The "not all men" argument.

Do you believe me? I don't know, maybe you do, maybe you don't.

Sure, I believe you. But I also personally believe that getting into a semantic argument is not the correct choice if someone is hurting and trying to express themselves. If someone is venting about something shitty, correcting them on their verbiage is not going to help anyone anywhere and it's certainly not going to make them feel understood.

The problem I see is the blatant assumption that it NEVER happens. Is this exaggeration due to a lack of anecdotal evidence, or is this something you truly, 100% with your heart and soul believe to be factual?

Having mostly male friends and many brothers, I've seen lots of guys saying lots of shitty stuff about women out of anger, and I've not seen anyone (including myself!) try to correct them when they're venting. I have to take your (and the other fellow's) word that it happens in conversations I don't see as I haven't not been privvy to every conversation - and certainly not any conversations involving just men. Consider me informed. If you've corrected a recently hurt friend who said something about women in anger, you're more dedicated to correcting people about gender than I am.

Maybe it just goes back to the stereotypical misunderstandings that happen all the time between men and women, both in life and what is perpetuated in media: that men hear the literal words, and women want you to read between the lines. Women don't care about the words but the feelings (per the narrative), and need to be sympathized with.

I think that any person who talks about their feelings probably wants you to pay attention to the feelings more than what they're saying. If you say "Everything sucks" do you expect a man to assume that literally everything in the universe is terrible? Is that really what most men think if someone says that? In either case, would you prefer someone to come up with all the things that don't suck in the world or to ask questions and try to understand where you're coming from?

But don't take the choice away from me and then blame me for not comforting you per your criterion.

Agreed that you shouldn't be friends with people who express themselves in ways that antagonize you. I (and I think the OP) are just saying if women are talking to other women about their frustrations, (as is the assumed case in women focused subreddits) maybe let them comfort each other instead of hopping into the conversation to explain that not all men do something. There's no need. No one in this subreddit or online is asking you to step in and apologize for men and comfort us. You absolutely should not be made to feel obligated to take ownership of what some men do or offer comfort or - on the other hand - make sure everyone is properly appreciating that some men are great. If you feel like you need to take ownership of men on every post of frustration on the internet, you will have a bad time. :( I know there are quite a few subreddits where men love to hate on women and I don't go there because it would hurt me. If reading posts like this hurts you, you should take care of yourself and not get involved.

And if I try to convey to you (man or woman) that I'm alone in my fight against the world, you couldn't give two shits, because all it's seen as is complaining by someone who "has it better than you" based purely on gender (which is sexist thinking), and you then start scratching just the surface of why men feel as if they have zero allies in this ridiculous world.

I don't know you, so it's true that my emotional investment is somewhat low in terms of how you feel - I can't deny that. I would argue, however, that no one here is telling you that you "have it better than me" just based on gender. For example, from your interest in tea I'm making an assumption that you live in the UK - so I'm going to judge that you have it better than I do just from that. ;)

The only certainty I know about right now, is that I'm going to be downvoted into oblivion, because every time I try to have a rational argument in this subreddit, my "contribution" is somehow "not a contribution" or some other nonsense.

I'm sorry, I can understand why you feel frustrated when you get downvoted just for trying to express what you see. I haven't been privvy to the other arguments you've had, what contributions were "not a contribution"? My guess is that if women are talking to other women about their problems, and you come in to talk about problems specific to being a man - it's not going to contribute to the conversation. Much in the same way that someone coming into a conversation about a movie with information about an entirely different book that they just read is changing the subject. You know?

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