We are living in a world of fatherless males who don’t know how to rebuild the walls of society. They have become clueless bastards. They know how to build, explore, and conquer—in video games. They must turn to YouTube to learn how to jump-start a car, tie a half-Windsor knot, and do a push-up. Social skills are even harder for them. They scour the internet to learn how to stand up for themselves, make friends, and talk to women. The knowledge that is normally transmitted from father to son has been lost. They have to rediscover it for themselves.
Foster/Tennant
There is an anti-technological focus in It’s Good to Be a Man that is problematic. I have a separate Foster video I’ll review where I’ll be critiquing this trend at length. We can certainly say that fractured homes and divorce has resulted in many problems for men in terms of knowledge transfer between the generations and lacking fathers. But, as usual, Foster and Tennant overstate the case and take a swing at technology and our innovative society in the process. Going to YouTube to figure out how to do things is actually a great good and not every father was some kind of blue collar mentor that knew how to fix everything.
One of the problems of this book is the perspective of the authors themselves and their own socioeconomic background in its writing as it colors their analysis. You can see it with the profanity they invoke to describe men as “clueless bastards” while Ephesians 4:29 tells us to avoid such speech and the WLC encourages us to preserve the good name of our neighbors. Imagine, though, what this book would have looked like had someone who is so busy with his vocation in play that he pays people to jumpstart his car were that ever needed instead of doing it himself? What’s more important, transferring actual generational knowledge or knowing how to fix a car? Or, what about the Dad that teaches his children to manage entire economies by allowing them to play civilizational video games? None of these potential lessons are possible because the blue collar nature of the authors bleed into their perspective and their arguments.
Next Review:
The Anti-Technological Stance of It’s Good to Be a Man
No Fatherhood, No Manhood – Part 1
No Fatherhood, No Manhood – Part 2
No Gravitas, No Manhood – Part 1
No Gravitas, No Manhood – Part 2
How Porn & Video Games Hijack Manhood
Two for One Day – How to Bear the Weight/Manhood Through Mission
2 Comments
Good Evening. I am a Reformed Baptist Pastor who is currently dealing with a couple of church members who have been greatly influenced by “It’s Good To Be a Man.” I am wondering if you would allow me to publish your critiques of the book’s chapters on sexuality. They are very well written and have been helpful to me. I would most certainly credit you and provide a link to the original source. Our website info: http://www.rbc-etown.com
Joshua,
Sorry for the late reply. You’re welcome to publish or link to the material online as long as you’re not charging for it. Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad the information has been helpful.