The Unseen and the Fourthwire Generation
The response to my last article Marriage is Natural, provided insight into the thinking of the young men of our generation. Comments by fourthwire aptly described their values and I will refer to them as the fourthwire generation, a generation forsaken by society, or more correctly, a generation denied instruction and discipline in manhood. They are the final generation of the feminine materialistic culture of the West.
Scottkirk who is a member of the fourthwire generation frequently indicates to me that I was raised at a time before the complete saturation of society with feminine values that his generation was subjected to, and therefore I have a better understanding of masculine values. This is only somewhat so, but to Scott, I say reread the booklet 20th Century Decadence; this mess began over 2,000 years ago. Reread the chapter Tyranny at Home in my book, which explains how the Industrial Revolution exacerbated the feminine nature of our society and drove men out of the home and made of them beasts of burden who only had time to eat and sleep in their own homes.
Scott, however, is right in that we have been saturated by feminine materialistic values, and the fourthwire generation reflects those values. The masculine principle focuses on that which is unseen. When I refer to the unseen it un-nerves my detractors. They seem to think that what I say is secret. I have never alluded to anything secret. Unseen is only secret to those who cannot grasp it. Because of my promotion of unseen masculine values I have been accused by infidel in the true accusatory nature of feminine materialism, of promoting Eastern religions. Infidel, I will accommodate you today, I will use as support for my arguments the teachings of one who was born in Asia and spent his early childhood in Africa. His name is Jesus.
Early on Jesus stated, “My kingdom is not of this world” However, others thought then that the kingdom must be someplace else, and he later explained, “The kingdom of God is not in one place or another, the kingdom of God is within.” All things come from within, from the unseen masculine principle. Understanding the dual nature of man and the temptations between the seen and the unseen Jesus said, “A man’s heart is where his treasure is.” The treasure of the West is in the material world.
The West has built huge material edifices and has come to worship the works of its own hand. It looks upon one of its great material “discoveries” the formula E equals mc squared, which in essence means that matter can be converted to energy. This was only a “discovery” to the Western mind. People of the spirit knew it from the beginning. This formula enables man to destroy matter. As a test we blew up two cities. Now we are worried that some other nation might decide to do that to us. However, the West is unable to do the reverse, and that is to create matter from energy.
To create matter form energy, which is but a form of mind, the unseen spirit must be called into play. Jesus fed the multitudes from a few loaves of bread and a few fish. He converted water to wine. He taught us that greater things than these we could do, we could even move mountains. Unfortunately the only way the West can move mountains is to blow them up, because is cannot deal with the unseen.
The whole basis of holistic medicine is to change that which is within, then that which is without will change. People are not grouchy and grumpy because they have broken and dysfunctional bodies; they have broken and dysfunctional bodies because they are grouchy and grumpy. The unseen always affects the seen. Jesus said, “Which is easier to say, thy sins are forgiven (the unseen) or arise and walk (the seen)?
The entire educational system of the West is feminine materialistic. It deals with information and not knowledge. Regarding the unseen nature of knowledge I quote from Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road, a huge spiritual revelation put into poetic form.
“ Wisdom is not finally tested in schools. Wisdom cannot be passed from one having it to another not having it, Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible to proof, is its own proof.”
The material world that we live in is collapsing; our buildings, cities, and bridges are coming down. It matters not who or what is causing it, nobody can stop it. We live in a time when society has the identical values that Israel did at the time of Jeremiah. Whether it was the Babylonians who carted them away or some other force, the fact was that the materialistic life of Israel would come to an end.
I am not a pessimist, and do not believe the world will end anymore than it did at the time of Jeremiah; but it sure did change a lot for the Israelis. So our world will change too. In order to rebuild during the aftermath will require men of courage; men who will be able to say as ggreen did in his comment #148 to Marriage is Natural, I AM A MAN. You made my day ggreen, and I trust you inspired others. You don’t need anything else. Once you realize the unseen power that was given to you from the beginning there will be no obstacle too great for you to overcome. The Adam principle is within you. It is the power of the universe and it is yours for the asking.
The change will come from a getting together of other men who can say I AM A MAN. There will be many from the fourthwire generation who have come to understand their manhood and its responsibilities. They will, as stated in Isaiah, rebuild on the old foundations and will be called the rebuilders. If you are one of those men contact us at www.mensaction.net.
I'm also the Chief of Men's Action to Rebuild Society, an organization that not only addresses the issues confronting you, but takes action to resolve these issues. | More from Elder George
Stumble It!
August 9th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Commenters: Please stick to the subject matter and refrain from preemptive declarations.
August 9th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
There is a sad similarity between the generation which came of age after 9/11 and the generation which came of age at the beginning of World War I.
Both had been preceded by long periods of peace, 50 years in the case of the 9/11 generation and 100 years in the case of the World War I generation (There had been no major European land war since the Napoleonic wars, only the Crimean War around the mid-19th century and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870).
Both tried to avoid the horrible ordeal ahead for them but in different ways. The WWI generation was probably the last to glorify war as they did in the beginning until the Battle of the Somme when 20,000 young men were killed in an afternoon.
The 9/11 generation have refused to see that we are involved in a world war with a group of people who hate our values and who wish to destroy us. 9/11 did not wake them up even though it was preceded by 22 years of attacks on Americans. They are still imprisoned in the 60’s mentality spawned by the left and the feminists that if we had only been nicer, if we only had talked more…
What will it take?
August 9th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Begging your pardon, Mike….. but I feel obligated to provide my perspectives, including aspects that might be considered part of a “preemptive declaration”.
George has made a few drastically incorrect assumptions about me….. and I’m not faulting him for doing so.
But I rather doubt that he would use me as an example if he were to actually know my background and demographic information.
Mind you, I have always considered such information irrelevant to this forum, preferring to broadcast my perspectives, opinions, and knowledge (and perhaps at times, lack thereof!).
But now to my commentary to George’s points:
As far as “understanding my manhood” is concerned, I would wager that I “understand” it far better than George apparently credits me for.
And if I correctly understand his inferences, I “understand my manhood” well enough to avoid becoming yet another piece of roadkill from past decades’ gender warfare all the while developing my career(s) enjoying a fair bit of recreational sex, and developing a number of traditional male hobbies and interests.
Unbeknown to poor George, I manage to balance those interests he refers to as “materialistic” and “spiritual” rather well – easily enough… since the two aspects of one’s life are certainly NOT mutually exclusive.
And certainly both aspects of one’s life are worth developing and defending against the greed or malice of others (including the greed or malice of America’s women in my opinion).
As far as my “responsibilities” as a man, I find it interesting that George is concerned about MEN’S “responsibilities (ironically just as feminists and our nation’s court systems seem wont to do…… such as the judge presiding in the fleecing of that poor bastard at the center of Roe-versus-Wade-for men delivered during his reading of the verdict!).
Men are being told of their “responsibilities” throughout their lives….. and if Mommy and Daddy haven’t started, the federal government begins through their registration for Selective Service around age 18.
And to point out the obvious: men aren’t suffering so much from not understanding “responsibilities” so much as from not having identical reproductive, civil, social, and criminal rights, privileges, and choices as women enjoy.
I certainly agree that boys today are often not provided with essential “infrastructure” to develop traditional men’s values and/or interests.
And fathers are right at the top of that list…….. but that particular shortcoming often results not so much from men’s “responsibilities” but from women’s “choices”.
It doesn’t take much reading skill to figure out my opinion that righting the imbalances between women’s “choices” and men’s “responsibilities” would go a long way toward improving the quality of life for boys and men in Western nations.
Addressing those imbalances and forcing change seems to be far more relevant than attempting to address the “seen” versus the “unseen”, or even attempting to assert a “patriarchy” in this nation.
Men can choose for themselves how they will live, within the constraints imposed by the laws of the nation they reside in.
I chose to deny any support to those aspects of our society that are laden with misandry as best I can without breaking the laws…. until the misandry-laden values are wiped clean – that’s one of my ACTUAL responsibilities as a MAN.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
to fourthwire,
The values that you indicated represented a generation. At least a generation. I did not attack you or your generation. You saw no reason to get married and no one could provide you with one. That’s the way it is. I feel you ought to write for MND since your views more accurately reflect the present generation. A generation that sees no purpose in propagating the species both in the physical and spiritual realm will disappear. This is not an opinion; I’m just reporting a historical event that has repeated itself over and over.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
men since 1950’s onward have been in effect psychologically castrated!! The new feminist victim paradigm which focusses and exploits on mans very nature to protect women…Is the most perfect control and manipulation paradigm since the german nationalist paradigm!! It goes against mens own nature to fight it!!
August 9th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Education is the only weapon to fight the new feminist victim paradigm..And the feminists know this, and are activelly trying to censor information, and fighting the establishment of mens studies courses!!
August 9th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
There are a lot of invisibles that I can easily speak about, but I’ll only address two of them in this comment. The rare set of invisibles will always enable men to be responsible, strong, and excellent, but the all-too-common set enables men to be docile, irresponsible, weak, and mediocre.
I’ve worked as an SAT tutor for over two years, and have taken the test twice as an adult. (My best combined score falls only three questions and one essay point short of a perfect score.) Yet I am one of only four people I know of who has voluntarily splashed down the $40 per test needed to take it as an adult.
Everyone else tries to avoid doing such a thing by saying their program is “good enough” and that they “don’t need” to take the test to prove that they know what they’re doing.
The clash of invisibles represents the two ways which people try to show they’re good enough. I’m trying to show I’m good enough by being flat out awesome at what I do. While the vast majority of others are trying to show they’re good enough by barely meeting the standards.
That’s the first set – “Excellence” versus “Good enough to get by”.
The second set is most visible during the first two seesions where we cover Math and Reading. In both cases, I tell my students, “School hasn’t prepared you for this test. If you treat it as a school test, you’ll do terribly. In school, they tell you step-by-step what you’re supposed to do, and suppress any approach that doesn’t conform. But, on the SAT, you’re free to decide among many options what to do! And, as long as you get the questions right without running out of time, you’ll do well.”
The students who cannot adjust to the freedom – the power to do whatever they want as long as they know, in their hearts, that it will work – score poorly. While the ones who embrace this freedom do extremely well.
That’s the second set – “wanting to be told what to do” versus “wanting the freedom to decide for yourself what to do”.
There are many many other subsets of these invisibles, but those are for another time. Mensaction.net seeks men who know, in their hearts, that excellence is much better than mediocrity – and who wish to invite the world to be excellent.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
“men since 1950’s onward have been in effect psychologically castrated!! ”
Not all of us.
“Education is the only weapon to fight the new feminist victim paradigm..”
That’s part of the solution.
The other part (and it could be classified as a form of “education I guess) is the messages men send out in their daily lives. Men who do not put up with the psychological castration, the entitlement mentality, and all the rest of it. Men who answer back. But be prepared for conflict occasionally (in it’s various forms). Such men do run into conflicts whether with feminist-indoctrinated women or with feminized men. But they live on their terms and are not victims in any way.
fourthwire-one of the reasons I come back to MND is to read your posts. I enjoy them immensely. I have been fairly AWOL here at MND for a while. It’s good seeing you back.
August 9th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
To Denis,
You know that I are that the messages we send in our daily lives affects the world around us. That is what we can all do individually. however, the laws, school system, and etc. will still all be there, and that is where our collective effor is needed.
You’vee seen me write my concern about the mayor of New York distributing 2.6 million condoms to the school children. Now surveillance cameras are being installed in the stairwells because of the number of used condoms they find there. It will not srprise me if the mayor next assigns rec rooms where kids can have sex during recess.
There is no bottom to the moral decay of our society. It requires a collective effort of men to change it.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
To veritas #5 & #6,
Right on, but we have to do it collectively and outside of the system.
We set up our own educational system. We can never change what is until it comes crashing down.
August 9th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Interesting……The comments that is.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
As a member of the fourthwire generation, or the lost generation, I don’t have the perspective that E.G does. He seems to be from a different era. For him there must have been a time of peace. For us there never was.
In our era the war against men was raging at us right from the start. We did not understand it. We only sensed that we were hated for some reason. We had no reference point. There was no better times to look back on. If there ever were such a thing. All we know now is survival. That is our perspective.
The difference of the two reminds me of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. It was about men who were thrown into great war at a young age. It goes like this.
“The older men still have firm ties to their earlier lives – they have property, wives, children, jobs and interest, and these bonds are all so strong that the war can’t break them. But for us twenty-year-olds there are only our parents, and for some of us a girlfriend.
That isn’t much, because at our age parental influence is at its weakest, and the girls haven’t really taken over yet. We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial — I think we are lost.”
Just one more thing.
Out of the Lost Generation came the Great Generation. Out of the Great Generaton came the Me Generation. Out of the Me Generation came the Lost Generation.
So maybe these things just come in cycles.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Sure that is reality cybro, but is it a permanent condition, or are there options or a solution?
We all know what the problems are, but like co-dependency the problem is not fixed if we do not make changes to ourselves to BE better, or more self-defined.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:06 am
I know that I don’t know much about the men’s movement although one day I will know heaps because I have personally stepped up. No biggie.
Elder George wants for people to leave this site and come over to his. That doesn’t seem like a big deal until you watch the behaviour of men.
Please don’t get into, “You don’t know for you are a woman” because basically women ….. OMG, what is the point in telling you that women actually find men fascinating.
So I will change my way of telling you this. From my experience and from my learning, I have noticed that men build empires. They don’t network as women do. Men are also strategic thinkers. OK, OK, OK, before you shoot me down; understand that I am only generalising from my learning.
A great man to me, is not one who is selfish nor one that oversteps other men for power. A great man builds his own empire. Builds his own unit of family and he stands over them.
But sometimes there is no family member to take on his legacy and so he widens his territory in search of a stranger to continue on in his footsteps. I don’t understand why this happens but I have noticed it from my teens.
If I was to be a leader, I would understand evolution and I would not fight it. Why, because it is natural. People as in humans have abilities that the animals don’t have. We have control of making destiny where the animals just follow instinct.
There is nothing wrong with evolving and there are great things that have happened because of evolution. Men and women are not supposed to be STUCK in a time warp. We are meant to discover and we are meant to push the boundaries and we are meant to question things.
I personally am getting a bit sick of feminists telling that the past was ALL bad for women and that is why we have to fight for rights and I am getting sick of Masculinists telling us that we were better off before. I can’t see either side to be right.
Sorry all, but I personal thought feminism was an action. I thought it was something that happened long ago. Now I am being challenged because how dare I not be a feminist. It is as if I have to wear a name tag just because I am female. It is like an AA meeting where you introduce yourself.
“Hello, my name is Julie and I am an alcoholic” but i have to say, “Hello, my name is Julie and I am a feminist.” Why can’t I just be Julie. Why can’t I just be an individual. Sure I have hurt males because I didn’t love them when they loved me and sure I have been hurt by males because I loved them and they didn’t love me. But that is also a part of growing up. I don’t want to hurt anyone whether they are gay or lesbians or disabled. What is so wrong with that.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the generation during feminism. I think we are able to express ourselves more than any other generation. We truly accept each other more. And we are much more closer to each other than playing roles. IMO. No expectations for you can be yourself.
What I think we need is rules for fair play. I think that is what the men’s movement is about, IMO. And i appreciate those that have paved the way for the feminised generation. Yet, it is up to the next generation to step up and decide for themselves where this will go. I think this is too long so I won’t go on. But I will not choose between the writer and the action nor the talk and the action. The action will always win hands down to me.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:02 am
To Julie,
I don’t ask men to leave this site and come to mine. Yes, I invite them to my site to get more of my specific viewpoint, but in all my lectures and to eveyone to whom I sell a book I a ask them to tune into MND. I have developed several MND followers here in NYC.
If each person would do the same we would see a large readership at MND.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:26 am
Well bloody hell; D R Usher once again extinguishes discussion and “blames” a cogent, conscientious, albeit contrarian, commenter.
Isn’t it apparent that this “Pro-family rally on the DC mall” is snake oil: not to effectuate reform, but to appeal to the choir to promote a junto of self-proclaimed, self-interested “leaders?”
This phony-bullogna stuff: is it a necessary aspect of the 4th wire generation? I mean not that they originate it, but that they buy it, eat it up, and thereby by their susceptibility to it make it possible, and tempt it.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:36 am
I agree that we created a generation of the lost, and that men and boys have been especially hard hit by this. I disagree with the idea that materialism is a feminine trait, and that spirituality is a masculine one. As far as I can see, both are human traits, and some men and some women are more inclined to lean to one side or the other. I do see major differences between the sexes, but these two traits are not among them, imo.
I think this subtle making of women the bad ones is not helping. Feminism was wrought mainly by women, with men allowing it to flourish. There are other things which men mainly brought about that women allowed or encouraged to flourish. The industrialism you feel was so damaging (I actually agree with your assessment, btw) was brought about by male minds, and I believe all the industrial tycoons were men. This new generation was caused equally by men and women.
Male involvement for men’s sake is needed to change things, however unless women also get on board of their own free will things will get worse between the sexes. It is firmly in the capacity of women to do the right thing for the right reason-just as it is for men.
I think rather than making this a contest on who is holier than thou, men and women need to start realizing that unless we move past this gender war, our species will cease to exist.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:55 am
It’s not materialism generally, but specifically consumerism, mass culture, the cult of glamor, and celebrity worship that seems to manifest a feminine taint.
The Industrial Revolution was largely wrought by men; what’s being lamented about it is that it tended to separate workingmen from the home and family.
August 10th, 2007 at 6:43 am
To cybro,
Well put. Yes, my generation knew relative calm, families were still strong and people had a sense of belongingness. There was respect between men and women and we knew our purpose in life.
But even then, the gender attack was in full swing. The Honeymooners, an early TV program starring Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows, in which Gleason portrayed Ralph Cramden, a not very bright gabby bus driver who got involved in harebrained schemes that his stable wife Alice endured. She was considered the first TV feminist. Television has gone down hill ever since.
The values I share on MND do not come from my generation; they are fundamental to humankind. The 4th wire generation is in much worse shape than the lost generation that you described. It is self-centered and valueless. It reflects the continual decline of civilization, and it will perish, as we know it. Of course there are exceptions, I wouldn’t be writing here if I didn’t think members of that generation wouldn’t respond positively, a few already have. They instinctively know and feel that something is fundamentally wrong.
The 4th wire generation has no vision. To quote again from the Bible, “A nation without vision shall perish.” Neither of our political parties offer any vision; they are too busy trying to meet the immediate needs of a self-serving society.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:03 am
It’s all true, I’m in my late 20’s and I have seen firsthand how this generation operates. But still, there is a small minority of young men who get married, find wives who, by the grace of God, still respect men, and actually have children, while the rest of the generation sinks into hedonism. But with all these young party girls, who spend their 20’s and even 30’s at clubs and put off having children, they will have no or at the very least, very few children. Meanwhile, many young christians focus on families from early adulthood. In the end, the hedonists have no choice but to die out.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:06 am
WLS that is a necessary part of an actual Fifth Column operation. To get you to do work that leads to nothing.
In this case it is more important for you to remain weak, need a leader, and stand out in the street shaking your fist while eating up the garbage the twisted system serves you making you hate it more.
This is why Elder syas there is no message. He encourages you to be a Man and choose your life, not ask someone else permission to live it.
DRU is a real load. Has no problem coming over here and making outright naked and abusive accusations in Elder’s comment section, does not refer to Elder’s Website which contains anything that he might not understand, while at the same time shutting down his comment section to his own Blog.
I am sorry, but I know Stalinism when I see it, I can tell the difference, what I cannot tell the difference between is DRU’s Stalinism and Hillary Clitin’s Stalinism.
Elder’s willingness to stand here and take the lumps is another great reason why I listen to him. I have no need for Marxists shills and censors who attack and then hide from the heat against their own ideas.
Now back to the Points…If you do not think woman are the weaker sex spiritually and drawn to materialism…look a tthe Garden event in Genesis. Lucifer sold her on Materialistic terms the Forbidden Fruit, Adam did not resist her rebellion. The curse post Eden states that the man and woman will be forever seeking domination over each other.
Look familiar?
August 10th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
To George:
George, the values that I indicated represent more than a generation of men. Not only have many younger men taken a look at the consequences of marriage and divorce and decided that they want no part of either, at least for the time being….. but many men (ranging from young to middle-aged) who have already been married and divorced have decided that once is enough.
No, I did not perceive that you were attacking me at all, although perhaps you felt as if I was attacking you. In fact I have no interest whatsoever in attacking or belittling you, either.
And no, I probably should not write for MND – my writing lacks that degree of eloquence, clarity, and efficient articulation that I value so highly in bona fide authors. I am still a student of the Men’s Rights Movement, learning from individuals such as Marc Rudov, the Gonzman, Denis, Dave Usher, and although he’s technically an entertainer and not part of the MRM: Tom Leykis, to name just a few individuals.
Besides all that, I possess all of the charm and social grace of a volley of RPG rounds when confronting those individuals who are showing either purposeful or incidental obtuseness…………
Thanks for the compliment, though and for sharing your thoughts, opinions, and perspectives.
to fourthwire,
The values that you indicated represented a generation. At least a generation. I did not attack you or your generation. You saw no reason to get married and no one could provide you with one. That’s the way it is. I feel you ought to write for MND since your views more accurately reflect the present generation. A generation that sees no purpose in propagating the species both in the physical and spiritual realm will disappear. This is not an opinion; I’m just reporting a historical event that has repeated itself over and over.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
EG, #15, thanx for the explanation. I hear what you have said.
Biscuit Queen, #17, spot on. I agree.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Real Men do not need to Censor.
In the flowing of ideas and information censorship undermines the purpose of actual unification of People. Censorship eliminates transparence and thus promotes mistrust.
One good thing about the Fourthwire generation is their defiant anture to authoritarianism.
When they are awakened to the authoritarianism of feminism which they unknowlingly carry, they will cast it off and attack…but only when they understand that there is no winning the game any other way.
After a few attacks and seeing what they are up against, the inventive will seek to redefine themselves and find no reason to waste time and energy on changing the unchangable culture that bred him to serve.
He must reinvent himself and his world.
Then he will be free.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
To fourthwire,
Since this article is close to running itself out and I have no accusations to answer to I will indulge myself with whoever is reading at this point and give you a little more of my view and mission.
The mess that we are in is entirely of Western creation. It started with the beginning of European society when they tried to have government do what men and family naturally do. The West has never known patriarchy except as Africans or Asians brought it to some countries.
To blame current conditions on Marxism and feminism is to look at the symptoms instead of the cause. The European psyche is feminine and materialistic. The two big theories coming out of Europe were socialism and capitalism, both materialistic concerns. If all the feminists and Marists were to disappear tonight, they would start springing up again in the morning because of the materialistic nature of the European psyche.
Men who propose change are not normally well received, because in essence they are telling the people they have to change their ways, and most people don’t like to do that, especially the feminine principle, which takes criticism personal. I have been criticized and as my message spreads and gains a foothold the attacks will intensify, and I have made my peace regarding that condition.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that change will not come about through the government that created this mess. It will come about from outside the system. Also, change will not come about solely or even mostly from MND or the MRM. The people who are most likely to support change are non-Western immigrants and American born blacks, people who have a cultural history of the extended family and the patriarchal structure necessary to maintain it.
Western society is unbalanced. It is feminine oriented. It cannot help itself without enlisting the aid of others. There have been some Westerners in the past who recognized this condition and wrote about it but they were ignored or ridiculed. To ignore it any further spells disaster.
I will be making negative references to the fourthwire generation because they are the final product of the degeneration of Western society. We already have the most violent boys in the world and we are but a short time away from having the most violent men in the world. We also have the most mentally disturbed population.
Change will require drastic action, not in the form of violence but in the form of our thinking and its expression. I do expect support from the fourthwire generation, but they will be in a minority among themselves and will also face abuse when they speak up, as you have seen here. Also they will be men—Real Men.
The battle is forming fourthwire, you will not be able to ignore it.
August 11th, 2007 at 9:31 am
I can’t understand the fourthwire generation’s reverence for averageness.
When they argue that “the average man” is such-and-such percent likely to get divorced, I shrug my shoulders and say, “Well, that’s nice. But what about the above-average man, or the far-above-average man?”
The saddest thing, though, is that basic game theory states that “the average person” argument is only superior when you presume that it is impossible to know any distinctive information at all. It’s an ignorant argument! (Exactly like how, if you had to guess the average grade on a final exam for a high school chemistry class, you’d pick C if you knew absolutely nothing about the class. But if it’s the honor’s class and all students attend extra help, you’d pick B. And if it’s the misfit class where each student attends calss only 60% of the time, you’d pick C- or even D.)
But the point still remains that “the average person” argument thrives on strongly-defended, and almost idolized, ignornace.
August 11th, 2007 at 11:13 am
The “Average-Man” argument only trumps the dumb looks, shrugging shoulders, and ill-logic of the “Below-Average Man.”
Additionally, the “Average-Man” argument can never win over the argument of the “Above-Average-Man.”
For modern demostrations of the “Average-Man” please See: Amadeus, and the Simpson’s installment where Bart Recites the underacheivment program of his Father “Don’t bother trying because there is always someone better than you.”
15 Years of a generation raised on the Simpsons, drawn by a guy who is still drawing Bunnies.
August 12th, 2007 at 11:42 am
It is interesting that 2 contributors cited the 50’s as the turning point in the American ideal of men. Consider the movie stars of before the 50’s: John Wayne (Who had a geat line in “The Cowboys”. Someone says, “You’re a hard man”, to which Wayne replies, “It’s a hard world.” No rose colored glasses there.), Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable (and I still think, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” is a great motto for the men’s movement!), Humphrey Bogart and others.
They were mature men with a definite set of values and God help you if you trespassed them.
With James Dean and Marlon Brando came the young, confused, rebellious comtemporary man. The disease spread to sports spawning John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and the other hot dogs we have had to put up with up to and including Barry Bonds.
It is interesting to compare Ted Williams wih Bonds. Williams was that last major-leaguer to hit .400 which he did in 1941. He went into the last two games of the year, a double-header with the old Philadelphia A’s, hitting .402.
He could have sat out those last two games but chose to play them. His average dropped to .399 after the first game but the drilled 3 hits in the last game
winding up with a .406 average. It wasn’t a question of just what you did but how you did it.
Politically after Jack Kennedy, we got Jimmie Carter, Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and the tragic Al Gore: all of whom are wobbly, quirky and withou ay values except expediency.
What the contemporary man lacks is integrity and honor, what was signified in the last scene of the movie, “Run Silent, Run Deep” when Robert Mithchum, whose destroyer has forced Kurt Jurgen’s U-boat to the surface, salutes Jurgens who returns the salute even though they had been mortal enemies.
Honor. Integrity. Think about those words.