House of Eratosthenes

A pair of Indiana brothers, Joel and Aaron Longanecker, have convinced more than a quarter-million males to promise to “stand up and do manly things” on June 15 in observance of their proposed new holiday — National Man Day.

Their National Man Day page on Facebook urges men across the country to take time to get in touch with their masculine sides on Monday. Suggested activities include playing football, camping, hunting, eating 18-ounce steaks, blowing things up, shooting guns, punching each other for no reason, pumping some iron or “watching every Rambo movie from beginning to end. Straight through!”

The purpose of the proposed holiday, according to the National Man Day page, is to acknowledge that the time has arrived “to take back the crown of masculinity.”

Huffington Post has a link to the official page.

Pretty cool idea. I have two suggestions: Put it on a weekend, and make it kid-specific. Little boys can be taken outdoors to do guy-stuff with their dads and his goofy guy-friends — like Boy Scouts activities, but sillier. Things that provide that mysterious attraction to the male genome. Like dropping things off a tall bridge, trying to hit floating things in the river below. Taking that old computer you just replaced that is really not worth anything, hauling it out to a rock quarry, and blasting it with a 12-gauge. Water balloon fights. Little girls can be tasked to write some essays listing out what’s good about boys and men. Why not? Nobody will ever ask ’em to do it again, and it would be good for them. They could make some arts and crafts, maybe a coaster that says “DUDEZ R COOL” (an edible one) and then give it to their favorite fella — along with a chicken drumstick covered with sauce and a cold mug o’ beer. Kinda like an un-Valentine’s Day.

I don’t know if this is spot-on or not, because I don’t have a Facebook account so I can’t view the page. Not too interested in getting one going. In my house, every day is Man Day.

Change the oil in your car, jump up and touch things that are up high just to see if you can, sit outside somewhere and analyze people’s parallel parking jobs. I can get into man day, to be sure.
- Andy | 06/15/2009 @ 11:08
I think I’ll have a few brews to celebrate. That’s a fairly manly thing to do, innit? But then again, I do that every day. Maybe I’ll have more than a few. 🙂
- bpenni | 06/15/2009 @ 12:09
How about including this and this?
- JohnJ | 06/15/2009 @ 13:33
“In my house, every day is Man Day.”

Right on Morgan, right on. While these guys are well intentioned and while I might be over analyzing it , Manhood cannot nor shall it be reduced to one stinkin’ day.

There’s some boys and young men out there who definitely need to be reminded everyday that they are Men and should freakin’ act like it.

Start by NOT reading the Huffington Post.
- tim | 06/15/2009 @ 13:40
“Stand up and do manly things.” From across the great chasm between men and women, I’ve gotta say: the stuff listed isn’t what comes to my mind with the word manly. This sounds more like go out and be a little boy day. But enjoy.
- Jaye | 06/15/2009 @ 16:30
I agree that men should remind everyone what is good about men, just in case they’re getting brainwashed into believing the anti-male marketing hype.

One of the things I’ve done in the past (without a day telling me to) was to read out loud from the Book of Virtues. There’s quite a few stories in there that (although never read to nor by me before) seem to assert manly attributes in a very subtle way. My boys are not that young (11 and 7) and they always seem mezmerized by the morals in the stories.
- wch | 06/15/2009 @ 16:40
Jaye raises a good point, and with it, an implied question: Is there any redeeming value to manhood that is celebrated, or enhanced, or recognized, or even implied when people act like little boys — the blowing things up, the farting, the eating of meat, the physical abuse of one’s comrades?

And if that is the case, then how?

The answer is so politically incorrect, that the choking fumes just waft off the surface. That is why the answer is usually kept silent…

Throughout all civilized and semi-civilized cultures, the masculine mind possesses an insatiable curiosity about questions that begin with “What happens if I…” that our feminine counterparts do not share, and in many cases do not even understand. They, in turn, possess the aptitudes and the interest in forming and complying with codes of protocol — things you do, or don’t do, or do a certain way, just-because.

Society requires both these traits to function. But technology is the opposite of convention, and if we all do things exactly the way we are supposed to do them, all the time, nothing new ever gets built.

So I recognize the bewilderment, and I sympathize with it. At the same time I can see a lot of value in celebrating manhood by acting like a boy (who wants to blow stuff up). I would say my theory here has been validated and verified in decades and years past, during which time we have systematically excoriated, ostracized and muffled the masculine mindset — and, during which time, the most impressive technical innovations have been iPods, Windows Vista and dogs-in-purses.

This is *all* a tedious re-re-reverberating of a bunch of ravings I’ve jotted down before. Praise the Lord, and pass the barbeque sauce.
- mkfreeberg | 06/15/2009 @ 17:11
You are right I don’t get the value of the men acting like boys gig. This is like saying I’m going to reconnect with my full womanliness by getting out the old Barbie dollhouse and the Easy-Bake Oven, having a tea party and playing princess. Unless I am playing with a daughter, pointless. (Not that I would like to reinforce princess syndrome.) If by value you mean passing on something to your son, great.

I realize boys need to do things that develop audaciousness. All the stuff that falls under the heading: “Let’s not tell mom about this one.” Unfortunately boys spend a lot of time in programs and enivironments that squash boyishness and implicitly demand conformity, cooperation, and idenitfication—modes proper to girls. They are not permitted to stand apart and develop a masculine identity. I want dads to take their boys out and do these things. Sow a little chaos. Their future and my old age will be a little saner for it maybe.

What we’ve got going in the present is insane. It is the present that worries me.

Absolutely, men have been systematically attacked. Every institution supports the pc mentality. Women have readily conformed. Men were more dangerous, perhaps, and so more viciously targeted. The attack on masculinity was one of the things that woke me to how sick our society had become.

The nature of men and women was attacked because it is so fundamental to how we are human together and in relationship to reality. What is being attacked is the very idea that things have an intrinsic reality. If something so fundamental is malleable, can be unanchored from reality, so can everything else. Words can mean anything, gender, sexuality, morality, society, history, same.

We deny nature, say it is not true. So nothing else we know was true, just a social construct, we will make a new one to fit. We are absolutely miserable, but we keep telling the lie until lies become the dominant mode in society not just personal relationships. We will believe that we can spend our way out of debt, that wrong is right and to be celebrated, that we can talk madmen with nukes into liking us. PC is going to kill us.

I don’t want men who do things exactly the way we are supposed to do them. I desperately want men who will do the adult version of jumping off the roof just because it’s there; who get things done, who make the world a better place just for being there, who drive the barbarians from the gates, who write music that leaves you breathless or build things that will leave you awestruck a thousand years from now or get us to the stars. All that is real.

There is no Herstory, it’s all HIStory. If we are going to be reanchored in reality, back to our natures, you’ve got to do it. Sorry, but celebrating man day seems a little inadequate a weapon against the lies.
- Jaye | 06/16/2009 @ 05:30

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent

Items of Interest

Monthly Archives

What They Say

Links

Happy Man DayMonday, June 15th, 2009

Happy Man Day
Monday, June 15th, 2009