Manly Virtues

It's easy to forget, as a woman, that the patriarchy puts as much pressure on men to adhere to a strictly defined, and ultimately crushing, gender role as it does on women. As difficult as it is for women to hold to a certain ideal of femininity, with its soft spoken, stupidly weak and dependent "perfection", it can't be any easier for the average man to be the character John Wayne portrayed in movie after movie. (Keeping in mind, of course, that not even John Wayne was John Wayne: off screen, he was Marion*.)

I am reminded of this by When Masculine Virtues Go Out of Fashion by Tom Hoffman.

The culture war begun in the sixties has, in large part, been won by the left. Nowhere is this clearer than in the feminization of men. The virtues of manhood which had been extolled and celebrated throughout the middle ages right up to the 1950s have been completely expunged from academia and pop culture. The baby boom generation was the last to be taught the values of rugged individualism, risk-taking, courage, bravery, loyalty, and reverence for tradition. John Wayne epitomized the rugged individual who was committed to fighting "the bad guy," but he was only one of a whole host of competing figures cut out of the same cloth. What happened?

Not even John Wayne was actually John Wayne, dude. That rugged individualist, with his risk-taking, courage, bravery, loyalty and reverence for tradition wasn't real**. That's not even a whole person. I mean, how does one live with a risk-taking individualist? What kind of father is that? I can't even imagine what hobbies that sort of person has, other than bear wrestling or sky diving. Sure, I bet the wrestling a bear while sky diving stories are great at first, but eventually you might want to discuss current events or just watch TV. It also completely excludes even the slightly disabled from being truly masculine. You better believe I would run off with Stephen Hawking and his sexy, sexy brain well before I would run off with some bear wrestling loyalist.

Today, the Boy Scouts are fighting the last battle in a lost cause. Any man who stands up to the "women's movement" is completely marginalized as a sexist and homophobe. These names have become just as stigmatizing as "racist" used to be. It is no wonder that women now are the majority of college graduates and are increasing their role in every institution from private enterprise to public service, including the military. Is this a healthy trend? The answer is clearly "no."

Um, no. The Boy Scouts are not viewed as homophobes for fighting feminism, they are viewed as homophobes for excluding homosexuals from their organization. By definition, bigoted. A rose is a rose is a rose and a bigoted rose is a bigoted rose is a bigoted rose. Wait, as stigmatizing as "racist" used to be? When did "racist" cease to be stigma- oh, right, since the Tea Party made it hip to be a white supremecist.

Edward Gibbon chronicles the increasing femininity of the Roman Empire in his six-volume work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He catalogues the progressive decadence that rendered the once-proud republic into spoils for barbarian hordes. The consuls in the early republic, who were warrior-generals adhering to a strict code of honor, gradually gave way to the backroom emperors who were no more than brazen criminals and thugs. It is the same script in all noble human enterprise: The fabric which bred success is torn apart by the complacency of the successful. When warfare is demonized as violence and negotiation is raised to an art, the end is near. Today, we are there.

Okay, two things. Wouldn't brazen criminals and thugs still be pretty darn close to the masculine ideal? They are certainly rugged individualist and risk takers (that practically defines violent criminals) and speaking in terms of the mafia, I'd also allow them courage, bravery, loyalty, and reverence for tradition as well. (It would have helped Mr. Hoffman to define what this ideal man is loyal to.)

Also, warfare good, peace bad! Killing people, including innocent noncombatants, is what real men do! Only mama's boys try talking it out, sparing human life in the process. He does realize that those "dead" guys in all those movies got up and walked away, right? And they say video games rot the mind.

Academia, with the help of the media, has labeled all reference to manly virtue as patriarchal, sexist, and homophobic. Womanly virtue, on the other hand, is extolled. Caring, compassion, sensitivity, and understanding are virtues meant to blur the distinction between good and evil and drown out the call of manly conscience to "do the right thing." Like a mother who refuses to see the evil in her son, the feminist professors cast all moral standards as relative and subjective.

Caring, compassion, sensitivity and understanding are bad. Their only purpose is to turn rugged individualists into sissies. Wow. Mr. Hoffman scares me. Also, maybe I'm just behind on the required reading (have you seen the Feminist Manifesto? It's huge!), but when did anyone declare loyalty and courage to be bad? Wait, we didn't?

Exit the cowboy and enter the mama's boy. Queen Herzeloyde would have no problem raising young Parzival in today's schools, as devoid of examples of manly virtue and rugged individualism as they are. All reference to the service of a higher calling -- to God and country -- has been replaced by the call to community service with the emphasis on care and compassion for the downtrodden.

Well, care and compassion for the downtrodden? We're just fucking doomed, aren't we? What kind of country will we be living in if we start treating the downtrodden with care and compassion instead of just rushing off to kill whatever brown people we hate this week?

Yeah, I know, a better one.

*John Wayne on John Wayne: "When I started, I knew I was no actor and I went to work on this Wayne thing," he once recalled. "It was as deliberate a projection as you'll ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn't looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror."

**This is actually a pretty good description of Jägermonsters. I doubt this is what Mr. Hoffman has in mind.