1) I've recommended this book before. Simply reading the short little article will show you why. Rhetoric is important because it teaches you that how something is being said is as important as what's being said. Jezebel pretty much writes "guys suck amirite" while SSC pretty much writes "our tortured genius is our lofty cross to bear" and no matter what they have to say, it's always couched in these postures. "Know thy enemy?" Thy "enemy" is telegraphing their fundamental intent with every word. You don't need to hide under a rock, but a nice person who wanted to change your behavior would never link a Jezebel article to convince you to do it. Is SSC far more persuasive? Perhaps that's because it's written to persuade you, as oppose to persuading those who hate you that they're justified in hating you.

2) What's the pursuit? Is the pursuit the type of woman who will value an MIT physics student? Can we recognize that comparing the pursuit of this girl's affections with the pursuit of the affections of Henry's girls is akin to comparing fly fishing with frog gigging? Sure, an aquatic creature is being removed from the water but the similarities end there. "Why can't I catch any fish? That guy's catching lots of fish!" Because you're decked out in Orvis and sitting two miles up a trout stream while "that guy" is chumming for crawdads. Your skills are meaningless for his pursuits and his are meaningless for yours. Why are you comparing your love life to his, rather than your social life? Your intellectual life? The fact that you've never done a stint in prison for beating a woman? Because you're deliberately looking for comparisons where you fall short while ignoring comparisons where you fall long.

More than anything I just appreciated reading a defense of guys who were emotional doormats because they thought it was how they are supposed to treat women they were interested in.

I didn't read that. I read a long, roundabout essay complaining that you can't even complain about being single anymore without someone painting you as a cad and a villain.

There's a disturbing trend to label every misled social inept as an Elliot Rogers in the making, and I haven't seen any indication of the slowing down until very recently.

Yeah, that.

There's some part of me that wants to continue to engage with, for lack of a better phrase, dangerous ideas.

Certainly. When we're down, we want to wallow in it. For some, it helps them process. For others, it petrifies. Look -

If you're having a bad day, there's no shortage of wisdom on the internet that will make you feel worse. Seek it out at your peril. Whatever you do, recognize that in the end, it's you CHOOSING your outlook on the matter, nothing more. The only person in the entire conversation is you; every other party is busily engaging shadows.

Don't let the bastards drag you down.