I’ll admit that this CNN article, “Why men are in trouble,” is total clickbait. I took it. The author, William J. Bennett, a CNN contributor, was the U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988, and is the author of “The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood.” A man’s man, if you will.
Bennett’s article goes on about how, first time in history, women are better educated, more ambitious and maybe even more successful than men. Is that true? Maybe. He goes on to barf out stats on how the percentage of men graduating from college has declined since the 1970’s. He continues, saying more men are unemployed, are having out-of-wedlock babies, and aren’t going to church. And then he offers this as proof for the numbers:
I’ve heard too many young women asking, “Where are the decent single men?”
What’s this have to do with videogames? Apparently men are no longer the dominant sex because…videogames. Partly, at least, he seems to say. Stat barfing continues: “Today, 18-to- 34-year-old men spend more time playing video games a day than 12-to- 17-year-old boys.” Apparently these games are part of the “confusing signals” that young men receive today.
The Founding Fathers believed, and the evidence still shows, that industriousness, marriage and religion are a very important basis for male empowerment and achievement. We may need to say to a number of our twenty-something men, “Get off the video games five hours a day, get yourself together, get a challenging job and get married.” It’s time for men to man up.
You hear that, guys? Man the f*ck up! If you play games, don’t go to church and aren’t married, you aren’t a man.
