Quote from: Aussie_85 on January 27, 2021, 02:56:07 PM
It's an issue for sure - i just got through watching Band of Brothers (for the 10th time over the years, one of my favourite shows of all time) - that was the generation of men. No whinging, no complaining - the strong quiet types of men. My grandfathers generation truly were something special.
I'm actually joining the Australian army, infantry mid next year - I'm 35 and the cut off age is 56...i couldn't believe it, it's something I've always wanted to do. I starting youtubing videos about the initial training as a recruit etc and was completely thrown back by what i saw...apparently the drill sergeants can't be "mean" anymore, in case they offend someone. Most of the people shown in the video looked like they belonged working in a shopping mall rather than soldiers. Political correctness has gone so far beyond to far...that i just don't even have words for it. They need to be hard on people to break them down and build them up again, to prepare for combat. I'm sure the Chinese PLA doesn't give a fuck if it offends anyone, insanity.
Don't worry about going of topic boys, the poll flopped ;D 8)
coming to north america from south asia, i honestly feel that there is definitely an emasculation of western men going on. I can't see long term good come out of it tbh. It's getting taken to an extreme. I am a little shocked about the drill seargent thing too, they should be tough by definition almost.
Tough men (and women) have their place in society, no doubt. Military, law enforcement...these institutions rely on people who are mentally and physically fit to carry out their duties and as such they should be held to the highest standard.
But how have we as individuals benefitted from the mental/physical toughness of men of past generations? Are the men of the greatest and silent generations
really a good model for us to follow? I'm sure there were many men who threw themselves into family life after World War II but many didn't. Back then, men often paid little attention to their children as they focused on their work and enjoyed the spoils of male privelege. Fast forward to today, and you have generations of men who are still grappling with the lack of emotional support from their tough manly fathers - some of who inadvertently introduced their sons to pornography through carelessness and lack of attention.
What kills me is that we as men and as a society still romanticize this masculine ideal of the big strong man, even as we are internally at odds with it. We are afraid to admit to weakness or to look weak in front of other men, and yet here we are: porn addicts who are precisely in this position because we can't face our emotions and weren't taught by our fathers (and other male role models) how to properly deal with them. Do you see the irony here?
While I agree that political correctness has gone a little too far, I also think men have some reconciling to do. Some shit went down in previous generations that was just not okay, and the fallout from that is still affecting men of my generation and subsequent generations. The problem is figuring who and what we want to be because unfortunately we can't have it both ways. We can't be the tough as nails guy who "mans up" and pushes his feelings down all the time and then expect our children - unlike us - to grow up to be emotionally resilient adults. We have to foster that by being involved and showing that we give a shit about them. And we also have to teach our sons that it's okay to be emotionally vulnerable and get their needs met in a healthy way. Because if we don't,...well, gentlemen, here we are.
Just my two cents.
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