Mansfield's Manliness

I first became interested in Harvey Mansfield's book, "Manliness", when I saw his interview on Book TV. At first blush, I thought the premise of a Harvard professor writing about manliness would be like Jenna Jameson writing about chastity but I was drawn into the debate because of the interviewer. Not your normal Book TV interview where the author gets to plug his work in a friendly environment, Naomi Wolf was decidedly hostile. She kept cutting Mansfield off, disagreeing with him on everything while not letting him finish any thoughts. Professor Mansfield, for his part, kept a polite but wry smile on his face perhaps understanding the irony of the event. Wolf would not last long in the company of men. Disagreements are fine but rude, hostile interrogations are a sure way to violence.

This book is dense and I don't recommend it unless you have a pretty firm grasp of philosophy. He expects his readers to bring a lot to the table. The funny thing is I don't know who is the target audience for this book? Most of the manly men of action I know are not particularly fond of philosophy. In fact, I can count on 2 hands the number of manly men I know who would be inclined to read this book and fully grasp it. I don't particularly agree with his version of manliness but this is a prejudice of mine. Spend any time around young men and you will see the stronger, more aggressive and outwardly manly men picking on the nerds. That's just kind of the way it goes. And it never ends. Even in the most elite of military units, the lowest performing man is always the target of countless jokes and insults. I think Professor Mansfield's view of manliness might be influenced by this reality. He seems like the kind of guy I would have picked on in school.

He sees the necessity of manliness but it's a forced respect. He doesn't understand that manliness is a relative trait. There are times in my life when I feel that I am the paragon of Manliness. "I rule," I will say to anyone who will listen. But then there are moments when I am with some men who make me feel like an unblooded boy. They don't do this on purpose. They inspire and humble me, simultaneously, just by their examples.

I don't believe manliness is about ego, attention or anything like that. The love of attention is a female trait and one I work on daily to remove from my character. Men shouldn't need attention. We just need to have personally accomplished something. Insofar as one needs the love of the masses or the attention of everyone in a room, he is less manly. Other manly traits may make up for this but they will never completely cover the odor of a vapid school girl.

Manly virtue, "andreia" to use the Greek, is about one thing. It's about putting the needs of others ahead of yourself. Suffering without complaint. Enduring for the greater good. One of my good friends once said that the parents' primary job with their children was to change their focus from inner to outer. That makes a lot of sense as there are no more selfish and self-absorbed creatures on this planet than a human baby. To give society a man who thinks of others before himself is the greatest gift two people can give to our Country. To whatever extent the child becomes a man is measured primarily by his self-absorption. And it's important to remember that this is a process and a test that never ends. A girl is a woman as soon as she can reproduce and grows curves. A man has to constantly defend his manliness throughout his life because a life of leisure and ease is all to easy to fall into. And that wouldn't be very manly.