Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Conversation We Won't Have About Raising Men
Townhall.com ^ | 9-17-2014 | Ben Shapiro

Posted on 09/17/2014 2:15:10 AM PDT by servo1969

On Thursday night, the Baltimore Ravens took on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The event carried national significance thanks to the Ravens' public-induced decision to cut running back Ray Rice after tape emerged of Rice clocking his then-fiancee in the head, knocking her out cold. CBS sportscaster James Brown utilized his pregame show to draw attention to the problem of domestic violence -- and suggest widespread culpability for domestic violence. "Our language is important," Brown suggested. "For instance, when a guy says, 'You throw the ball like a girl' or 'You're a little sissy,' it reflects an attitude that devalues women, and attitudes will eventually manifest in some fashion."

Brown wasn't the only commentator to blame "The Sandlot" for Ray Rice's horrifying Mike Tyson-esque blow to his future wife's head. ESPN commentator Kate Fagan explained, "This is behavior that is happening at the grassroots level that is born through years of our culture like raising men to want to not be like women and using language like 'sissy' and 'you throw like a girl' that demean women. ... [We need to focus on] really reprogramming how we raise men."

Naturally, this talking point was celebrated far and wide by a mainstream press more interested in perpetuating the tenets of political correctness than in actually fighting domestic abuse. The real solution to domestic abuse is twofold: punishing it to the greatest possible extent, and yes, raising young men differently. But to state that the greatest risk factor for future domestic violence is insulting other boys as "throwing like girls" is pure idiocy. No man has ever hit a woman because she "throws like a girl." But plenty of young men have hit women because they had no moral compass and did not believe in basic concepts of virtue -- and plenty of young men lack such a moral compass and belief in virtue thanks to lack of male role models.

Teaching respect for women begins with ensuring that solid male influences models fill the lives of young men -- men who respect women, cherish them, treasure them, and believe in protecting them. This is an unpopular stance, because it suggests that boys require men to raise them. Which they do. But that truth doesn't fit the logic of the left, which seems to think that lack of fathers counts less than rhetorically bothersome phrases.

For leftists, the answer to domestic violence isn't to deal with any of the issues that could lead boys to become abusing men. The answer, instead, is to lecture Americans about the use of the word "sissy" -- not because that solves the problem, but because it makes those on the left feel warm and fuzzy inside. Similarly, the left will tell Americans that the name of the Washington Redskins matters far more to Native-Americans than the nearly half of Native-American youths who drop out of high school; they will explain that "microaggressions" are the true problem faced by blacks in America, not lack of education, poverty or unwed motherhood.

We extol the language police even as we castigate moral authorities. And so our problems grow worse. But at least we feel better about them.


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: father; rice
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last

1 posted on 09/17/2014 2:15:10 AM PDT by servo1969
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: servo1969

We need to focus on really reprogramming how we raise men.

BS.. Getting back to basics would be better vice the PC, sensitivity crap that’s been rampant. Real men don’t hit women plain and simple. Real men take care of their heterosexual family.

All the crap being thrown out by the media, feminist pigs, LGBT scum and basically any liberal which has no real men amongst them is where the issues are. They need the reprogramming.


2 posted on 09/17/2014 2:27:47 AM PDT by maddog55
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

“For instance, when a guy says, ‘You throw the ball like a girl’ or ‘You’re a little sissy,’ it reflects an attitude that devalues women, and attitudes will eventually manifest in some fashion.”

Still running interference for Obama...


3 posted on 09/17/2014 2:45:28 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969
Virtue and morals are critical here, and the mass media doesn't want to address this because they don't want to face the inevitable conclusions. Too many of the enemies of pop culture would likely end up being paragons of virtue on this issue.

Someone ought to ask one of these people (James Brown, for example) a direct question:

Do you think Don Imus or Phil Robertson would ever treat a woman the way so many of these NFL players do?

4 posted on 09/17/2014 2:57:08 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969
Saying someone throws 'like a girl' doesn't devalue women!

They do throw differently then men!

Are men suppose to ignore real differences between men and women?

5 posted on 09/17/2014 3:19:31 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fortheDeclaration
Saying someone throws 'like a girl' doesn't devalue women! They do throw differently then men!

Not all of us.
6 posted on 09/17/2014 3:33:57 AM PDT by Nepeta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: fortheDeclaration
Saying someone throws 'like a girl' doesn't devalue women! They do throw differently then men!

Not all of us.
7 posted on 09/17/2014 3:34:28 AM PDT by Nepeta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

“You throw the ball like a girl!” Uh oh, has Barry hit Michelle or something and the press isn’t telling us?


8 posted on 09/17/2014 4:42:57 AM PDT by Lake Living
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nepeta

“Not all of us.”

My cousins wife just set a new USA record for womens discus. THAT’S throwing like a girl!


9 posted on 09/17/2014 4:58:22 AM PDT by CrazyIvan (I lost my phased plasma rifle in a tragic hovercraft accident.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

I was born in 1950. I remember Mickey Mantle as an up and comer.I remember anticipating the new cars for 1958.I remember the space race from the start to the moon. I bought firecrackers, .22lr ammo and pocket knives all before I was 12.

I believe I lived about the last good boyhood in America.


10 posted on 09/17/2014 5:16:21 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (When I first read it, " Atlas Shrugged" was fictional)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

A sissy response from liberals. The truth is, a man learns how to treat a woman from seeing how his father treated his mother. Regrettably, that poses a nearly insurmountable obstacle to some demographics.


11 posted on 09/17/2014 5:22:03 AM PDT by Oratam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

It only devalues women in the context of men. A man who exhibits feminine traits is of less value in the community of males than a man with solid testosterone credentials. And we should be thankful there are such men and there is such a community, because when the bottom falls out, I don’t want the city walls guarded by a battalion of interior designers.


12 posted on 09/17/2014 5:23:58 AM PDT by IronJack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

13 posted on 09/17/2014 5:27:07 AM PDT by Organic Panic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bigg Red

mark


14 posted on 09/17/2014 5:32:37 AM PDT by Bigg Red (31 May 2014: Obamugabe officially declares the USA a vanquished subject of the Global Caliphate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muir_redwoods
We might be related.

I was born in 1951, had BB guns, bows and arrows, fishing rods, firecrackers and cherrybombs, and my first guitar when I was 9.

Life was good...

FMCDH(BITS)

15 posted on 09/17/2014 7:00:20 AM PDT by nothingnew (Hemmer and MacCullum are the worst on FNC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: servo1969
[We need to focus on] really reprogramming how we raise men."

We need to send you to Marine basic training.

16 posted on 09/17/2014 7:51:38 AM PDT by Kenton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

Snicker... Speaking of throwing like a girl...

17 posted on 09/17/2014 7:54:29 AM PDT by Kenton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: servo1969

We have a solid generation of boys being feminized and at the same time being raised with no limitations/consequences.

I had seen first-hand how that worked out in practice. A boy, now an adult, was raised essentially w/o a father, who couldn’t be bothered to interact with his own children even though he lived in the same house. Eventually they divorced.

The result was a whining whelp who bullied his mother and sisters and took delight in annoying others. After he was taken away in handcuffs for the 4th time, I decided that having these people in my life was no longer tenable.


18 posted on 09/17/2014 8:00:46 AM PDT by walford (https://www.facebook.com/wralford [feel free to friend me] @wralford on Twitter)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nepeta
Most girls throw like girls, because that is what they are.

Can't speak for girls who want to be men.

19 posted on 09/17/2014 12:24:46 PM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: nothingnew

I was born in 1948, got my first rifle (.303 Enfield) before I was 15. took it to High School to build a new stock, with my shop teacher’s blessing and help, was on the rifle team, etc., etc. Never shot anyone, threatened anyone and, to date, have NEVER ONCE STRUCK A WOMAN.


20 posted on 09/17/2014 2:06:46 PM PDT by dcwusmc (A FREE People have no sovereign save Almighty GOD!!! III OK We are EVERYWHERE!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson