I never had to be told how to be a man. It just came to me by osmosis, as it were, from a variety of sources. I have always learned by conversation but my principles were absorbed from listening. I seem to have come with a sorting machine that still tells me what is good/right and what is bad or wrong. The golden rule has been my guide since I first heard it as a very young child. A similar rule I heard later from my dad, who was a staunch Rotarian. They used to say: "If something you are considering doing is something you would not like anyone to read about in the newspaper, don't do it." I was married (twice actually, once by elopement and once in church) to my late wife for 54 years. A third of our time together was spent with my having to care for her while she took her long and difficult journey with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. I never lied to her, cheated on her or otherwise betrayed my wedding vows. The moment we met we were in love for life, and did all we could for each other. We discussed intellectual topics with great rigor, daily, often well into the night. My dad taught me the mechanics of being "the man of the house," fixing everything I could, building things. My mother taught me how to live. Others taught me other things about being human, important because being a man is about being a proper human, not just a man.
It is not that we cannot afford presence; it is that we have optimized it out of our lives in exchange for convenience. We bought the cheap digital substitute, and now we are paying the hidden cost.
Nature abhors a vacuum. "Toxic" influencers are not the disease; they are the opportunistic infection filling the void left by the retreat of fathers and male teachers.
Your problem, is that some of what they say is strongly valid. Therapy is heavily geared toward women and coded for a female receiver. Therapy is designed to tell me how they are is wrong. Not bad perse, but not correct. It needs to be fixed. These red-pill guys recognize the part that sings to what makes men feel what is missing. You can learn from them. They suck to be sure. But to ignore why they are popular is to miss the point.
I never had to be told how to be a man. It just came to me by osmosis, as it were, from a variety of sources. I have always learned by conversation but my principles were absorbed from listening. I seem to have come with a sorting machine that still tells me what is good/right and what is bad or wrong. The golden rule has been my guide since I first heard it as a very young child. A similar rule I heard later from my dad, who was a staunch Rotarian. They used to say: "If something you are considering doing is something you would not like anyone to read about in the newspaper, don't do it." I was married (twice actually, once by elopement and once in church) to my late wife for 54 years. A third of our time together was spent with my having to care for her while she took her long and difficult journey with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. I never lied to her, cheated on her or otherwise betrayed my wedding vows. The moment we met we were in love for life, and did all we could for each other. We discussed intellectual topics with great rigor, daily, often well into the night. My dad taught me the mechanics of being "the man of the house," fixing everything I could, building things. My mother taught me how to live. Others taught me other things about being human, important because being a man is about being a proper human, not just a man.
Teach people to choose good. Study ethics and morals to know what to choose.
It is not that we cannot afford presence; it is that we have optimized it out of our lives in exchange for convenience. We bought the cheap digital substitute, and now we are paying the hidden cost.
Nature abhors a vacuum. "Toxic" influencers are not the disease; they are the opportunistic infection filling the void left by the retreat of fathers and male teachers.
Digital Hate: cheap, scalable, and instant.
Real Mentorship: expensive, unscalable, and slow.
You get exactly what you pay for.
surprisingly reasonable
Your problem, is that some of what they say is strongly valid. Therapy is heavily geared toward women and coded for a female receiver. Therapy is designed to tell me how they are is wrong. Not bad perse, but not correct. It needs to be fixed. These red-pill guys recognize the part that sings to what makes men feel what is missing. You can learn from them. They suck to be sure. But to ignore why they are popular is to miss the point.