Many have said that Friedrich Nietzsche was ahead of his time in the last half of the 19th century. I wonder what he would write about today in America nearly a century and a half after writing Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Zarathustra

Alabama has passed a very restrictive anti-abortion law. Alabama has been a longtime leader when it comes to racism: George Wallace, Bull Connor, Jeff Sessions, etc. Nevertheless, the state also leads with issues related to sexism. Alabama’s new law makes no exception except "to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother." It does not allow abortions in the case of rape or incest.

At many levels, Alabama’s anti-abortion law is sexist. Men are telling women that men are in charge of women…even when men rape or have incest with a female family member. If men were meritorious in behavior, rape and incest wouldn’t occur.

No matter where one looks in the annals of the history of human beings, males have dissed females from the very beginning of human history. It is clear even in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….” Men have the right to pursue their happiness even if it negatively affects women. That is a no-brainer.

Women got the right to vote in America almost a century ago. Nonetheless, a hundred years after women could vote, women still aren’t paid equal to what men are paid with the same education, experience, and training. Less than 25% of the members of the House and Senate are women. If that same type of discrimination was meted out on men by women, there would be a revolution.  

Steve Biko, a black activist in South Africa during the time of apartheid, said, “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”  I don’t see any difference between racism and sexism.  By birth, one group is born inferior to the other. 

As for how Nietzsche would have addressed sexism in all area, I don’t know. However, he did make several general comments that are applicable. He said, “Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.” We all, especially men, don’t like hearing the truth. Therefore, they live in a bubble or live like our predecessors.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil….

If that isn’t clear enough, Nietzsche wrote, “No one is such a liar as the indignant man.” Once again, I don’t see any difference between sexism and racism. If you are looking for an archetypal example of the indignant man, it is Donald the Dumb. Only white men have value, which excludes Muslims, Mexicans, Central Americans, Haitians, etc., etc. As for women and abortion, the story is the same. Punish the female if she gets an abortion.

MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no as a principle?

TRUMP: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. 

MATTHEWS: For the woman.  

TRUMP: Yeah, there has to be some form.  

The woman gets pregnant, and, for that, she should be punished if she gets an abortion. I assume that some guy was responsible for getting the women pregnant, but he goes scot free.