What makes a man
Interesting discussion all over the ‘tubes on manliness here, here, and here:
A couple of the commenters on Rachel’s blog dropped some great material I thought was worth disseminating. Of course, I think both cowboys and science fiction are awesome. It’s a shame no one has thought to combine the two. Oh wait! They have!
frigger says: I will include here the code I have lived by all my adult life. (I didn’t have much of a father - luckily I happened upon this at a very young age). I still have it, framed, and it rests, prominently displayed on my nightstand.
GENE AUTRY’S COWBOY CODE (1939)
1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
3. He must always tell the truth.
4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
6. He must help people in distress.
7. He must be a good worker.
8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation’s laws.
10. The Cowboy is a patriot.
And:
Pat Berry says:
Robert Heinlein took a swing at this idea in “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long” (part of the novel Time Enough for Love).
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects!
All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury or folly which can — and must — be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a “perfect society” on any foundation other than “women and children first!” is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly — and no doubt will keep on trying.
Forget it Mr. Heinlein. I’ll butcher a hog or conn a ship, but there will be no cooking of tasty meals!
