Thoughts from the ammo line

Our friend Ammo Grrrll offers these thoughts IN PRAISE OF AMERICAN MEN in honor of the day. She writes:

It was probably about 20 years ago that I first heard the repulsive charge that America has a “rape culture.” It has now metastasized into the mainstream, but was a new theme back then. I was hired to entertain at a luncheon for women and girls and the group before me was making a presentation on the subject. Mercifully, I missed most of it, but what I did hear enraged me so badly it took all the strength I had to try to be funny following it.

My first thought was, “You are slandering my beautiful husband, my wonderful brother, my kind and gentle son, my countless decent, responsible male friends. In short, virtually every man I know, not one of whom is a rapist.” Not to mention my beloved country.

And, you are full of crap. Dangerously wrong-headed crap. The 50-year assault on all things male, the neutering of America has not been without dire consequences.

So, let’s review, ladies of the Perpetually Furious Grievance Crowd:

Do you have all your lady bits intact, particularly the one that triggers sexual pleasure? Then thank God you live in America and kindly shut up. Just for a minute, because you are, in addition to being wrong, terminally boring.

Are you able to leave your home without a male chaperone? Then thank God you live in America and refrain from making scurrilous charges.

Are you able to drive a car? Then thank God you live in America and paint, please, with a slightly less broad brush.

Are you covered in black from head to toe so that the sun never shines on your face?
No? Then thank God you live in America and help publicize the actual War on Women.

If you ARE covered in black from head to toe so that the sun never shines on your face, are you able to practice your religion in peace in this freedom-loving country? Good for you. Maybe you could do something about extending freedom of religion to people living in the countries you came from instead of hoping to restrict our freedom. Just sayin’.

Have you been able to go to school from kindergarten on, and even gone on to college and medical school and law school without having to worry about being kidnapped or having acid thrown in your faces? Then…well, you know the drill.

American men are, in the main, hard-working, chivalrous, brave, protective, and reliable. And have also mastered deodorant, unlike the men of some continents I could mention. They also have strong egalitarian instincts and will respect women who do not whine and who can do their jobs without asking for special privileges.

Just six days after 9/11, one of the first days that planes flew again, I had to go to Montana for a job. We easily forget how traumatized we all were in those days. The plane was small and filled with hunters returning to Billings. I was the only woman on the plane. Did I fear that I would be assaulted, what with the “rape culture” and all? I mean, how vulnerable was THAT? No.

I was never more happy to see a group of large muscular men in my life. A group that was just BEGGING to have someone pull a boxcutter as the last event of his miserable life. I felt protected and they also helped me wrestle my suitcase from the overhead compartment, the dreadful chauvinists. I’m just now recovering from the post-traumatic stress.

A few years before, my husband and I wintered in San Diego. A comedian friend of mine from Virginia came to visit and we took him to a fine seaside restaurant. During the course of dinner, an unmarried tourist couple was involved in a loud drunken argument in which the man turned obscene and abusive. It went on and on escalating in tone. You could cut the tension in the restaurant with a knife as VIRTUALLY EVERY OTHER MAN in the crowded restaurant – gay and straight! – was on the edge of his seat ready to throttle the guy if things turned physical.

I remember once in San Francisco in the 70s, my husband and I were sound asleep when we heard a woman scream. Without even thinking, without a firearm, my young husband ran out to see what was going on. (Nothing, it turned out, thank God.) Males, certainly American males, just seem hard-wired to protect women and children.

In the Colorado theater shooting rampage at least three young men died trying to protect the women they were with. Oh, gotcha, you say – “the shooter was a MAN. And what about real rape and domestic abuse? Sure, women are safe unless it’s the men in their lives that are doing the attacking.” Yes, that’s also true.

Are there evil men, psychotic men, sexually-deviant men in America? Of course there are, just as there are evil and psychotic men in communist China and socialist Norway, and just as there are also evil and psychotic women who drown their children in bathtubs or drive them into lakes or pimp them out to get drugs.

This country has many cultural problems. But promoting or condoning rape is not one of them. So, on this Fourth of July, let me thank American men for protecting us at home and abroad as cops and soldiers, doctors and nurses; for working hard whatever your job and being good husbands and fathers. Women do those things as well, of course. But – just for today – this is not about you.

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