Show Some Guts

During the "Overtime" segment of Fridat's Real Time With Bill Maher, the panel fielded a question which ended with "how do we help young men," a reference to the current crisis of young men. Maher remarked "we hear this all the time, that youn women re doing better in college, that-"

Senator John Fetterman did a Fetterman, blaming the Democratic Party because there are few questions he won't answer without slamming his Party. If he didn't do so, he wouldn't be John Fetterman. Then Donna Brazile stated.

Overall, ook- I've been a part-time professor for 33 years. There is something going on with young men in our country. They are reticent, many of them are holding back, and we need to address that. But at the same time-

Maher interjected "holding back?" Brazile answered "holding back, because sometimes I think they don't know their place anymore and that's something that men need to decide for themselves." Personally, I wouldn't have saaid "they don't know their place," and I'm not even black. Yet, maybe she simply meant that they are confused, which is a little patronizing but probably accurate, as was her observation that they are "reticent" and "holding back."  However, she continued

But as a woman for decades, centuries, women had to be over-confident just to be qualified. So I don't want men to think that the reason why young men are suffering is because of some woman. No, you men are dealing with what young women had to deal with centuries ago. They'll find their place at the table. Come sit with me sometime and I''ll give you some help.

It's not only the condescension of "come sit with me sometime and I'll give you some help" as in "I am woman. I have the answers you are unable to find on your own." It's also that Brazile is demonstrably wrong. 

Men are not dealing with what young women had to deal with centuries ago. Times have changed. Technology, social media, expectations, family structure, social mores, and a whole lot of other things have made the plight of the young American male unique.  Whether by government, non-profits, or simply women helping women one at a time, women are being a leg up while men are falling behind and need more than one-on-one advice from Donna Brazile. 

Scott Galloway has written and spoken extensively on this. He is wrong that young men should drink more and about guys drinking- he thinks there should be more of it- and that the elderly has too much wealth at the expense of youth. Nonetheless, in last year's Notes on Being a Man, Galloway provided

plenty of statistics to back up his claim that young men really are in trouble. Drawing on research by writers such as Richard Reeves (author of 2022's Of Boys and Men) and his NYU colleague Jonathan Haidt (whose recent book The Anxious Generation sounded the alarm on social media), he sketches out a landscape of rising rates of everything from boys' school suspensions to male unemployment, addic tions, loneliness, and failure to complete college....

Galloway is at pains to point out that he’s not blaming women for men’s problems. “I do not think the answer is to in any way economically disadvantage women,” he says. “I’m not trying to repackage violence here and say that women need to lower their standards such that we don’t have a bunch of angry men out there. I think men need to level up. And I think, as a society, we need to implement more programmes to level up all young people.”

In contrast to Brazile's perspective, he wrote "it's not a battle between men and women. The genders have done a great job convincing themselves it's the other gender's fault. I just don't think that's productive." (The word is sexes. But I'm not being productive.)

Donna Brazile is entitled to her opinion; indeed, her perspective as the woke-y woman appeared to bring a little ideological diversity to the discussion. But then something significant happened.

Aside from Brazile, the members of the panel included Representative Dan Crenshaw, a conservative Republican from Texas who lost the last primary in his re-election bid; Senator Fetterman, the moderate, contrariarn Pennsylvania Democrat; and Mr. Anti-Woke himself, Bill Maher.  Three men, and not an advocate of diversity, equity, and inclusion among them.

Brazile had spoken up for women- good for her- and denigrated young men- not at all good. And none of those three had the courage to call her on it or even to question her remark. When the issue was first raised, Fetterman claimed "part of the Democratic Party became more and more anti-man or describing them as part of the problem or they had toxic traits."  (Since 2011, there have been nine incidents of political violence or attempted political violence in the USA and in nine cases the apparent culprit was a man- no toxic masculinity there!)

Yet, the Pennsylvania senator was silent. Ditto, Crenshaw and Maher. A former Navy Seal (Crenshaw); a former small-town mayor who grabbed a shotgun and chased a black jogger (Fetterman); and the "politically incorrect" longtime comedian and talk-show host. And none of them had the courage to speak up against the invective spewed by a black woman.

This sort of thing is not surprising because it's not uncommon. But if they are not going to challenge an outspoken black woman who obviously disparages young men, they shouldn't pose as champions of men or of young men, as at least Maher and Fetterman do.

One way that could have been accomplished would have been to ask Brazile whether the young men she believes once had it so easy included young black men. Her answer, whatever it would have been, would have proven revelatory.  

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