By Charles Lyons
Recently, an article was penned by Fredrik deBoer titled “destroy traditional masculinity.” In this piece, deBoer speaks of his reaction to the Elliot Rodger Retribution video he posted before committing his mass murder. Whether we like it or not, the Elliot Rodger incident will be one of those defining moments for gender relations much in the same way that the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman incident was for race relations.
It will be talked about in various feminist and masculinist circles for quite some time; not because of the truth that lies beneath the story, but because of the mainstream media produced propaganda story itself. Was Rodger a member of the manosphere? No but the media has made him out to be some angry sex-deprived Men’s Rights Activist.
Mr. deBoer writes that Rodger was “putting on” some faux masculine persona that he caricatures as “aggression, dominance, and power.” The type of masculinity that is often portrayed in television shows like Sons of Anarchy. To paraphrase from Jack Donovan’s book The Way of Men, these types of men may not be good men, but they are often good at being men. Masculinity comes in a range of forms: from the gangster to the superhero.
Sinister evil is not a characteristic of masculinity, but of broken mentally ill people who lack a moral compass. The actions of bad men should not be used as fodder to attack good men. Mr. deBoer calls for the destruction of traditional masculinity because it is some Utopian ideal which can never be achieved. You’ll never be alpha enough, so just give up. There are lots of ideals which may be impossible to truly achieve but that does not mean we should be abandoning them altogether.
In typical progressive fashion, he calls to destroy old traditions and to replace them new ones. This is the mantra of progressives: out with the old and in with the new. Will these new “traditions” be healthy? It doesn’t matter, things must change says the leftist. Examining the cultural Zeitgeist, I can tell you that new progressive “traditions” will not be good for men.
Rodger did not commit his crime because he was being overly masculine. Most likely the opposite is true. Masculinity is often demonized in left-wing circles. The culture today is inherently anti-male. Boys can no longer be boys. Nowadays, our institutions are more willing to invest in women than they are in men.
In entertainment, men are often portrayed as buffoons. Men today are really lacking positive role models to look up to. As James Donald commented about falling testosterone levels, ” I am inclined to believe it is metaphorical estrogen in the metaphorical water supply.” I agree, society is feminizing males and it is not a good thing. Many men are lost.
This is where the manosphere comes in. It is certainly a reactionary movement towards feminism and the culture. The manosphere has helped hundreds of thousands of men, maybe even millions, get in touch with their masculinity. I look at the men of the manosphere and I look at men on the left, and it becomes abundantly clear whose lives are happily fulfilled.
So I pen this post in defense of traditional masculinity and the manosphere. Tearing down old traditions to form new ones is not the answer. Embracing traditional masculinity is not misogyny or sexism. Perhaps if Elliot Rodger had embraced the manosphere instead of despising it, he would have had success with women. Perhaps none of those innocent lives would have been lost. Perhaps we should look to traditional masculinity to solve the problems of men today instead of trying to destroy it.
Crowd Funding for Creators
3 Comments
It appears that this Elliot Rodgers actually never once hit on a girl (that’s hitting ON a girl for any feminists lurking out there).
His writing implies that he thought he could just passively sit around waiting for a girl to chat him up.
If you think that women should be the aggressors/initiators while men are the passive party in dating and sex and then cry misogyny when a boy is driven bat shit crazy to the point of homicide because he behaved around girls exactly the way that you say he should….you might be a feminist.
I think loss of ‘masculinity’ due to the over application of feminist ideas is a real problem, because many ‘masculine’ traits are very positive ones. The type of generalisation of ‘masculinity’ that feminism often employs doesn’t differentiate or disseminate the very complex male psyche in the way that men have been forced to confront and disseminate the female psyche. So we run the risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, literally. Most men I know feel disenfranchised, and disempowered, both at home and at work, not because they are being stopped from beating their wives and womanising their secretaries, but because they genuinely don’t understand what they are supposed to be, or how to be it….. Feminism, along with over-corrective policy has ripped the carpet out from beneath mens feet, but without replacing it with anything tangible. The majority of us are just good decent people, being demonised by the act of a tiny few, and nothing NEEDED to change for those us. In effect, in its attempt to ‘fix’ men, feminism has derailed the balance for everyone. While I will now have an argument with my wife about who’s turn it is to clean the bathroom, its only HER that can refer to gender as a leaver to win the argument, yet, if we were to EVER argue about who’s turn it is to dig up the back garden to pour concrete for a patio, I couldn’t. I never assume anything is her job, and have been taught not to assume, however, it seems the reverse is not true.
The only thing I can conclude, is that common sense is missing from gender politics today, and when common sense is missing from anything that makes for a very dangerous situation, a situation that most likely won’t stand the test of time.
It’s complete BS and a sign of the times that this mass murderer is even being linked to us. I don’t consider myself an MRM or MRA but being interested in what’s been subbed the manosphere certainly gets me labeled so. When did wanting traditional sex and a balanced budget become so controversial that mainstream outlets get to level your views psychopathic based on crazy girl logic. He killed more men and hated men to yet this is a tragedy for women by men. I truly live beyond the looking glass. I’m glad sites like this can exist and inject much needed sanity into a mad world.