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    The Wussification of the American Male


    Created on Thursday, August 7, 2008        Bookmark and Share

    Home -> Blog -> 2008 -> August


    As you may know, I've done some volunteering with kids in my day. During my last stint I had to meet with the child's family in order for them to see that I wasn't some inherently evil person (on the outside). So I'm sitting on the couch with the case manager and the father and the case manager is reviewing the rules that the organization has for visits.

    Case Manager: "You won't be having little Johnny around any guns, right?"

    Me: "No, bullets are too expensive to waste on someone that can't appreciate them" (no, I really didn't say that)

    Father: "Good, I hate guns"

    Case Manager: "I dislike them as well. I would never even let my kid have a toy gun"

    Woa. A toy gun? When I was a kid, we were either swimming, playing ball, or playing cops and robbers (I can neither confirm nor deny the possibility that we threw snowballs at cars). Later on we moved onto burning things and looking at bras in Sears catalogs but that's a story for another day. When we watched cartoons, our favorites were watching Wylie Coyote try to drop an anvil on the Road Runner and Bugs shoot the bill off of Daffy. Last time I checked, I didn't even own an anvil and I prefer that someone kill the duck for me and then marinade it in orange sauce.

    This is not to say that the "I-did-it-as-a-kid-and-I-never-killed-anyone" defense is valid. There is a line that parents shouldn't cross, of course. My point with all of this is that it is perfectly normal for kids to be kids. In fact, it is necessary. Boys need to go out and be themselves. That includes blowing up things, playing violent games and hurting themselves. You want to see a guy that gets that boys are adventurous by nature? Here it is.

    The wussification of men doesn't stop there. For some reason, the American adult male has become a punching bag. You don't believe me? The next time you're watching your favorite (awful) network tv show, pay attention to the commercials. Without fail, whenever there is an instance where someone needs to be educated or someone needs to be goofy it is the male. I have been looking for an exception to this rule on radio and tv for about three years and not once have I found one. Does someone need a honey-do list? Sure, the guy does. How about someone needing training or discipline? You guessed it... the dopey guy (and if two men are in a commercial, the white guy is always the dopey guy but that's a story for a different blog). Can you imagine a commercial or tv show where a guy introduces a woman to logic? Neither can I.

    Speaking of training, how about this beauty. That's right, this best-seller encourages women to learn how to train their men as if they were an animal. We need training? For what? To want to see the "Sex and the City" movie? To understand what Matthew Mcconaughey could possibly be bringing to this world? Can you imagine what the reaction would be if a guy wrote the same book in regards to women?

    I get that men treated women like garbage for a long, long time. That wasn't right. But what I don't get is the fascination that women have with what men are doing. Do you remember the last time you heard of a men-only club? Of course - it was when you read of a woman trying to penetrate it. Why? Why can't women just go out and do their own things and be happy with it. We have stag parties, they had to go out and make (increadingly stupid) stagette parties. We have football nights. For some reason women congregated to watch Ally Mcbeal.

    I don't want to make this out to be a woman-bashing blog because that is not my intention. In most areas that matter, women are the kinder and gentler gender. But why can't we just be men? Women have often celebrate their differences from men and I completely respect this. But we're different too. We're not even looking to celebrate them. We just want to be able to practice them. The ironic thing about all of this is that at the end of the day women don't want their guys to be wusses. Deep down you want guys that are strong and manly - why try to turn us into something that you don't want?

    And if you're wondering what happened to all of those classic Bugs Bunny cartoons, fear not. Someone decided that they weren't good for us and they are no longer shown.

    Thank You for the Well Wishes   More in AUGUST   Back to Blogging
    Created by muchgooder on Sunday, August 10, 2008 9:19:31 PM
    It pains me to agree with you but you're absolutely right about everything you said.
       
    Created by Paul on Saturday, August 9, 2008 12:59:28 AM
    Big Adam, [
    ] I know we were just speaking of this the other day but I could not resist throwing my two cents in again. Not everyone should make the team in sports...yes we should keep score...and competition is healthy. Guns are not good or bad....stupid people do bad things. [
    ] Now on to my rant.... [
    ] We are doing no favors by short changing our youth by not allowing them find their place in the social order. That is why little Johnny uses a gun or a knife when he can no longer deal with the pressures placed on him. A little ass kicking goes a long way in terms of knowing your place, no matter which side of the ass kicking you are on. Before anyone jumps on my comments I think bullying is wrong but I also think the pistol permit system is wrong too. By taking away a child's right to defend himself (i.e. fighting) with automatic expulsion or suspension in school we have ventured into the misguided thinking territory of pistol permits. We constrain and punish the rule followers. Anti-socials could give a crap about the rules. A criminal will get a gun regardless of a permit just like a bully will prey on someone as long as they don't fight back. Adam and I had a conversation recently on another subject but I asked him the question "Would you give your life to save someone else’s?". The people that are against guns and my right to carry them may have a different opinion of them if I or another rule follower were to use that gun to save the life of their son, daughter, mother or father at the hands of an anti-social who never adjusted who also has a gun. [
    ] I feel a twinge of sorrow for my rant but when Adam opened the can of worms with the toy gun story I just had to chime in. [
    ] Oh and by the way...thanks to the Three Stooges I blinded everyone in my classes for the first eight years of school by poking them in the eyes and then smashing their heads together.....darn knuckle heads.
       

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