It’s a Guy Thing

 

I read an article today about how a “multicultural coalition” of young male voters appears to be forming in favor of Trump. Here’s a quote from it:

… a majority, if not all, of these young men were brought into their nascent political awareness by issues relating to their masculinity and manhood. An archetype emerged: these were young men who never thought about politics until politics knocked on their door and made them aware of its existence. Like so many, personal grievance is what drove them into the political arena and what was driving their politics. The gist of their beef: When the hell did it stop being okay to be a regular dude?

When indeed? As it happens, a new poll out shows that even 45% of what we might call “irregular dudes”(though the poll described them as “queer”) are planning to vote for Trump. Trump’s support among black men is on track to break records for a Republican candidate; even the NYT’s Charles Blow is raising alarms about the trend.

Why is this happening?

Well, maybe it’s that Trump is Trump. Perhaps his achievements (huge steps forward in Middle East peace process! actual progress on criminal justice reform!) are male-friendlier, or maybe his antics are entertaining in a peculiarly, masculine way? Isn’t it suburban women who statistically find him most offensive?

I suspect it is mostly because the Democrats have lurched far to the left and the left is—not to put too fine a point on it—anti-male.

Ignore, for a moment, the fact that, from what we were assured was the most “diverse” field of primary candidates in history, America’s non-racist, non-sexist, non-homophobic Democrats still threw their support behind an old white male. Democrats can comfort themselves with the thought that Biden has obviously become a place-holder for Kamala. (Even Biden seems to accept this.)

Though as a primary candidate she couldn’t garner enough votes to make it even as far as Iowa, Harris possessed the skin color and gonads explicitly declared the sine qua non for the VP slot, and is now poised to be the Historic Not-A-Man President. And yes, you’re a racist and a misogynist if you aren’t just over-the-moon about that.

Meanwhile, “male” or especially “white male” remains an acceptable, denigratory epithet, even in (especially in) polite society. Yes, men continue to perform the hardest and most dangerous work, suffer much higher rates of workplace injury and death, are even more likely to die of COVID-19 … but y’all are still privileged and suck and deserve ours (and your own) contempt.

In established, mainstream media, we find articles like these:

Without the efforts, brilliance, and enduring goodwill of first some and then most white American men, there would be no civil rights for women, black people, or, indeed, for most anybody … but gratitude is not a leftist value. (Prove me wrong … find me a speech from the DNC where a Democrat proclaimed himself or herself grateful?)

The left is not, however, hostile only to white men. Even “black males” appear primarily to be of instrumental rather than intrinsic value. #BLM, which links its activism to the death of young black men, hasn’t much use for black guys otherwise. If you go to the official, #BLM website, you’ll see a lot of urgent concern for “centering” black women (especially, for some reason, queer and trans women). Families are described in exclusively neutral or feminine terms—there are “parents” and “mothers” and “the community,” but no mention of fathers. The young black American men for whom homicide is the leading cause of death? No positive role is imagined for them in the future as planned by #BLM.

Leftism—which is ultimately state-ism (“everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state)—tends to be destructive (either violently or solicitously) toward any and all alternative sources of personal or community power. This is why the impulse of the left is to be deeply suspicious of any institution that can sustain itself outside of government—churches, schools, charities, social service organizations, small businesses, and so on. (And yes, the right wants the government to be small not just to keep taxes low, but to maintain space for those independent institutions).

The family is one of these extra-governmental institutions that provides individuals with meaning, support, and identity outside the state. Historically, socialists, both international (USSR) and national (Nazis), sought deliberately to undermine family connections and co-opt the nurturance, guidance, and education of children. For obvious (to non-leftists, anyway) biological reasons, it is difficult to separate women and babies. But men have always been vulnerable to such separation. A child can survive (if not thrive) without a dad. “Alternative families,” with rare exceptions, are female-headed. And female-headed households are not, by and large, as capable of self-sustaining independence.

There was a famous (or infamous) Obama campaign ad called “The Life of Julia” that beautifully summed up the social vision of the left. The eponymous heroine goes through childhood, youth, young adulthood, and old age, encouraged and supported at every stage by … Obama’s government programs! She goes to Head Start, to government-run public schools, gets government-funded healthcare, Pell grants, finds a job through a government program, gets birth control thanks to Obama, decides to have a child — thank goodness for government childcare! But Julia has no husband. Just as no mention is made of Julia’s own father, her child is apparently fatherless.

It is often said by those on the American right that a woman in a welfare state—Julia, for example— is married to the government. It is the state that provides and protects, the state whose demands must be met and boundaries observed, and the state to whom the presence of an actual man in a woman’s home is punished as a betrayal.

So of course it’s not okay, in a leftist society, to be a “ regular dude,” even a queer one. “Regular dudes” foul the gears. Regular dudes are trouble. Their courage, capability, competitive-ness, independence, instinct for protecting and serving their families, their affinity for weapons and large machines … everything we think of as being typically, or even stereotypically masculine? These are what make a man an actual or potential obstacle to the all-encompassing “benevolent” hegemony and power of the state.

At the moment, here in America, inner-city black neighborhoods provide us with a real-life example of what a totalized socialist state would look like. Whether this was the plan or just the inevitable result of “well-intended” policies, in inner-city Chicago, DC, Baltimore, etc., all service, all protection, all goods, all help, all hope are provided (not, we might point out, particularly effectively) and controlled by the state. And here, men are worse than superfluous. Absent a war in which they might be “profitably” expended, men are a problem, a nuisance, a threat.

Unfortunately, the state makes a crappy dad. Since a peacetime socialist state does not and can not encourage fathers, instead it must imprison sons. We should not mistake the current, lefty enthusiasm for releasing convicts and “dismantling” prisons and abolishing cops as a move toward the empowerment of men. The Nazis and the Soviets did the same thing. By any means necessary, they fomented social chaos. The resulting disorder prompted calls for and tolerance of their own “strong” leadership. And, by the way, while mothers were celebrated as producers of cannon-fodder, fathers were … dispensable. The Nazis, for example, gave medals to mothers who bore four or more little Aryans for the Fatherland, but fathers got called up.

A man under National Socialism was a soldier, serving the Leader.

A study of policing under National and International socialism would be fascinating. Police work, like fire fighting, is a classically male job, since “served and protect” is a traditionally male function. And there were, of course, plenty of cops in the USSR and Nazi Germany. However, once in power, both Bolsheviks and Nazis purged the stubbornly professional police officer from law enforcement agencies left over from the previous governments (Tsarist, Weimar). These were replaced by quislings, party thugs, and toadies primarily expected to enforce ideological conformity.

Ah, but that was then! We don’t have to worry about that sort of thing happening here, right?

Maybe not. “Regular Dude” culture is still pretty strong in America.

Across the pond in Britain, where socialism is a bit more advanced — and “white male” similarly serves as a shaming prod to keep men busy “checking their privilege” and apologizing for things they didn’t do — how are the regular British dudes (black, brown, white, queer) doing?

Well, suicides are hitting record highs. Violent crimes are shooting upward as well, though the Home Office reassuringly reminded Britons that “only” one in five citizens reported having been the victim of a serious crime in the past year. The prison population is increasing, particularly since 2007. Males are, of course, are far more often the victims as well as the perpetrators of violent crimes; “Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Cheshire and a spokesman on race issues for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said it was a fact that it was harder to get the media interested where murder victims were young white men.”

And speaking of British bobbies, the once-exemplary British police are demonstrably no longer capable of effectively defending the public from the aforementioned huge increase in violent crime, but are nevertheless being deployed to the homes of ordinary Brits accused of using “hate speech” on Facebook and Twitter. In other words, the police are being used to enforce ideological conformity.

Meanwhile, #BLM/Antifa (with no sense of irony) is tearing down statues of Winston Churchill. (Now there was a regular dude. )

So what do you think? Can I say that socialism isn’t just anti-individual and anti-family…but is specifically anti-man?

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  1. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    GrannyDude: an I say that socialism isn’t just anti-individual and anti-family…but is specifically anti-man?

    I’d say yes.

    • #1
  2. TreeRat Inactive
    TreeRat
    @RichardFinlay

    Since white males have become so unfashionable, I have decided to identify as a NONPOC.  It puts me on the POC spectrum, admittedly at an extreme end, but so much more fashionable, especially as it would be rude for other POCs (and POC-sympathizer/wannabees)to ask nosey questions.

    • #2
  3. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    TreeRat (View Comment):

    Since white males have become so unfashionable, I have decided to identify as a NONPOC. It puts me on the POC spectrum, admittedly at an extreme end, but so much more fashionable, especially as it would be rude for other POCs (and POC-sympathizer/wannabees)to ask nosey questions.

    And if you pronounce it, rather than say the letters, (Non-Pock)  it sounds like a really cute little furry animal, maybe from Indonesia?

    • #3
  4. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    I just don’t understand why people don’t see that Harris is the ultimate example of tokenism. Not even cloaked.

     

    • #4
  5. Dave of Barsham Member
    Dave of Barsham
    @LesserSonofBarsham

    I’ll grant that it’s Friday and I’ve had a little Jack and Coke but sometime during the Obama administration, when this stuff started to bubble up, I pretty much made my mind up about it. I was already into politics before that but once it started looking like I was going to be the new bad guy (and I’m not just a white male, I’m a Southern white male, that really pushes their buttons), I decided that I was gonna just be a “regular dude,” unapologetically. I don’t cat call women, and I’ve been married to the same woman since I was twenty-one so I don’t fit the lefty stereotype of a “regular guy” in those ways, but I like a stiff drink, I like guns, grow a beard, and don’t particularly care for hipsters. If someone would have told me when I was in high school that I was going to be counter cultural when I was older I’d have laughed my butt off, but here we are.

    • #5
  6. TreeRat Inactive
    TreeRat
    @RichardFinlay

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    TreeRat (View Comment):

    Since white males have become so unfashionable, I have decided to identify as a NONPOC. It puts me on the POC spectrum, admittedly at an extreme end, but so much more fashionable, especially as it would be rude for other POCs (and POC-sympathizer/wannabees)to ask nosey questions.

    And if you pronounce it, rather than say the letters, (Non-Pock) it sounds like a really cute little furry animal, maybe from Indonesia?

    Tree Rats owe their very existence to furriness around the tail region.  They can’t hide in the sewers like other rats.

    • #6
  7. Matt Bartle Member
    Matt Bartle
    @MattBartle

    The only time men get talked about during elections is when they are portrayed as Angry White Males. It would be nice if they actually swung the election.

    A commercial from a few years back celebrating guys being guys:

     

    • #7
  8. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    And yet more evidence that this is craziness. Yet another woke (anti-male) woman trying to pass herself off as black. As the cherry in the Sundae, she is gay.

    • #8
  9. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    When you cheat on your supermodel wife with a Playmate *and* a porn star, you are going to get some street cred with young adult males.  Trump has the lifestyle that many young men envision, if they were given a few billion dollars.  A gold toilet and a private jet–styling!  There is a reason he was in so many rap videos back in the day.  Playa had game.

    • #9
  10. Kephalithos Member
    Kephalithos
    @Kephalithos

    Dave of Barsham (View Comment): I’ll grant that it’s Friday and I’ve had a little Jack and Coke but sometime during the Obama administration, when this stuff started to bubble up, I pretty much made my mind up about it. I was already into politics before that but once it started looking like I was going to be the new bad guy (and I’m not just a white male, I’m a Southern white male, that really pushes their buttons), I decided that I was gonna just be a “regular dude,” unapologetically. I don’t cat call women, and I’ve been married to the same woman since I was twenty-one so I don’t fit the lefty stereotype of a “regular guy” in those ways, but I like a stiff drink, I like guns, grow a beard, and don’t particularly care for hipsters. If someone would have told me when I was in high school that I was going to be counter cultural when I was older I’d have laughed my butt off, but here we are.

    These days, being normal is being countercultural.

    • #10
  11. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    When you cheat on your supermodel wife with a Playmate *and* a porn star, you are going to get some street cred with young adult males. Trump has the lifestyle that many young men envision, if they were given a few billion dollars. A gold toilet and a private jet–styling! There is a reason he was in so many rap videos back in the day. Playa had game.

    What a depressing way of looking at things.  You’re probably right.

    • #11
  12. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    GrannyDude: an I say that socialism isn’t just anti-individual and anti-family…but is specifically anti-man?

    I’d say yes.

    It may now be considered sexist to say so, but a man’s role is to provide for his family.

    When the state takes over that role through socialism, they’re destroying masculinity.

     

    • #12
  13. Chris O. Coolidge
    Chris O.
    @ChrisO

    Dudes will be dudes. There is a story about a youth camp in Israel. The counselors there gave the campers pencils and paper and encouraged them to explore the area around camp and write down their feelings. The boys eventually found each other and used the pencils and paper to build a fire. The counselors, naturally, were horrified.

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):
    When you cheat on your supermodel wife with a Playmate *and* a porn star, you are going to get some street cred with young adult males. Trump has the lifestyle that many young men envision, if they were given a few billion dollars. A gold toilet and a private jet–styling! There is a reason he was in so many rap videos back in the day. Playa had game.

    I really don’t think any of this has a thing to do with it. It is Trump’s lack of apology, pure and simple. He said some pretty off-the-wall things during the 2016 election, and I recall one man’s reaction: “Well, it’s not how I would say those things, but I’m glad he’s saying them.” Not once did he apologize, instead he owned the statements and took a lot of the “gotcha” power of the press away from them.

    • #13
  14. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    When you cheat on your supermodel wife with a Playmate *and* a porn star, you are going to get some street cred with young adult males. Trump has the lifestyle that many young men envision, if they were given a few billion dollars. A gold toilet and a private jet–styling! There is a reason he was in so many rap videos back in the day. Playa had game.

    What a depressing way of looking at things. You’re probably right.

    I don’t think this affects potential young male voters much beyond making them smirk when people overshoot, like they did after the leaked Billy Bush tape. I mean, c’mon, everybody remembers those girls from high school, and the fact that she got her desserts by becoming a plaything for the rich doesn’t excite much sympathy. 

     Hip-hop culture resonates with young men because most of them lack an outlet to express their wild side, but, to this crowd, Jordan Peterson was the ascendent hero of 2016. He’s the icon of guys who sort of feel like losers: not that they are, but because they know they haven’t lived up to their potential and because they don’t have encouraging role models in their lives. Most young American men are decent and useful. They just want to be appreciated as such. 

    • #14
  15. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    It may now be considered sexist to say so, but a man’s role is to provide for his family.

    When the state takes over that role through socialism, they’re destroying masculinity.

    Which may be why Russia has a high alcoholism rate.

    • #15
  16. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Samuel Block (View Comment):
     Hip-hop culture resonates with young men because most of them lack an outlet to express their wild side, 

    I hadn’t thought of this and it’s embarrassing to me that I didn’t. But of course! After the Access Hollywood tape came out, it might have been clever to hire some rap musician to record it as a piece of music. If Biden brings it up now, of course, the Trump campaign could just play a bit of Cardi B. over the image of Uncle Joe chatting with the Diva.

    One of the creepier new hypocrisies of modern feminism is how easily it adopts the tropes formerly identified as “sexist.” When I was a young feminist, for example, I refused to say that “Chevrolet uses sex to sell vehicles” because what Chevrolet had used was a photograph of a  lightly clad female draped across the bonnet of the Bonneville…to sell the vehicle.  And yes, the image was intended to evoke something in the minds and loins of heterosexual male car-shoppers, but feminism surely meant that sex as it was imagined and defined by men was not what defined femininity. 

    Well, it does now. Cardi-B, we are told, “flexes her femininity” in her charmingly entitled work WAP. “Cuties” is about prepubescent teens “exploring their femininity.” Femininity, in other words—“noun: qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women” —is defined by progressives as sex. With men.   For men. 

    Is attractiveness to men—and the power it gives a woman over men—part of femininity? Of course. But to accept it as central and definitive is, and always has been, corrupting and abusive. The “femininity” being “explored” by a little girl in “Cuties” is about his sexual pleasure, not hers. The “power” she has isn’t just temporary, it is extremely limited. A scantily clad woman (or child) twerking on a stage has the “power” of attracting men, but not the power to physically fend one off, especially if she’s a scrawny eleven year old who has now been declared—or been induced to declare herself—fair game. 

     This is a definition of “feminine” that leads to (and depends upon)  the abortionist.  And it is “rape culture.” 

    “…but, to this crowd, Jordan Peterson was the ascendent hero of 2016. He’s the icon of guys who sort of feel like losers: not that they are, but because they know they haven’t lived up to their potential and because they don’t have encouraging role models in their lives. Most young American men are decent and useful. They just want to be appreciated as such.”

    I agree. Not only does society, if it is to function, need to bound and channel masculinity—that is, to provide boundaries and useful outlets for male energy, strength, courage and passion—but boys need, want and crave this. We aren’t creatures of appetite (only) but creators of meaning, and meaning requires limitation. 

     

    • #16
  17. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    And yet more evidence that this is craziness. Yet another woke (anti-male) woman trying to pass herself off as black. As the cherry in the Sundae, she is gay.

    And her pronouns are “they, them.” 
    It’s not okay to pretend to be black—even when one apparently looks black enough to fool other black people and presumably to fool (and attract the oppressive violence of) racist whites.  This could be seen as the ultimate solidarity, the equivalent of wearing a yellow star in Berlin circa 1943… well, it would be.  If…you know. The situations were even remotely analogous, as we are told they are. E.g. “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter” and “fascist” and whatnot.

    It is, on the other hand, totes okay to pretend to be more than one person, and to insist that others go along with your self-designation. 

    “They/them” are just words. But so is “black.” 

    Explain?!?!?

     

    • #17
  18. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    And her pronouns are “they, them.” 
    It’s not okay to pretend to be black—even when one apparently looks black enough to fool other black people and presumably to fool (and attract the oppressive violence of) racist whites. This could be seen as the ultimate solidarity, the equivalent of wearing a yellow star in Berlin circa 1943… well, it would be. If…you know. The situations were even remotely analogous, as we are told they are. E.g. “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter” and “fascist” and whatnot.

    It is, on the other hand, totes okay to pretend to be more than one person, and to insist that others go along with your self-designation. 

    “They/them” are just words. But so is “black.” 

    Explain?!?!?

    I could go into a long explanation of how all of the individuals who have been doing this appear to have serious mental issues, especially as relates to issues of identity, self-worth, and self-esteem. A simpler explanation is that they are all bat[Coc} crazy. It’s the same thing in fewer words.

    (The older I get the less time I want to spend on tedious stuff. It leaves less time for the meaningful stuff, and time is running out of my hourglass.)

    • #18
  19. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Seawriter (View Comment):
    A simpler explanation is that they are all bat[Coc} crazy.

    There is nothing in the COC against saying “guano” en claire.

    • #19
  20. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    And her pronouns are “they, them.”
    It’s not okay to pretend to be black—even when one apparently looks black enough to fool other black people and presumably to fool (and attract the oppressive violence of) racist whites. This could be seen as the ultimate solidarity, the equivalent of wearing a yellow star in Berlin circa 1943… well, it would be. If…you know. The situations were even remotely analogous, as we are told they are. E.g. “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter” and “fascist” and whatnot.

    It is, on the other hand, totes okay to pretend to be more than one person, and to insist that others go along with your self-designation.

    “They/them” are just words. But so is “black.”

    Explain?!?!?

    I could go into a long explanation of how all of the individuals who have been doing this appear to have serious mental issues, especially as relates to issues of identity, self-worth, and self-esteem. A simpler explanation is that they are all bat[Coc} crazy. It’s the same thing in fewer words.

    (The older I get the less time I want to spend on tedious stuff. It leaves less time for the meaningful stuff, and time is running out of my hourglass.)

    The explanation is to be found in the article linked to and highlighted by @drbastiat from First Things:

    “If there was one “philosopheme” (Struve’s term) shared by intelligents it was the assumption that all questions must be judged politically. Thus, one could discredit a scientific theory not by logic or evidence but by calling its implications “reactionary” (“and what don’t we call reactionary!”). The Soviets banned, at one time or another, genetics, relativity, and quantum theory—not on criteria from their respective disciplines, but on the basis of their supposed incompatibility with “dialectical ­materialism.”

    • #20
  21. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Interestingly, the lovely neighbor who comes over to clean once a week (and enjoys my occasional, spontaneous lectures on our modern dilemmas) used the phrase “what if the shoe was on the other foot” to agree with me that, had Obama brokered a peace deal in the ME as Trump had, there would be dancing in the Democrat-controlled streets. 

    To the left, however, “you don’t need to consider what might happen if the shoe was on the other foot, if there is no other foot.” @drbastiat re-iterates, in his second, terrific post on the mental state of leftism in as many days…

     

    • #21
  22. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    GrannyDude (View Comment):
    Is attractiveness to men—and the power it gives a woman over men—part of femininity? Of course.

    But how the power is packaged, and to what purpose?

    The power of a man to protect family and country, ok.

    The power of a man to rape and pillage? Not so much.

    The power of a woman to attract a man, form a family, nurture children, contribute to the positive future of humanity, ok. 

    The power of a woman to seduce a man? Not so much.

    Heroes use their powers for good. Villains use their power for self.

    She who rocks the cradle rules the world.

    • #22
  23. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Talking to Spawn and his cohort, I make the gestaltic assessment that their view, is “okay.”

    They’ve been told that because they are white, they are by definition racists, if not white supremacists.  They’ve been told that, because they are male, they are by definition toxic and misogynists.

    To them, and those that level those accusations, those are binary options.  There is no sliding scale.  So they’ve decided, “Okay.  No point in trying to argue with or negotiate with you.”  They are unbound from the chains of the SJWs.

    ‘Course, he runs with a pretty hardcore cohort.

    • #23
  24. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    Dave of Barsham (View Comment):

    I’ll grant that it’s Friday and I’ve had a little Jack and Coke but sometime during the Obama administration, when this stuff started to bubble up, I pretty much made my mind up about it. I was already into politics before that but once it started looking like I was going to be the new bad guy (and I’m not just a white male, I’m a Southern white male, that really pushes their buttons), I decided that I was gonna just be a “regular dude,” unapologetically. I don’t cat call women, and I’ve been married to the same woman since I was twenty-one so I don’t fit the lefty stereotype of a “regular guy” in those ways, but I like a stiff drink, I like guns, grow a beard, and don’t particularly care for hipsters. If someone would have told me when I was in high school that I was going to be counter cultural when I was older I’d have laughed my butt off, but here we are.

    Wow.  Except for the Jack and Coke part, you just described me.  I like Old Fashions.

    • #24
  25. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    Dave of Barsham (View Comment):

    I’ll grant that it’s Friday and I’ve had a little Jack and Coke but sometime during the Obama administration, when this stuff started to bubble up, I pretty much made my mind up about it. I was already into politics before that but once it started looking like I was going to be the new bad guy (and I’m not just a white male, I’m a Southern white male, that really pushes their buttons), I decided that I was gonna just be a “regular dude,” unapologetically. I don’t cat call women, and I’ve been married to the same woman since I was twenty-one so I don’t fit the lefty stereotype of a “regular guy” in those ways, but I like a stiff drink, I like guns, grow a beard, and don’t particularly care for hipsters. If someone would have told me when I was in high school that I was going to be counter cultural when I was older I’d have laughed my butt off, but here we are.

    Wow. Except for the Jack and Coke part, you just described me. I like Old Fashions.

    Bourbon or Irish, straight or with a little ice for me.

    • #25
  26. Dave of Barsham Member
    Dave of Barsham
    @LesserSonofBarsham

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    Dave of Barsham (View Comment):

    I’ll grant that it’s Friday and I’ve had a little Jack and Coke but sometime during the Obama administration, when this stuff started to bubble up, I pretty much made my mind up about it. I was already into politics before that but once it started looking like I was going to be the new bad guy (and I’m not just a white male, I’m a Southern white male, that really pushes their buttons), I decided that I was gonna just be a “regular dude,” unapologetically. I don’t cat call women, and I’ve been married to the same woman since I was twenty-one so I don’t fit the lefty stereotype of a “regular guy” in those ways, but I like a stiff drink, I like guns, grow a beard, and don’t particularly care for hipsters. If someone would have told me when I was in high school that I was going to be counter cultural when I was older I’d have laughed my butt off, but here we are.

    Wow. Except for the Jack and Coke part, you just described me. I like Old Fashions.

    A man after my own heart! I also like a good Old Fashioned. Sadly, I’ve found that I can’t make one at home to save my life. Best one I’ve had was in Birmingham, AL at a specialty place (I’ll admit, probably a hipster spot), however if you can get your hands on a bottle of some Cask & Crew Orange, it tastes just like an Old Fashioned out of the bottle. They had a booth at a Bacon and Bourbon festival in Charleston a couple of years ago, I spent a lot of time in that line for refills.

    Note: The Jack and Coke’s are a cost cutting measure. My wife and I adopted three kids last year, they neglected to mention that they were really just stomachs with legs.

    • #26
  27. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    When I was a young feminist, for example, I refused to say that “Chevrolet uses sex to sell vehicles” because what Chevrolet had used was a photograph of a lightly clad female draped across the bonnet of the Bonneville…

    Uh – The Bonneville was a Pontiac model ma’am. It’s a guy thing :-)

    • #27
  28. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    JoelB (View Comment):

    When I was a young feminist, for example, I refused to say that “Chevrolet uses sex to sell vehicles” because what Chevrolet had used was a photograph of a lightly clad female draped across the bonnet of the Bonneville…

    Uh – The Bonneville was a Pontiac model ma’am. It’s a guy thing :-)

    And it would have taken a lot more than a hot chick draped over it to make it sexy.

    • #28
  29. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Charlotte (View Comment):
    And it would have taken a lot more than a hot chick draped over it to make it sexy.

    Depends on what year:

    Buy used 1967 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible, 400/325 T400 ...

    • #29
  30. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    Dave of Barsham (View Comment):
    My wife and I adopted three kids last year, they neglected to mention that they were really just stomachs with legs.

    Just wait until they get to college.

    Fortunately, I made my last tuition payment in December 2018.

    I now have the time and money to indulge in good cocktails at home.  Some hints:

    Watch some of the YouTube channels about cocktail mixing.

    Make your own simple syrup.

    If you are really ambitious, make your own bitters.

    • #30
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