Manliness

There was an op-ed piece in the Strib this morning by Tom Feran of Newhouse News Service. It was about a book that Spotty was not aware of, "Manliness" by Harvey Mansfield, a professor of government at Harvard.

Feran describes it as a “dry and tiring tome.” Boy, that’s right up Katie’s alley! Perhaps proving for all time that Harvard does have a sense of humor, Feran includes some of the wisdom of Mansfield as recorded in the book:

A manly man can accomplish big things because "he is good at ordering people to get them done."

Mansfield suggests it is unmanly to resist the impulse to sock somebody in the nose. He says Alexander Hamilton was manly for getting himself killed in a duel. Man.

. . .

"In real life today," Mansfield writes, "manly knowledge enables a man, not to be Tarzan, but to act effectively in an emergency and to fix things and solve problems without professional help."

. . .

Real life doesn't intrude on his view of women. Mansfield says spitting is "not done by female athletes," for example. And, "It is difficult for a man who is attracted to a woman not to find her cute, rather than intimidating, when she gets angry." And, "Women still rather like housework, changing diapers." And, "Now that women are equal, they should be able to accept being told that they aren't." And, "To resist rape a woman needs more than martial arts and more than the police; she needs a certain ladylike modesty enabling her to take offense at unwanted encroachment."

Spot is soliciting guesses on how long it will take for Katie to write a column about this excellent new book.

Tags: Katie probably hearts Manliness