Rebuilding Rob

Thoughts?

Actor Anthony Mackie – the MCU’s current Captain America – has come under some fire for some of his comments to the press as of late. This Forbes article does a good job of not only setting the record straight about Mackie‘s quotes; but it also shows the glaring hypocrisy between the scrutiny Mackie fell under and the complete indifference when Chris Evans said something similar a decade prior.

This tone however, Mackie talks about a phenomenon he calls “the death of the American Male”. While I think he – and the IG account that reposted this clip – make some good point, I think Mackie missed the mark a bit.

Mackie talks about this “death of the American Male” like it’s something relatively new. I believe he says “in the last two decades” in the clip. However, I think this change has been going in for at least four or five decades.

It’s easy to point to the feminist movement as the paradigm shift toward the “death of the American male”. Like all social and political movements, there are always people who take things too far. For some, it wasn’t enough to so one day that women should be treated as equals to men. Some ran with this idea to the furthest possible extremes. “We can do everything men can do” turned into “we don’t need men”. And finally “men are bad”.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not anti-feminist. And I don’t support bashing men either. these two ideas are not synonymous with each other – contrary to what some may believe. I believe it’s possible or to support women’s rights without hating men in the process.

The IG account who shared this interview makes some good points: it’s important to children, in this case boys, to learn how they’re expected to conduct themselves as adults. The problem is that society expects men to act one way, and then often criticizes them when they do so.

A lot of men feel that they are simultaneously being to to “man up”, then blasted for doing so. I. have found in my life that while I was learning how to be a make teacher, I was also learning how to be a man in the 21st century as well. Too many people mistake being aggressive for being assertive. Men and women, I think, both need to learn how to be assertive. One doesn’t have to be aggressive and bully their way through the world.

I don’t day this to say that “men have it bad”. If anything, I say as a reminder that there are double-standards for me , just as there are for women. I just want other men to realize that there are forces pulling them in completely opposite directions. People will tell you to “man up“ and then be mad at you for doing so. People will tell you that you are a wuss because you are emotional. Neither of those things is true.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts

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• The Boy Who Looked at His Feet
• Even White People Get Ashy
• The Tricorder in My Pocket
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The article: “Rob Reacts: Anthony Mackie and ‘The Death of The American Male’” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob