Where Are the Real Men? – Opinion

In the 1970s, as a result of the acid-deranged, late-60s psychedelia, the singer/songwriter rose to fame. Folk/rock and sensibility were the hottest topics of the day. Artists such as James Taylor and John Denver led the way in a sensitivity-laden barrage of non-threatening crooners fingerpicking and heartstrings-strumming their way into audiences’ hearts nationwide. In retrospect, the genre was a kowtow to feminism’s first wave, guys doing their best to prove they too had feelings while turning down their amps and their as-yet-unnamed toxic masculinity.

Jim Croce followed suit.

Croce died from injuries sustained in an airplane crash on the 23rd of July 1973. He was just beginning to establish himself as the singer/songwriter alpha. Croce could, and did, sing songs about lost love with as much or more talent than any of his contemporaries.

Croce had many unique talents that were not shared by his peers. Croce could also write authentic humorous stories of local tough guys getting their comeuppance, love songs that weren’t too embarrassingly sappy to dedicate out loud, and relationship observations which included the novel concept that sometimes when things fall apart, the woman is at fault came into play.

It immeasurably helped that Croce was a man of the people, someone who listed truck driver and construction worker on his hardscrabble résumé. Croce was also a great believer in family. Ingrid, his widow, wrote that he had decided to leave his music career and stay home with their son.

Croce came to mind while reading an August 23rd James Whitlock op-ed over at The Blaze decrying the macho-drenched false masculinity of Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy and former kickboxer Andrew Tate.

Portnoy is the founder of Barstool Sports and Tate is a former kickboxing champion and TikTok advocate. They are now the latest unworthy benefactors for a sinister mission Democrats and feminists created 60 years ago in order to stigmatize maleness.

Portnoy created a media empire that claimed to be an ESPN disruptive force standing up against American culture and sports. It’s now clear he’s a total fraud and sellout. His only interests are money, and access to women who can’t legally marry. Barstool was sold by him to a gaming company for hundreds and millions of dollars. Now, Barstool has become as awake as ESPN.

Jim Croce’s view on women is one of the main differences with Dave Portnoy’s. Portnoy thinks women have to be sexy dolls that are designed for men. Croce lived and sang a completely different life, one that emphasized honesty and respect in all situations. Croce’s songs and his life were unafraid of telling the truth. He was also not afraid to get the hit. When necessary, he walked away unbowed but without compromising. There would be a tomorrow, and Croce refused to stew in today’s losses.

Portnoy’s cartoonish excesses are understandable to some degree. These are the misguided reactions to a culture that is increasingly hostile towards men, and one that lacks self-awareness about its nihilistic rage against its failure at Godplaying God. The Portnoy school of “thought” contains no substance. The truth about true masculinity begins when a man embraces Jesus from Galilee.

True masculinity is a protector and leader. Ron DeSantis explains that authentic masculinity talks the talk, while poseurs walk the walk (reference Lincoln Project). False masculinity views lovemaking only as an act of love. The real men are out there. It’s not who or whereabouts the Dave Portnoys believe they are.

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