DEI for Guys Is Not the Answer to Rebuilding Masculinity

Think DEI programs are on their way out the door? Think again. They seem to be alive and well, but not for women and minorities. This time they’re for men and boys.

Reeling from their recent massive losses with the male sex, the Democratic Party is seeking to regain ground in this key demographic with a variety of efforts, NBC News reports. One of these efforts is “a DEI initiative” seeking to get more men into the education field, advanced by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. Other Democratic efforts on this front aren’t overtly labeled DEI, but they do have that subtle DEI hint to them, suggesting that the reports of DEI death are greatly exaggerated.

Admittedly, it is encouraging to see that people are starting to focus on the male sex once again, even if there may be a hidden agenda to those efforts. But DEI policies that hand advancement to men on a silver platter are not the way to revive true, quality masculinity. In reality, the opposite is true.

Teddy Roosevelt, perhaps one of the most masculine men to hold the office of U.S. president, explains this in a writing entitled, “The Key to Success in Life.” Hard work, not duty-shirking, is the way to success, Roosevelt says, noting the necessity of teaching this concept to our children, particularly our sons:

The man who counts is not the man who dodges work, but he who goes out into life rejoicing as a strong man to run a race, girding himself for the effort, bound to win and wrest triumph from difficulty and disaster.

The life of duty, not the life of mere ease or pleasure—that is the kind of life which makes the great man, as it makes the great nation. From the greatest to the smallest, happiness and usefulness are largely found, and the joy of life is won in its deepest and truest sense, only by those who have not shirked life’s burdens.

In other words, if we truly want young men to succeed – or even women and minorities for that matter – then giving them special privileges and allowances and head starts is the exact opposite way to do it. Roosevelt continues:

If you are worth your salt and want your children to be worth their salt, teach them that the life that is not a life of work and effort is worthless, a curse to the man or woman leading it, a curse to those around him or her. Teach the boys that if they are ever to count in the world, they will count not by flinching from difficulties, but by warring with and overcrowding them.

How do we reinstate this toughness and readiness to work and overcome obstacles in an age where we’ve all grown accustomed to ease?

An obvious place to start is through chores. Teaching our kids—of both sexes—to wash dishes, clean bathrooms, vacuum, mow the lawn, or do other basic tasks of life introduces them to responsibility and hardship, but also lets them experience the happiness and usefulness that Roosevelt discusses.

A less obvious way, however, is to raise them to have heroes, admiring those who have gone before and seeking to emulate the positive qualities those figures displayed in their lives. This tactic was recently displayed in the obituary leading media figure Tucker Carlson posted about his own father, Richard Warner Carlson.

Abandoned by his wife, the elder Carlson “threw himself into raising his boys,” particularly through engaging and lengthy conversation on individuals, events and ideas from the past. Carlson reports that his father raised him on “three-hour dinners on topics that ranged from the French Revolution to Bolshevik Russia, PG Wodehouse, the history of the American Indian and, always, the eternal and unchanging nature of people.” Given Carlson’s media success and resilience even after a concerted effort to silence him, it seems his father’s three-hour lessons on history and heroes took root.

After many years of watching men and boys get pushed farther and farther under the cultural current, it’s encouraging to see that both sides of the aisle recognize a problem and want to work at lifting the male sex. But let’s do it the right way – not through ease, but hardship, because as those who have gone before demonstrate, struggling through the hardships of life and overcoming them is the road toward true masculinity.

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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal.

Image Credit: Freerange