The joyful Minnesota governor is a valuable spokesperson for Harris whose background and personality can help the Democratic ticket undermine Trump’s efforts to woo America’s men.
Tim Walz’s first official speech on the Democratic ticket displayed all the reasons that Kamala Harris has been lauded for picking the Minnesota governor as her running mate. Personally, I think one outshines all the rest.
Walz’s military background and his work as a high school teacher and football coach, along with his palpable joy and open expressions of compassion for people in need, offer America a vision of what manhood can look like — he’s a “joyful warrior” offering a vision in contrast with what’s being offered by Donald Trump’s bravado-driven campaign.
And he’s clearly willing to challenge Team Trump on that front. He displayed that even before he received the call to join Harris’ campaign, using public appearances to refer to Trump and his allies as “bullies” who are truly weak at heart and by mocking the GOP ticket for “running for He-Man Women Haters Club or something.”
Walz’s military background and his work as a high school teacher and football coach, along with his palpable joy and open expressions of compassion for people in need, offer America a vision of what manhood can look like — he’s a “joyful warrior” offering a vision in contrast with what’s being offered by Donald Trump’s bravado-driven campaign.
Manhood is when you serve in the military and play football. Really open and progressive ideas here.
You’re missing the point. He did those things and isn’t a complete and utter tool as a result. They aren’t his identity or opportunities to “be manly.” They were acts of service.
You’re missing the underlying assumption, which is that military and football are for men. They’re “typical man things” and Walz is showing that a man doing manly things doesn’t have to be an asshole.
But that still assumes there are manly things, that armed service and football are manly. Subtext.
While more progressive people have recognized the pointlessness of gendering military service and playing football, conservatives haven’t and its something we can use to our advantage. Like the entire calling them weird thing. It’s literally the kind of insult a 5 year old would come up with but they’re absolutely blowing gaskets over it and it’s hilarious.
Know your enemy and you’ll have the advantage.
It doesn’t assume that they are “typically manly” it observes that they are traditionally considered manly. A statement over which there isn’t an argument to be had.
You are missing the point.
That’s what MAGA assumes.
And Walz is there to prove their assumptions wrong.
I can also tell you that most military personnel I met in my life were not ‘manly’ people in any way. Just normal and decent people.
It’s MAGA mongoloids that link military to manhood. Or guns. Or football. Or beer.
Edit: and what is really amusing to me is that zi am not American, nor life there, but I did get excited about Walz. Because he seems like a normal human being. Imagine how crazy the world is when we get excited about (apparently) a normal human being in politics.
You’re missing the point. He did those things and isn’t a complete and utter tool as a result. They aren’t his identity or opportunities to “be manly.” They were acts of service.
I think the most egregious examples of “toxic masculinity” are the men who think that since they’re so Alpha, the world owes them everything on their own terms. Like the President who us so upset that the hurricane went the other way that he has to “prove” he was right all along. Or the Senator who prefers to be called “Coach” because he likes to think of himself as the Big Man On Campus, and not 1 of 100 equals. Or even the incel living in his parents’ basement who is so bitter about not having a girlfriend because he can’t understand that girls are humans too and don’t exist just to please him.
Walz is refreshing because it’s clear that he went into Politics to make a difference, not to make a profit. We’ve been conditioned to think all politicians are greedy assholes, probably by the politicians who prefer it that way because it lets them get away with shit. Then this guy comes along, with genuine integrity, and it threatens to collapse it all.
Republicans have built a political movement out of the belief that all government is bloated and ineffectual. If Democrats start electing people who can show that Government can be a net benefit to ordinary people, it kills 50+ years of Republican messaging.
Republicans have built a political movement out of the belief that all government is bloated and ineffectual
They complain about that when they’re not in power, and then demonstrate exactly that whenever they happen to be in power.
Its also proof to the dipshits we don’t hate masculinity. We hate toxic masculinity. In fact, we find Tim Walz brand of masculinity refreshing and delightful
This right here.
Being a man isn’t about strength, or appearance, or body count, or power over others.
It’s about accountability, honesty, resilience (NOT bottling everything down), and meaningful effort.
Yeah it might not be the most physically attractive all the time, but I see my purpose in life to make sure we all have better so that we can all do better.
Walz joining the VP has really given me a new sense of courage I’ve been lacking lately, and I’m really happy to see others recognizing it to.
Being a man isn’t about strength
One of the few things that I disagree with in your statement and, really, it’s down to semantics. The are more types of strength than physical strength. There’s strength of character, there’s emotional strength, and more. But, like physical strength, all of these can be “exercised”, for example contemplating ethical quandaries can strengthen one’s character and ethical self-identity.
While much more abstract, I do find “strength” in this usage part of my model of masculinity.
Now, about this:
Yeah it might not be the most physically attractive all the time,
I guarantee that to someone, you absolutely are. Remember that practically noone just “sees” another human being, they perceive them. Our visual perception is NOT raw data. It is filtered by the context, real or imagined, that we associate with the person that we’re looking at. It’s the combination of all this in a non-straightforward manner that will impact how physically attractive someone finds us.
but I see my purpose in life to make sure we all have better so that we can all do better.
You know what I was saying above? Yeah. This is exactly the kind of thing will influence how you are perceived, even visually.
Walz joining the VP has really given me a new sense of courage I’ve been lacking lately, and I’m really happy to see others recognizing it to.
I’m sorry that you’ve been feeling less courageous lately. The world can fuck us all up from time to time. If it gets too severe, I’d definitely recommend seeing a therapist, if you are comfortable and able to do so (and aren’t already).
A therapist, really? I mean anyone would benefit from a therapist at any time but the slightest downturn at any moment isn’t a sign of some severe problem that needs solving.
Suffering is completely normal and a true necessity if you are striving towards any sort of development of “self”.
or body count
Aww, man. Are you telling me my Cawl O Doodie K/D ratio won’t impress the girls‽‽‽
/j
I see masculinity as a bit of a spectrum – there’s traits a lot of men share, but not all men necessarily have them, and women can have them too, and that doesn’t make anyone lesser.
Helping people, protecting people, being true to yourself, conducting yourself with honor. That’s what I see as masculinity. I guess in some ways, it’s the idealized perfect knight haha
The ultimate fictional portrayal of the journey of toxic vs nontoxic masculinity is Zuko and Iroh. And what does Iroh teach Zuko and us? Manliness/masculinity isn’t defined approval, its defined by acceptance. To be a “man” isn’t about using violence in showy ways for the sake of being acknowledged. To be a “man” is to accept and love people, including one’s self, for their true nature. If violence is to be used, it must be in this context. Violence should never be used by a true “man” for anything other than protection. Violence can be wielded when it is to protect ones own true nature, or to protect someone else who doesn’t have the power to protect themselves from a domineering situation. The ultimate conclusion of this is asking the question of what emotions is a true “man” allowed to access. We are shown through Zuko that the only emotion the toxic culture is allowed to access and control is anger. We are shown through Zuko how hard it is to transition out of this culture of anger and violence and toxic masculinity. The ultimate conclusion to both his arc, and the arc that Iroh went on before the show, is that true power comes from accessing the entire emotional spectrum that dwells within and turning this into power. True “manliness” is more than just anger and violence. True “manliness” is passion. That passion can be rooted in anything. We watch Zuko learn that he can draw power from joy, sorrow, and empathy. Toxic masculinity is Zuko’s origin story: pure hatred. True masculinity is Zuko’s finale: empathy so strong and so powerful that he sees one of his greatest torturers as sad, tortured, broken girl; one that if he returned her lightning to her he would lose the part of himself that he’d cultivated and grew to love.
I like my men like I like my coffee: refreshing, delightful, and able to provide a sick burn
I like my men like I like my coffee
“Ground up and stored in the freezer.”
Sliding off the roof of my car as I drive to work.
Or my preferred one
I like my women like I like my coffee.
I don’t like coffee.
deep inhale “Doooooooodge…… Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaall”
Looking forward to the Republican who badmouths Walz for being a football coach, only to be reminded of Tommy Tuberville.
so far the worst they’ve had to say is that he’s left leaning. Oh no, he likes queer people having rights, what ever will we do.
I think every other significant dig has turned into a meme almost immediately so it’s not working very well.
They’re also trying to claim he’s a coward for not serving in the military long enough. 24 years is apparently a short timeframe in the eyes of a republican
he served for 9 years in the military, and then transferred to the national guard, is what im reading.
This also ignores that trump was a vietnam draft dodger…
Over on r conservative they’ve got nothing to say about his actual policies. I’m just surprised the guy mentioning the horse thing got downvoted
yeah makes sense, republicans dont even run on policy anymore, so it’s quite literally a crippled platform, they can only scream and yell about shit that makes them mad.
As for the horse cum thing, i think anybody that says that needs to be perma banned. It’s insane to me that it’s even gathering friction, and i won’t take satire as a answer for unironically stating that someone drinks horse cum this time.
Why is manhood even an issue?
The generations of men that raised gen x and millennial boys were often all about being a manly man. The media we watched as children and young adults was all about it. This vision of manliness was all about physical strength, lack of emotion other than anger, and pride. Physical strength isn’t a bad quality, and pride can be good, but what we were taught by men in person and media was dogshit. We were the generations that called things that were lame “gay”.
So Walz, despite being a trained soldier and football coach, is not manly because he displays emotion, empathy, and humility.
This is why it’s an issue.
I’ll probably regret this, but for shits and giggles, I’m going to try and give an earnest answer here.
Let’s first assume that “manhood” is a thing. That there are people in the world who define themselves by gender roles, however those manifest. It might be biology, appearance, dress, behavior, profession or any number of other ways that someone chooses to manifest a gender role.
So if we accept that, there’s a lot of ways of approaching what western society might call “manhood”: machismo, aggression, breadwinning, vinyl collecting, having the best lawn in the suburbs, etc. This is where things get dicey, in my opinion. The right is full of angry men who feel slighted by a society that they feel increasingly has no place for them. In some ways they are right: men are less likely to have education past high school, less likely to have modern workforce skills and less likely to have their formerly tolerated bullshit accepted anymore. This has lead to the rise of what people often refer to as “toxic masculinity”. People who lean into traits like misogyny or racism and follow leaders who make them feel tough, like they are in the driver’s seat again.
I think the appeal of Walz is that he gives at least the appearance of another path. He’s a man, no question. He hunts, he fishes, he works on his pickup truck, he coached football, and he taught social studies. But he’s also championed reproductive rights, LGBT causes, and even took a fairly light hand during the BLM protests in 2020 (which can be easily twisted, unfortunately). He’s the kind of pro-labor and pro-rural progressive that started to get marginalized in the 2000s, was on it’s death bed when the Tea Party ascended and that MAGA seemed to finally bury.
So yes, manhood is an issue because that seems to be a major part of the ethos that is following the alt-right. But Walz is a man that a lot of men can see themselves in: men who work, love their families and who want government to support their lives, not some fantasy they wish existed. Government that does infrastructure, public safety, boring stuff that we used to not have to think about. And because he’s done all those “manly” things he feels like the old fashioned man that a lot on the alt-right claim to want back, while showing them that old fashioned man is not what they think it is.
So there it is. I admire Walz. He’s not perfect, but neither am I. I hope he doesn’t disappoint me.
People tend to emulate people they like and who they’d like to like them too. So there’s the hateful, angry, violent manhood that flock to Trump, valuing force, violence, and any-means-necessary victory. Then there’s cool manhood that has a happy family and a respectable job and treats people with human decency and kindness.
It’s the difference between the highschool football player who bullies everyone and date rapes the prom queen, and the chill football player everybody likes, had a normal girlfriend, and who sticks up for other kids.
Which would you rather be a role model for America?
