By David Futrelle
Mr. Rogers, who passed away in 2003, is having a strange but heartwarming posthumous comeback. A kindly father figure for generations of preschoolers, Rogers was recently the subject of a documentary that made grownups weep. Tom Hanks is playing him in a forthcoming feature film. He was even hailed as something of a bisexual icon after old comments of his acknowledging he was attracted to men as well as women resurfaced.
Some people aren’t so happy about Mr. Rogers’ return to the spotlight — among them Daily Wire video host Andrew Klavan, who recently denounced Rogers as the poster boy for the sort of “metrosexual wimpiness” that Klavan thinks is destroying masculinity. It’s John Wayne, not Fred Rogers, who Klavan thinks is the true epitome of manliness.
Now, Mr. Rogers was no metrosexual; his fashion sense was almost defiantly bland, and he wore a variation on the same outfit every single day, as Klavan is certainly aware. Klavan calls him a “metrosexual” only because he knows that he would be pilloried for saying the word I suspect he really wants to use: a three-letter slur starting with “f” and ending with “g.”
Klavan would rather that the boys and men of America look up to a sort of Rambo-ized version of Jesus Christ himself — whom Klavan describes as
a steely man of integrity who was willing to sacrifice everything to say what needed to be said, and do what needed to be done.
Among regular humans, it was John Wayne who apparently came closest to Klavan’s platonic ideal of the “real man.” The world is a dangerous place, Klavam warns, and we’re in desperate need of “tough” men with guns to protect us all from evil. “If you really want to have a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” Klavan declares, “call John Wayne and tell him to bring his guns.”
I don’t know about you, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable in a neighborhood full of Mr. Rogerses than I would in one patrolled continually by John Wayne wannabes with assault rifles. We don’t need protection by these sorts of guys; we need protection from them.
Indeed, the sort of toxic masculinity that Klavan celebrates is one of the greatest dangers the world faces today. Here in the US, our terrible, illegitimate president is the worst sort of toxic male, a perpetual overcompensator whose own masculinity is so fragile and broken than he pardons literal war criminals to make himself look tough to the troops and retweets photoshopped pictures of himself reimagined as Rocky.
It’s no wonder so many people are holding up Mr. Rogers’ gentle masculinity as a sort of antidote to this gross macho bullshit. Mr. Rogers was the father who didn’t get angry, the one who returned home every day at the same time, replacing his jacket with a cardigan and his dress shoes with sneakers in a ritual designed to be reassuring to small children in its everyday sameness.
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was easy to mock, and I did my share of mocking once I passed out of its core demographic. But when I was a very little kid I was enthralled — reassured by Mr. Rogers, delighted by Henrietta Pussycat and her habit of working “meow meow” into everything she said, entranced by Lady Aberlin. (I think I had a little crush.)
I have no desire to go back and watch the show now; I’d be the fist to admit that, as Klavan sneers, it’s “intolerable” to watch “unless you happen to be a 3-year-old.” It’s too earnest, too wholesome for my cynical middle-aged self.
But when I was a little kid I watched it religiously — and I’d like to think that for all of my cynical crankiness a little of Mr. Rogers’ gentleness rubbed off on me.
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[OT] Seen on Facebook a few days ago:
In my own perambulations I’ve also seen a lot of decorations up in the last two weeks or so of November, and through windows some trees already up, decorated, and lit. Is it just me, or is it getting earlier and earlier with each passing year? Maybe because the stores start stocking Christmas stuff pretty much the instant Halloween is done with, everyone else is starting to follow suit … perhaps just because the stuff they’d need is there, in the stores, already.
The other decoration trend I’ve noticed, besides people decorating earlier and earlier, is the use of these projector thingies that produce anything from whirling snowflake graphics to rippling aurorae and pointillistic stuff. Some houses’ front walls look like disco floors. One was even trying to hex their whole neighborhood with projected words of dire imprecation. It said, and I quote, “Let it snow”. Ugh. Some people have to walk in that shit, you know. Some people even have to shovel it …
The displays themselves have ranged from unostentatious to pretty to garish, with the least being a single unlit wreath attached to the front door and the most turning the front yard seemingly into a theme park.
One must wonder about class privilege and status signaling here: the bigger, more complex displays must be quite expensive, and certainly not an option for non-landowners. Conspicuous consumption at work. And then of course we have “let it snow”, a sentiment no doubt heartily endorsed only by homeowners with four-wheel-drive SUVs, a brand new set of snow tyres, and a snowblower tucked in the shed.
The city government here, by the way, is doing its usual excellent job of widening said class divide by keeping the road surfaces mostly clear to bare pavement while letting the sidewalks ice up. Neoliberalism: your tax dollars helping the people who need it the least!
@Surplus
That’s definitely got something to do with it. As someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, I’ve always found it a bit strange that Christmas stuff shows up in stores that early. I mean, you don’t see Easter chocolate rabbits in February, or Halloween stuff in August. At least, not where I live. My guess is that the reason all the Christmas stuff shows up early is because the companies that make money by commercializing it realized they could make even more money this way.
Where I live, we get way too much snow and people’s attitudes go something like this:
Late November (now): Let it snow! Snow! Yay!
(We’re predicted to get 8+ inches Sunday, I’m not looking forward to it)
January: Snow! Still fun!
March: Please no more.
April: FUCK. THIS. SNOW.
Me? I have seasonal depression, and I hate snow no matter what month. Massachusetts is probably not the best state for me, but here I am. At least my attitude is consistent.
The same thing happens here. Of course, our city government does one better: the plow trucks shove all the snow into 3 foot high snowbanks of dirty slush on the sides of the road that make it hard to cross the street without getting coated in snow. As well, if you have a driveway you have to clear the end of it, which is a pain.
Where do you live that they wait that long?
Like Public Enemy said, Fuck Elvis and John Wayne!
@Shadowplay
Wait,are you saying you never seen/heard “Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny “?
…Unless their male & white. And I don’t mean that as a cheap shot.
It is the earmark of racists that they think THEY should be judged based on the characteristics of the best members of their group, whilst “OTHER” people should be judged based on the characteristics of the worst members of their group.
One can only wonder at someone who claims that a tool (the gun) which has only been around for about 500 years at most, is vital to define their masculinity. How did men know they were men for the thousands of years BEFORE firearms were invented?
@Fabe
I can’t speak for Shadowplay, but I’d never seen that before, and although the premise was very silly, it was rather entertaining. Rather dark that Mr. Rogers killed himself at the end, though.
@Naglfar:
You mean, you don’t. I do, Easter stuff right after Valentine’s Day and Halloween candy beginning to be stocked in, at the very least, late September if not earlier. 🙂
Inexplicable. Icy sidewalks are just as nasty and hazardous in November as in any later month. 😛
@Surplus
In fact, I usually slip on ice more at the beginning of winter because I’m not as used to it and I don’t expect it. I’d argue it’s more dangerous in November.
And November tends to have more snow-melt-freeze cycles. 😛
@Naglfar
Coming from the Midwest, our attitude on snow (or at least mine) can be summed up with “Three weeks of beautiful Christmas snow, three months of disgusting white shit.”
John Wayne was a Nazi, but not anymore; death evened the score.
Omg omg omg i thought this video was already linked but it hasn’t been yet!!!
Watch to the end, because it’s worth it!!!!!
https://youtu.be/Qz6Ukci0EUg
I wasn’t a big mr rogers fan, mr. Dressup/Fred Penner/Sesame Street/Today’s special (i loved that show)/ NINJA TURTLES was me, haha.
But i can certainly see why he was so influential! I think there is a place for the adventure shows, but there is a huge need for shows that help with emotional intelligence.
And Mr Rogers pretty much singlehandedly saved PBS, so that’s amazing!!
@Bananananana dakry:
Three months? I think you mean five …
Back before my feet went bad on me, I used to do a lot of hiking in the White Mountains in winter, mostly on snowshoes, and it is surprising how short winter seems and how beautiful snow is when you’re really into snowshoeing. I still remember one hike in 20 inches of fresh, fluffy powder snow, the closest I ever experienced to total silence. The muffling effect of that much powder was such that you couldn’t hear people chatting 25 yards away.
Is it my imagination, or does this SciAm article prove that a UBI or a welfare state should be preferred over trickle-down tax cuts for the rich, while completely failing to actually state it outright and then endorse Yang, Warren, or Sanders?
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-role-of-luck-in-life-success-is-far-greater-than-we-realized/
When I went up to my Aunt and Uncle’s for Thanksgiving in Lancaster, it was actually snowing, which is very unusual for them this time of year. It was the first time I’ve ever seen fresh snow (I’ve been up in the mountains before, but never when the snow was fresh) so it was a nice novelty for me, but I can see how it can get annoying for those who have to live with it for the entire season.
Severe snow seems to be on a 25 year cycle where I live. Winters are usually just wet. Then the freeze years come to remind us that even southern England is further north than Canada’s southern border with the USA.
Around this time last year, I was walking down the street when a young man came out of a building, looked at the white flakes coming down, and sang, to nobody in particular: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Fuck This…”
Okay, so OT, but I have an odd cat question for the crew here:
Our girl cat – we got both cats about 7 years ago – has a habit of occasionally coming up behind me when I’m sitting down and licking the back of my head. And not like a little lick-and-done; she goes full grooming on my hair for a good 10-15 minutes if I let her. Also, sometimes she’ll sit next to me, shove her nose in my armpit, and start huffing – loud huffing. She’s been doing this intermittently since about 6 months after we got her, and she only does it to me.
Does anyone have a clue why she does this?
The xkcd comic ‘Temper’ sums up pretty well the kind of person Fred Rogers was.
Warning! Long rant ahead.
re: Christmas appearing in retail stores earlier every year – I worked for a nationwide US craft chain for ten years. Halloween and Thanksgiving/Fall stuff arrived at the beginning of September. Not all of it at once, it dwelt behind back-to-school for a couple of weeks until b-t-s went to the clearance aisle to die.
Christmas (in the seasonal section, we got Christmas fabric in May) arrived the first week of October and went behind Halloween/Fall. It was a never-ending rotation of cheap seasonal crap from (mostly) China. People buy it with unchanging enthusiasm every single season.
Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day merch came in the beginning of December but wasn’t put out until a couple of weeks before Christmas. Easter after that. Then we had the doldrums of Memorial Day to Independence Day with Summer Vacation (stuff to keep kids busy while out of school) close behind. Then, it was back-to-school again.
I used to refer to the seasons as “glitter season” (Christmas) “hearts and shamrocks season” (Valentine’s/St. Patrick’s) “pastel season” (Easter) “stars and stripes season” (Memorial Day thru July 4*) “oh, no! the kids are bored season” (Summer vacation) “phew, the kids are back in school season” (Back-to-School, natch) “the dreaded costume season” (Halloween/Fall*)
Four years after quitting, I still dislike Christmas. I absolutely hate Black Friday and refuse to leave my house the whole weekend.
*Because these ‘seasons’ are smashed together, they go on clearance together and disappear together. People looking for Thanksgiving and Independence Day stuff were often mad when there was nothing left but damaged clearance close to those holidays. Retail can be just so unnecessarily stupid.
Surplus:
Naglfar:
Fishy Goat:
Indeed. It’s almost exactly one year since I broke my arm, on one of the very first icy days of last winter. Nowadays, I always feel very shaky on ice and trampled snow, unless it’s very cold which reduces the slip factor.
@Fabe
I’d not seen it. Brain crosslinked the name with Celebrity Deathmatch, for some reason.
Snow? Icy sidewalks? Urban legends, I think. Never seen anything of the sort.
*Relaxes in Florida surrounded by green trees in 80° temperatures.*