Tough guys
SOME men put up a front that’s based on an extreme notion of masculinity, emphasizing toughness, brutish power, and machismo. They command respect and admiration in others by an implicit threat of violence. They project themselves as tough guys who will not run from a fight or balk at a challenge, even if this involves great risk to their life and reputation.
These machos go to great lengths to defend their masculinity so that it is never contested. But in doing so, they unwittingly admit that they show only certain parts of themselves that the dominant culture has defined as manly or masculine. Despite their aggressive stance at being machos, they are passively submitting themselves to a sociocultural norm that requires men to always assume the posture of a tough guy. In effect, they personify a distorted understanding of male sexuality based on caricatures and stereotypes.
One characteristic often associated with tough guys is the blatant coarseness of their language. One macho government official, for instance, constantly indulges in profanity while delivering speeches or conducting interviews. He seems to embellish his monologues with curses to bring home his point. One may rightly infer, however, that he does that to hide his inarticulateness or to distract us from his many non sequiturs, sometimes enough to make a tossed salad. His lengthy soliloquies usually amount only to this: “I’ve already made up my mind. Stop confusing me with the facts!”
His brutal onslaught against social refinement and elevated language has become fashionable, a fad reinforced by film, television, and music celebrities who cannot finish a sentence without peppering it with a cuss or obscenity. While they enjoy the pleasures and privileges of an amoral existence, these celebrities pretend to be society’s conscience.
Christian Nestell Bovee writes, “Bad taste is a species of bad morals.” By this he means that the reversal of standards, in which gutter language and ignoble conduct are imitated and even promoted by political, social, or economic leaders, is a sign of moral depravity and cultural decay. A clear indication that this is happening is the loss of our sense of shame.
Today, being shameless has become fashionable. Many people spit, urinate, or dump their garbage anywhere they please. Motorists violate traffic rules with impunity. The elite dress shabbily and tell others that this is socially chic and thoroughly intellectual.
With the gradual disappearance of our sense of shame, many people are no longer bothered by the possibility of being exposed for crimes they commit. In fact, like self-confessed exhibitionists, they delight in seeing their faults, defects, or crimes broadcast by the media.
Don’t you notice, most of the controversial or prominent politicians and government officials are steeped in the machismo culture? After seizing power, they consolidate their wealth and brush off like flies those who dare ask, “What happened to your election promises?” Some of them shamelessly bleed us dry of our resources, robbing the country’s coffers, without even bothering to wear a ski mask.
The major stinker is, they have no intention of giving up their positions of privilege and power, so we must be prepared to hold our noses for a very long time.