People want leadership. They yearn for it. They want a champion and a hero.
There's an amazing presentation by Victor Davis Hanson called American Ajax on YouTube about Patton.
Patton was a womanizing eccentric who staggered around yelling and slapping people. He constantly was talking shit to the British. They took him out of the war because of his mouth and costed the allies an estimated extra 300,000 casualties.
Thing is these wild great men are just better than the controlled steady people. It's the high ceiling low floor thing.
I agree with your putting your children with a level headed instructor. But if I want a leader of a church or state and it needs major reform I want a guy who gives 0 fucks.
And I agree with the fake tough guy thing. This I am the only man in the room bs gotta stop. I been shot been stabbed have thrown punches and done things I cannot type about. You can smell the surbanite college elite on these weak pastors.
There's a lot of truth to this, and I struggled with this topic when I wrote it. There needs to be a primitive, primordial energy in great men to do incredible deeds. A fully civilized man doesn't have it in him. The problem is they flame out quick if they can't turn it down a notch when they need to.
For Patton, I'm pretty sure they found the man politically dangerous and sidelined him. Become too successful as a general war and you could have a promising political career and a fiercely loyal military. Imagine if we got a President Patton instead of President Eisenhower.
"People want leadership. They yearn for it. They want a champion and a hero."
Exactly this.
Far too many online think "fighting the government" requires huge numbers of people to spontaneously chimp out, doing stupid shit. If doing stupid shit was a threat to the government, it wouldn't push weirdos to do stupid shit so they could arrest them and parade them in front of everyone in the media.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the tactic that helps the government is the tactic that gets pushed by lots of anons on the internet...
Instead people should be getting to know their neighbors and work on local resiliency.
Pretty good essay, although I think it went off the rails a bit near the end…. Basically it illustrates the virtue of prudence and thoughtful but not immoderate courage.
I know that in my work life I have often had to bite my tongue as colleagues have freely run their political opinions or love of the Covid vaccine. There is nothing wrong with have a policy of staying out of political matters at work, and it isn’t even dishonourable. I never put pronouns in my bio or endorsed a view against my personal views, but I also avoided pointless fights and carefully made my way through Covid hysteria.
Here in Canada we had a provincial politician named Roman Baber who was kicked out of the Conservative Party for his polite but firm opposition to Covid lockdowns. He kept his cool, was always courteous on social media, and is now a well-liked federal Conservative MP. A much better approach than those who immolated their medical or political careers with imprudent or inflammatory rhetoric.
We also have the phenomenon of conservatives who make it easy for their enemies to destroy them with lawsuits or complaints. If you are going to make a stand, you should take the firmest ground you possibly can and, if you go down, make sure that it’s worthwhile. There is no virtue in making it easy for your enemies to destroy you.
Alan, this is quite a ride...starting with a valid critique of performative toughness and ending in an obvious satire of the “tough guy” persona itself. You hit on something important: it’s not about peacocking or shock value; it’s about real character. Good leadership, in any field, isn’t about who can yell the loudest or throw the best punchline, it’s about who has the discipline, integrity, and humility to lead through example.
Thanks for pulling back the curtain, even if the ride was wild.
People want leadership. They yearn for it. They want a champion and a hero.
There's an amazing presentation by Victor Davis Hanson called American Ajax on YouTube about Patton.
Patton was a womanizing eccentric who staggered around yelling and slapping people. He constantly was talking shit to the British. They took him out of the war because of his mouth and costed the allies an estimated extra 300,000 casualties.
Thing is these wild great men are just better than the controlled steady people. It's the high ceiling low floor thing.
I agree with your putting your children with a level headed instructor. But if I want a leader of a church or state and it needs major reform I want a guy who gives 0 fucks.
And I agree with the fake tough guy thing. This I am the only man in the room bs gotta stop. I been shot been stabbed have thrown punches and done things I cannot type about. You can smell the surbanite college elite on these weak pastors.
There's a lot of truth to this, and I struggled with this topic when I wrote it. There needs to be a primitive, primordial energy in great men to do incredible deeds. A fully civilized man doesn't have it in him. The problem is they flame out quick if they can't turn it down a notch when they need to.
For Patton, I'm pretty sure they found the man politically dangerous and sidelined him. Become too successful as a general war and you could have a promising political career and a fiercely loyal military. Imagine if we got a President Patton instead of President Eisenhower.
Patton was based and what you said about him is only partially true. Read his actual papers, not just others reporting on them
"People want leadership. They yearn for it. They want a champion and a hero."
Exactly this.
Far too many online think "fighting the government" requires huge numbers of people to spontaneously chimp out, doing stupid shit. If doing stupid shit was a threat to the government, it wouldn't push weirdos to do stupid shit so they could arrest them and parade them in front of everyone in the media.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the tactic that helps the government is the tactic that gets pushed by lots of anons on the internet...
Instead people should be getting to know their neighbors and work on local resiliency.
Pretty good essay, although I think it went off the rails a bit near the end…. Basically it illustrates the virtue of prudence and thoughtful but not immoderate courage.
I know that in my work life I have often had to bite my tongue as colleagues have freely run their political opinions or love of the Covid vaccine. There is nothing wrong with have a policy of staying out of political matters at work, and it isn’t even dishonourable. I never put pronouns in my bio or endorsed a view against my personal views, but I also avoided pointless fights and carefully made my way through Covid hysteria.
Here in Canada we had a provincial politician named Roman Baber who was kicked out of the Conservative Party for his polite but firm opposition to Covid lockdowns. He kept his cool, was always courteous on social media, and is now a well-liked federal Conservative MP. A much better approach than those who immolated their medical or political careers with imprudent or inflammatory rhetoric.
We also have the phenomenon of conservatives who make it easy for their enemies to destroy them with lawsuits or complaints. If you are going to make a stand, you should take the firmest ground you possibly can and, if you go down, make sure that it’s worthwhile. There is no virtue in making it easy for your enemies to destroy you.
Thoroughly enjoyed the copy pasta.
So what we do?
If people are so desperate
And we did not initiated them to the church correctly
And they feel they are attacked constantly
Who else they will gonna run into?
Who will protect them and give them an home and an family?
Alan, this is quite a ride...starting with a valid critique of performative toughness and ending in an obvious satire of the “tough guy” persona itself. You hit on something important: it’s not about peacocking or shock value; it’s about real character. Good leadership, in any field, isn’t about who can yell the loudest or throw the best punchline, it’s about who has the discipline, integrity, and humility to lead through example.
Thanks for pulling back the curtain, even if the ride was wild.
“The ally in your life is not always the person who is the toughest, nor the person who is the most ‘based’.”
^We need an entire essay on this alone. Well done 👌
Loved the last paragraph I don’t even remember the last time I saw that copypasta used.
This was great thanks. Good writing and even better thoughts.
The hell that is a country of circumcised men.
The trauma of mutilation never goes away.
Ideology offers a temporary solace and they chase it till they die.