Modern Male Identity Crisis

[Red Diabla]

Interesting how the stupid choices of others always tends to cost us money though.

Because sometimes those "stupid choices" don't happen in a vacuum, but come from a background of horrific upbringing. So you get generations of abuse in families who see the idyllic family upbringing as fantasy, not something that they'll necessarily be able to achieve themselves. It's not as if domestic and drug abuse, gambling, and family abandonment just popped up in the last century. It's always been around, and that abuse puts a strain on the system and society. And if it was taken care of by Responsible Family Members within all these families in all these societies, then there wouldn't be a need for outside shelters, courts, therapy, etc. to try to break that cycle of abuse and therefore try to ease the strain on the system and society.

To be a man as opposed to a male is obviously a great thing, but sometimes it has to be brought in to families where it's sorely lacking, not just because someone one time made a "stupid choice". I'd rather pay the money now for therapy for a child to help be better prepared for life if they have a crappy home life than pay for their upkeep in prison later.

RD

 

[Guttersnipe]

"Instead of industriousness, responsibility and entrepreneurship, these men demand free college education, required living wages and greater distribution of someone else's wealth. Rather than look inward and rely on their own self-sufficiency, they look for a handout. A man's livelihood once depended on his hands, back and brain. Today, the government can do all that for him, if he lets it."

Word for word, the paragraph above could have been lifted from a 1930s article against the New Deal. Same words, different era.

Yeah, that whole quip was way off base. Coming from an academic (William J. Bennett) who benefited from college deferments during a time of war, in a period when there were ample sources of cheap money for college, and tuition rates were low, comparative to incomes, it seem highly hypocritical . . .

. . . Here's a link to an occupy movement member who is clearly a "man's man" (a former Army Ranger who served two tour in Iraq and one in Afghanistan). You can read about his treatment by the police in the article. Kinda reminiscent of the bonus army movement, no?

 

[Feraud]

I thing modern media and journalism is suffering from much more of an identity crisis than men.

 

[sheeplady]

I thing modern media and journalism is suffering from much more of an identity crisis than men.

:eusa_clap Agreed entirely.

 

[Swing Motorman]

:arated: Well said, Feraud!

All this thread's wanderings on, off, and around topic, it's provided fascinating food for thought over the past weekend. Thanks to everyone for posting!


-Steven

 

[jamespowers]

Because sometimes those "stupid choices" don't happen in a vacuum, but come from a background of horrific upbringing. So you get generations of abuse in families who see the idyllic family upbringing as fantasy, not something that they'll necessarily be able to achieve themselves. It's not as if domestic and drug abuse, gambling, and family abandonment just popped up in the last century. It's always been around, and that abuse puts a strain on the system and society. And if it was taken care of by Responsible Family Members within all these families in all these societies, then there wouldn't be a need for outside shelters, courts, therapy, etc. to try to break that cycle of abuse and therefore try to ease the strain on the system and society.

To be a man as opposed to a male is obviously a great thing, but sometimes it has to be brought in to families where it's sorely lacking, not just because someone one time made a "stupid choice". I'd rather pay the money now for therapy for a child to help be better prepared for life if they have a crappy home life than pay for their upkeep in prison later.

RD

We are getting into the political area now so all I will say is that we have tried that for 40 years and all we have gotten is MORE and greater numbers of the disfunctional.

 

[Red Diabla]

We are getting into the political area now so all I will say is that we have tried that for 40 years and all we have gotten is MORE and greater numbers of the disfunctional.

I don't know if there's any way to know if that's actually true. Are there really accurate records throughout the years that prove your point?

There's always been dysfunctionality, and different ways to deal with it, yet it still exists. If you ask me, this is one of those areas where the "good old days" didn't necessarily deal with that any better than now, just differently.

RD

 

[jamespowers]

I don't know if there's any way to know if that's actually true. Are there really accurate records throughout the years that prove your point?

There's always been dysfunctionality, and different ways to deal with it, yet it still exists. If you ask me, this is one of those areas where the "good old days" didn't necessarily deal with that any better than now, just differently.

RD

We can easily see the out of wedlock births, divorce rate, crime rate and a host of other figures have gone up astronomically.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Well, that stuff isn't taboo anymore.

 

[jamespowers]

Well, that stuff isn't taboo anymore.

Yep, crime isn't taboo anymore.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Nope, it's glorified in rap/hip-hop culture, especially.

Yep, crime isn't taboo anymore.

 

[jamespowers]

Nope, it's glorified in rap/hip-hop culture, especially.

One of the areas that has the highest rates of the other two stats as well coincidentally.

 

[ButteMT61]

When my daughters came home one day in their new high school and told us about the daycare there, we knew it was the beginning of the end...
Sadly, it's NOT taboo any longer - maybe even "cool" to be an idiot kid with a baby. All I know is I understand more and more what my wife's 100 year-old Aunt meant when she said she was tired, and ready to die. I think humans are mercifully limited to years on this earth because the changes that are inevitable are often sad ones. Yeah, medicine and science may have "evolved", but has our quality of life? Dunno. Depends on the day I'm asked that.

 

[jamespowers]

When my daughters came home one day in their new high school and told us about the daycare there, we knew it was the beginning of the end...
Sadly, it's NOT taboo any longer - maybe even "cool" to be an idiot kid with a baby. All I know is I understand more and more what my wife's 100 year-old Aunt meant when she said she was tired, and ready to die. I think humans are mercifully limited to years on this earth because the changes that are inevitable are often sad ones. Yeah, medicine and science may have "evolved", but has our quality of life? Dunno. Depends on the day I'm asked that.

Daycare in High School!?:eeek::eusa_doh:

 

[ButteMT61]

Daycare in High School!?:eeek::eusa_doh:

You can't make this **** up. Sadly.

 

[jamespowers]

You can't make this **** up. Sadly.

shakeshead

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

When my daughters came home one day in their new high school and told us about the daycare there, we knew it was the beginning of the end...

When I was in high school there was only one teen mother It was such an unusual occurrence back then that she was something of a celebrity on campus. Though I do remember she was a very nice girl and was very devoted to her baby. That kid must be 29 or 30 by now.

 

[Atticus Finch]

We also had only one teen mom in my class of nearly 200. Sandra was actually one of the smartest kids in our class. She is still smart. But she didn't get to become a writer as she had planned. Instead, she made a home raised her child.

The good news is she married her boyfriend (the father) and they are still happily married. And their "kid" turns 38 this year.

AF

 

[ButteMT61]

When I was in high school there was only one teen mother It was such an unusual occurrence back then that she was something of a celebrity on campus. Though I do remember she was a very nice girl and was very devoted to her baby. That kid must be 29 or 30 by now.

The few we had in the 1976-1979 years were basically shipped out somewhere. For boys that got into trouble, it was a trip to Military Academy. Some we saw years later, others not. It was not cool on any level back then...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The few we had in the 1976-1979 years were basically shipped out somewhere.

"Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?" - Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1