Growing up to be a man [KT]

As the news cycle careens wildly from one "news item" to the next, Larry Elder keeps beating this drum:

The Three Biggest Problems Facing The Black Community:

1) Lack of fathers in the home

2) Lack of fathers in the home

3) Lack of fathers in the home

Then, just for good measure, he quotes Denzel Washington:

If the father is not in the home, the boy will find a father in the streets. I saw it in my generation and every generation before me, and every one since. If the streets raise you, then the judge becomes your mother and prison becomes your home. -- Denzel Washington

I lived in Southern California when Larry Elder started on the radio there. Dennis Prager was instrumental in getting him hired at KABC. Dennis, rather recently a Democrat at that point, didn't agree with all the libertarian positions of the Sage from South Central, but he thought Larry would be an important voice for people to hear. I loved Larry's bumper music. And he was fun to listen to.

Right off the bat, the "black leadership" in Los Angeles tried to get Larry Elder kicked off the air. Boycotts, protests, etc. Not too different from today's playbook for stifling dissenting voices. KABC responded with some very clever, powerful yet good-natured "free speech" ads showing Larry, a black man, coming back from taking punches to the face for making controversial statements. Don't know if those ads would work today. I doubt that the station would produce them today.

The Left still wants the debate canceled. They go after women, too. And even free speech about science is apparently considered to be "high risk" now.

But back to the subject of growing up to be a man:

Last week, The Barrister at Maggie's Farm put up a post on Manhood. Take a look, maybe read the links. You're not likely to read much stuff like this in the MSM.

Historically, the path from boy to man was hard-earned and marked by specific achievements. With the modern invention of adolescence and "extended adolescence", the lines are blurred. Like the song says, a "mannish boy" is not a man. Puberty does not make a man, nor does sexual activity.

Are the ideal "manly" qualities today very different from those of the past? I don't know. I can tell you what qualities my friends aspire to and work towards as a life-long project: providing for and protecting family and progeny, independence, courage and shame for weakness, the willingness to take risk, the willingness to be tough and forceful when needed, a seriousness about life while remaining cheerful, physical fitness and athletic development, mental fitness, spiritual development, skill development of all sorts, community involvement, responsibility and integrity, kindness and being a good friend, having constructive life goals, generosity of spirit, etc etc. We discuss these things in our men's Bible study group.

It's a tall order, and that is exactly the point. We all raise boys to aspire towards these qualities, knowing full well that it is a challenging and difficult path with many speed bumps and disappointments. (How different or difficult the path is for women is not something I feel qualified to discuss.)

Dennis Prager has long maintained that boys need more rules while growing up than girls do, and that those rules are best transmitted by men. Shocking views to those trying to raise gender-neutral children. But maybe that is partly why Jordan Peterson's book about 12 Rules for Life is so popular with young men.

What are your thoughts?

Yes, this is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

posted by Open Blogger at 11:16 AM

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