evaluate the issue in the most simple, straightforward manner, the answer becomes painfully obvious.

Studies suggest that the children of mothers who take less than 12 weeks maternity leave are more likely to have behavioral problems, and score lower on cognitive tests.  Moreover, they are less likely to be breastfed for the recommended time, and less likely to have the recommended checkups and immunizations.  One study indicates that the optimal maternity leave may be 40 weeks.  So, if a women has a child, she is most likely going to be out of the work force for 12-40 weeks, or at least take a substantially less demanding role.  Even when mothers do return to the work force in full, they tend to take significantly more time off to attend to family matters.  They are also more likely to quit their job or turn down a promotion due to family matters.

Of course, these facts take their toll.  A CEO looking to grow a business needs employees that are heavily invested in the long-term prospects of their careers.  When a woman takes on the burden of children, she is generally less invested in her career (and rightly so!), while the opposite is true of a man.  The opposite is true because a man, knowing the mother of his children will be indisposed for at least 3 months, unable to provide an income, and is requiring more resources as well, recognizes that it is his responsibility to provide.  Employers recognize this responsibility, and perhaps desperation, as well, and so they compensate for the man’s increased investment in his career.  These disparate trajectories of ambition have further consequences down the road, and in the way a company plans, as each parent settles into their respective role.

So do I think everyone should be confined to the construct of the traditional family?  Not at all!  What I think doesn’t have anything to do with it, anyway; this is just the way it tends to happen.  If a mother decides that she’d like to return to work after 2 weeks, leave the father at home, and devise a prodigious breast-pumping strategy, of course the woman should not be penalized for this.  I imagine her dedication would be proven with such action, prompting more investment from her employer.  An employer with any brains at all would say to themselves, “she’s back at work two weeks later, she convinced her husband to stay home, she’s put a lot of thought into how to properly nurse her child, and she’s fighting her maternal instincts every step of the way… What do I need to pay to keep such an invested employee?”

 

Even if we were to take gender out of the equation, we can reason that whatever parent is spending more time with the child is spending less time at work!  There being only 24 hours in the day, this is a zero-sum game.  Furthermore, if I were a CEO, and a parent of any gender said to me, “well, my child will be fine with the formula and the daycare.  Don’t worry boss, work is my first priority!” I would seriously question this person’s character, and would probably not feel comfortable employing them at the expense of their child.

So why the gender pay gap?  The short answer is, “because gender.”  As long as there is physiological disparity, men will run faster and lift more weight in The Olympics, and probably earn more at work.  Until the day we can raise a fetus in a test-tube, and nurture a child in a lab, we will experience income disparity between the genders.  What I said earlier about “potential future losses” refers to the fact that, in the eyes of an employer, every woman is a potential mother.  Even if a woman insists that she has no plans to be a mother, many women experience a change of heart in this regard; and employers are keenly aware of this “baby rabies” anomaly.  Employers, by the nature of their station, need to consider long-term prospects, and potential obstacles.  Unfortunately, it is simply a biological fact that there exist more potential obstacles for women; and biology isn’t sexist.  To prove that it is an issue of biology and economics, and not an issue of sexism, let us consider the following example:

A man sits down for an interview with an employer.  After the usual round of questioning experience, education, and the rest, the employer is rather satisfied with the answers he receives.  Then, he asks, “and do you plan to take any time off of work in the near future?”

The man replies, “I don’t plan on it, no.  But, some time over the next ten years there is a chance I will take 3 to 9 months off, and when I come back, my availability will be dramatically reduced.  My productivity may suffer as well.  After that, there is a 27% chance I will quit altogether in order to pursue other interests.  I will also cost the company more in the way of health care benefits, and you can be sure I will use all of my sick leave and paid vacation.”

Is the employer unethical if they consider this information in their decision?  After all, this is exactly what is implied by the interviewee if she is female.  Is an employee that prompts these considerations worthy of the same investment as an employee that says, for instance,

“I desperately need a job to provide for my family.  There is nothing more important to me than receiving a stable income, and I am willing to work 80 hours a week if that’s what it takes to secure my position.  I won’t take time off, I’ll work from home if I’m sick, and I’ll be with the company as long as you provide me with a competitive income.”

Of course not.  Anyone who would say otherwise is either ignorant or disingenuous.  The claim of income disparity between the sexes fails the test of triage on many levels: it’s hard to argue that it’s a problem, for lack of evidence, and it’s harder to argue that it can be improved upon, for lack of a reasonable solution.  As long as there is economic incentive and physiological disparity, there will be income inequality between the genders; just as strength disparity determines who the athletes are, and cognitive disparity determines who the intellectuals are.

The gender gap is simply not a problem.  As a matter of fact, it’s good that employers consider potential or actual motherhood in their hiring strategies.  It’s good that women are willing to take the economic hit to breastfeed, and otherwise nurture their children.  It’s good that people are willing to sacrifice material wealth in order to reproduce!  The gender gap may indeed indicate we are somewhat healthy as a species.

Rather than fight for solutions to problems that may not even be, well, problems, why not focus on things that we can change in our personal lives?  If you know someone that is a misogynist, let the world know!  Reveal their misogyny; confront it, or at least disassociate from it.  If you know a woman who is struggling as a mother, help her!  Give her money, cook her dinner, do her laundry!  But stop, for gods’ sake, STOP trying to pass laws that make employers afraid to do their job.  Stop trying to enact strategies that make it more difficult for women to be mothers.  In short, stop asserting false victimhood and start empowering yourself and society with your actions: that’s what a real feminist would do.