The paradox of strong men
I'd like to take a moment to talk about a relatively forbidden topic: strong men. No, not "strongman", as in the head of some bananna republic. And not a guy who rips phone books in half. Rather, I want to talk about an even more rare type of man--and a seeming contradiction; someone only a fraction of you have ever encountered: the paradox of the man who is gentle, good-natured and loving when life is peaceful and non-threatening; but who, when the situation requires, can in seconds go into the totally opposite mode and annhilate bad guys with frightening ruthlessness.
In today's America the opinion-makers don't talk about this kind of man much anymore. In fact, America's sophisticated elites--to whom testosterone seems to be at best a distant and vaguely discomforting memory, at worst a poison--consider this man a barbarian, a throwback to a primitive age. The elites believe their enlightened nature, their *understanding of nuance*--or perhaps the United Nations, or their platinum credit card, or their PhD in 'conflict resolution'--will protect them if bad men suddenly decide to do violence to them or their loved ones.
Most of the time these elites will prosper, but only as long as other men stand ready to fight to defend our society.
For there are two kinds of men: those who naively believe that negotiation, international law, sensitivity and/or understanding will *always* be able to dissuade angry cutthroats from doing them harm; and a second kind--the kind seldom discussed by the media, and usually scorned by them--the type of man who realizes that when someone has a knife at your throat and a track record of decapitating 'infidels', talk won't save you.
And for those of you who have been asleep or otherwise willfully ignorant, "infidels" means you. And your wife. And your kids.
And no, that's not just something I made up: that comes right out of the Koran. You know, that book that our guards at Gitmo aren't even allowed to *touch* with bare hands, because we're...um, *unclean.* Yeah, *that* book.
But I digress. The astonishing thing about the men I have in mind is *not* that they can do violence to those who try to harm their loved ones, but rather that 99 percent of the time they are totally gentle, loving, thoughtful men--the kind you'd trust your wife and kids with. The kind of man you *know* you can rely on; a man who would put his own schedule aside for a day to help your six-year-old find a stray pet if you were out of town.
If you've never met such a man I feel sorry for you. Really. You've missed out on one of the most reassuring, life-affirming experiences I know of. Knowing such men exist is like having tens of thousands of trusted teammates--men you know would guard your back in a fight, as you would for them.
Such men certainly do not wish for war, but they don't hide when it comes, either. And they instinctively know when things have reached the point beyond which all the sincere negotiations in the world won't do any good.
Unfortunately for our nation, the Mainstream Media is openly contemptuous of men like this. The MSM almost never runs a positive story about what Americans are doing in Iraq. They were all over Abu Ghraib, but almost all good news comes from blogs, including those written by Iraqis, or by American GI's in Iraq.
Let me end this with a positive note: Good men--no, astonishing men--still exist in America. And because they totally believe in defending our way of life, and in self-sacrifice when that's required, a disproportionate number serve for at least a few years in the U.S. military.
And later, they make great fathers.
In today's America the opinion-makers don't talk about this kind of man much anymore. In fact, America's sophisticated elites--to whom testosterone seems to be at best a distant and vaguely discomforting memory, at worst a poison--consider this man a barbarian, a throwback to a primitive age. The elites believe their enlightened nature, their *understanding of nuance*--or perhaps the United Nations, or their platinum credit card, or their PhD in 'conflict resolution'--will protect them if bad men suddenly decide to do violence to them or their loved ones.
Most of the time these elites will prosper, but only as long as other men stand ready to fight to defend our society.
For there are two kinds of men: those who naively believe that negotiation, international law, sensitivity and/or understanding will *always* be able to dissuade angry cutthroats from doing them harm; and a second kind--the kind seldom discussed by the media, and usually scorned by them--the type of man who realizes that when someone has a knife at your throat and a track record of decapitating 'infidels', talk won't save you.
And for those of you who have been asleep or otherwise willfully ignorant, "infidels" means you. And your wife. And your kids.
And no, that's not just something I made up: that comes right out of the Koran. You know, that book that our guards at Gitmo aren't even allowed to *touch* with bare hands, because we're...um, *unclean.* Yeah, *that* book.
But I digress. The astonishing thing about the men I have in mind is *not* that they can do violence to those who try to harm their loved ones, but rather that 99 percent of the time they are totally gentle, loving, thoughtful men--the kind you'd trust your wife and kids with. The kind of man you *know* you can rely on; a man who would put his own schedule aside for a day to help your six-year-old find a stray pet if you were out of town.
If you've never met such a man I feel sorry for you. Really. You've missed out on one of the most reassuring, life-affirming experiences I know of. Knowing such men exist is like having tens of thousands of trusted teammates--men you know would guard your back in a fight, as you would for them.
Such men certainly do not wish for war, but they don't hide when it comes, either. And they instinctively know when things have reached the point beyond which all the sincere negotiations in the world won't do any good.
Unfortunately for our nation, the Mainstream Media is openly contemptuous of men like this. The MSM almost never runs a positive story about what Americans are doing in Iraq. They were all over Abu Ghraib, but almost all good news comes from blogs, including those written by Iraqis, or by American GI's in Iraq.
Let me end this with a positive note: Good men--no, astonishing men--still exist in America. And because they totally believe in defending our way of life, and in self-sacrifice when that's required, a disproportionate number serve for at least a few years in the U.S. military.
And later, they make great fathers.
posted by SF at
1:07 AM
1 Comments:
Excellent post! The nature of the modern Warrior is not truly understood by the left - and so they fear what they don't know. Then the bastids in the MSM print nothing but bad news to add to the imbalance.
I'm guessing from your initial post you are retired AF - Thanks for your service! Love your writing, and plan to come back often.
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