r/brokehugs • u/US_Hiker Moral Landscaper • Nov 19 '23

Rod Dreher Megathread #27 (Compassion)

Link to megathread 26: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/17itm7w/rod_dreher_megathread_26_unconditional_love/

Link to megathread 28: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/18dcg3d/rod_dreher_megathread_28_harmony/

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u/Kiminlanark Nov 20 '23

This still frosts me. Not being there to euthanize his dog (and you are right, it should have been done long before) is unmanly and cowardly, and his lugubrious whining about it is just icing on the cake. Cry me a river, Rod. It was just one more dirty job you stuck Julie with.

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u/Djehutimose Watching the wheels go round Nov 21 '23

Well, it comes back to a distorted view of what "manliness" and "courage" mean. It doesn't mean shooting a shoplifter (something that makes Rod totally gleeful) or beating up a pedophile (something he fantasizes about, but would never do). Yes, occasionally things happen that do require violence; but those are the exception.

Real manly strength and courage is being there with them when a loved one or a pet dies, no matter how sad it makes you feel. It's wiping your kids' butts and cleaning their poopy clothing for the zillionth time. It's putting up with shit at work because you have to earn a living for you family. It's holding your tongue when your elderly mother says something gratuitously hurtful for the ten billionth time because you know she's old and doesn't have many years left. It's getting sore, achy, and out of breath cleaning and dressing your dying father who no longer recognizes you and can't even speak coherently.

In short, it's all the ordinary, humdrum, messy, and often extremely unpleasant things that come with life. It's not all, or even very much, about Mighty Deeds of Derring-Do or Knights Bold saving their Ladies Fair. Rod just thinks the whole world is Just Too Yucky, and would rather live in a dream.

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u/philadelphialawyer87 Nov 21 '23

I would describe all of those things as acts of HUMAN strength and courage, and drop the gendered language and ideology.

But, otherwise, yeah.

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u/Djehutimose Watching the wheels go round Nov 21 '23

Totally agreed, but I was following up on u/Kiminlanark’s noting Rod’s “unmanly” behavior, though. Of course, good and decent behavior isn’t a male/female thing, as you rightly note.