Manliness: An Unsung Trait of the Train Heroes

A wonderful essay from Mona Charen.

The virtuous men amongst us should be celebrated .

Just magnificent. A must read: 

"There is more to say about the three Americans. They were childhood friends who met at a Christian middle school. They are of different races, but despite the impression you'd get from the current tone of national politics, that was irrelevant to their friendship. They also seem to have been rambunctious boys — a trait that tends to be pathologized in modern America."

"There's one more thing to be said of the heroes on the train. They were men. So-called "traditional masculinity" is a major target of feminists on college campuses and elsewhere. That, they teach, is what creates the "rape culture." The Obama administration has joined in (naturally). A government website urges that colleges "promote an understanding of the ways in which traditional masculinity contributes to sexual assault and other forms of men's violence against women."

"In Aurora, Colo., in 2012, when a crazed gunman opened fire on a crowded movie theater, no fewer than three young men covered their girlfriends with their own bodies and lost their lives in the process. That, and not the loutish behavior of some frat boys, is true "traditional masculinity" — or better, manliness."

"Men have been defamed and devalued in our society for decades. Their high spirits are punished in schools. Their natural protectiveness has been scorned as sexism."

"The passengers on that French train are surely grateful that some manliness remains indomitable."