Attn. cc.com girlie men! (You know who you are)

[Fairweather]

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/26628.htm

 

 

A TIME FOR MANHOOD

 

By DUNCAN MAXWELL ANDERSON

 

August 11, 2004 -- THIS November's election is about something everyone is thinking about, and almost no one is talking about. Words like "national security" are fig-leaves for the real subject: manhood.

 

Why does manhood matter? Because we're at war. What kind of leader do you want when armed lunatics are trying to kill you and your family? Do you need a master of nuance or a leader of men? Do you want Alan Alda or Braveheart? (Hmm. Let me think.)

 

You might wonder why the recent Democratic convention was the gaudiest display of militarism and macho talk since the Berlin Olympics of 1936 — this, from the party that successfully ran a draft-dodger for president twice, and which won't fund a candidate who doesn't bow to the feminist abortion-god.

 

I'll tell you why. Everyone in the United States knows what time it is: It's after 9/11.

 

The 9/11 attacks have precipitated a crisis of manhood that is shaking our society to its roots. But for so many years, we have been so entangled in the delicate sensibilities of feminism that we can't even put our confusion into words.

 

To state the crushingly obvious, war is a male thing. Even when directed by the occasional Maggie Thatcher or Joan of Arc, war is fought by men's rules, by men. At the same time, not all men are enthusiastic warriors; in peacetime, for the sake of civilization, there is a need for men who are contemplatives, diplomats, artists and even complainers.

 

Martial men are always eager to believe it's time for action, that the enemy is at the gates. It can make them seem crude and scary. But on 9/11, it was suddenly obvious that the everyday heroism of soldiers, firemen and cops was indispensable.

 

Meanwhile, the stock of intellectuals goes down in a life-or-death crisis, especially for those who weren't that brilliant to begin with. Some men claim the status of artists simply because they don't know how to change a tire. Men from the arty class can become parasites, making their try for greatness simply by throwing muck at men who are truly great.

 

For some reason, that makes me think of Michael Moore. If his latest movie — which perhaps should be entitled "Paranoid 9/11" — were truthful, no one would go see it. Its appeal is that it's deliciously false. It's the revenge of the weenies like Moore, who resent the new importance of masculine men like George W. Bush. Moore's audiences want to believe that the Arab jihad against us isn't real, so they can force the rest of us to read their lousy poetry.

 

Hoping for votes from normal people as well, John "Botox" Kerry has been trying to recast himself as a he-man. Kerry served in Vietnam 35 years ago, as you may have heard him say once or twice. But now the new book by Vietnam swift boat officer John O'Neill, "Unfit for Command," suggests that the recent bunny-suit image of Kerry at NASA was not far off. Testimony by Kerry's mates and commanding officers describes him as a timorous whiner who lied his way to several combat medals.

 

Some of the first heroes of post-9/11 America had no medals or military records. They were ordinary guys catching an early flight to San Francisco. As the 9/11 commission report definitively concludes, early stories about heroism on board doomed United Flight 93 on 9/11 (often pooh-poohed as comforting fairy tales in the mainstream press) were correct.

 

Black box recordings prove that at 9:57 a.m., a contingent of passengers "overwhelmed" (i.e., killed) the hijackers in Flight 93's cabin and bashed their way into the cockpit of the plane, which was being piloted toward Washington by the two surviving hijackers. As they were being overcome, the jihad "pilots" ditched the plane in a field in Shanksville, Pa., rather than die fighting.

 

The fighter jets sent up to defend Washington did not know Flight 93 was approaching, and could not have stopped it. The last line of defense was that group of strangers — ordinary Americans who counterattacked against their enemies and destroyed them.

 

For these times, in place of Kerry's limp salute and tedious 55-minute acceptance speech, I prefer Bush's terser words, on the phone to Vice President Dick Cheney on Sept. 11, 2001, on his way to the airport: "I heard about the Pentagon. We're at war. Somebody's gonna pay."

 

Bush's directness reminds me of Jeremy Glick, the 225-pound judo champion who called home from Flight 93 on his cell phone to say goodbye and explain what was about to happen: "The men voted to attack the terrorists."

 

Glick's fellow passenger Todd Beamer put it this way: "Are you guys ready? Let's roll."

[snoboy]

Blah Blah Blah...

 

[ian]

I prefer Bush's terser words, on the phone to Vice President Dick Cheney on Sept. 11, 2001, on his way to the airport: "I heard about the Pentagon. We're at war. Somebody's gonna pay."

 

 

too bad it only took him '5-10 minutes' to think it up

[olyclimber]

Thanks for the info. I have found that the New York Post is the best source of accurate information and opinions. I way prefer it over the Enquirer. Did you know how Scott Peterson's Exlover was seduced? Enquiring minds want to know. Why do we not have a troll icon?

[willstrickland]

Fairweather, you read the NY Post? A Rupert Murdoch paper. The same guy who owns/runs Fox News. Weak.

 

There is plenty of intelligent commentary from the right, but please spare us the tabloid rantings of the Post.

 

I tell you what is funny though: This writer who is bitching about feminized men and "poets" is pretenious enough to use the name Duncan Maxwell Anderson...sounds like a fuckin' nancy-boy pussy name to me.

 

 

[AlpineK]

I think anyone who talks tough about using the military but had to get their dad to pull strings so they could get into the Texas National Gaurd durring a major war is a big ol wimp.

[rbw1966]

Umm. . .lets see, Kerry served in Vietnam. Bush served his nose in Texas.

 

Yeah, Bush is a girly-man all right.

[Stonehead]

[Greg_W]

Partisan he said-she said aside, the guy's premise is interesting. I don't think that GWB is quite the "he-man" that this guy puports, but whatever. Based on generational cycles (Read "The Fourth Turning"), this generation of youth is the next "hero" generation akin to the men who fought and won WWII.

[Bronco]

 

Headgear makes a good handle.

[ashw_justin]

 

Headgear makes a good handle.

 

Pshhhh that's a girly punch if I've ever seen one. His feet aren't even on the ground. Actually, it looks more like he's missing a tackle. But he could still be sin-binned for trying to tackle above the shoulders...

[ashw_justin]

You want to go be a big brave manly man and die in battle before you have the chance to make a positive contribution to the world, be my guest. Just don't try to make me come with you...

 

Sure I'll defend my country. But I ain't going halfway accross the world to fight and die in some pseudo-war that shouldn't even have happened. There's a big difference between taking a stand on your own soil (Flight 93), and ransacking foreign countries.

[Ireneo_Funes]

You want to go be a big brave manly man and die in battle before you have the chance to make a positive contribution to the world, be my guest. Just don't try to make me come with you...

 

Sure I'll defend my country. But I ain't going halfway accross the world to fight and die in some pseudo-war that shouldn't even have happened. There's a big difference between taking a stand on your own soil (Flight 93), and ransacking foreign countries.

 

Right on.

 

Dying in battle isn't always brave... sometimes it's just sad and pitiful.

[fenderfour]

I keep hearing shit from people like this. Look back at WWI. Nobody thought that the actions in some backwater country like Serbia would have lead to a world war. WTF?

 

Think about the simple dynamics - None of the other Arab countries really want to start shit in their own back yard with Israel and the US squatting in the middle. The only country that was a true loose gun was Iraq, since most of the muslim world didn't like Saddam very much (as all of you like to keep pointing out to disprove links to Al-Queda).

 

Over the last 12 years, Saddam has become more and more bold. How much longer before he decided to lob something at Israel just for kicks? Do you think that might start a world war?

 

I don't think it was a good time to take action, but I do think that action needed to be taken.

 

I would bet that all of the people that are bitching about going into Iraq now would be the same ones bitching about not going into Iraq sooner if something big had happened.

[ashw_justin]

No way man. We're pacifists. Weak little girly pacifists.

[Bronco]

I would bet that all of the people (commies) that are bitching about going into Iraq now would be the same ones (commies) bitching about not going into Iraq sooner if something big had happened.

 

I concur

[Ireneo_Funes]

Sure, look at WWI... a waste of life on an unprecedented scale.

 

From Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum est":

 

"...If in some smothering dreams you too could pace 

Behind the wagon that we flung him in, 

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, 

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; 

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood 

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, 

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud 

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, 

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest 

To children ardent for some desperate glory, 

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est 

Pro patria mori."

 

Owen was killed 7 days before Armistice Day. He knew what war was like firsthand.

[ashw_justin]

I keep hearing shit from people like this. Look back at WWI. Nobody thought that the actions in some backwater country like Serbia would have lead to a world war. WTF?

 

Think about the simple dynamics - None of the other Arab countries really want to start shit in their own back yard with Israel and the US squatting in the middle. The only country that was a true loose gun was Iraq, since most of the muslim world didn't like Saddam very much (as all of you like to keep pointing out to disprove links to Al-Queda).

 

Over the last 12 years, Saddam has become more and more bold. How much longer before he decided to lob something at Israel just for kicks? Do you think that might start a world war?

 

I don't think it was a good time to take action, but I do think that action needed to be taken.

 

I would bet that all of the people that are bitching about going into Iraq now would be the same ones bitching about not going into Iraq sooner if something big had happened.

 

Well jeez, it's a good thing we stopped a little foreign country from maybe doing something bad, like attacking other foreign countries for no reason. Because lord knows that's not good.

[markinore]

Combined days in combat of Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Perle: ZERO!

 

Girlie enough for you?

[JoshK]

Bush, a "natural leader of men"?

 

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAAH

[Greg_W]

Combined days in combat of Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Perle: ZERO!

 

Girlie enough for you?

 

Reagan never saw combat and I wouldn't say he was anything less than a larger-than-life man's man. My opinion on your stupid post.

[Jim]

It's usually the privileged men with soft hands that send the real guys into battle.

[specialed]

Reagan never saw combat and I wouldn't say he was anything less than a larger-than-life man's man. My opinion on your stupid post.

 

He may not have actually been a larger than life mans man, but he was damn good at playing one on TV.

[markinore]

Combined days in combat of Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Perle: ZERO!

 

Girlie enough for you?

 

 

Reagan never saw combat and I wouldn't say he was anything less than a larger-than-life man's man. My opinion on your stupid post.

 

Obviously, combat is not necessary to prove one's manliness. Indeed, the "Terminator" himself, who doesn't hesitate to use the "girlie man" parody, never fought. I meant to contrast the supposed machismo of the original post, which demeaned Kerry's manliness, with the actual chickenhawk behavior of administration figures. Bush et al. did everything they could to avoid combat when they had the chance. It is disingenuous at best for them to cloak themselves in the mantle of fierce defenders of the country at this time. It is even worse in this context to demean Kerry, who volunteered for combat.

 

Although, now that you mention it, what made Reagan so manly--aside, of course, from movie special effects?

[RuMR]

ahhh...come on...good ol' gw was holding down the fort back home!!! someone had to test all that coke before it hit the streets...

 

Yeah...gw, he's our manly man...the guy is a stupid ass...he disgusts me, he's a lying sack of shit...

 

Call me a flamin' liberal...I actually supported his pop...but this guy is a silver spooned buffoon...

 

natural leader, my ass...