Category: Real Men

Real Men Don’t Rape

In a society where fathers have been sidelined in favor of the state and innocent lives are reduced to an inconvenience, is it any wonder there would be those who don’t place any value on the lives of their fellow man? Far too many young men grow up with no guidance, no example of what a man should be. They never become men. They become overgrown boys without direction.

Just what, exactly, did you think would happen?  Boys are growing up on a steady diet of prime-time sitcoms where the father is nothing more than comic relief and mother uses her female empowerment to belittle and degrade her husband. Gee, who wouldn’t want to grow up and have that? So we present role models in the form of professional athletes. Our modern day gladiators. Masculinity isn’t a core part of who they are, it’s something they express as a show. In a tidy little sanitized box.

The aren’t Real Men, they’re more dancing monkeys performing for their coin.

Real Men don’t need to swagger. Real Men don’t have to prove themselves at each and every opportunity.

Real Men don’t rape. They don’t have to be taught not to. Masculinity is not toxic.

Ladies, I know you’ve been indoctrinated with this idea of the empowered woman, but you’ve got to understand that you cannot seize this power by robbing the men in your life of it. He does not lessen you by opening the door for you.  He is honoring you as we should be teaching our sons to do. It is not because you can’t do it yourself; it is because at least in that moment he is showing you the highest respect by acting as your servant*. As a woman of respectable character, you will accept the gesture and never take advantage of the honor given you.

Real Men know that sometimes violence does solve problems, and in those situations he should not be constrained from using it.  A Real Man would never use violence against a weaker party for the purpose of gaining some sort of advantage.

Society has warped the definition of masculinity.  It is not bravado and chest thumping. It is certainly not the physical prowess of the jersey wearing demi-gods. It is certainly not present in those with no self control. A Real Man understands his own monster and keeps it in check. There is no honor in defeating someone weaker than yourself. In taking what you want regardless of right and wrong. There is great honor in humility, in standing up for what is right, and defending the defenseless. Real Men, and the women that love them, understand this.

Real Men beget Real Men. Woe to us all in a society where we’ve minimized fathers. Wives, mothers, and daughters hardest hit.

*Ephesians 5:25

Real Men: George W Bush

I’ve been planning this post for some time, but decided to put it off until after the election.  I wanted it to be a genuine tribute and not viewed as an attempt to convince anyone to agree with me.

Remember the young man we elected eight years ago?

He doesn’t look like that anymore.  All his hair is gray, and his face is heavily lined.

He has traveled a hard road these last eight years.  Never once did he lash out at those who bashed him.  He didn’t even denounce the film about the assassination of a president that used his face.  He has just taken the criticism and continued to do the job we hired him to do.

He has kept us safe from harm.  Ann Coulter wrote a great column months ago about him.  Not only has he kept us safe, but he has brought freedom to those under the oppressive thumb of Saddam Hussein.  The man has weathered a smear campaign like none I’ve ever seen.  And he has done it all with grace.  He never threw yellowcake in the faces of those screaming “Bush Lied!”

He is a man of intergrity, a trait sorely missing in Washington.  I may not have agreed with every decision that he made, but I believe that he was honestly trying to do what was best for the country.  There was a sign in my kindergarten classroom that said, “What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right.”  George W Bush consistently ignored what was popular and instead chose what he believed to be right.

He didn’t run from his past failings, but met them head on.  He always either had time or made time to comfort people.  The tears he has shed for our fallen soldiers are real.

I hope retirement is peaceful and that history remembers him as the great man that he is.  I will miss having him in the big chair, and I am not alone.

He welcomed the president-elect this week with grace.  I can only hope Obama understands the shoes he is called to fill.  We all know he understands ‘popular’, what we don’t know is whether or not he understands ‘right’.


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Real Men: Bruce Willis

This is the third post in my new Real Men series. In an effort to define what makes a man a man, I’ve decided to highlight some men that I believe fit the bill.

I’m not just picking Bruce Willis because I think he’s hot, but that is why you get more pictures with this one.

I’m picking Bruce Willis for things like this:

“I just can’t afford to hit someone, financially I’d get sued.

“Unless? If I saw a guy hit a woman I would knock him out. I can’t tolerate that.

That’s just one of those top ten ‘what makes a man’ things.  Not only could he not tolerate a guy hitting a woman, but he would come to her aid.   I don’t think it is because he views women as helpless either.  It’s just the right thing to do.  He’s the quintessential tough guy with a sensitive side.

But really he deserves the designation for stuff like this:

Unlike many Hollywood stars Willis supports the war and recently offered a $1m (about £583,000) bounty for the capture of any of Al-Qaeda’s most wanted leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, its commander in Iraq. Willis visited the war zone with his rock and blues band, the Accelerators, in 2003.

Here’s a picture of him at the homecoming banquet for Deuce 4.  The story and more pictures can be found here.

Bruce Willis is a real man; he doesn’t just play one on TV.

Bruce Willis in an unapologetic supporter of the US military.  He’s called out MSNBC about not reporting what he saw happening when he went to Iraq.  In 2002, his daughter, Tallulah, suggested that he purchase Girl Scout cookies to send to troops. So he bought 12,000 boxes of cookies, and they were distributed to sailors aboard USS John F. Kennedy and other troops stationed throughout the Middle East at the time.

He’s also a good father who isn’t above scaring his daughters’ suitors.  In spite of his divorce from Demi Moore, he remains friends with her and her new husband for the sake of his daughters.  And apparently his daughters are turning out just fine.

As tends to happen with men, his hairline began to recede in his twenties.  But thankfully, he’s man enough to go bald.  Honestly, he looks better without hair.  I think it must be the confidence.  Seriously, bald is sexy.

Yipee-Ki-Yay

Real Men: Michael Yon

This is the second in my new ‘Real Men‘ series.

Today’s media spends a lot of time belittling men. Just look at the top ten list of male bashing commercials at AskMen. The press takes their turn as well portraying soldiers as inconsiderate brutes and lambasting what they’ve termed as ‘cowboy diplomacy.’ Well MSM, the so-called ‘cowboy diplomacy’ is working. If you ask me, the world needs more cowboys.

One such cowboy is not part of the main stream media but has reluctantly taken on the ‘journalist’ label is Michael Yon.

Michael Yon is a writer that never intended to go to Iraq, but after the deaths of two friends in two days, he changed his mind. Rather than follow the example of the MSM writers, he packed up and headed over to find the real story. Real men can generally smell the propaganda being thrown at them. As a man should, he did something about it.

Problem was, he was never supported by any of the major media outlets. He just took a stand and headed out anyway. He was able to overcome the lack of respect given to a freelance writer and then blogger to deliver the real story of the very brave soldiers fighting this war. (I don’t know, but I am betting that he would say those guys are more deserving of a ‘real man’ profile.)

His efforts have paid off in that he is completely supported by his readers and so immune to the bias that comes with reporting for a specific news organization. He’s written an amazing book, Moment of Truth in Iraq, which I highly recommend. (You can also get it through the link in my sidebar.)

As a Special Forces veteran, this is a guy you wouldn’t mind covering your back. In his book, we learn he isn’t afraid to shoot with more than just his camera. Even if it is against the rules. Michael Yon is a man among men. Bruce Willis is planning a movie based on Mr. Yon’s writings.

“What he is doing is something the American media and maybe the world media isn’t doing,” the actor said, “and that’s telling the truth about what’s happening in the war in Iraq.”

Michael Yon has most certainly earned his place as this week’s real man. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eyes as well.

Real Men: Clint Eastwood

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the sissification of the men in our society. There are many things I believe to blame for this *cough* feminists *cough*. Face it, you lampoon a man as a misogynist because he’s enough of a gentleman to open a door, and he’s going to stop opening doors. If you fill prime time family television with emasculated male idiots groveling for a strong and beautiful wife, young boys start thinking that is normal.

I say Enough! We don’t need a more Queer Eye for the straight guy. I want straight men to look like men dammit! None of this feminized, flowery deoderant wearing (I’ve never had the slightest inkling of ‘Bow Chicka Wow Wow’ upon catching a whiff of Axe), metrosexual crap. Men should smell clean when it is appropriate to smell clean. When they are sweaty, they should smell sweaty. A man should not spend more time on his hair and skin than I do. Why would I put any effort at all into looking like a girl if the guy looks like one too?

So, I have decided to highlight some real men. I think it may become a semi-regular feature. And what makes me think I’m any kind of expert on ‘real men’? I happen to be married to one. Maybe I will feature him one of these days.

One of my all-time favorite bloggers, Rachel Lucas, highlighted Clint Eastwood today. Clint Eastwood is a perfect example of a man’s man. He’s a physically large man (6 feet 2 inches). But it is his presence that fills a room. At 78 years old, he’s still oozing more manliness than the Clay Aikens of the world will ever have.

Oh yeah, Dirty Harry’s still got it. As if just being the man behind the .44 Magnum wasn’t enough, he said this about Spike Lee

A guy like him should shut his face.

Pure gold I tell you. And then there is this

2005: At the National Board of Review awards dinner in New York City, Eastwood joked that he would kill filmmaker Michael Moore if Moore ever showed up at his home with a camera (an evident reference to Moore’s controversial interview with Eastwood’s friend, actor/Second Amendment advocate Charlton Heston, for the movie Bowling for Columbine (2002)). After the crowd laughed, Eastwood said, “I mean it.”

Guess Michael Moore didn’t feel too lucky. So far, no sniveling punk on Eastwood’s porch. But oh how I wish he would try it.

Clint Eastwood’s powerful, and yet gentle manner make him an excellent example of a real man. He’s the kind of man you want on your side.

So maybe I just have a thing for guys that can handle a .44 Magnum. I apologize to no one for this.