And therein lies one of the keys to the pussification of American boys -- the cultural references of manliness have been corrupted and/or misappropriated.
King of the Hill. The reply references a TV show (and I take it as a deliberately posed irony that murdoog is completely aware of and is using to make the same point I am expanding on). I've seen it about half of one time -- it fell into the forumlaic animated "comedy" that pokes fun at some aspect of middle class America.
But the "King of the Hill" to which the article referred is a rough-and-tumble game where one kid tries to maintain his position at the top of a slope (the steeper the better, and if some trees or thorny brambles were at the bottom, that was GREAT!), while all the others try to knock him off, by whatever means possible (short of weapons -- resorting to using a weapon was admitting you were a loser.
The cultural reference of Dad -- the hardworking, family-focused, fix-the-toaster/car/bike, play catch with the boys, paint the house man of the house has given way to the TV Dad -- the bumbling, butt-of-all-jokes, needs-to-be-rescued (usually by patient wise wife or precocious smart-ass kids) buffoon.
And the erosion of the traditional American hero image is a whole 'nuther thread . . . .
>>The cultural reference of Dad — the hardworking, family-focused, fix-the-toaster/car/bike, play catch with the
>>boys, paint the house man of the house has given way to the TV Dad —
It is deliberate.
Ironically, this is pretty much the description of Hank Hill.