Just Above Sunset Archives October 26, 2003 Other Mail
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__________ Real men.
The only ones. Republicans. The dialog continues.... __________ In October 19, 2003 Other Mail there was a discussion headed with the title Real men. The only ones. Republicans. Dean
and Clarke and the rest don't even have a chance. And it referred to a Jay Nordlinger article - Political
Virility: Real men vote Republican. TRhat was in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, September
17, 2003 URL: http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110004188 There was a flurry of email back and forth about this. It continued
this week. Bonnie in Boston had written this: Speaking as a woman who loves men, this conversation sounds like real
men talking! For my money, the Bushies are unevolved males, stuck in the macho strut
of late adolescence. Clinton, perhaps, was our first feminist president, in that he tended to be more of a cooperator
than a competitor. The way I see it, collaboration and cooperation are necessary evolutionary
behaviors if we are to survive on the planet. And by we, I mean as many of us as possible, in all our various complexions
and cultures. Guys like Bush and Saddam retard our collective development. Brotherhood is powerful, too And this week Rick Brown added: "The way I see it, collaboration and cooperation are necessary
evolutionary behaviors if we are to survive on the planet." Phillips Raines added: Like Hassert I wrestled, and had a coach that resembled him.
Though I was really no more than a sparring partner to the state champ in my weight class. Like Cheney, I didn't go
to Nam, though I was just too young. Unlike Bush and Reagan I never wore a cowboy hat thinking with my thick neck it
just made me look like Bubba. When it comes to machismo through sweaty filth I take the Lister's cake, being sent to
the hose in the driveway to bathe before I could shower inside, the result of tearing down a 100 year old chimney. After
years of yoga in college I lost all interest for competitive sports, which I decided, were lower on the athletic food chain
than climbing or putting my nose on my knee. In climbing, and especially hard core caving, cooperation is the higher
path. Never saw much sense in killing things when it could be avoided, and there was always some one else to do that
anyway among my hunting friends. Cooperation, or making some one feel more comfortable with themselves takes a quicker
mind, shifted to a better end. It plays into being more civilized, which is of course, a benefit of valuing the company
of women, without whom there would be nothing but war and drugs and bowling in the streets. From Hollywood: I agree with the last point. Making any of the nine remaining
candidates "look macho" and thus more likely to appeal to bone-headed men and subservient Christian women? What's the
point? I wonder what Ann Coulter would say about To Kill a Mockingbird.
Gregory Peck was a life-long liberal Democrat. Guilty of treason, if I'm reading Ann's latest book correctly. Competitive sports? I agree. Well, the issue is competition
itself. "Competition is what made this country great - the free market
generated wealth and prosperity - and striving to win builds character and self-reliance." Okay. I
hear that. "Community is what made this country great - from barn-raising
in the old west to us all pulling together to defeat the bad guys in the forties - learning to cooperate makes you more effective,
more human, and more humane." Okay. I hear that too. If you lean toward liking the second contention more than the first,
you probably enjoy the company of women. Hanging out with just the guys is usually just a pain and a bore, unless you
win and get to humiliate an sneer at your buddies. Guilty as charged - I prefer the company of women. It's the appeal of the somewhat dense, inarticulate cowboy who likes
to "do" rather than think about things. There's a certain purity to that. But it's a shallow purity that doesn't
do the country much good. _____ Other readers are welcome to contribute to this conversation - the
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