I've looked at the themes and it looks like many of them were inspired from MRA (Male Right Activists) community. I think it's an important day to raise awareness of some important issues that men face in today's society, including the high suicide rate (as compared to women), the overall lower life expectancy and so on.
I sincerely hope that no boys or young men who are depressed see Twitter today as there are so many posts that effectively say "you don't have a right to be listened to today because we feel that you have it easy every other day". There's no nuance at all, just derision, rage and attacks.
In 50 years time there will be books that directly point to Twitter as being one of the worst inventions in human history.
I agree in general. Special days for a group seems like a subtle dig rather than genuine gratitude. Plus, aren't there underdog groups like homeless, speech disfluent, ADD, sex workers, struggling immigrants, seriously depressed, bipolar, schizophrenics, absolutely banished sex offenders who can't get housing or work, and dyslexics who need more awareness?
There are plenty of problems that are unique to men, whether that fits your narrative or not. Vastly higher suicide rates, vastly higher workplace deaths, widespread infant male genital mutilation even in developed countries, selective service, court bias (criminal, divorce, and custody), lower life expectancy, vastly higher war casualty rates. Is it really that upsetting to you for these issues to take the spotlight in the context of masculinity for one day a year?
By the way, most of those groups you listed already have awareness days.
I think part of the issue is that all the things that men fare worse in that you listed out are the results of a society that is controlled by men. Men are doing this to themselves.
The problem for women is that the negative societal aspects of their lives are not controlled by women - it's still largely controlled by men. Same for people of color in the US - their lives are largely controlled by white people (and specifically white men).
I think even for the wildest of misogynists out there (I am in no way implying this is you or anyone on HN) it's hard to argue that the world would not be drastically different if it was mostly controlled by women.
>I look forward to seeing your past or future statements regarding the same issue but for women, e.g. Women's Day, Mother's Day, Equal Pay Day, and myriad others.
You're making an implication without saying it for some reason, so excuse me if I'm misinterpreting, but it wouldn't be hypocritical to think a "day" is more appropriate for one group and less appropriate for another, regardless of the metric used for definition. Men and women are different. Everybody is different.
That said, I have no problem with the concept of a men's day.
Yes. Two things might be conflated: innate attribute (ie, biological gender) and awareness (ie, type of cancer). A mother's day#, aunt's day, or a men's day seems to subtly poke at how a group is taken for granted; that doesn't mean they need a day or special help.
I get every PR means can help as part of a holistic strategy for awareness.
