Thursday, June 14, 2007

The macho imperative

Digby has a habit of getting it right, and this bit about the politics of masculinity-versus-femininity is no exception.

Your typical right-winger, especially, seems to live in mortal fear of losing his grip on his masculinity.

This helps explain the peculiar idolization of John Wayne, which I addressed here a few weeks ago on the occasion of the Duke's 100th birthday. It's funny how conservatives saw a rugged cowboy and a war hero in a guy named Marion who studiously avoided military service in World War II.

And then there's the truly strange penchant among some commentators these days -- especially Chris Matthews on MSNBC -- to display a man-crush on any politician who exhibits machismo. It probaby isn't really a gay thing, but a shrink could have a field day sorting out the implications of it all.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's what all this "cut and run" nonsense is all about. You wouldn't be a real man if you started a war and then quit before
before it was over. It's all macho crap. Oh, and never admit you made a mistake. Just keep following the same stupid policy because admitting it was wrong would be a sign of weakness. You might even be called a "flip-flopper." One of our Presidents was a flip-flopper on the central issue of his time and on the biggest issue in our history. His name is Abraham Lincoln and he probably couldn't win the Republican nomination today because he's just not strong enough. He actually changed his mind as situations changed and more information became available. What a wimp!