Our Buddies, Our Voice

Happy International Men's Day (Belated)

[I started writing this on International Men’s Day, which was back on the 19th. I realize that today is so-called “Black Friday,” and the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, I am aware of my issues with time management. I’ll cover that in my Christmas Eve article scheduled to be published on St. Patrick’s Day.]

Did you know it was International Men’s Day? Did you even know we have one?

Me either. Because I’m a man.

But this year…I can appreciate it a bit more.

Why doesn’t the typical man care about a day of recognition? Well, for one thing, we have Father’s Day, which is usually awkward for us (but also deeply touching, if one is, in fact, loved and appreciated). We don’t like the recognition for just doing what we’re supposed to do.

Then again, a huge number of men would rather strike Father’s Day from the calendar. Might as well call it Failures Day. Want to wreck your day, Google, “Male suicide statistics and Father’s Day.” I did, and the first four headlines were a version of, “My father committed suicide on Father’s Day”).

In otherwise normal circumstances, we don’t feel like we deserve a special day. Our duties and responsibilities aren’t anything abnormal—men provide, protect, lead, and otherwise take on the hard stuff that only we can do. You never hear anyone saying to us, “What a strong, independent man you are!”

We certainly don’t say, “We’re adulting!”

We’re men. We just do what we have to do.

Obviously there are many, many men who do not. I don’t really think I have to riff on the obvious differences there, do I?

I had to look up how long there’s even been an International Men’s Day. Looks like it was founded in 1992. Go fig.

I wouldn’t have even known if my son, who is far too plugged-in to meme culture, hadn’t texted me about it. It seemed like a good idea to digitally fist-bump him and tell him about the Killdozer.

I don’t know. It made sense at the time.

This year, as I said, it feels a little different. When I voted for Trump, I didn’t do it out of any particular thoughts or ideology about men or men’s issues. I was just doing my part to hopefully stave off tyranny for a few more years. In the aftermath of the election, though, it was quite apparent that men made the difference. Most men voted for Trump for the same reasons I did—we want a stable economy, we don’t want any more wars—certainly not if we have military-age sons.

We also wanted some bulwark against the tidal wave of depravity coursing through the culture. Not that anyone can seriously consider Trump to be some kind of avatar of virtue, of course. But even a morally “problematic” man like him understands the dangers of the woke mind virus to civil society. Trump seems like the only one with the cojones to stand up to the diabolically psychotic woke Stasi.

We just did what we had to do at the ballot box before we had to resort to Killdozers. We’re prudent that way. Sensible. But just keep in mind that Killdozers are always an option.

All of that was sort of background noise going into it, though. It was only afterward that we realized something had changed. I know plenty of men who actually do see Trump as some sort of avatar of America. They actually believe that when he’s hocking Bibles, it’s because he’s had some sort of change of heart and will, no doubt imminently, be the Christian leader they believe God has promised. But there are plenty of men out there who know that he’s just the most viable candidate to finally make some much-needed and long-overdue changes.

When he won, I felt it. Looking at the surge of black and Hispanic voters turning out for Trump, plus all of us white boys, it felt like the men of the country finally rose up. We raised battle flags over foxholes we’ve inhabited for decades, and saw millions of other flags across the battlefield.

There were survivors out there.

The hard-working, dues-paying, battle-scarred MEN were sick to death of getting kicked in the teeth by blue-haired shock troops of the Culture of Death. They’re sick of writing checks to unfaithful wives who are alienating them from their children. They’re sick of being tone-policed by Brittany in HR.

Something had been weighing on us. I saw an X post today that articulated something that hadn’t even reached my level of consciousness.

@Anti-NeoMarxist wrote, “Are men ok? I work in customer service in an industry that is 99% men. I talk to people all around the country all day and the one thing that’s changed over the last 4 years is how many of them sound horribly sad.”

As someone who works in customer service, I can verify. They are sad and angry. I have been sad and angry for a long time, but for different reasons. My frustration (and, I’ll admit: fury) comes from feeling betrayed by the Church and Christian culture vis-a-vis marriage and masculinity. Men have been told for generations that everything about them than makes them men is wrong, or at least needs a certain amount of civilizing femininity.

It’s been a disaster. Men have noticed, and they’re talking about it.

Is a Trump administration going to change that? No, but that’s not my point. My point is that on this, the 32nd “International Men’s Day,” I will indulge in a little bit of identitarian bonhomie: I’m glad I’m a toxic man. ;-)