In the 1970s and 1980s, there were traits that were positive traits characterized as masculine. Only with time as the workforce got integrated, and as women got more personal autonomy (such as property rights), we noticed women, too, could man up and take responsibility. In fact they had to.
Through my thirties, my model was Captain Jerry Lawson in Wargames, ([here] on YouTube) an air force missileer who was run through a surprise missile drill, and refused to turn the key and launch a nuclear strike against the USSR. The capacity to hold vast power and not use it (or to use it judiciously and proportionately) was highly prized during the cold war.
See also, The West Wings01e03, A Proportional Response (also featuring John Spencer!). Bartlett is emotionally caught up when an attack by Syria kills someone he knows personally, and his cabinet has to reign him in.
See also To Kill A Mockingbird, specifically when Atticus Finch has to put down a rabid dog at range with a rifle.
Women are also capable of holding responsibility and not using it, so I still hold the capacity as a virtue, it’s just no longer a man thing.
And then in the Trump era, we’re seeing an awful lot of men who have immense power and clearly should not be trusted with it. Trump’s fire and fury speech regarding the conflict in North Korea was an early portent to the rest of us of his later decisions to misuse US military might.
Indeed, after Trump’s first term, we learned that he had called to use nuclear weapons more than once, and his military cabinet deflected his orders every time.
During his second term, I don’t know if those safeguards are still there, or if he’s still as eager to use the US nuclear arsenal.
In the 1970s and 1980s, there were traits that were positive traits characterized as masculine. Only with time as the workforce got integrated, and as women got more personal autonomy (such as property rights), we noticed women, too, could man up and take responsibility. In fact they had to.
Through my thirties, my model was Captain Jerry Lawson in Wargames, ([here] on YouTube) an air force missileer who was run through a surprise missile drill, and refused to turn the key and launch a nuclear strike against the USSR. The capacity to hold vast power and not use it (or to use it judiciously and proportionately) was highly prized during the cold war.
See also, The West Wing s01e03, A Proportional Response (also featuring John Spencer!). Bartlett is emotionally caught up when an attack by Syria kills someone he knows personally, and his cabinet has to reign him in.
See also To Kill A Mockingbird, specifically when Atticus Finch has to put down a rabid dog at range with a rifle.
Women are also capable of holding responsibility and not using it, so I still hold the capacity as a virtue, it’s just no longer a man thing.
And then in the Trump era, we’re seeing an awful lot of men who have immense power and clearly should not be trusted with it. Trump’s fire and fury speech regarding the conflict in North Korea was an early portent to the rest of us of his later decisions to misuse US military might.
Indeed, after Trump’s first term, we learned that he had called to use nuclear weapons more than once, and his military cabinet deflected his orders every time.
During his second term, I don’t know if those safeguards are still there, or if he’s still as eager to use the US nuclear arsenal.