St. Maximos' Hut

Opinion Journal's Best of the Web Today did a very nice analysis of Judge Alito's testimony yesterday, focusing on a particular point he made in discussing his education in the 1960s and 1970s:

This was back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was a time of turmoil at colleges and universities. And I saw some very smart people and very privileged people behaving irresponsibly. And I couldn't help making a contrast between some of the worst of what I saw on the campus and the good sense and the decency of the people back in my own community.

After a fascinating parsing of the some of the web commentary on this passage, commentary which suggested that Alito was not a real man because he didn't either (a) protest the war in Vietnam or (b) take part in the war in Vietnam, James Taranto of BOTWT made the following comment:

May we suggest an alternative definition? A real man is a faithful, loving husband and father who provides for his family and contributes to society by working diligently and conscientiously in his chosen field. We know of no reason to think that Alito falls anywhere short of this masculine ideal.

A group of us at St. Innocent read John Eldredge's Wild at Heart under the guidance of Fr. M, who took one of Eldredge's seminars. (If he can't be lured out to comment on the swine, this topic may drawn him out....) The book has a lot of interesting things to say about men's hearts and made quite a difference for many of us. Taranto's definition of a real man comes pretty close in some respect to Eldredge's -- and refocusing discussions of maleness on an appropriate definition of manhood would be an important step forward for our society. Eldredge makes a convincing case that false ideas about what men are have devastating consequences both individually and collectively.