Saturday, January 28, 2006
Alpha male: nature or nurture
Voxologisti have been discussing what is an alpha male and Vox has posted his "the essence of Alpha." Most people make it seem like you're just born with it but I don't know. If Moses and others in the Bible are any indicator, it seems that being called by God can turn beta male into an alpha male.
I guess either way, it cannot be forced: you can't just pretend to be one.
The challenge then as a father of sons can I raise such men?
I guess either way, it cannot be forced: you can't just pretend to be one.
The challenge then as a father of sons can I raise such men?
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Norah Vincent's Self Made Man
I just saw 20/20 interviewing Norah Vincent and those she interacted with and all about her book "Self Made Man". She became "Ned" for 18 months and tried to become one of the guys (note that she's a lesbian). To a large extent she did: good enough to be accepted by other men as one of them. And she had some interesting perspectives on men: we face more stress in many ways and need to be able to share more openly, "intimately" but lack the languages (protocols?) to do so.
The interview was interesting enough to add to my list of books to buy. (grin)
Update: Reviews at Amazon.com are interesting, esp. from a "man" (who had a sex change from female to male). Still seemed like a good book....
The interview was interesting enough to add to my list of books to buy. (grin)
Update: Reviews at Amazon.com are interesting, esp. from a "man" (who had a sex change from female to male). Still seemed like a good book....
Friday, January 20, 2006
Men are the source of all weakness and strengths
Vox Day has "blithering or dithering" which highlights the ills of Latin America:
quoting Nienna: Mexico would be a grand place if men weren't drinking their lives a way and beating their wives.
He responds: yet there's little preventing those Hispanic or African women from improving their civilization, except for the small fact that they can't. With the obvious exception of feminists, women do not destroy, but neither do they build.
And rightly so! Men either build or destroy a society. No matter how much women want to improve a society, without men's involvement at home and in the community, things cannot get better. If men chooses to let the society go downhill, either by drinking away the time or letting things like feminism get out of hand, then it is all men's fault. It's interesting to read the story of Sodom where it is the men of the city who wanted to sodomize the Lot's male visitors. And the only way the city could be "saved" was to be destroyed. But even with the Flood, there are few people worthy of saving and God chooses to offer a way out. Sometimes God sends prophets like Jonah to a hopeless situation, as well, and the whole city can turn around. [Where I'm going with this, I'm not sure so I'll stop.]
quoting Nienna: Mexico would be a grand place if men weren't drinking their lives a way and beating their wives.
He responds: yet there's little preventing those Hispanic or African women from improving their civilization, except for the small fact that they can't. With the obvious exception of feminists, women do not destroy, but neither do they build.
And rightly so! Men either build or destroy a society. No matter how much women want to improve a society, without men's involvement at home and in the community, things cannot get better. If men chooses to let the society go downhill, either by drinking away the time or letting things like feminism get out of hand, then it is all men's fault. It's interesting to read the story of Sodom where it is the men of the city who wanted to sodomize the Lot's male visitors. And the only way the city could be "saved" was to be destroyed. But even with the Flood, there are few people worthy of saving and God chooses to offer a way out. Sometimes God sends prophets like Jonah to a hopeless situation, as well, and the whole city can turn around. [Where I'm going with this, I'm not sure so I'll stop.]
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Reading the Bible in a Year
In the Men's Breakfast, a way to read the Bible in a year was mentioned and I wanted to give it a shot with my children starting this year. We started Jan 1 and have aimed to read at least 3 pages a night. We're still in Genesis but the progression of people and places have been interesting esp with my sons asking questions.
One surprise was the how our sons Bible (oldest uses NIV Reader's Version and youngest uses The Bibleman Bible (International Children's Bible, New Century Version)) are much more explicit than my NIV (let alone KJV). I mean it's no longer "lay" (or "know") but "sexual relationships." Sodomites, Dinah and Tamar have been described in ways I was not expecting to get into (some of the details). It has been a good time to talk about what's going on but still not what I expected (we have been reading out loud for almost a year -- before then we were reading various devotional books -- but only in Psalms and the 4 Gospels ... until Jan 1).
One surprise was the how our sons Bible (oldest uses NIV Reader's Version and youngest uses The Bibleman Bible (International Children's Bible, New Century Version)) are much more explicit than my NIV (let alone KJV). I mean it's no longer "lay" (or "know") but "sexual relationships." Sodomites, Dinah and Tamar have been described in ways I was not expecting to get into (some of the details). It has been a good time to talk about what's going on but still not what I expected (we have been reading out loud for almost a year -- before then we were reading various devotional books -- but only in Psalms and the 4 Gospels ... until Jan 1).
