The Bushies were manly. The "democrat party" was for the ladies: weak, whining and hormonal. Republicans were MEN, dammit. Chest-thumping men. America, Fuck Yeah, men! They might pull every string in their daddy's arsenal to get out of fighting in a war, but, goddammit, they really fucking loved John Wayne movies! Who needs to walk the walk when you're such a pro at talking the talk?
(As example, I recommend you check out Kim du Toit's The Pussification of the Western Male.)
Consider the beer commercial: for years now beer commercials have been celebrating guy-ness, but guy-ness strictly defined as that which is not girl-ness. You can be bald, short, homeless and retarded and you'll still get invited to the cool kids party. But cry at a movie and you might as well put a bullet in your faggy chest.
Until this morning. I was driving to work and a beer commercial came on the radio. This beer commercial, like so many others, rewards the real guy with the real guy beer. But in this ad, real guy-ness is demonstrated when he helps his buddy haul a fridge upstairs.
In other words: manning up instead of freaking out about looking like a pussy.
I love that.
I don't want to go getting all brave new world here. But, think of Barack Obama. Does anything about that guy suggest a person who worries about whether people perceive him as manly or not? If you called Barack Obama a "fag" do you think he'd care? Do you expect we'll ever see him on a flight deck wearing a motherfucking codpiece? As Tweety might say, he's a real man. And real men don't need to prove to you that they're real men. They're too busy manning up and helping you move the goddamn fridge.
