"There are people who love masculinity -- with all its undeniable untidiness, rudeness and mayhem, and those who don't. Roughly speaking, those in the former category are known as conservatives and the latter as liberals."
This is from Ms. Mona Charen today, and of course it's true. Some conservatives do prefer an antiquated version of masculinity that involves expressing your opinions with your fists and subjegating all others below you.
In the 21st century though, many conservatives have realized that it might be valuable to temper the negative side of masculinity, a side Ms. Charen herself recognizes, by quoting Harvey Mansfield. "Manliness can be heroic. But it can also be vainly boastful, prone to meaningless scuffling, and unfriendly. It jeers at those who do not seem to measure up, and asks men to continually prove themselves. It defines turf and fights for it -- sometimes to protect precious rights, sometimes for no good reason."
So maybe moving beyond some aspects of primordial masculinity might not be such a terrible thing. On the other hand, I do want everybody to know that yours truley is manly man. I move my own furniture and kill my own spiders. I haven't beaten anybody up yet, but I'm sure that's coming soon.
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