Men, VTech, and Shorewood HS

Why did only two or three men actually ACT like men at VaTech? What was the Press brouhaha over a twinky little fistfight at Shorewood HS?

Observers have noted that the VTech shooter was effectively enabled by male students who essentially sat and watched (with the exceptions of the hero-concentration-camp-survivor and a couple of boys who pushed a table against a door to prevent the shooter's entry.)

Where was manhood? Why was it absent?

Possibly the education...

In schools, masculinity is out. Commentators such as Diane Ravitch argue that reading material has been feminized. In her article “Education and the Culture Wars,” published in Daedalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Ravitch described reviewing test material as one of the board members of a federal agency.

She learned that reading selections on one standardized test were not only racially biased against whites but also sexually biased against boys.

“In one story, a white boy in a difficult situation weeps and says plaintively, ‘If only my big sister were here, I would know what to do.’” Ravitch also reviewed one publisher’s guidelines for standardized tests: Among the taboo items were:

Men shown as “strong, brave, and silent,” women shown as “weepy, fearful, and emotional;” boys playing sports, or girls playing with dolls; ... men working as lawyers, doctors, or plumbers; women working as nurses or secretaries; ... men playing sports or working with tools; women cooking and caring for children; ... men portrayed as breadwinners; women portrayed as homemakers… Illustrators must not use pink for baby girls or blue for baby boys. Out is the old-fashioned idea that females care more about their appearance than males do: today’s illustrator must portray both sexes “preening in front of a mirror,” with Dad using a blow-dryer.

Thus is a metrosexual made, and Ravitch and others aren’t just describing obvious propaganda. They are describing the cultural elite’s manipulation and alteration of traditional symbols to remake boys and reorder society. By replacing those traditional symbols, they have changed the moral order from what it was 50 years ago to what is now.

There has been some discussion of the Shorewood HS 'fight' which is related. "Conservative" pundits were alarmed--shocked--by the fact that two high-school boys got into a fistfight over some diddly monetary dispute.

Puuuulllllleeeeze. "Two HS-aged boys" have engaged in fistfights over girls, money, cars, or belt-buckles for years--nay, for millenia. This is normal behavior. Note that these were fists, not knives or guns...

The reaction from the 'conservatives,' however, was not normal. It echoed the reaction from the metrosexual newsreaders and their female co-anchors. Shock! Horror!

As little as 40 years ago, the remedy was simple. A vice-principal would pull the boys apart, require apologies from BOTH parties, and (perhaps) assign a few hours of after-school detention. Parents would be advised of their offsprings' indelicacy.

End of story.