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NYT: The modern man has no use for a gun. He doesn’t own one, and he never will.
MR: A Man’s Man owns at least one firearm. He knows how to use it, clean it, and store it properly. He understands it’s importance, and sees it for what it is – a tool that can protect him and his family. – Mike Rowe via Facebook

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100 COMMENTS

  1. “A Man’s Man owns at least one firearm. He knows how to use it, clean it, and store it properly. He understands it’s importance, and sees it for what it is – a tool that can protect him and his family” – well said.

    • I read the “modern man” article, and at times it seemed like it had to be satire, but we’ve entered into an era of true idiocracy so I’m not sure anymore. I mean the onion is having trouble keeping up these days.

      • I found a web hangout – I swear this is true – where everybody thinks sarcasm is “mean” and “aggressive”.

        The men probably are rocking cardigans. I mean “men”. Sorry.

        • Unless I missed the point somewhere in all the sarcasm I’ve ever written, I believe that sarcasm is intentionally mean and aggressive. If the person/author addressed is not offended then you probably did it wrong.

  2. The NYT must be incredibly stupid. . .
    On the exact same list:

    16. The modern man lies on the side of the bed closer to the door. If an intruder gets in, he will try to fight him off, so that his wife has a chance to get away.

    25. The modern man has no use for a gun. He doesn’t own one, and he never will.

    Maybe if they removed #25 from the list they would be able to amend #16 to “If an intruder gets in, he WILL fight him off.”

    • >> “If an intruder gets in, he WILL fight him off.”

      …with “ballistic resistance” [as noted by a Swiss militia member 🙂 ]

    • This reminds me of a book by Stanislaw Lem, “Return From The Stars”. The premise is astronauts return to earth after 127 years, but have only aged 10. The human race has become “pacified” by a process called betrization that is “designed to neutralize all aggressive impulses. Its side effect is an extreme aversion to risk” (from wikipedia)

      From Wikipedia:
      “Return from the Stars asks whether some sociocultural advances, like peace, are worth the price we may pay for losing part of our nature. Is a bland, safe world worth sacrificing that which may be gained with risk-taking?”

      The NYT “modern man” is not a man at all IMO, nor does the NYT “modern man” really exist.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_from_the_Stars

    • I do sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door, with my xds right beside me, my wife also has one on her side along with a 12 guage. We train with her rolling off the bed and going for the 12 while I move towards the end of the bed to be out of her fire while still covering the door and also aiming my xds in a way that wont be pointing at either of the kids rooms. BTW the 12 is fueled with frangible #4 buck.

    • I don’t think Mike Rowe has much to worry about. He might lose his CNN gig, but women love him so he’ll resurface somewhere.

      He also does a great job through his Mike Rowe Works Foundation of promoting the idea of becoming financially successful through learning a trade without going through four years of liberal arts college so you can work at Starbucks.

      Not bad for an opera singer from Baltimore.

      • The liberal media backlash against him will be interesting. They never allow such intransigence and free speech on their watch. Expect fuming invective from all the Hollywood ginches.

      • Yep, with Mike Rowe Works, I predict people in the future will look back at these times and see what he is doing as one of the saviors of our culture.

        Revisiting actual skills and basic trades as viable ways to improve community AND make a living? What an idea.

        I have not watched his show(s) on TV much at all (don’t have a TV), but I have been a Mike Rowe “fan” for a long time.

      • Now that’s an interesting take on careers. My younger son did go thru (almost) four years of college, and altho it was more of a real-career oriented sojourn (he was majoring in Criminal Justice and taking ag science courses) what he is doing now is pretty much unrelated to his schooling; a friend who lives on a ranch showed him how to weld, he got a job in the oil fields as a helper, and has since progressed into management. He’s making more than I ever did as a lawyer, altho he works twice as many hours to do it.

        • Interesting. I was just telling my son the recently that welders are ALWAYS in demand…it’s a skill one can fall back on.

          There are other similar skills that never go away, no matter how the “enlightened” try to look down their noses at ’em. Plumbing, for example.

          From what I can tell, Mike’s view is that bringing these back have LOTS of benefits, not JUST job opportunities for the individual. After all, people tend to take pride in their work; if they work in their community to literally build it, they will take pride in the community, too. Makes sense to me, anyway.

      • He’s in no danger from that comment. Did you see the segment of his “Somebody has to do it” show that featured Demolition Ranch? Best thing I’ve seen on “mainstream” TV in a long time. Guns everywhere.

    • I’d never heard of him until this. Then again, were it not for my travel schedule and airport seating areas at the gates, I’m sure I would have forgotten CNN exists.

  3. The “modern man” is a sheep that is kept placid with the internet, TV, fast food, a brainwashed sense of false moral “superiority” and a desire for a utopia which all the previous mentioned things are given to you for free.

    A man’s man works for a living, knows how to think and care for himself, his family, and knows everything about the modern man is bullshit.

    Bonus “man’s man” facts: He keeps his powder dry, his weapons clean, and bourbon in the cabinet.

    • Spot on. The NY Times “Modern Man” isn’t a man, but rather, the shadow of a man – nothing more than an effete and obsequious captive breeder. He pines for the approval and acceptance of others, subservient to the culture of overdeveloped social sensitivity, and supplicating to the insanity of misandrist modern feminism. I don’t want that guy anywhere near me – he’s become comfortable with being dominated.

      • Most of the “men” who write these pieces aren’t the least bit manly and they have the worst sort of inferiority complex when it comes to manly men. Therefore rather than aiming to improve, they want to get rid of the idea of manliness they don’t feel they can achieve. Most manly men probably don’t care much about these guys(to each their own so to speak) but these types tend also to be the worst control freaks too. A good documentary for a guy who does really try to turn it around is “My own man” on Netflix. I applaud him a lot for that. It bothered him and so he tried to make a change rather than to denigrate everyone else.

      • It’s really a language problem. The “Modern Man” types in 2015 are the same types of people who try and control language by saying we want “gun safety and if you are against us, you are against safety.” Similarly here they have now “defined” the “Modern Man. If you are against the modern man, you must me some old fashioned Neanderthal.”

        But there are a ton of guys (probably a quiet majority) who don’t identify with this definition. Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, or Don Draper as a character: all modern men of there time and definitely men’s men who were fairly well rounded. Most men identify with these men over say, pajama boy from the obamacare ads who the NYT says we should be like.

        Personally, I like a lot of the things “modern men” say I should be interested in. I like art, ballroom dancing, Wine tasting, and I have a few other more hipster tendencies. On the other hand I like lifting weights, playing poker, V8 American Muscle cars, and my model 629 smith is probably my favorite handgun or gun period with my colt series 70 a close second. I prefer bourbon, but wine tasting typically has more beautiful women in attendance 😉

      • He might be a little ticked with the NRA right now. They floated a meme of this quote without seeking his permission. He felt that was rude, and he’s right.

      • Speaking of speaking, you know you don’t actually have to be a member of congress to be elected Speaker of the House. Mike Rowe for Speaker?

        • True, just as technically you don’t have to be a lawyer to be appointed to the Supreme Court; but that’s just as unlikely to happen.

    • Don’t insult yesterday’s woman like that!

      A lot of women 150 years ago were tough as nails and took no crap. It seems the “enlightenment” sought to ruin both sexes.

      • Agree. Whatever social engineering is taking place is turning men into woman, and women into…not women? End result is pitting the sexes against each other, by design of course.

        • Yeah, I know what you mean. Just the other day I saw this “babe”, had everything a man would want!
          crew cut, moustache, hair on her chest!

      • Ha Ha – Spot On!! The women that founded this country, and my own grandmother I might add, were tough as nails, women of action and sacrifice, and infinitely more capable than the candy a$$ the NY Times is describing. They were preoccupied with survival and had no time for mindless existentialism.

      • Yes! My great grandmother hunted, worked in the field at a cotton farm, survived the depression, and was a damn good marksman. I would trust my life with one of yesterday’s women long before a modern man.

  4. Who doesn’t love Mike Rowe?
    He recently did a segment with Demolition Ranch for his CNN show. I’m surprised CNN aired a show that portrayed shooting as fun.

  5. So if I own an ak with a red dot sight and a suppressor does that make me a “man’s man” and a “modern man”? I built the ak and the suppressor so I guess I’m a “handy man” too hahahaha

  6. I am so over all this modern man and man’s man stuff. I do what seems right to me w/ little to no concern for my perceived masculinity or perceived coolness. I am content just to be an Indian. I do not need to be an internet chief. On my better days I am a dinosaur; old dudes and kids are dinosaurs (or at least want to be one) and they are some of the best people I have met 🙂

    • Hear, hear! For example, I carry a Hello Kitty change purse. Because: a) I like Hello Kitty, 2) I used to carry a (holstered) P3AT in that pocket making digging for change unweildy/unsafe, and III) I don’t give a crap what people think when I dump loose change out of it at the cash register.

  7. I laughed so hard at that article. They might as well have said the truth about that article.. “The Modern Beta Male Virgin”

  8. I saw this on Twitter a few days ago, predictably the demanding mothers are asking Discovery Channel to pull his show… We really are circling the drain.

    • DC or whereever he works chould reply with:

      “Okay, you produce a show with an equivalent budget and we will air it back-to-back with his for six months. At the end of the trial period, we will compare ratings and get rid of the show that brings the smaller audience. Agreed?”

      I’d willingly wager Rowe would clean their clock.

      Or, just tell them to go pound sand. “MDA does not make management and programming decisions for the Discovery Channel.” That’d make a good tweet.

      • Judging by the responses on his Facebook where he has handily dismantled a few people attacking him for his comments on guns…. It will likely be something on the lines of “pound sand”

        in spite of how much he likes Ford trucks, I gotta say I have a major man crush on Mike Rowe.

        • I’m gonna WAG on this and say it’s akin to “beat feet,” as in “run away,” derived from the sound and action one makes when literally pounding sand.

          That’s just a guess, though, as I was also too lazy to look it up.

        • I’m suspicious it has something to do with the fact you can busy yourself pounding sand all day long, yet at sundown you will have accomplished nothing.

  9. I met Mike Rowe once while on a corporate trip in Chicago. We were talking around the bar one evening, when Mike and crew walked into the hotel. Several of my colleagues just wanted to shake his hand and tell him they enjoy the show. He took the time to speak with nearly everyone, answered dozens of questions about himself and the show, and was genuinely, authentically, pleased to do it – even though you could tell he was tired from traveling and just wanted to relax. He is as humble and “salt of the earth” as they get, and has enormous respect for everyone who makes a living in a difficult, dirty, smelly, unseen and/or under-appreciated occupation. He is the antithesis of the self appointed celebrity elite and a true gentleman.

  10. Modern
    Adjective – of or relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past
    Noun – a person who advocates or practices a departure from traditional styles or values
    Antonym – old, old fashioned, past, ancient, antiquated, obsolete, outdated, passé

    The “Modern” Man – Exactly what does that mean? Does that mean that modern men should be different from past generations? Were our forefathers not “modern” men of their times? And exactly what does it mean to be a man?
    I was raised with respect for tradition, family, church, elders, women, and country. Are these qualities no longer considered acceptable? It seems as though this author is blending the traditional roles of masculine and feminine to re-define man. Sorry folks, men are from Mars and women are from Venus. This doesn’t mean that a real man doesn’t actually eat quiche. And it doesn’t mean he isn’t empa-thetic. It just means that he isn’t pa-thetic.

    1. When the modern man buys shoes for his spouse, he doesn’t have to ask her sister for the size. And he knows which brands run big or small.
    A real man is smart enough to know that buying any clothing items for his spouse is a fool’s errand. He learned this early in life when Mom bought clothing that was neither in style, cool, nor fit. Men are not women, and to pretend to understand what personal items your spouse may like is about as stupid as asking them to decide which type of athletic supporter you should wear.
    2. The modern man never lets other people know when his confidence has sunk. He acts as if everything is going swimmingly until it is.
    A real man has got to know his limitations. The only one you’re really lying to is yourself. A real man admits when he has made a mistake and learns from it.
    3. The modern man is considerate. At the movie theater, he won’t munch down a mouthful of popcorn during a quiet moment. He waits for some ruckus.
    Agreed.
    4. The modern man doesn’t cut the fatty or charred bits off his fillet. Every bite of steak is a privilege, and it all goes down the hatch.
    Awe bullshit. A real man feeds these parts to his best friend, his dog.
    5. The modern man won’t blow 10 minutes of his life looking for the best parking spot. He finds a reasonable one and puts his car between the lines.
    Unless his spouse is in the car. Then he does what he is told.
    6. Before the modern man heads off to bed, he makes sure his spouse’s phone and his kids’ electronic devices are charging for the night.
    A real man knows to keep his hands off his spouse’s things. The kids are on their own. They spend too much time on those damn things anyway.
    7. The modern man buys only regular colas, like Coke or Dr Pepper. If you walk into his house looking for a Mountain Dew, he’ll show you the door.
    Awe bullshit. A real man drinks whatever he damn well feels like. If that happens to be a Dew or diet then so be it. But you won’t ever see him with one of those energy drinks containing Taurine (Bull Piss) in his hand. A real man knows piss doesn’t belong in your mouth.
    8. The modern man uses the proper names for things. For example, he’ll say “helicopter,” not “chopper” like some gauche simpleton.
    A real man calls it what it is and is expedient about it. They aren’t diagonal side cutting pliers, they are Dikes. And we call them Dike(s) because they only come in pairs.
    9. Having a daughter makes the modern man more of a complete person. He learns new stuff every day.
    A real man strives to learn something new every day. Having a daughter is simply another joy in life and not the only reason to learn new stuff. Now the young man who comes a courting; he learns a few things quick when he meets Dad for the first time.
    10. The modern man makes sure the dishes on the rack have dried completely before putting them away.
    If only this was the mantra of the modern child.
    11. The modern man has never “pinned” a tweet, and he never will.
    What’s a tweet?
    12. The modern man checks the status of his Irish Spring bar before jumping in for a wash. Too small, it gets swapped out.
    Awe bullshit. A real man gets out of the shower, drips water all the way back to the soap stash, tears the box in two, and drips water all the way back to the shower. Then he takes the small wimpy wet piece and rubs it through the drain screen with his foot. It’s a piece of soap. It doesn’t warrant much thought.
    13. The modern man listens to Wu-Tang at least once a week.
    What the fuck is Wu-Tang?
    14. The modern man still jots down his grocery list on a piece of scratch paper. The market is no place for his face to be buried in the phone.
    A real man already knows everything he needs at the grocery store and lists are for women. He systematically walks every single isle like running a standard search grid and still misses one or two items.
    15. The modern man has hardwood flooring. His children can detect his mood from the stamp of his Kenneth Cole oxfords.
    What the fuck is an oxford and why the hell are you wearing shoes in the house anyway?
    16. The modern man lies on the side of the bed closer to the door. If an intruder gets in, he will try to fight him off, so that his wife has a chance to get away.
    25. The modern man has no use for a gun. He doesn’t own one, and he never will.
    Where the hell is she going to go? Out the window? A real man keeps his everyday carry gun on the night stand. His dog is already trying to feast on the intruder while the real man wipes the sleepies out of his eyes and gears up. A real man’s wife already has his back with her bigger gun and is looking to protect the kids while he deals with the intruder. She’s already got 911 speed dialed and calling for an ambulance for the intruder. A real man doesn’t shrug his responsibility to protect his family with namby-pamby fears of inanimate objects. A real man knows what tool works best for what job. A real man’s kids know where all the guns and ammunition are and they have been taught proper use, safety, and respect. A real man’s kids are as much as a threat to an intruder as mom and dad are.
    17. Does the modern man have a melon baller? What do you think? How else would the cantaloupe, watermelon and honeydew he serves be so uniformly shaped?
    Abso-fucking-lutely not. A real man cuts the damn thing in half with his pocket knife and chomps away. Ok, in company, he uses a spoon, maybe.
    18. The modern man has thought seriously about buying a shoehorn.
    A real man already has the right tool for the job. He doesn’t have to think seriously about something so trivial. A real man’s Dad gave him the one his Grandpa gave him and he will pass it on to his eldest son.
    19. The modern man buys fresh flowers more to surprise his wife than to say he is sorry.
    Yeah, cause it’s always a good idea to surprise his wife with something that’s on its deathbed. A real man has an account at the local jewelry store and forgoes the dying plants. A real man surprises his wife with trips to Bermuda or a new gun.
    20. On occasion, the modern man is the little spoon. Some nights, when he is feeling down or vulnerable, he needs an emotional and physical shield.
    Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.
    What truth?
    There is no spoon.
    There is no spoon?
    Then you’ll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
    21. The modern man doesn’t scold his daughter when she sneezes while eating an apple doughnut, even if the pieces fly everywhere.
    Does this really need to be said? A real man would be ROFLAO. Yeah, we know what that means dear.
    22. The modern man still ambles half-naked down his driveway each morning to scoop up a crisp newspaper.
    A real man smacks the newspaper boy until he understands the paper belongs neatly on the porch railing every morning.
    23. The modern man has all of Michael Mann’s films on Blu-ray (or whatever the highest quality thing is at the time).
    A real man has a library of classic books and reads them. A real man keeps up with current events and can talk intelligently about them. A real man has no need for a shelf full of modern movies he can download at any time if he wishes.
    24. The modern man doesn’t get hung up on his phone’s battery percentage. If it needs to run flat, so be it.
    It’s a phone. A real man’s first indication there’s a problem is when the display is blank.
    26. The modern man cries. He cries often.
    A real man cries just like any other human being. How often he cries depends upon the trials of his life; some more, some less. But certainly he doesn’t cry to gain sympathy.
    27. People aren’t sure if the modern man is a good dancer or not. That is, until the D.J. plays his jam and he goes out there and puts on a clinic.
    God either gave you dance genes or he didn’t. A real man doesn’t care one way or the other.

    • Don’t agree 100% with every single one of your rebuttals (I use lists at the store because I’m forgetful about such things, but then again, I don’t lose sleep over forgetting something at the store either, so…), but …

      Here’s a hearty Very Well Done.

    • I forgot to add…BIG PLUS on the “real man’s kids are just as much a threat to an intruder as Mom and Dad.” Yep.

      My job as “Dad” is to prepare my children for Real Life. Preparing them to be responsible for themselves and their own safety ranks pretty high on the priority list.

  11. In my neck of the woods (Portland, Oregon) the excuses for “modern men” are real eyeopeners: knuckle-dragging rednecks, hipsters, gang-bangers, snotty rich elitists, sissies, illegal immigration crybabies, puking winos, LGBY apologists and so on. What the hell happened to America?

    • America left Oregon. When I moved two years ago, the first person I met when I arrived in Arizona shook my hand and welcomed me to America when he found out I moved from Oregon. I never realized how little freedom I had in Oregon until I moved to Arizona. Imagine talking about the USPSA or the NRA at work without the risk of being fired. Imagine open carry without some wacko activist yelling at you trying to pick a fight, or without having the local police harass you. Imagine conceal carrying larger pistols because you are unconcerned that it may print.

      • Had that exact same experience when I moved from NJ to AZ. It was bittersweet, though, realizing how ignorant I’d been while living in a slave state and knowing I could never return there, or to many parts of this nation, if I wanted to remain free.

  12. All respect for Mike, and he does by all accounts support the 2A, owns guns, and doesn’t believe that gun control is the answer to anything, but when his quote got used without permission for an image published by the NRA, he said this:

    https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/1071957162814426:0

    “Clearly, The Times is suggesting that men who own guns in this day and age are something less than “modern.” My response was an attempt to juxtapose the absurdity of that contention, with an equally absurd implication that a man who does NOT own a gun, is somehow “less manly” than one who does. Get it?

    Satire. Parody. Irony. These things all require context. But the meme you saw provides no context at all. Stripped of it’s original setting, my comments now resemble something else altogether – a very deliberate statement-of-belief from me, pushed into your news feed by an organization that wishes to associate my words with their agenda. “

    • Well, he is right. The NRA should have contacted him before using his quote. He might very well have said yes, and it would have been that much more powerful.

  13. 15. The modern man has hardwood flooring. His children can detect his mood from the stamp of his Kenneth Cole oxfords.

    When a real man buys dress shoes, they aren’t overpriced offshore crap named after a virulent opponent of basic civil rights. They probably have a pair of Allen Edmonds, (or Aldens if they look for the union label so they can pay double). Or they spend their money on guns and wear Dr Scholl’s dress shoes to church and funerals, better to wear honest $50 Chinese shoes than KC labeled Chinese shoes for $200.

  14. I always liked that Ford salesman. Now I know why.

    As for his prospects of future employ. My wife, daughter and every female I know has a crush on him. The powers that be will not derail that money train.

    The modern man, as defined by NYT is a turn off to any woman. Women don’t really want to share their panties with their male partners.

  15. Reading this confirms I am a Neanderthal. I roast my own coffee beans, make my own bourbon, kill and butcher my own meat and load my own ammo. Doesn’t get much better than that.

  16. The NYT’s modern man is equipped to deal with others like him. When they disagree, no matter how vehemently, they do not resort to violence. However, he is completely unprepared to deal with barbarians (e.g. ISIS, drug cartels, muggers) who simply kill their opponents rather than debate the subject with them.

  17. Mike just done a lengthy explanation on his Facebook over this interview and his response to guns and the man’s man after a meme was made for the nra using his picture and quote that ended up getting someone’s panties in a twist. He explained how it had edited down for word play, he explained how it was taken and used out of context, he also gave the whole response he had made in its unedited version and how it was out of context even though he believes in gun ownership, supports the nra, and owns a gun himself. He also explained how upset he gets being used for agenda or propaganda reasons, and with his high intelligence level, I personally wouldn’t risk being publicly humiliated or possibly sued by that man. LOL

  18. A swipe at every man and woman with any level of military training (JROTC, ROTC, Guard, Reserves,Active, Combat, SF’s). Possibly everyone who went through Scouts, summer camp, etc.

  19. Brian is a bonafide mush headed pansy and seemingly wears that title like a badge of honor… The feminization of our youth is very disturbing… Fathers teach your Sons well. Guys like this need to be mocked, berated and figuratively beat back into the closet they came out of… If these “Dudes” want to cut off their nuts and wear them as earrings that’s on them. But to try and celebrate and normalize that illness is beyond offensive…

    Sorry but I’m not sorry if that offends anyone… PC has left the station…. Carry on Patriots!!!

  20. Good on Mike Rowe. BTW in 5 or 6 tries I couldn’t get on TTAG today-502 error massage…every other internet site worked fine FWIW…

  21. Modern Man is a milquetoast who will fold and be killed off by the bad guys when crap hits the fan. Modern Man will become Evolution In Action Man.

  22. NYT manginas never needed guns, never had guns, never wielded one, and will scream like pussies with or without one. So, they’re not even relevant to the discussion.

    next!

    xD

  23. I like Mike Rowe. This post is one of the few exceptions to my personal policy to simply refuse to give clicks to Fake Book, or NYT. Here is another good quote:

    “MR: A Man’s Man prefers his gas tank full, his weapon loaded, his pantry stocked, and his checkbook balanced. He also likes his phone sufficiently charged, and takes the necessary steps to accomplish that.”

    I have to assume Modern Man is a parody. If not, he is on the list of pending Darwin Awards finalists.

  24. According to him that would be all the politicians in Washington DC. I have the right to protect myself and if you don’t like it tough $hit.
    The 2nd Amendment was put into the Constitution so the people could protect themselves from a corrupt government. No double standards put DC politicians on Obamacare and SS.Thanks for your support and vote.Pass the word. mrpresident2016.com

  25. The Modern Man owes his existence to the Man’s Man, and likely lives in subconscious fear knowing that his continued existence is at the whim of the Man’s Man, hence the passive aggressive resentment.

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