I’ve been musing about the cult of the “strong man” and how we think of masculinity. Two examples, a personal anecdote, and some thoughts on the subject of what it is to be a man.
In Gujarat, history textbooks that praise Hitler were re-issued this year:
A Jesuit priest and social activist, Cedric Prakash, says the books contain more than 300 factual errors and make little mention of the holocaust. In the chapter entitled “Internal achievements of Nazism,” one textbook quoted by AFP states: “Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government within a short time, establishing a strong administrative set-up.”The Gujarat government has dismissed the charges as baseless. [BBC]
Similarly, in Kanpur, a Hindu manager at ICICI-Prudential decided to use OBL to motivate his employees to sell more insurance:
A branch manager and staff of ICICI-Prudential in the city of Kanpur allegedly dreamed up the scheme to sell 275 policies in three days. Staff were told of Osama Bin Laden’s “focused determination” and would be rewarded glass tumblers for “kills”. A police official in Kanpur, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said the staff organised a sales promotion meeting last week, putting up banners and posters on the wall. A flag of Pakistan was also allegedly used in the show. The promotion was called “Mission Jihad”.But as the initiative attracted media publicity, staff panicked and tried to burn the publicity material. Police searching the company’s premises say they found a half burned banner and a few posters containing slogans such as “Mission Jihad: kill one enemy and take home a beautiful crystal glass. Kill more, take more.” [BBC]
As Americans, we are often puzzled by the way in which America’s enemies often show up as folk heroes abroad, even in countries that love the US. Osama T-shirts sold well in Thailand, a hedonistic paradise that idolizes America. Despite our head scratching, it’s not all that hard to understand. Everybody wants to be a badass; everyone wants to emulate the alpha-male.
In 1999, I was travelling in a very pro-American Third World country and would get incensed when locals would call out to me “Hey, Gaddafi! Hey Bin Laden!” The sister of a close friend had died in Lockerbie, and OBL had already attacked the WTC once and killed many in Tanzania and Kenya. I was not amused.
To paraphrase Cool Hand Luke, what we had here was a failure to communicate. The guys on the street thought they were complimenting me. To them, Gaddafi and Bin Laden were strong men, and that was good in and of itself. Might makes right, after all.
I didn’t see it the same way. For me, being a man is best summed up in the Yiddish word Mensch: “a decent human being, a good person who always takes the high road. Being called a mensch is the ultimate compliment.” Mensch literally means man. It’s not like “nice guy” because “nice guys finish last.” Instead it’s says that being a man means doing what is right. It’s better to be good than to be dominant. It’s more manly to be nice than to be a bully.
In other words, masculinity is as masculinity does. It’s not context free. Strength means nothing without looking at how it is used.
In all fairness, this is easy to say when you’re on equal footing with others. When you’re weak, you start to value strength for itself. Growing up in America, going to the “right schools” and getting the “right jobs” meant that I was privileged. I didn’t have to associate masculinity with ruthlessness. I wonder how much longer I will be able to live in this bubble, or if it has already popped. I worry about young British Asians, especially young British of Pakistani origin. The terrorists are trying to drive a wedge between them and the dominant society; to make them feel that they can never live in the UK as equals. When they start feeling weak, they’ll start to value strength for its own sake, and stop thinking about how that strength is used.
I’m not suggesting, in simplistic fashion, that discrimination will make them into terrorists. I’m just musing about how frail our sense of moral judgement is, and thinking it would be a shame if the terrorist strategy worked, even a little bit. It would be a travesty if terrorism made some people feel weak enough that they, like others in India, could see a bloodstained murderer and think “I want to be strong like him.”
