Civics, Stewardship and Manhood ~ The American Way

The crisis in Haiti is devastating and consumes much of the news hour these past days, and well it should.  We Americans pride ourselves in doing good and valuing life and humanitarian principles.  Our response in such times is an outpouring of support and service.  While there are always delays and issues in organizing massive relief efforts, we do a great deal of good and are among the first responders around the world.  Humanitarian motives are behind much of our foreign policy and behind the wars we have entered.  We have strong egalitarian and democratic ideals as a nation.  For this we can be proud.  It is our way; the American way.  Will Herberg put it better than I could when he said:

The American Way of life is individualistic, dynamic, pragmatic. It affirms the supreme value and dignity of the individual; it stresses incessant activity on his part, for he is never to rest but is always to be striving to “get ahead”; it defines an ethic of self-reliance, merit, and character, and judges by achievement: “deeds, not creeds” are what count. The “American Way of Life” is humanitarian, “forward-looking”, optimistic. Americans are easily the most generous and philanthropic people in the world, in terms of their ready and unstinting response to suffering anywhere on the globe. The American believes in progress, in self-improvement, and quite fanatically in education. But above all, the American is idealistic. Americans cannot go on making money or achieving worldly success simply on its own merits; such “materialistic” things must, in the American mind, be justified in “higher” terms, in terms of “service” or “stewardship” or “general welfare”… And because they are so idealistic, Americans tend to be moralistic; they are inclined to see all issues as plain and simple, black and white, issues of morality.

What a passage.  Who couldn’t feel a surge of patriotism and pride in reading this description?  Moreover, these ideals highlight the very reasons for past American prosperity.  Read more…

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Happy Hotties: Reproductive capital linked to happiness

Happy New Year Alpha-Acolytes.  After an extended Holiday break I am back in the saddle in Seattle.  I trust you all had as wild and exciting new year as I spent with family in the frozen midwest city of Minneapolis, aka little Somalia.  Traveler’s tip: There is a treasure trove of exotic girls of East African descent there ripe for the game.  If you ever touchdown in flyover country don’t miss this gem.

As a student of ev psych and of the game this article on the increased value of beauty in population centers caught my attention.  While the findings should come as a surprise to few of us it’s always interesting to add mortar to the foundation of the worldview fostered by studying pickup.  I am convinced the tenets of this worldview are well substantiated as I have attempted to show here on AD.  The findings state that particularly in population centers happiness and psychological well-being are correlated with attractiveness or desirability for women.  This is correctly stated to be because of increased social and reproductive opportunity and emphasizes that in larger groups of people individuals will engage in greater socioeconomic segregation by degree of desirability.  Kudos to the authors for recognizing what is one of the prime tenets of game.  On the other hand they fall short in giving the salutary nod to the PC mythos in stating that were a study to be performed of men we would likely see the same outcome.  This is of course myopic in that male attractiveness while relevant, ranks far down the scale of priorities from the degree of attractiveness of his wallet.  Size matters gents, but it’s the bulge in the back pocket of your jeans that wins the day since women seek a provider of equal or better yet greater income to that she herself possesses.  Since both incomes and the range of the 1-10 scale are wider in large populations, we should expect to see couples matching up therein according to these rankings and anecdotally I would suggest that we do (just look at Jim Carey’s first and second wives alongside one another).  Read more…

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Volcker trashes the financial industry for hubris

I’ve always admired former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.  He’s a ballsy giant of a man whose plain talking stogie puffing ways and role in breaking the stranglehold of banks in the ’80s precipitating the S&L crisis have made him both a household name and a reputation as one of the most straightforward and down to earth statesman and financial theorists of our day.  His opinions continue to be met with great deference today and his comments at the Future of Finance Initiative conference really get to the heart of problems plaguing Wall street and the banking industry.  Nothing I can say would be more superlative than his own words.  Therefore, here is the transcript for your enjoyment.  Think about what he’s saying as until the credit crisis the financial industry comprised as much as 40% of our GDP.  The idea that most of this was fictitious productivity is heresy to many yet goes far in explaining the deep economic malaise we now endure.  I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment.

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Go Get ‘em Tiger

 

I’m sure nobody has missed the brouhaha surrounding Tiger Woods’ alleged infidelity.  Not being a celebrity fanboy sycophant, I generally despise the celebrity worship Americans insist on engaging in and all the rabid gasping and moralizing when one of them is suddenly revealed as a mere mortal like the rest of us.  Unfortunately unless I bury my head in the sand I cannot avoid hearing about this one.

A friend forwarded this article to me on the topic of why Tiger or men in general cheat.  As in so much conventionally held psych wisdom (a near universally female dominated field) it moronically misses the point and tries to draw parallels between Tiger’s situation and generic plebeian middle class cheating which is of course on the rise with the emancipation of women and destruction of the last vestiges of the traditional family.

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Phenotypic frontin’ – What’s wrong with cosmetic therapies?

Men, the future is here.  This article describes a procedure developed and tested on rabbits to grow and reattach prosthetic penises from the individuals own tissue.  Once done the body accepts it and it becomes fully functional.  While ethical issues will likely prevent men from partaking in this procedure voluntarily for cosmetic reasons, doubtless if the technology is successfully developed in humans a black market will arise overseas.  Soon you too men can have the dick of a porn-star.

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Mama Drama

Recently I stumbled across this article on mama drama spoiling kid’s “playgroups.”

Playgroups, the phenomenon of over-privileged suburban soccer mom helicopter parents have apparently become par for the course among the over-involved idle housewife set.  Like so many of the oh-so crucial activities we foist upon our offspring in lieu of actual parental emotional involvement these have apparently become an expression of status.  Consequently these coddled mommies who need not work, yet have a regiment of maids, cooks, nannies and housekeepers to take on the actual role of housewife and mother, seek these groups out to fill the void left by a life of utter lack of utility, ostensibly in the name of their precious junior’s early development.

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About Face

Effeminate hipsters take note.  You are quite possibly more desirable relationship partners than the alpha dogs.  Lest you lose yourselves in runaway celebration however this isn’t the coup you may think it would be.

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Guest Manifesto: Generation G ~ The Lost Generation

September 2008, the credit markets freeze up and the world economy enters a tailspin.  Here in the states we are stricken with the sharpest economic decline since the great depression.  Job creation dries up as companies simultaneously engage in vigorous cost cutting (read headcount reduction).  A year later the Fed speaks of green shoots and a jobless recovery (is this an oxymoron or what?).  Our present official unemployment rate hovers around 10% but this figure excludes those who no longer qualify for unemployment benefits, those who have given up the job search, and those who never broke into the job market in the first place.  Enter Generation G, the Lost Generation.  This article shows how youth are disproportionately suffering the effects of the decline in the job market and highlights the lasting effects this can have on their professional lives.

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Go to G School at G-Manifesto

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What is a child worth?

I just had to throw this article up.  It’s somewhat satirical but gets at a real nut of truth about the reasons behind declining birth rates among the middle and upper classes in America and the developed world.  Besides the obvious biological reason (failure to reproduce is genetic suicide) why would anyone want to have children in today’s hyper-stressed and challenging world.  This is particularly true for men in light of the travesty that family law has become.

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Misrepresentation

Ever dated a woman who wouldn’t order a meal but then proceeded to devour yours right off your plate?  How about the dessert consumption tactic of “I’ll just have a half” and then proceeding to wolf down 17 in succession (most common among the geriatric set)?  Who do they think they are kidding?  Men may not be recognized for their attention to detail but c’mon already.  Well this is more than anecdotal evidence.  In fact, the phenomenon has been studied back in ‘87 and I came across the reference just recently here:

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