Rick Thomas

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read on Substack 👉 https://open.substack.com/pub/rickthomasnet/p/why-emotional-pain-sounds-compassionate?r=1rl8js&utm_medium=ios

A Commentary on the essay "Why Women Should Not Have the Right to Vote"

The essay was written as a thought experiment—an intentional act of time travel. It drops a document from 1919 into a modern feed without warning, not to provoke outrage for outrage’s sake, but to expose assumptions we rarely examine. This is not an uncommon literary device. It works precisely because it disrupts familiarity and forces the reader to ask not just Do I agree? but Why does this unsettle me so quickly?

What has been most instructive is not the conclusions readers draw, but the manner in which they respond. Some have engaged with sobriety and reflection, recognizing the historical framing and wrestling with the ideas on their own terms. Others have reacted almost instantly with emotionalism, name-calling, or dismissal—often without acknowledging the premise or period voice of the piece. That contrast alone is revealing.

The essay does not argue policy for today. It does not attempt to “put the cat back in the bag,” nor does it pretend that history can be rewound. Instead, it asks whether certain cultural shifts—particularly around roles, authority, and formation—came with costs that were either ignored or are now treated as untouchable. By forcing modern readers into an earlier moral and social framework, the essay exposes how tightly identity has become fused to contemporary assumptions, especially when those assumptions are challenged without warning.

One of the most striking observations has been how differently people respond when modern categories are temporarily removed. When readers are “thrust back” into an earlier time—before today’s language of rights, power, and self-definition—the loss of composure is not evenly distributed. That unevenness suggests that some ideas are held thoughtfully, while others are guarded emotionally because they function less as convictions and more as identity anchors.

The essay also highlights a deeper confusion in our culture: the tendency to mistake exceptions for norms and emergencies for ideals. History—and Scripture—record extraordinary moments where ordinary roles are disrupted by necessity. But wisdom does not turn disruption into design. The modern impulse is to celebrate role confusion as progress rather than to ask what is gained and what is lost when order gives way to reaction.

Ultimately, the value of the piece lies less in whether one agrees with its conclusions and more in what it reveals about us as readers. It exposes how difficult it has become to discuss roles, authority, and restraint without defaulting to caricature. It also reminds us that not every question about the past is an attack on dignity, intelligence, or worth. Sometimes it is simply an invitation to think more carefully about how we arrived where we are.

If the essay slowed some readers down—even briefly—to reflect rather than react, then it accomplished its purpose.

Rick


You May Read the Essay Here:
👉 https://open.substack.com/pub/rickthomasnet/p/why-women-should-not-have-the-right