I choose to read this as him being from a family so gloriously manly that he’s the dainty one of the bunch. Even though his sisters could beat the snot out of him, they’re true gentlemen who adore their brother and employ violence only in appropriate contexts.
Wow a moustach and a hammer? Is that all it takes?
Standing around, drinking beer, not saying much other than grunts. Peak manhood.
Gender is a performance and Nick Offerman is a very good performer.
Security is manly
I will never understand glorification of celebrities or peoples obsession with them.
Same, it’s so weird. I was once at a small and new comic con. It was around season 5 of GOT back then and they had the Hodor guy there. I wouldn’t have gotten out of my way to see some guy or get an autograph, but we just walked past and there was no queue, but quite a lot of people. Me and my friend walked into the queue and it said something like: photo 10 bucks, autograph 5. We laughed and walked back out. That’s what the other people did there too. I was at least somewhat pleased that it’s mainly an American thing to kiss the feet of celebrities
that it’s mainly an American thing to kiss the feet of celebrities
No, it’s not. It’s mainly instinctive.
My take away is that people are stupid and believe that someone playing a character that is said to be manly is the same as actually being manly.
By the typical and stupid societal definition of the word manly, he does fit. Not only the visual depiction of it, but also the fact that he goes out and builds his own furniture and a variety of other hobbies. Also, I want him inside of me.
The problem is that this societal definition of the word manly is stupid, because it’s limiting to every single person involved and sexist garbage.
Also, I want him inside of me.
I was unaware of this requirement.
Just a personal caveat. Like this dude is the sexiest human being alive in my opinion… Bam. I grew ovaries and they exploded.
He would rail you while gently explaining boat design and sharpening a chisel. Mustache whimsicaly bristling in the breeze of his warm breath. “mmm, I think I’ve just had an orgasm. Now this is how you properly secure a mooring knot”
Not only THEIR definition of “manly”, strong, skilled, capable, he is also MY definition of manly, Compassionate, Empathetic, introspective, and excited to learn.
That’s why I wrote “is said to be manly” and not “is manly”. People not only don’t realize it’s just a character, they also don’t questions the stereotype.
The problem is the Western and now global conception of masculinity is broken (for many reasons) with social media acting as an accelerant.
At some point Stoicism got bastardized into being emotionless and that got imbued into Western masculinity also.
We’re going to have to go back to actively teaching boys how to be men if we want to course correct (rather than having Rogan or Peterson teach them).
To be fair… Many of Ron’s wooden furniture pieces were things Nick had been working on in his shop at the time of shooting…
Worthless social constructs
I wouldn’t say worthless.
Like many ancient cultural traditions that have survived to present day, they only lasted so long because they have some usefulness to them, despite their baggage. (The fact that they survived even with so much baggage should actually give a hint that there’s something useful there.)
It’s useful to be able to guess at some traits of a person based on appearance, or from knowledge of a few traits they have that tend to be correlated with others. (Yes, it’s reductive, and subjective, and the very definition of stereotype. But as long as there is a channel for potential communication, humans will make use of that channel — on both ends, even listening for meaning when there is none.)
Like how characters in team-based video games tend to generally fall into the categories of tank, dps, and healer, and their appearance and skills generally reinforce that categorization. It gives a shared landmark that the entire team can reference and allows you to navigate collective action problems more easily.
Constructs like “manliness” work in a similar way. A loose constellation of traits like strength, willingness to physically protect others, usually valuing rationality over emotionality, etc. along with some appearance tropes like facial hair that aren’t really intrinsically connected but help people identify each other more easily. (Note that I’m not making a value judgment here. I think it’s useful to have a bundle of traits with a name as a landmark. That does not mean I endorse all of the traits or the specific way they’re bundled.)
The problem, as you know, is… basically everything else.
That it’s tied to gender and hormones, implicitly asserts that this is the only valid (or at least the “best”) way to perform this gender, creates a rigid binary where there should be multiple mix-and-match options, promotes certain undesirable traits as “part of the package”…
…and the galaxy-sized elephant in the room: the fact that this construct doesn’t exist in isolation, but is deeply intertwined with patriarchy. It’s not simply a bundle of traits for easy shared reference points, it’s also a social currency with some very cult-ish or pyramid-scheme-like mechanics to it.
I don’t know if the concept of “manliness” can/will/should be saved. If/when it fades away, a large part of its current footprint will have faded away for the better. But I think some part of it is worthwhile.
Maybe we reclaim that territory by evolving the concept of “manliness”? Maybe we replace it completely, with 15 different, more nuanced and healthier concepts. But I think we do ourselves a disservice by acting as if there’s nothing worthwhile in there.
The ability to perform gender in a better way and reclaim that territory is kind of the essence of trans rights. If we want to build a verdant city on that land, we should acknowledge the land itself even as we criticize the ways it’s been misused.
Edit: Btw, if anyone’s wondering where all of this came from: this was right after I listened to a podcast about the concept of “common knowledge” and how it functions in linguistics, and it blew my mind, and this was the first concept I encountered afterwards and seeing it with new eyes was fascinating, so I had to write about it and now you get to enjoy the whale-carcass-sinking-in-the-ocean-depths that is me figuring out how to describe it in my own words.
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying, re social constructs having some basis in reality, but the problem I have is the sort of appearance based aspect of it, most of the toughest most manly looking men I know are actually socially anxious teddy bears and the most “strength, willingness to physically protect others, usually valuing rationality over emotionality” people I know are 5’4 women.
Like the archetypes make sense, but the social construct is pointlessly gendered…
some basis in reality
To be clear, these aren’t based in a physical reality. We’re not giving names to things that just naturally exist. These are based in social reality, like money or laws — things that exist only in the sense that we are able to cooperate in a shared make-believe space and maintain mutual understanding of what we’re talking about.
The appearance aspect is not that there is an intrinsic predetermined connection between “manly” traits and looking a certain way; it’s that we tend to look for communication across every available channel, so we will always tend to use appearance to try to convey some sense of our traits to others, since we know other people will tend to interpret whatever the appearance is.
Also, given the downvotes I’ve caught, maybe I should’ve tried harder to make it clear that I’m not making a moral claim about the creation of the concept of “manliness”?
Like, I’m not a fan. But it’s here. So what do we do about that? (Edit: To say something is useful is not to say that its creation was ethical or that it has only (or even net) positive effects. Fuck, generative AI is a case study for that.)
I think sometimes people think you can dismantle a social reality by boycotting it. That has never really worked, because social realities tend to persist because they help navigate some physical reality that people need to keep interacting with, and so they will keep that social reality alive as a side-effect until a new one comes along that offers an alternative.
You have to engage in the same kind of make-believe, and build a new construct that interacts with the old one in some way before it can really be dislodged.
Reminds me of an interview done with Gabriel Macht, who plays Harvey Specter on Suits. He talks about how Harvey is the polar opposite person to him, he went to drama school, Harvey is ruthless, slick, ultra competitive, and conniving.
Growing a moustache is pure genetic luck, and you can learn how to swing a hammer in about thirty seconds.
you can learn how to swing a hammer in about thirty seconds
You cant downplay hammer skills, though. There is almost no skill ceiling with hammers. Put any blacksmith up against an amateur, and you’ll quickly see the difference between 30 seconds of training and 30 years.
Also the smith will still be hitting their target after a few hours of constant hammering. An amateur is gonna lose their accuracy within the first hour.
When we were doing our time for our Habitat for Humanity house, my ex-wife and I framed houses on two different days. Within an hour, my arm was numb and I couldn’t hit shit.
It feels like there was more to this story. Like the introduction of a completely unused second character…
Yeah, I was waiting for the, but my ex-wife…
Checkov’s ex.
I just redid my bathroom. I could go 30 mins tops swinging a 3 pound hammer before I was done for the day.
I recently rebuilt a big chunk of the interior of my house. I used to be good with a framing hammer but osteoarthritis has left me able to do maybe 4 or 5 swings with it. Fortunately, I discovered decking screws for this project. I just feel sorry for anybody that has to demo this shit in the future.
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I’ll absolutely grant that hammering is a skill that can be improved upon and that a skilled hammerer is quite the thing to behold. I think of the times I’ve seen experienced blacksmiths banging away for hours with forearms that look like Popeye’s, barely breaking a sweat. So yes, there’s a skill tree to be developed.
That said… a lot of people seem to have an idea that using tools, or even more broadly the inherent strength of their own bodies, is somehow beyond their ability, and a lot of the time that’s just beginners’ jitters. Absent of a particular physical limitation, most people probably can learn how to effectively use a hammer (or a hand saw, or a screw gun, or a crow bar, or any number of useful items) within a couple minutes. It’s our collective mistake for teaching people that they haven’t got ready access to those skills and strengths.
Generally, most of the tools in the house are considered “mine”, and yes I do often break out in a dry sweat when my wife wants to borrow them.
This isn’t because I don’t think she could learn to use them, but rather because the only time she picks them up is when she’s in “get it done” mode in which case a fuck up is costly in terms of time and money to fix… we me usually being the one to fix it. I’m pretty sure she similarly shudders when I grab a needle and thread from her office. We have a truce on laundry and dishes.
Thing is, I’ve got a shop full of bits and pieces where I fucked something up. BUT, I generally fucked it up on the inexpensive test projects until I was happy I could do a reasonable job, or where the cost of failure was just generally not too high. I don’t believe that my wife couldn’t similarly become a good carpenter or whatever, but rather experience says that she doesn’t have the interest of patience in learning to do so.
Well put. Thanks for entertaining my pedantry.
The trick for hand saws is sharp blades and patience. Don’t rush it. If you put it where you want it and have patience, most things practically cut themselves (save for something like a tree). If your blade is dull, you’re more likely to make a mistake.
Light pressure, too. That one still gets me sometimes.
Watched a video on these old Dutch guys, house framers. Apparently they’re kinda famous. I’ll never forget the dude casually walking along the roof and slamming 5" nails with a single stroke, one after the other like a machine. I’ve tried and tried, can’t even do it with a 3" nail.
Plus, it’s not obvious to even otherwise capable people how best to use one. My BIL is a generally pretty smart guy, but my sister had to show him how to use a hammer after they got married (he wanted control of his swing and didn’t trust himself, so he was holding it right up against the head(
Why was your BIL required to use a hammer after marrying your sister. Is there some ritual I am unaware of?
He had to hang a picture, but it was just there to indicate adulthood
Swinging your hammer is easy.
Avoiding your fingers is the tricky bit.
I remember an episode of Little House on the Prairie from my childhood. Pa has to get a job at the quarry, and he and a buddy are put to work drilling holes in the rock with a long metal spike and a sledgehammer. One of them has to hold the spike in place while the other bangs on it with the sledge. How the spike holder still had any fingers attached at the end of the day is beyond me. That shit traumatized me.
The trick is to look at the nail and not your fingers. If you look at your fingers so you don’t hit them, you’ll hit them.
There’s a very similar concept in motorbiking, target fixation. It essentially says that you go where you look. If you’re riding along and there’s a pothole in front of you, it’s easier to avoid it if you look either to the side of it or past it. If you look at it, you subconsciously turn towards it.
I just turn my head away entirely and squeal as I gently tap around hoping to hit something.
also choke up on the hammer. gives you less oomph, but more control.
Phrasing
No no, that’s honestly how you say it
yeah it means move your hands more toward the heavy end. make the lever shorter.
Damn, that’s why I keep hitting my toes. Gotta look up!
“The trick is not minding that it hurts.”
yeah my lip is just an eighth of an inch too short so a mustache on its own does not look right unless I go full walrus
… But how are his sisters’ mustaches?
Glorious.
the exact word i was going to use
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but they’re not great. It’s almost as if he made all of this up. You know, like an actor, playing a role.
Those are the disguises they have to don to avoid damaging our fragile psyches with their overwhelming majesty.
Dwarf genes
Like Leonid Brezhnev’s eyebrows
You know who this guy looks like?
Like a non-alcoholic Oliver Reed.And now I can’t unsee if
It’s ok. He has a permit.
He has a book called Paddle Your Own Canoe where he talks a lot about this.
I did the audiobook and its preachy but not a bad listen. Essentially, dont be a shitty human.
A friend of mine got into it as a teenager, now he’s the token progressive of his union
Honestly, I don’t mind that kind of preachy. “Don’t be a shitty person” seems to be in short supply these days.
So he learned it to feel some sense of masculinity after growing up feeling emasculated by his family?
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Who is this guy?
He also plays the single father in the animated comedy “The Great North”.
He’s probably best known how his role on the tv-show “Parks and Recreation”. Here’s a quick introduction.
He also guest starred in the first season of The Last of Us, and man was that a heart wrenching episode. Excellent actor.
Oh right! Amazing episode.
wait he did? was he Bill?
i tapped out of the show early on because i could handle being in control of the exposed trauma and pacing during the game. knowing shit was coming in the series had me dreading what would “happen” to the actors next and i needed to set it down.
i imagine if i ever decide to rewatch Broadchurch it’ll feel the same way.
Never half-ass two things. Whole ass one thing.
This has been my mantra ever since he said it, and I have repeated it in countless meetings. It’s generally received well.
Huh…I’ve only known him as the guy that really cared about building a highway for wolves.
Good to see he’s getting work.
West Wing I think?
He also is married to Megan Mullally, who makes an appearance as his ex wife in Parks & Rec. Highly recommended show. Feel free to skip season 1 though.
I was kidding. Making the same joke he made about Julia Roberts in episode 309.
Got it, yeah went right over my head
no worries. it was a deep cut!
[Nick Offerman in Deadwood, for the dipstick that downvoted such majesty]
That’s the god damned President.
