Manliness and Living With a Woman

After the shocking news reports about the shooting at Virginia Tech we start doing what we do best; placing blame. John Derbyshire and Nathanael Blake are two guys who get a kick out of shooting dead men, questioning the manliness of male students in last minutes of their lives, asking why the young men did not try to attack their attacker. Though I love a good debate on manliness and how to raise boys to be men, I refuse to kick a guy who’s down or to taunt his family. That’s not manliness, it’s just wrong.

I would like to see society letting the families mourn their lost ones. This is a tragic event that they should be able to deal with, without being attacked by hot headed jocks who can’t see the big picture in their lust to score the next point. But it’s out there now, and I feel compelled to correct a false ‘truth’ they both serve; that the only manly way to deal with an attacker is to throw yourself at him.

John Derbyshire: Spirit of Self-Defense

As NRO’s designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn’t anyone rush the guy? It’s not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness’ sake�one of them reportedly a .22.
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Yes, yes, I know it’s easy to say these things: but didn’t the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes�and like most cliches. It’s true�none of us knows what he’d do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I’d at least take a run at the guy.

One question, John: When do you know that you’re going to die anyway? It’s rather obvious when you’re in a crashing plane or inside a burning building. But a lot of guys have had guns pointed at them and managed to talk their way out of it. Ask a cop.

Nathanael Blake: Where were the men?

College classrooms have scads of young men who are at their physical peak, and none of them seems to have done anything beyond ducking, running, and holding doors shut. Meanwhile, an old man hurled his body at the shooter to save others.

Something is clearly wrong with the men in our culture. Among the first rules of manliness are fighting bad guys and protecting others: in a word, courage. And not a one of the healthy young fellows in the classrooms seems to have done that.

Again, there’s a lot of ways to protect others. Yes, throwing yourself at an attacker is a very masculine way of doing it, and very risky. It’s like betting everything on one hand. You just don’t do it unless you’re absolutely sure that there’s no other way.