Act Like a Man!

[Young Athlete]

Here is one-

Step out of your comfort zone do something you wouldn't normally do with no regret and a all or nothing attitude i assure you will like how you feel after

Between that and the whole weightlifting thing, you've got a lot figured out at your age.

Someone had to push me out , and with out mehdi i wouldn't know jack shit about lifting so I got lucky

[DaveC]

I haven't been following the entire argument so forgive me if I'm missing something, but are you implying that religion stops the pussification of man and that communism facilitates said pussification?

There was not any real argument...I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't saying only Catholics can be real men.

I'm implying that the religion that built Western Civilization (The Latin Mass) prevents the pussification of man, and Communism facilitates the pussification of man for the purpose of undermining patriarchal social order. Unfortunately, the modern Catholic and Protestant religions do little to stop the pussification of men.

[ukdudeinuk]

YA, the challenge now is for you to be humble about how mature you are. As much as you might feel mature, you can't EVER start telling yourself that you are more mature or better than the people around you. It can turn you into an elitist asshole.

[Young Athlete]

YA, the challenge now is for you to be humble about how mature you are. As much as you might feel mature, you can't EVER start telling yourself that you are more mature or better than the people around you. It can turn you into an elitist asshole.

hah thanks for the advice

[KIB]

I like the way this thread starts off with "grandpa knew best" while there's another thread in the Nutrition section that has "parents don't know anything". These may seem like contradictions, but in a larger sense they come from the same drive we have to survive.

What they tell me is that this generation, like every single one what came before it going back to the earliest days of humans, is looking for ways to organize the way they think about the world, to make sense of what's around them, and to find systems of pattern recognition that cut through life's "noise" and allow for real, immediate progress on the day-to-day scale.

Pattern recognition, and the use of such to predict the probable future, is the key to our success as a species.

Whatever system of rules or guidelines you end up using, it is comforting to know that there is no "absolute set" and that we can (and must) adapt our system as we change, and as the world changes around us. The special pleasure of being a human at the top of the food chain is realizing that our decisions alter the world around us, and end up altering us in return. It's what got us where we are, made us who we are, and is affecting who we will become, one decision at a time.

So bring on more additions to the list. The more ground it covers, the more ambiguities and contradictions it contains, the more it becomes a record of how we have survived.

[hazmat]

I haven't been following the entire argument so forgive me if I'm missing something, but are you implying that religion stops the pussification of man and that communism facilitates said pussification?

There was not any real argument...I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't saying only Catholics can be real men.

I'm implying that the religion that built Western Civilization (The Latin Mass) prevents the pussification of man, and Communism facilitates the pussification of man for the purpose of undermining patriarchal social order. Unfortunately, the modern Catholic and Protestant religions do little to stop the pussification of men.

No offense, but I don't believe that religion of any sort plays an integral part in the current, ongoing pussification of men. I believe it has much, much more to do with an ideology of "feelings mean more than anything else". It's a very prolific ideology, especially here in the US, these days. They're banning tag on playgrounds, dodgeball in gym, score-keeping in organized sports activities, etc, etc. Boys aren't encouraged to be boys anymore. They're asked to tone it down and be less aggressive, not to rough-house...and when this doesn't happen through asking, they're considered(diagnosed) to be ADHD and drugged into being acquiescent. There's a bazillion web hits on this topic of you do any googling of it, from both sides of the argument. It's interesting, actually. There's also a book by UK author Conn Igulden called "The Dangerous Book for Boys" which advocates getting young boys involved with young boy things. Pretty interesting read, and I have no children of my own. Good stuff.

[DaveC]

Hazmat, what you're describing is Egalitarianism...the insane drive to make things equal, or the same, that simply aren't (like boys and girls). It is also a tenant of Communism. My point was that modern Christianity has shown itself to be impotent against this ideology, and in some ways has been infected by it.

[treunlneiss]

Egalitarianism is what happens when someone strives for a utopian society. Unfortunately, that is the direction that society has gone in. Yes there will always be someone bigger stronger, richer, faster, meaner, etc. than you and there is nothing that can be done against it. Its called evolution. Trying to make everyone and everything the same would take all of the fun out of everything. I read a book in like 4th grade that was called "The Giver" I forgot the author but it was about this sort of thing only he took it a few steps further than society has now. Anyway thats just incase any of you guys have read it. If you havent maybe you should it's short and is a decent little book. My point is that the more everything is made "fair" the less fair everything gets. The best at something should be rewarded for being the best at something. The worst at something should find something that they're the best at. I suck at basketball so I don't play it anymore. I am good at football so I focused my efforts there. Everyone should have to experience losing it builds character and teaches you how to deal with adversity. I just don't understand why anyone would want everything to be equal.

[Young Athlete]

Giver is good book, and fuck a society like that would make life boring!

[DaveC]

I just don't understand why anyone would want everything to be equal.

It's feel-good bullshit. It eliminates right and wrong...good and bad...winning and losing. It is short-sighted because, in the long run, it takes the value out of everything. Decades of this ideology has made us lazy, fat, and unmotivated....pussies. Why? Because society says that being a pussy is just as good as being a man...so people take the easy route.

[treunlneiss]

Being a pussy isn't even close to being a man. Men do what needs to be done to succeed. If thats training to be good at a sport or working hard to support their family a man is measured by what he does or has done. It can seem harsh but that's the way it is, and the way it should be. I agree DaveC it is short sighted and doesn't lend itself to success. Just look at our economy right now, its horrible, the job market is attrocious because there are people all over the world that will work harder for less. This whole its not my job attitude about life has taken its toll on the american population and job market. Its all driven by success, the companies outsource because they save money and become more successful at the same time. The foreign laborors work at the factories because they need to provide for their families and be successful in their own right. Its the way the world works. I'm only 20 but my father taught me enough for me to know that. If you want to be successful you have to beat somebody.

[oi_joe]

bloody hell theres alot here for a man to live up too. i always though that if a man (or woman) tried to live up to over peoples expectations then life was pretty much a downer. live is just to be lived, what does it matter if a man comforms to any of the opinions above, will his penis forget how to work? am thinking no. its quite the said life to lead if you expect all the people around you to reach your own expectations of them, would you not find it rude if you were expected to live up those of someone else.

[treunlneiss]

I do agree that it is pretty much bullsht but the sad truth is that you probably are expected to live up to the expectations of others. You are/were in the military right? Then you know all about the expectations of others and how your squad expects you to do certain things. I suppose that is a fairly unique case though. I have always found that I enjoy surpassing the expectations of those around me which is why I try so hard to get top grades at college and a minor reason behind me strength training. I don't find it rude, maybe unfair or ignorant, but thats the way it is...

[KIB]

Into emotional, Oprah watching, fashion-conscious, crying, tanning bed using, pussified momma's boys who worry about hurting people's feelings and succumb to the capricious whims of the weaker sex? I sure as hell hope not.

Don't worry, Tenk, you just keep those defenses nice and tight and no-one will ever get through.

"Weaker sex"?
Jeezis.

Good luck out there, Tenk.

[Fargalas]

There's only one rule, and you guys should know it:

Machoism is not manliness. Do not ever confuse the two.

Most of the things I've seen on here tonight have been a large mix-up between the two. Machoism is machoism; it is insecure, and the farthest thing from manliness. In example: Telling your wife what you're going to do, and doing it regardless of how she feels? Machoism. If that's what it takes for you to feel manly, you have a lot of insecurities to work out. Confidence is attractive, machoism is not.