Excellent comments for the most part Joe, particularly the defense of the beleaguered American male.
I do have to part company with you over your hailing of the President’s speech criticizing Trump over race. I found it to be harsh, unfair, pandering, deceitful, sophistry— in short what the President (who once promised to unite the country) does best. Trump is a lot of things unpleasant but I have always found the evidence of his presumed racism to be paltry and stretched to the breaking point. He can be a jerk and a boor but an equal opportunity offender.
Trump’s comments on the Central Park Five were born of the understandable frustration of a heinous crime. He never mentioned the names of the suspects and tempered his remarks with the qualifier, “if they are found guilty.” People found the act disturbing because of the act, not because of the race of the perpetrators.
And regarding BLM, I am more comfortable with Trump’s apparent disregard for the radical grifters than Biden’s pandering embrace of them. Blacks deserve better than both BLM and Biden’s poll driven condescending and desperate race-baiting. His Morehouse college graduation speech was a perverse classic in projecting the hate and hopelessness of someone who cynically wants blacks to remain a class of victims, as long as they vote the right way.
Thanks PG, for your brains and civility, as always. You're right, too: I went a little easy on Biden, happy that he was, for once, showing a pulse. But he remains an anachronism on race issues--as he demonstrated in the Morehouse speech (I did call him on that in a previous post) and his continuing support for BLM. But several Trump bios I've read--especially Trumped, by a former associate--make clear that he has a casual disdain for black people.
I agree and I also think in progressive circles there are young men who are creative gentle souls type that reject the “toxic masculinity “male and then think they must be trans to tragic results. Young western man need more different representations of being men and we need to pay attention to their needs instead of ADHD medication for instance. Society needs healthy men.
Another dandy piece. I particularly enjoyed the quips about men who have no idea of how to act around women and women who take a compliment as an act of aggression. Old geezers like Joe and me remember bad behavior "back then", but we also remember acceptable rituals that made men and women feel good about themselves which seem to have been discarded like the proverbial baby with the bathwater. Bring back charm kids! Who knows? You might even find you enjoy it.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I said Greitens was a scoundrel. I don't see even the slightest scintilla of a substantive argument here against what he's proposing. For your information, Greitens also saved hundreds of lives through his program The Mission Continues. I interviewed many of them...but that doesn't matter, either. In the future, please consider substantive responses if you want to play in this space.
Sorry, girl. You're still not addressing the issue. Saying that "muscular bonding" didn't work out for Greitens and any number of other military jerks is like saying that some mothers harm their children and therefore the notion of maternalism is corrupt. There are always exceptions. But you still haven't addressed Greitens' idea about how to bring hyperactive pubescent boys into the classroom. Take a deep breath. Have a think. And then, perhaps, try to respond in a constructive manner.
Excellent comments for the most part Joe, particularly the defense of the beleaguered American male.
I do have to part company with you over your hailing of the President’s speech criticizing Trump over race. I found it to be harsh, unfair, pandering, deceitful, sophistry— in short what the President (who once promised to unite the country) does best. Trump is a lot of things unpleasant but I have always found the evidence of his presumed racism to be paltry and stretched to the breaking point. He can be a jerk and a boor but an equal opportunity offender.
Trump’s comments on the Central Park Five were born of the understandable frustration of a heinous crime. He never mentioned the names of the suspects and tempered his remarks with the qualifier, “if they are found guilty.” People found the act disturbing because of the act, not because of the race of the perpetrators.
And regarding BLM, I am more comfortable with Trump’s apparent disregard for the radical grifters than Biden’s pandering embrace of them. Blacks deserve better than both BLM and Biden’s poll driven condescending and desperate race-baiting. His Morehouse college graduation speech was a perverse classic in projecting the hate and hopelessness of someone who cynically wants blacks to remain a class of victims, as long as they vote the right way.
Thanks PG, for your brains and civility, as always. You're right, too: I went a little easy on Biden, happy that he was, for once, showing a pulse. But he remains an anachronism on race issues--as he demonstrated in the Morehouse speech (I did call him on that in a previous post) and his continuing support for BLM. But several Trump bios I've read--especially Trumped, by a former associate--make clear that he has a casual disdain for black people.
I agree and I also think in progressive circles there are young men who are creative gentle souls type that reject the “toxic masculinity “male and then think they must be trans to tragic results. Young western man need more different representations of being men and we need to pay attention to their needs instead of ADHD medication for instance. Society needs healthy men.
Check out the substack PITT- Parents of Inconvenient Truths.
Another dandy piece. I particularly enjoyed the quips about men who have no idea of how to act around women and women who take a compliment as an act of aggression. Old geezers like Joe and me remember bad behavior "back then", but we also remember acceptable rituals that made men and women feel good about themselves which seem to have been discarded like the proverbial baby with the bathwater. Bring back charm kids! Who knows? You might even find you enjoy it.
Well said! Reeves book on men and boys is outstanding and eye-opening
The audio version of The Good Lord Bird read by Michael Boatman is an absolute must. His ability to speak the dialects of the characters is amazing.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I said Greitens was a scoundrel. I don't see even the slightest scintilla of a substantive argument here against what he's proposing. For your information, Greitens also saved hundreds of lives through his program The Mission Continues. I interviewed many of them...but that doesn't matter, either. In the future, please consider substantive responses if you want to play in this space.
Sorry, girl. You're still not addressing the issue. Saying that "muscular bonding" didn't work out for Greitens and any number of other military jerks is like saying that some mothers harm their children and therefore the notion of maternalism is corrupt. There are always exceptions. But you still haven't addressed Greitens' idea about how to bring hyperactive pubescent boys into the classroom. Take a deep breath. Have a think. And then, perhaps, try to respond in a constructive manner.