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Bill Maher, foreign policy, George W. Bush, manhood, masculinity, Real Time with Bill Maher, sports, war
“America needs to show it’s the home of the brave by acting like it. Did you know that the defense budget of the United States is bigger than the defense budgets of the next 13 countries combined? Most of whom are allies, and none of whom are enemies.
So let me ask you: If a guy on your block was so frightened of non-existent prowlers that he spent all his resources on alarm systems and guns and cameras, so much so that he didn’t even have enough money to maintain his home or send his kids to college, would you call him brave?
Well, tonight I’d like to take a few minutes to try and answer that question, and find out just how we became such a nation of dickless armchair warriors. Starting with the story of the football hero [Manti Te'o] who last night attempted to explain himself to Katie Couric. And even after years of taking vicious hits to the head, still answered her questions better than Sarah Palin did.
But what puzzles me is not the scandal of whether he lied, but the relationship itself. Oh sure, what Manti had sounds attractive — a time-consuming virtual relationship where you get to talk endlessly with your girlfriend without those annoying breaks for sex. But doesn’t it say something about the state of our manhood, that this primal warrior never even had sex? Because his ‘girlfriend’ only existed in a digital fairyland.
And sadder still, why was this dumb jock such a hero to so many men in the first place? Grown men who were let down by him; red-blooded American males whose mood on Saturdays is dependent on how well a 20-year-old kid tackles a 19-year-old kid. Middle-aged guys who wear replica jerseys with the name and number of their favorite boyfriend — I mean, player. Guys who get in fights with other guys in other replica jerseys over whose 20-year-old is better.
Is the relationship American men have with their sports heroes really any less weird than the one Manti had with his ‘girlfriend’? Guys sitting on the couch all day, watching some figures on a screen toss around a dot? You’re not a fan; you’re a cat!
The problem of our masculinity is apparently so acute that the pharmaceutical companies are now selling a pill to remedy a new affliction called ‘Low-T’, or low testosterone.
And I think it’s because a lot of men today just aren’t feeling all that… useful. They did in the days of hunter-gatherers, but in today’s society, women do the hunting and the gathering — it’s called shopping. And the men, for most of us, the most masculine thing we do all day is pee standing up.
And that’s why we wind up idolizing other men who do the masculine things we’re not doing: football players, soldiers, action movie stars who solve every problem with violence, tough guys like our former President who start wars for no reason, generals who conquer rag-tag armies from third world countries. These are the vessels of our outsourced masculinity.
Why do men collect guns? You know, former Georgia Senator Zell Miller once said, ‘I’ve got more guns than I need, but not as many as I want.’ Well, the Pentagon is just Zell Miller on a larger scale. It has more guns than it needs, but not as many as it wants…”
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Excerpts from the closing monologue of last night’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Watch the clip below.
The above photograph was taken in New York City several years ago.
At least the outsourced masculinity doesn’t kill anyone, at least not until the accumulated head traumas do their worst. I worry more about the fact that we have a volunteer army overpopulated by economically disadvantaged young men of color, while old white men send them to die. How sad that the idea of a volunteer army, which seemed great at the time it was instituted, has increased the death toll and divided the country into those who fight and those who send them to fight, but whose children usually don’t.
I couldn’t agree more.
I think you will find this pertinent, including a book that everyone should read: http://drgeraldstein.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/two-americas-but-not-the-two-you-think/
I’m a Bill Maher fan. Watched that show on Friday evening and was struck by those very comments.
I live in Australia and don’t know the people and the incident you refer to, and the comments apply equally well to what it means to be a man in Australia too. As a woman, I long to see men rediscover courage, integrity, honour and generosity. I long for manliness in the world.
Reblogged this on Andrew B Lang and commented:
This blog entry from The Bully Pulpit titled Our Outsourced Masculinity is merely a transcript of what was aired on the Bill Maher show on 25 January, but it raises some points about the state of masculinity in our society that need to be recognized. A must-read.
Reblogging this on my page. That men shorthand themselves in our culture, playing a passive role in most of things that we do, speaks volumes of what Bill Maher is saying. Is there anything that can be done, besides hunter-gatherer, to lead us back to our biological calling? I have often wondered this myself. Thanks for sharing this.
Completely agree with what you’re saying — glad you enjoyed it.
OMG! I love that you speak your truth even though it may be unpopular. It may be hard to face our own cowardice, but it is a lot harder to live with a lack of self-esteem–a deep knowing inside that we are letting go of our higher self and capitulating to mediocrity. Thanks, too, for visiting my blog–without which, I might never have found you (smile).
I realize, belatedly, that when I read through the first time I failed to notice the post was part of a monologue by Bill Maher. My mistake. Nonetheless, thanks again, for providing thought provoking material. I do enjoy your site.