War on men

Actor Jerry O'Connell (a political leftist) shared a harrowing account of the reactions of his wife and teen daughters (also lefties) over his blunt (but appropriate) assessment of Kamala Harris's loss in the 2024 presidential election.

First off, if parents have a conflict, such grievances should never EVER be aired in front of their children. Also, kids need to have a healthy fear of (and respect for) their parents to the point where they don't dare look at them cross-eyed, much less get physical. The fact that the wife *and* kids physically accosted Jerry is so screwed up that it's no wonder Hollywood-based relationships are rarely exemplary. 

But there is a deeper issue rearing its ugly head, specifically how America has tried to "fix" men. Bridget Phetasy spelled it out in a terrific guest column in the Daily Wire.  

In 2000, Christina Hoff Sommers published “The War Against Boys,” documenting how American schools had begun treating normal male behavior as something to be diagnosed and medicated. A seven-year-old was suspended for pointing a pencil like a gun at his friend. A boy in California was punished for running during recess and nearly suspended for jumping over a bench. Schools banned tag and dodgeball. Boys were five times more likely to be expelled from preschool than girls and accounted for 70% of suspensions — not for anything dangerous, but for roughhousing, defiance, and being loud. Instead of addressing the gap, institutions doubled down, remaking classrooms around female learning styles. They criminalized the “bad guy” play that men have channeled into building civilizations since the dawn of time. Almost nobody listened to Sommers, or they mocked her. For over a decade, the project to dismantle masculinity stayed contained in academia, slowly working its way through education policy like a parasite.

Then it broke containment. By 2015, the national psychedelic trip we now refer to as “wokeism” was reaching its crescendo, and men — specifically straight, traditional men — were its favorite target. “Toxic masculinity” migrated from academic journals to Thanksgiving dinner. “Men are trash” became something people said at brunch without flinching. “Mansplaining” entered the lexicon. Gillette released an ad lecturing its own customers about the sins of manhood. No razors, just shame. Hollywood gender-swapped “Ghostbusters” and sidelined Luke Skywalker for a new female lead. In 2019, the American Psychological Association issued guidelines pathologizing “traditional masculinity” as harmful. The message from every direction was the same: Manhood was broken, and women would fix it.

Look at the vast majority of sitcoms over the past few decades. The one thing they have in common is the dad character often comes across as utterly inept, the butt of jokes that his wife and kids throw out in any given episode. 

I'll concede there have been a number of high profile, powerful men (i.e. Harvey Weinstein and Roger Ailes) who have used their positions to exploit, harass and even abuse women. But to use such extreme examples as a rationale to tamp down traditional masculinity has been a woefully misguided notion. 

Thankfully, there has been a resurgence. Back to Phetasy. 

Saving this country is going to require things that make some people uncomfortable. It is going to require men who are willing to be strong without apology, to serve without being asked, and to lead without waiting for permission. For 20 years, we told men to sit down. The men who are standing back up — not the talkers, not the grifters, but the ones who actually build and serve and sacrifice — are the ones who will matter.

But I’m not going to speak for men. Instead, I’ll let Sergeant Dan Hollaway, 82nd Airborne Infantry, share his thoughts on the resurgence of American masculinity.

“Masculinity is not a social accessory,” he told me. “It is the backbone of every civilization that has ever endured. Masculinity began as an unspoken contract with reality: I will go where it is dangerous so others don’t have to. If certain burdens are not carried, then people die. This is the natural law of masculinity, and it has never changed. For a generation, America’s masculinity was mocked, undermined, and treated as something dangerous or obsolete — and many men simply withdrew. But that retreat is ending, and as men return to strength, discipline, and responsibility, the benefits are already becoming visible. American pride is on the rise, and we have the unique opportunity to save the greatest country in the history of the world by simply being men.”

It's also no coincidence that the transgender obsession has been beaten back (though it's not dead) over this same time frame. And it's not due to bigotry, transphobia, etc. It is, in fact, science based. I mean, aren't progs always lecturing is to "follow the science?" Perhaps they oughta be taking their own advice. 

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