A couple of days ago I willingly engaged in a back-and-forth with a long ago public school friend of mine when he popped up on Facebook as he does every few months.
Steve (his real name) is a classic, knee-jerk liberal of the California variety not well-versed in his intellectual foundation and so must rely on being smug, holier than thou, and full of ridicule and hubris.
So Steve stopped by my Facebook page to ridicule a post concerning a new variant of the venerable 1911 pistol… a somewhat technical article about a military firearm; I linked it to a number of friends with similar interests.
Steve: “It’s expensive… but I am going to run out and by one for my son’s 16th birthday……Who cares about the money if it can save him from the black boots who will inevitably be coming for him.”
Like all libs Steve cannot debate an issue–any issue–in the straightforward; because he knows, like the Viet Cong, he cannot effectively mount a sustained firefight…. hit and run is best he can do.
I dusted him in short order as I always do but this carried some weight even with him:
“Steve: the gentlemen listed above, whom I’m privileged to have as friends, include fellow combat Marines, retired military officers and senior enlisted, Medal of Honor Recipients, distinguished marksmen, retired law enforcement officers, a card-carrying member of Mensa and a widely respected military author and journalist.”
The takeaway for me in this lopsided little skirmish was how proud and satisfied I am to live in the world of men such as those whom I’d introduced to Steve.
This doesn’t mean that I live in a world of high-octane, risk-taking, minimal thought and all action… on the contrary. I’m talking about a world in which my friends live the most important parts of being a man…. leader, protector, healer of wounds, first to answer the call, instructor; most are voracious readers and possess a multitude of varied interests.
In this group debating whether or not Nietzsche was full of crap is as likely as why in hell did Hitler stop the almost assured destruction of Britain and open the Eastern Front against the Soviets?
Men in my world are scholars and can ably discuss most every current event on a day-to-day basis…. why? Because we believe being forewarned is being forearmed.
These are men who have ridden to the sound of guns, who ran into fires while most such as Steve, ran out. The main differences between these men and Steve is that he would have but one thought in mind: “Get out, get out, get out, get out.”
In my world the only thought is “Who is still alive in there?”
In my world men wear head gear… they wear caps (veterans, NRA, John Deere) and Western hats (straw in the summer and felt in the winter), helmets, construction hard hats. They have calloused hands and despite advanced degrees, usually know their way around horses and aggressive dogs.
We (not all) drink whiskey, some chew and most are reformed smokers and and we condemn to the deepest levels of hell the enemies of our country and those who turn against us.
We believe that in the event America is invaded, a significant fifth-column of our fellow citizens would immediately rise and inform on the patriots for 30 pieces of silver… or a loaf of bread.
Most of us still cannot set aside the nagging possibility that the enemy may hit the wire any time, despite age and infirmity…. ours, not theirs.
We deeply fear as did the Founding Fathers, an all-powerful federal government. Over our many years and life experiences we learned to recognize danger from afar because recognizing it “danger close” does you no good.
All this is lost on the Steves of the world.
We find most people tiresome but do not say so; essentially we are taking count, silently rating them: can they be counted on? And to do what?
It’s automatic.
I have numerous pairs of latex gloves in my truck (yeah, a big, burly 5.7 liter)… if you don’t know why I have them then we probably don’t hang out.
I cannot estimate the number of accidents at which I’ve rendered aid… I know my first aid, I know my artificial resuscitation, my Heimlich… I’ll never (nor will my friends) be the ones running around yelling “someone help!!!!”
Does this mean were something special and crave attention. No, it means that in my world, men act, we stand on the wall and the others… the Steves… can mock and disdain all they want.
It is so because most people lead a safe and protective life thanks to my friends in the military, law enforcement, as first responders, medical personnel, firefighters while most males have never had to defend their Country, families or themselves and ironically are the first to ridicule those who have made their low-risk, no-risk lives possible.
So in honor of Robbie Burns Day…….
Here’s tae us
Wha’s like us
Damn few,
And they’re a’ deid
Mair’s the pity!May those who live truly be always believed,
And those who deceive us be always deceived.
Here’s to the men of all classes,
Who through lasses and glasses
Will make themselves asses!I drink to the health of another,
And the other I drink to is he
In the hope that he drinks to another,
And the other he drinks to is me.Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand
Andy may his great prosperity
Ne’er fail in old Scotland!
LeatherneckM31 
Great to see you writing again. Steve sounds like the majority of the folks around my neighborhood. Like my neighbor Larry, whom I consider a good friend, but an Obamite nonetheless. He couldn’t vote for Romney because he’s “a Mormon.” He had to let Obama “finish what he started.” But holy cow does he have some things to say about the invasion of our southern border and those lowlife Mexican/Central Americans. I didn’t vote for Obama because I couldn’t stand the thought of him finishing what he started. I’m not a Mormon, but I’d rather have one as president that the commie Muslim liar who’d rather watch Rome (and the world) burn and have a cheeseburger while he laughs and jokes about it.
I’m glad there’s people like you (and I confess like me too) that think about “who’s in there?” when they see a fire, not “get out and get far away.”
I check often and again, great to see you post!
Gary, good to see you at the keyboard again.
I agree with you 110%
“Men in my world are scholars and can ably discuss most every current event on a day-to-day basis…. why? Because we believe being forewarned is being forearmed.”
This is a by-product of a little good ol’ fashion military “kick-ass” training. the intellectual is totally void of such experience. God help these liberals for what they will need to survive these trying times is not written in anything THEY read.
On another note Photo #5 – nice choice! Achilles in Vietnam (Dr. Shay)
Winch
“This is a by-product of a little good ol’ fashion military “kick-ass” training. the intellectual is totally void of such experience. ”
Tell that to my father. A combat veteran of Vietnam and a Marine. He’s also a liberal and a cosmologist. It’s very odd that you’re so threatened by the idea of an intellectual that is capable of armed or unarmed combat and understands the risks involved. It’s equally strange the constant comments and back-patting that I see about how “I only am friends with military men and they are all conservative”-esque comments I keep seeing on here.
Clearly you’d rather generalize all the very idea of an intellectual with no understanding of it and an ego to match. What hubris to think you and this blogger thing you know all liberals, all intellectuals and everything they’ve done, everything they are. That is some profoundly egotistical BS
Furthermore “It’s a man’s world” and “Men in my world are scholars and can ably discuss most every current event on a day-to-day basis…. why? Because we believe being forewarned is being forearmed.” Is not only self-congratulatory mental masturbation, it’s just another case of exclusionary and generalizing thinking on anyone whom thinks differently than you. In this case, people that are biologically different. Surely no woman ever can think in the terms presented. Surely this isn’t a world that is humanity’s (for now)!
No it’s a man’s world, a REAL man’s world. The conservative “Served my country and ignore all liberals and intellectuals that have served with me because they can’t possibly exist!” type of man. The man who knows a woman’s place better than most woman. The man’s world because it’s a man’s work, no, his place to rule!
I’m not a feminist, I’m a humanist, and this is blatant sexism and bigotry, generalization, and self-congratulatory BS from you and the blogger. Note how I have not once generalized all conservatives or libertarians. I’m elaborating on my opinion, I’m addressing your points. I’m pointing out the logical fallacies.
My guess is that my pointing out that such generalizations are foolish and make you two look ridiculous will be completely ignored, but that something I said will be cherry-picked and focused on instead of addressing the points made. Feel free to prove me wrong. Though you just can’t be on the subjects of generalizing all women and all liberals as thinking the same way. If that has to be explained to you….Well, I just don’t know if it could without opening your mind up.
There’s few things worse than an intellectual coward who’s afraid of shadows of people he doesn’t know, so he has to belittle all of them.
“Like all libs Steve cannot debate an issue–any issue–in the straightforward;”
As I said in your other thread, you’re being obtuse or disingenuous and inflammatory, on top of this hypocritical and ironic statement. You show no respect for people of an opposing viewpoint, you show no understanding or even an attempt to understand liberals so you just clump us all together and tell us what we think, feel, how we act. Based completely on anecdotal and personal experience with a hefty dose of BS rationalization for your double-standard.
Show us you can have a debate by actually making a valid observation and then backing it up. You cannot let emotions overrule facts, you cannot use generalization of millions of people and claim to have insight, and you can’t expect liberals like me to take you seriously when you start off with insults. So to take your logic a step further: You making articles attacking liberals when you have no shorthand with liberal ideologies and a clear bias that you are unable to put aside only demonstrates YOUR weaknesses in a debate. Not mine. Not my friends, not my dad whom is a combat veteran. One of the people you claim to hold respect towards. Though since you think he is incapable of rationality while you irrationally tell him that, where does that leave room for anything other than arguing?
I can only conclude you are blind to this fact or that you are being inflammatory on bigoted on purpose, and that you don’t hold yourself to the standards that you place on others. It really does seem like confirmation-bias and preaching to the choir is the order of the day here going by the 4 articles I’ve looked at.