Fox Guest: Mass Shootings Are What Happens When Boys Can't Have Manly Dreams Of Going To Mars

We're not letting them be manly, so they have to kill us.

I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but with a few very notable exceptions like that "I Don't Like Mondays" girl back in the '80s and one-half of the couple who shot up San Bernardino, pretty much all of our mass shooters are men. But is it really the fault of these men that they keep having to murder huge amounts of people? Is it really the fault of lax gun laws in the United States? Or could women be to blame. Isn't there a way here that we can just blame women?

Of course there is!

Earlier this week, Tim Kennedy, an MMA guy who used to be a Special Forces sniper, posted a rant to Instagram all about how the real reason for why we're having all of these mass shootings all the time is because we are being so   mean to masculinity and not letting boys be boys and men be men enough. Was Fox News interested in this special take? MAYBE!

 Kennedy wrote:  

In a time where masculinity has been demonized. When identifying toxic masculinity is more celebrated than a man's achievements. What we are seeing is the most vile form of that rage being realized. Masculinity is about being a protector. Masculinity is about integrity. It is hardwired into every single man's soul. We all have a choice to fight. We are all warriors on the inside. But if that is suppressed, if that is denied, it manifests in the most unhealthy ways. We have to a have purpose and let that purpose be fulfilled. We have to stop telling our young men to be anything else but a man. Strength is good. A fierce passion to protect the helpless is good. An insuppressible desire to explore and discover should be encouraged. Danger should be sought out and success should be rewarded. No medals for participation. But elation with every accomplishment. Let's celebrate what it means to be a man. We stormed the beaches of Normandy to stop the Nazis. Placed the American flag on Iwo Jima and built the Chrysler building in New York City. Let's remember what it means to be a man and most of all let us show this next generation what it looks like to be a man. Let them see you fail. Let them see you sweat. Let them see blood. Let them see tears. But most of all let them see us be men.

It really is so unfair of us to not let men storm the beaches of Normandy or build the Chrysler building anymore! Or to not feign helplessness in order to make a fella feel all protective and manly-like! Why, oh why, are we basically forcing young men to be like women?

Naturally, this rant caught the attention of the gang over at Fox & Friends and they invited Kennedy on over to expound on his theory. It went just about as stupidly as you could imagine.

Kennedy explained that men are just hard-wired to do incredible things. As opposed to women who are hard-wired to be mediocre, I guess. And the problem is really that we're not letting boys do all the incredible things they want, and we're making them behave in school, and we are not even letting them climb trees.

As he explained this, mind you, the news crawl beneath him highlighted a recent story -- we wrote about it just today! -- about a man who fractured the skull of a 13-year-old boy for not taking his hat off during the national anthem ... because Donald Trump. But yes, the problem is definitely some ban on climbing trees that no one else has heard about.

Our manly man then goes on to explain that all this excess male energy that we are suppressing with ADHD meds and feminism is what got us to the moon, and what defeated the real Nazis and we would all be speaking German right now if it weren't for that! He knows what real masculinity is:

It's a beautiful purpose. And that purpose is to serve something. Sometimes it's to protect. Sometimes it's to provide, sometimes it's to be an explorer, to be a creator.

And all of those elements right now are being demonized by our culture. There's like "No no, it's not OK for you to be a protector. It's not ok to hold a chair or open a door, it's not okay for you to imagine yourself going to Mars."

Masculinity! Able to storm the beaches of Normandy and go to the moon, and yet so easily defeated by women sitting down without assistance.

What I would like to know, however, is who is telling boys they are not allowed to imagine themselves going to Mars? Is that a thing? I feel like that's not a thing! Is it that they can't dream about Mars if they find out women can operate doors and chairs? Are these things related somehow?

As evidence of this declining masculinity, Kennedy then points out that it is become harder for the Special Forces, Green Berets, and Navy Seals to find recruits — which actually seems like a pretty good thing for our society as a whole, if you ask me. I would generally prefer it if people did things with their lives other than fight in our stupid wars.

Co-host Brian Kilmeade, in full agreement that "men and women are different," then turned the subject to the fact that the media keeps bringing up things like how the President of the United States or "other people" are "racist, white supremacist, nationalist" and how very sad that is for all of us.

Kennedy, who definitely did not major in history, responded:

"I loved an era where if you called a president a racist, a bigot, a coward, you would be at the end of a duel."

That, for the record, has yet to be an era! People have always said bad things about the President of the United States. What has, however, existed since time immemorial are grumpy ass dudes who think they are super manly and would like to blame most of the world's problems on other men not being manly enough. If it were the 1920s, Tim Kennedy would be panicking over Valentino. If it were the '60s and '70s, he'd be freaking out about dudes with long hair. If it were the 1770s, he'd probably sound like this outraged reader of Town and Country magazine:

Whither are the manly vigor and athletic appearance of our forefathers flown? Can these be their legitimate heirs? Surely, no; a race of effeminate, self-admiring, emaciated fribbles can never have descended in a direct line from the heroes of Potiers and Agincourt...

Kennedy's issue isn't that we're all telling boys they can't accomplish things, that they can't be explorers and creators, that they can't be protective of people when people actually need protection. His issue is with the fact that they don't get to be the only ones who can do those things now. They're not the only ones who can dream of going to Mars, so it's just not special enough for them anymore.

Well, tough shit.

[ Media Matters ]

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