Internet baffled after Lee Anderson says men still have to deal with the Somme

There’s no doubt that men, as a group, have to deal with stuff. In fact, the list of stuff is quite long – daft, serious, major, minor. There is plenty for men to deal with.

But arguably, the list of things that men don’t have to deal with is even longer. A distant star going supernova, for example, or a battle that nobody alive today was around to fight.

Yesterday afternoon, an account on X – likely a bot – asked people for examples of the former.

‘Women deal with periods, pregnancy, and menopause,’ wrote Jessica M. ‘What do men have to deal with?’

If you’re among the dwindling number of people still active on X, you may recognise this as something called engagement bait.

That might be defined as a post that’s deliberately infuriating, or that poses a question with an answer so obvious that people can’t help replying. On Elon Musk’s platform, you can make ad revenue from replies – be they jokey, sarcastic or irate – so there’s a strong incentive to do this.

You can maybe imagine the kinds of responses Jessica’s post received. Lots of guys, of course, answered ‘women’. But most of the attention focused on one reply from Reform MP Lee Anderson.

With a tone as serious as an overdraft, he wrote: ‘Try the Battle of The Somme.’

History students will know the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest offensives of World War One, was fought from July to November 1916. More than a million men died, and those who survived were left with injuries and memories they would have to face for the rest of their lives.

Many of the reactions to Anderson’s post focused on the fact that he was born more than 50 years after the end of the battle, and thankfully never had to directly deal with it.

‘Lee Anderson is right,’ X user Matt wrote. ‘Just last year I had to cancel my friends birthday meal because I had a Battle of the Somme booked on the same day.

‘It’s a pain in the arse and I’m glad he’s speaking up for all us men who have dealt with the Battle of the Somme.’

Mutablejoe said the MP’s words would be his ‘new standard reply when my wife asks me to do the bins’.

Ian Macgilp wrote: ‘Lee Anderson MP who, famously, fought at the Battle of the Somme and is 126 years old.’

It’s worth pointing out that, since 2018, women have been able to serve in combat roles in the Armed Forces.

Not that Anderson seems to mind – his latest post on X is celebrating the fact he has just hit more than 241,000 followers on the site. That’s something he’s more than happy to deal with.

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