Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-25396609-20191130155818/@comment-35434444-20191204174519

SpiritedDreaming wrote: That reeks to me of toxic masculinity. WHoever decided men need to be called pathetic bitches and told to just get over their problems needs a firm kick up the rear, because that's not how you create mentally stable and empathetic people. That's how you create people who can't sympathise with others because "You're just being a little bitch, pick yourself up." I was wondering when this card would be dropped.

Yes I agree this can be taken too far. Both on a macro political level and an interpersonal level. Such overstressing of conflict is the result of insecurity; the more a man becomes successful the more important it becomes to go on winning contests in order to maintain his reputation and validate his existing success. As a result, the upper strata of men tend to be very callous and destructive, like Jacques.

But there's another side to masculinity that does a job no form of comforting can give.

The recognition by oneself than one can cope in the world; something that can only be learned through trial.

I didn't decide anything. This is just how I and others have witness these things unfold. Like I said in another comment, this isn't about how men should be but how they are observed to be.

The object is not degredation. Men pick each other apart in order to sharpen each other up the way puppy dogs play games dancing around and tackling each other. These games have the advantage of being simulations between parties working to each other's mutual benefit.

These games can get very heated because if the outcome isn't fair, the game doesn't have it's intended effect. That means that the games have to be taken somewhat seriously; as though they were real. You can't cheat it. A nicey-nicey game where everyody wins makes a mockery of the whole thing. In order for the game to be in any sense a working simulation, it must be a 勝負. There can't be any winners unless there are also losers.

If any of you have better models of masculinty, I'm all ears.

正々堂々でこい！