Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Nipping At Our Heels
Continuing with the theme of providing instructions on how to behave, for any so-called “man” who is somehow inclined to pay attention to such things, all you bearers of penises and testicles are now being directed to start hugging each other.
The hug, long reserved for women, celebrating sports victories, and men from other countries, is muscling its way into everyday American Guydom.
Stoic machismo still thrives, but at its heels yaps a touchier, Dr. Phil version of virility. Boundaries are eroding. Defenses are being scaled.
Hey, this is a real event. Something revolutionary is going on here — um, actually not really. My earliest memory of the “wimpy” man coming into vogue, is a three-decades-old vision of the “Meathead” on All In The Family, a piece of pop-culture that was started around the time of Woodstock and Kent State. M*A*S*H soon followed, showcasing the wimpy hippy as he ridiculed, out-thought and out-foxed that silly, stupid military establishment that gave the producers the freedom to air the show. Then there came I’m Okay, You’re Okay. Throughout the seventies, it’s fair to say that if you were a character on the big screen or the little screen, and you were a macho male, you were being a big clueless dolt who was about to be shown-up, humiliated, educated, or eliminated by a wiser, wimpier, wuss-bag alto-pitch man-hugging she-male. This is the decade that killed John Wayne.
So this is nothing new. It turns out the “nipping at heels” metaphor has more truth to it than the author intended, I think. Boy that little yip-dog must be getting tired.
The sad truth of it is, though, we live in reality. Over here in reality, now that we’ve had 35 years to contrast macho-man against wimpy-guy, let’s see what history says, shall we.
This is a real hard pattern to disrupt, in this enclave we call real life. I don’t mean to say that wimpy-men never do anything productive. “Never” is a strong word, one that seldom applies across any significant passage of time. It’s just that…when a wimpy-man does something useful, something that other people can use for practical things, and it’s a success, the wimpy-man gets there by…thinking like a macho-man. The board is cut right, or it’s not. The nail is straight, or it isn’t. Some things are absolute. Sometimes, the time for endless debate has passed.
So guys who like being wimpy-men may occasionally do something useful…it’s hard to think of any examples where anybody does something useful by thinking like a wimpy-man. And logically, it’s hard to conceive of any progression of events where they could. Wimpy thinking is the antithesis of doing useful things. So what’s with this push to get guys to hug other guys?
If one guy goes for the hug, but the other decides upon a handshake, they might collide. An excruciating dance will follow, as the poor lads work feverishly to determine what to do with their hands, their arms, their bodies. Memories of the previous disaster will haunt all following encounters. It’s possible the fellows will even dread socializing, for fear of the paralyzing hug decision.
Good! Then maybe someday soon, the wimpy-men will stop hugging us. The article says they are “nipping at our heels” or something. Like an annoying little dog. What do you do with a little dog who is nipping at your heels and then starts hugging your leg? You kick it away.
Two weeks ago, I made the point that inspecting your feelings endlessly, going to therapy over dubious personal issues, marital & otherwise, had a dismal track record of success. I don’t think that’s a commentary on the specific area of marriage counseling, as much as a point about everyday life. You just don’t get very far in life contemplating your navel.
The hug is a gift from God. It was given to us so that normal, red-blooded, macho guys like me, had an excuse to mash their chests into the tits of good-lookin’ women. Guys hugging guys, that’s wasting a creation of God.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.