Obsolete Man Skills You Should Ditch

1. Hunting Hunting was a hugely important skill for much of human history, but in light of the rise of cheap and readily available factory-farmed meat, hunting’s relationship to the food we actually eat has disappeared for the overwhelming majority of the population. If you grew up in a rural area, there’s a good chance you learned to shoot game at some point, but as much as many contemporary guys fantasize about being able to kill a wild animal and eat it (Mark Zuckerberg, anyone?), particularly if you live in a big city, there’s really not much real-world benefit to that glorification.

Meanwhile, the average millennial man is probably more adept at ordering dinner online than actually making it, which is too bad. Cooking your own meals is a lot of fun, generally cheaper than eating out or ordering in, and typically healthier, too. It’s also something that, while it may seem impossible to a beginner, is actually not as complicated as it seems. Join a cooking class — or even watch some YouTube how-tos or try a meal kit delivery service — and you might be surprised at how handy you become in the kitchen. And yes, it will impress people.

2. Fighting It’s a pretty common conception that at the root of every male confrontation is the possibility of physical violence. Road rage incidents, bar standoffs, most guys have found themselves in a situation that felt like a prelude to fisticuffs. And in a violent dog-eat-dog world, there’s a certain logic to that approach. But how many of those situations actually evolve into a fight? And why should any of them? Physical fighting literally doesn’t solve anything — it just leaves people angry and bruised, or worse.

Problem-solving with an eye to compromise and healthy conflict resolution is something that, by and large, men just aren’t taught growing up. That’s one of the reasons many of us are so quick to start swinging or shoving rather than handling things with our words. But if we start thinking that the real loss isn’t losing (or walking away from) a fight, but rather getting into one in the first place, what would we really lose?

The old-world caveman mentality of brute force’s dominance is dying out. If you’re someone who can work through a confrontation without needing to beat the other person into submission — physically, verbally or emotionally — you’ll see it pay off in your close personal relationships, too. Next time things start getting heated, try recognizing that you're angry and trying to engage the other person with your words (or just walking away).

3. Repairing Your Car In the popular imagination, the greasy car mechanic wiping his sweaty brow as he peers into your car hood is always a guy. Concordantly, the idea that a car is a guy thing and a guy should be able to fix his car as a result is something that’s pretty ingrained in our cultural beliefs. But as cars shift from analog behemoths to digital devices, some of the basic functionality in your car is now completely out of the fixing range of even the handiest of men. Not to mention that increasingly, electric cars, public transit, and cycling are becoming more attractive options for environmental reasons, and ride-sharing or car-sharing services mean the link between being in a car and being responsible for its functioning is as tenuous as it’s ever been.

The 20th century mythos of the car as a vehicle that gave you freedom — to cross great distances, to discover new things, to leave your past behind — is perhaps now more accurately applied to the internet. There’s a pretty good chance you spend more time online these days than driving (ideally not at the same time, though), but the average person probably has little idea how any of the internet actually functions, let alone how to build a website or make an app.

Considering the way the economy is increasingly shifting toward the digital, having at least a solid grounding in what makes the internet tick is a good idea generally. There are a lot of free or cheap how-to courses designed to help you learn how to code these days. Give one a try and see if it doesn’t come more in handy than learning to replace the alternator.

4. Fixing Things at Home Power tools are such a de facto man thing that you’d be hard-pressed to find examples of women using them in most movies or TV shows. Men just are the mechanics of the world, right? As with car maintenance, however, the idea that a man owns his house and should therefore know how to take care of it is increasingly an outdated concept. With most millennials having no real shot at home-ownership, there’s a good chance your landlord will be the one in charge of fixing anything that goes wrong in your place — or, more likely, paying someone else to.

It’s a sort of running gag in contemporary culture that women put a lot of effort into decorating their homes and filling them with the basic household necessities while men, well, sleep on a mattress lying on the floor. While it’s not as cut-and-dried as that, the average guy probably has some catching up to do with regards to interior design. It’s not something that women are innately better at, after all; it’s something that you can make serious strides in by committing yourself to. If you have the time and/or the money, investing in how your space looks, feels, and functions can really change how you feel about the space (and how any potential dates you bring home feel about it).

5. Being a Leader For much of human history, patriarchal societies meant women were expected to stay home and raise children, and men were expected to run everything else. Meaning, while there’s a good chance your mom wasn’t a CEO, your grandmother almost certainly wasn’t.

But in today’s world, the notion that a man will or must be a leader is increasingly vanishing. What that means is that guys who were brought up expecting to be in control are now having to accept that — gasp! — their boss is a woman. What to do?!

Workplaces of the future are likely to be less reliant on men’s top-down leadership and more dependent on open communication between coworkers of all genders and utilizes a lot of different peoples’ skill sets. Rather than a bunch of guys all competing to nail down a corner office, a healthy workplace is one where ego takes a backseat to communal success.

Unrestrained ambition and a need to be in control all the time will hurt your chances at a promotion, not help them. So instead, try to focus on building soft skills such as supporting co-workers, building links between different divisions, and knowing how and when to compromise.

6. Being a Disciplinarian For a long time, the most important aspect of being a father was simply providing for your family, and second, perhaps, was molding your sons into men. That meant being stern with them — even harsh. That meant toughening them up by teaching them how to shoot, how to fight, how to push through their pain, how to overcome their fears. All the old Man Skills, basically.

The archetypal disciplinary father really wasn’t setting his sons up to have emotionally healthy lives, though, meaning possible repressed trauma, difficulty communicating about feelings, and a dire need to see a therapist are far more common than you’d hope for adult men.

If you really want to have a positive impact on their lives, it’s vital that you prioritize being there for them and encouraging them to be open with you about what they think and how they feel, rather than pushing them to fit into a narrow model of how to be. Don’t be the father who punishes his son for exploring more feminine things — he’ll resent you. Instead, be the father who encourages his kids to pursue their own interests and to become their own people, and who’s there to listen when something’s gone wrong.

7. Holding Your Emotions In For a long time, the model man was stoic: the strong, silent type who never cried and wouldn’t admit when something made him sad or afraid. Let’s leave that whole concept in the past where it belongs.

Aside from just valuing communication, kindness, and empathy, this is a life-and-death issue. Men’s inability to open up can cause them to struggle with forming friendships and meaningful bonds with other people, which scientists have linked to early male mortality rates. That’s right: Being emotionally walled up is literally killing men.

As a man, there might not be any single more important skill you can pursue than emotional maturity. Understanding what you’re feeling, why you’re feeling it, and how to handle that feeling is something that few men are taught growing up, and it’s hard to overstate the negative impacts the absence of that skill can pose. If you have the means to, consider going into therapy. Even if you don’t feel that you’re struggling and haven’t been diagnosed with any mental health issues, therapy is a proven effective way to work through problems that have been plaguing you and become a happier, healthier version of yourself.

History of Man—Beer and the Wheel by Unknown

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel.

Beer required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture.

Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

The wheel was invented to get man to the beer and vise versa.

These two were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals. 2. Conservatives.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were less skilled at hunting (called 'vegetarians' which was an early human word meaning 'bad hunter') learned to live off the Conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hairdressing. This was the beginning of the liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men evolved into women. Others became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that Conservatives provided.

Over the years Conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass for obvious reasons.

Modern Liberals like lite beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: many liberal women have higher testosterone levels than their men.

Most college professors, social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, film makers in Hollywood, group therapists and community organizers are liberals. Liberals meddled in our national pastime and invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink real beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are members of the military, big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, airline pilots, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other Conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when Conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history. It should be noted that a liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to this post.

A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be shared immediately to other true believers and to just piss-off more liberals.

And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your true self, I'm going to grab a few beers and BBQ some steaks!

AGREED 100%.

IF I was going to write an article about being a MAN in the 21st Century, I’d say this & more:

1. HUNT & FISH. Even in 2019, hunting is far from obsolete & given the fact that our forefathers succeeded in killing of most of the natural predators, game animal numbers are EXPLODING. -In many places there may be 200 or more Whitetail Deer per square mile & IF they aren’t thinned out, they will not only eat everything in sight & starve but also become diseased & waste away SLOWLY/PAINFULLY.
(A .30-06 bullet is a QUICK & near painless death, if you can shoot well & at a reasonable range.)
I suggest that dads/moms learn to hunt & fish if you don’t know how & then teach your kids. - To quote an old/wise saying: “Hunt with your kids or hunt for them later.”
(One thing that the author of the original article is correct about is LEARN to COOK, if you don’t know how.= One day, you may well NEED to know how to cook.)

2. PROTECT HOME & HEARTH. BOTH men & women would do well to make & practice a FAMILY EMERGENCY PLAN. - Such a plan should include good locks for all doors/windows & an intrusion/fire alarm system.
(MANY such systems are relatively inexpensive easy to install yourself & cost 20.oo or less per month to have professionally monitored, 24/365.)

ACQUIRE a suitable defensive forearm for HOME DEFENSE, learn to keep it cleaned/lubricated/maintained properly/secured & LEARN to use it safely.- A quality shotgun or revolver will last for generations, with little effort.
(Even a rank beginner can learn to shoot a double-barrel or pump-action shotgun and/or a .38SPL revolver successfully & with a few hours of professional lessons, IF you don’t already know how.)

LEARN EMERGENCY FIRST AID. - The RED CROSS teaches FREE classes on that subject. When you need help most in a serious manmade/natural emergency professional help may be hours/days before they arrive at your home..

CONSIDER BUYING EMERGENCY FOOD & WATER. = Enough food & bottled water for a week may well keep the family alive & reasonably well, until outside help arrives to rescue your family and/or bring in supplies.
COMMENT: At 72YO, I’ve lived through 4 major hurricanes & a pair of severe tornados.= When such things happen, it’s generally too late to prepare to care for your loved ones/yourself.

3. LEARN PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE & CAR REPAIR. - Professionals charge $$$$ for simple jobs like changing hoses, changing the oil/oil & fuel filters, checking the power steering/radiator/brake fluids & other simple tasks.
(HAYNES & CHILTON sell simple to read/understand manuals n most cars/pickups.- The manuals are cheap, too. Less than 50.oo in wrenches/screwdrivers/a socket set are worth having & will save you more than their small cost, the first or 2nd time that you do your own oil/filter change).

4. LEARN to do simple home repairs yourself. - What you’ll spend for DIY tools/supplies will be repaid the first time that you do NOT have to call a plumber/roofer/carpenter for a small job. - Community colleges teach such simple skills, if you don’t know how to do simple fixes in the home.

5. LEARN TO LEAD, RATHER THAN DRIVE YOUR FAMILY. - YELLING/SCREAMING & USING OR TOLERATING VIOLENCE in your home is a sign of WEAKNESS, regardless of what your parents believed. Further, such behavior will cause your wife/kids to learn DISRESPECT for you, as “the head of the household”.
(As my beloved grandfather used to say, “Avoid the loud-talking man. In most cases, all that you are hearing is air escaping from the place where his brain is supposed to
be.)
A TIP for dealing with your wife: IF you liked what she was when you were dating, continue to treat her like your girlfriend & in virtually every case, she will respond in kind & will knock herself out to please you.
(I’m blessed to have met & married a very feminine, beautiful, loving, charming, cooperative & devoutly religious lady, who is now a lovely mother to our infant son.- As THE GOOD BOOK says, “A good woman is a pearl beyond price”. = I try hard to treat her as the precious treasure that she demonstrably IS.)

6. DISCIPLINE CHILDEN W/O ANGER. - Imo, hitting a child, except in the most extreme of circumstance, is another sign of weakness & inability to get cooperation from your kids, absent threats of or using violence. HITTING will often get IMMEDIATE compliance but it teaches the child that you are incapable of getting your way w/o violence & will, in the long-term, teach them disrespect for you as “the head of the household”. = I cannot ever remember my grandfather hitting any of us but we minded him because we didn’t want to have him think less of us. - He was a GENTLEMAN of “the old school” & a “man to look up to.”
COMMENT: King Solomon was 100% correct, long ago, in his book, THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON: “Strike your son & teach him to sin.”

7. REMEMBER “THE GOLDEN RULE”. - IF you treat others in your life as you would have them treat you, you’ll likely not go too far wrong. Also remember the SCRIPTURE: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”
For those who don’t respond positively to fair play &
kindness, you are better off without them in your life!!
(It’s foolish to expect a child to confide in you, if they see you as a disciplinarian first & before they see you as a loving father.)

I welcome & solicit your comments on how that I believe that a gentleman should try to live his life.

Just my OPINIONS, TMN7824.

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.