Video: Revenge of the Nerds?
posted at 2:41 pm on May 14, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
Have we become a beta-male culture, as Bill Whittle argues in his latest Firewall video? Are we just a little too in touch with our feelings to take the necessary risks to expand our horizons, grow our economy, and defend our nation?
As usual with Bill’s videos, there is a lot to unpack in them. First, I’d recommend that people watch High Noon if they have never done so, or hadn’t done so in a long time — because the theme is precisely about what Bill argues here. He’s right that Gary Cooper ended up taking on the bad guys, but the entire town was filled with “beta males” who wanted to hide from them, or actively appease them. They betrayed their commitment to their sheriff, who ended up saving the day, despite his disgust with the town. After that, watch another classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, an even more cynical look at heroism and beta-maleness. Jimmy Stewart ends up with a brilliant political career after supposedly overcoming his pacifism and shooting the town psycho (a great performance by Lee Marvin), but the truth is that it took John Wayne to take out Liberty Valance, not the pacifist.
In other words, we’ve had this problem for a long time; it’s not just recent. Most of the kinds of movies Bill references have similar themes — the one man willing to stand against evil when all others quail at the thought. That’s because it reflects life as it is, perhaps especially so since industrialization and urbanization reduced the need for virtues of independence and self-sufficiency. The difference is that we have spent the last few decades celebrating the beta-male impulse rather than those virtues in our popular culture.
However, that’s not to say that the effort succeeds. As Bill points out, it usually backfires, because people respect those values despite decades of neglect or even attack by the entertainment industry. The catalyst to this video, the suggestion that we need Alan Alda types (as a pop-culture archetype, not Alda himself) rather than “right stuff” astronauts for deep-space exploration, is ridiculous on its face. Armstrong and Aldrin dealt effectively with crises because they didn’t waste time sharing their inner child when those crises occurred. That’s even more true of the Apollo 13 crew, who had every reason and plenty of time to “freak out” but maintained their discipline and survived an in-flight disaster that probably should have killed them. The submariner corps looks for calm, collected types, not hotdogs but also not people inclined to fret over tough conditions.
Those are the people who will advance American ingenuity, economics, and exploration … as they always have.
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mail that town idiot the bill of rights and tell him “no further”.
tom daschle concerned on January 8, 2013 at 5:24 PM
Have they found the guy behind “fast and furious”?..
the_nile on January 8, 2013 at 5:27 PM
Question: Aside from posturing (and his VP status), why is it that Biden is always the header of these commissions? Could it be that Obama rumored homosexuality is with Joe?
nobar on January 8, 2013 at 5:27 PM
“the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation”
I think I just threw up a little bit when I read that.
WitchDoctor on January 8, 2013 at 5:29 PM
Oh how I wish we could get a transcript of dear joe and what gaffes he will say? Another big f-een deal going there joe?
L
letget on January 8, 2013 at 5:33 PM
When I hear Washington is calling on Hollywoodies, I think of Meryl Streep and Alar. Just because some rich LA one-percenter made a movie where he or she fired a fake gun loaded with blanks, they’re not experts on the matter, and have no right saying I can’t defend my home, myself, and my family with the weapon of my choice.
Liam on January 8, 2013 at 5:33 PM
No way Feinstein’s bill is gonna pass with how horrible it is. Biden and this effort seems like they’re going to try a middle-ground attempt after the bill goes down in flames. Fight it.
mythicknight on January 8, 2013 at 5:33 PM
The White House office of what?
Now you know why the debt stands at $16 trillion, because of this effin stupid crap.
Bishop on January 8, 2013 at 5:34 PM
Yeah, Hollywood, the fountainhead of all ideas.
itsspideyman on January 8, 2013 at 5:35 PM
dear joe is the small gun, the BIG gun, bho, is going to get on AF1 daily to various states to get his skinny rear before the public telling those how horrible GUNS are? I might add WE are paying the tab for that anti-American forked tongue lying snakes trips!
BTW, I am thinking of adding to my rant of bho to also say, ‘the devil’s span’ about him! If this doesn’t fit what bho is doing to the US, well I feel that fits bho to a tee!
L
letget on January 8, 2013 at 5:39 PM
I hope the NRA monkey hammer’s Biden in this meeting.
Start of with this:
“Are we here to discuss ideas on how to reduce crime or are we here to listen to how you’re going violate the 2nd Amendment of 320 million US citizens and use the NRA as a strawman?”
WisRich on January 8, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Yes, He’s sitting behind the desk at the Attorney General’s office.
His name is Eric Holder.
UltimateBob on January 8, 2013 at 5:41 PM
Hollywood types haven’t had an original idea in their lives. But then, neither has Joey hair plugs.
Slainte on January 8, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,choke,ha,ha,ha… Really Biden? Entertainment industry? Video game makers?…. Yeah, Hollyweird and video game makers are gonna stop making violent films and games….
sandee on January 8, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Oh hai! I just met with the videogame industry to talk about gun control legislation…
Explain that to me…
BTW – selling legislation which Obama is doing here is unconstitutional…
Skywise on January 8, 2013 at 5:43 PM
Suuurrrre hope my NRA membership bears fruit in expressing my concerns.
Living in SoCal, I can’t expect to get either Senator (obviously) or my Representative (also a barking liberal) to care or sympathise one ounce about my opinion.
NRA is my ONLY source of representation on this issue.
kurtzz3 on January 8, 2013 at 5:44 PM
Glad I started buying everything I could get Jan20,2009.
I wonder if it even raises an eyebrow on them how people are arming up? Never seen anything like in my lifetime.
wolly4321 on January 8, 2013 at 5:44 PM
Didn’t Biden already have a full-time job?
Oh yeah, he’s vice-president… sorry, stupid question…
Marcola on January 8, 2013 at 5:45 PM
Me too. I remember the “Great .223 ammo shortage of 2009.” Shops were selling it for about $2 a round, IIRC.
I waited a few months for the hype to die down and picked up a bunch of it for cheap.
UltimateBob on January 8, 2013 at 5:50 PM
“Adequate access to mental health services”?
I’d think the problem is REPORTING REQUIREMENTS of mental health professionals.
GarandFan on January 8, 2013 at 5:50 PM
Look for Biden to face a medical emergency when several bullets somehow get stuck up his nose.
Cicero43 on January 8, 2013 at 5:51 PM
Here’s a gun control idea: Use both hands.
Cicero43 on January 8, 2013 at 5:53 PM
As long as he talks to entertainers like Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood, etc., I’m good with that.
RoadRunner on January 8, 2013 at 5:55 PM
“Wanna see my gun, baby? Hahahaha..hehehehe…hehe..he.”
-Groper Joe
Bishop on January 8, 2013 at 5:57 PM
Unfortunately he’ll be meeting with the likes of Michael Moore, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Matt Damon, Barbra Streisand, or Janeane Garofalo.
UltimateBob on January 8, 2013 at 5:58 PM
That made me think of this scene from the classic movie “Strange Brew.”
RoadRunner on January 8, 2013 at 5:58 PM
Just outlaw crimes using guns.
CW on January 8, 2013 at 5:58 PM
That’s why I specifically limited it to “entertainers.”
RoadRunner on January 8, 2013 at 5:59 PM
For all of the Left’s talk about minorities, the poor and the middle class, it is exactly these people that it seeks to disarm.
As for Hollywood, it stood by and cheered when FDR disarmed tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans, along with many thousand German- and Italian-Americans, before he stole their property and sent them to internment camps.
It already has, Fascists.
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 6:01 PM
You don’t really think those people are the targets of the gun ban, do you? Disarming the suburban middle class is the real aim of anti-gun legislation.
Liam on January 8, 2013 at 6:05 PM
I really don’t see Slow Joe as a vital source of dynamic ideas, unless he’s just acting as Barry’s personal messenger providing a list of plot devices that demonize guns and the 2nd ammendment which Hollywierd, barry insists be used in upcoming movies and TV series.
hawkeye54 on January 8, 2013 at 6:08 PM
Speaking of the 2nd amendment, here’s something that’s been bugging me for a while: What gives the TSA the right to tell me I can’t take my Bushmaster on an airplane. I mean which part of “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” do these idiots not understand? You know what? The TSA has the power to tell me I can’t take my pint of milk on board. They can prohibit scissors and jello. I mean it’s silly, but the Constitution gives them the power to do that. But Congress and the TSA have no power based on which they can tell me I can’t bring my grenade launcher, my samurai sword or my AK-47 on board the airplane as I please. Or am I missing something?
Time Lord on January 8, 2013 at 6:12 PM
Plugs is just the face of gun control. It ain’t “gun safety” as Begala likes to lie about it, nor is it victim prevention as with San Fran Nan. Both are liars trying to hide what they are really trying to do, disarm the American People.
Quartermaster on January 8, 2013 at 6:15 PM
The airline is private and uses the terminal on conditions set by the government, so I would imagine that would be why.
sharrukin on January 8, 2013 at 6:16 PM
Yes, you’ll be missing your plane, comrade.
До свидания
turfmann on January 8, 2013 at 6:16 PM
You do not have a “right” to fly. To board an airplane, you waive certain rights and privileges that exceed the right to bear arms. For example, the press does not have a First Amendment right to use electronic devices during take-off and landing. A journalist waives said right when she agrees to the terms and conditions on the ticket or referred to therein.
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 6:19 PM
Gonna get messy.
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 6:22 PM
Flying is not mandated. droober.
onomo on January 8, 2013 at 6:23 PM
Here’s an idea…not a damn thing can be done. We have a right to bear arms and lunatics have the right to be lunatics. If liberals want to do something, encourage law abiding citizens to pack heat. Then, gun violence will lessen. We have a Constitution. The founders were brilliant. Get over it liberals.
cajunpatriot on January 8, 2013 at 6:25 PM
Let them dither and dink. With this House, they won’t pass a thing on gun control. But then again, I’ve been pretty much wrong this whole election season. Lord help us all.
Tennman on January 8, 2013 at 6:25 PM
They intend to try using Executive Orders rather than legislation.
sharrukin on January 8, 2013 at 6:28 PM
What doe that have to do with what is clearly a constraint on the Government?
Galt2009 on January 8, 2013 at 6:29 PM
I’m anxious to see how civilly the administration treats representatives from the NRA. What should be expected is that they’re invited, given time to express their opinion, and thanked for coming. If the Administration does this like community organizer 101, they’ll go down another peg on my opinion scale.
bflat879 on January 8, 2013 at 6:29 PM
Gun control ideas…mandate Eddy Eagle NRA classes for all elementary age children. Re-institute marksmanship competition in High Schools. Utilize a portion of teachers union dues for marksmanship training. Those are a few gun control rules to consider.
RAN58 on January 8, 2013 at 6:30 PM
Maybe they can start by finding out if the Sandy Hook shooter’s gun was already banned under Connecticut law, because the press sure isn’t interested in investigating that.
Socratease on January 8, 2013 at 6:31 PM
.
Don’t worry… Boobs Biden has it all figured out.
And yes, its a bunch of Malarkey.
FlaMurph on January 8, 2013 at 6:31 PM
Here we go from Governor Gun Confiscation Cuomo:
Galt2009 on January 8, 2013 at 6:31 PM
His natural constituency is the mentally ill..,maybe he could help there?
d1carter on January 8, 2013 at 6:34 PM
Could be ugly.
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 6:35 PM
It will be in the style of the “national conversation.” I converse, you obey.
Cicero43 on January 8, 2013 at 6:36 PM
Did we ever get confirmation on whether the AR was used or in the trunk?
Knew more about Aurora in 24 hours than I know about CT now.
wolly4321 on January 8, 2013 at 6:37 PM
lmfao time lord actually said “bushmaster”. probably squibbed a little pee down his leg too.
tom daschle concerned on January 8, 2013 at 6:39 PM
Si vis pacem, para bellum “If you wish for peace, prepare for war”.
TxAnn56 on January 8, 2013 at 6:40 PM
Horowitz is partially correct. Fascism will return with a fervour – it has not really left since 1913 – but it won’t be because there has been a change in who is practising it. The First Fascist President of the United States WAS a Progressive.
BTW, Proggies, do not attempt to play the Sinclair Lewis- “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross”-It Can’t Happen Here card with me. Read the damn book, an AUTHORISED edition. He NEVER wrote it.
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 6:40 PM
Unless you have a class 3 permit, you are already in violation of the law. Are you just trolling?
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 6:41 PM
Maybe, we’ve found something: The Missing Link.
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 6:42 PM
Yep. Ugly messes are tough to clean up after also.
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 6:42 PM
NRA to Plugs;
We’re here to preserve and protect the second amendment, period. So let your boss know we don’t negotiate with openly hostile tyrants.
antipc on January 8, 2013 at 6:44 PM
Nah, it’s just a zoo monkey that a bored staff member taught to type.
MelonCollie on January 8, 2013 at 6:51 PM
After the 2012 elections and (idiotically-named) Fiscal Cliff “win” wherein Obama forced a minority of Republicans in the House of Representatives to raise taxes on 77.1% of Americans, doing something this utterly braindead, boneheaded, and Banana Republicanistic will make Speaker John Boehner cry…WITH JOY.
Krugman and Nadler must want to get a Republican elected in 2016!
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 6:52 PM
Well, I know when I need expert advice on guns, I always turn to the latest action movie…..
tom on January 8, 2013 at 6:57 PM
Wrong thread. Sorry.
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 6:57 PM
:-)
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 6:57 PM
So many threads. So little time.
tom on January 8, 2013 at 6:59 PM
Obama thinks he’s got Boehner’s number. Why not? I’d think it too. It’s all about audacity. Kick it up a notch. This is what he does. The Republicans have shown they have no idea how to deal with it. If I were a Leftist like Obama I’d be going for the whole enchilada right now. RIGHT NOW. He thinks he can alter the gun debate and 2nd Amendment in a dramatic and permanent way. He’s going for it.
rrpjr on January 8, 2013 at 7:03 PM
As I’ve been advocating, all they have to do is outlaw evil.
John the Libertarian on January 8, 2013 at 7:04 PM
No, I’m not just trolling. I’m trying to understand how something as clearcut and absolute as the second amendment can be parsed into “yes, you can carry a Glock but no you cannot keep an antiaircraft gun in your backyard”. What gives the government the power to require that I have a class 3 permit, whatever that is?
Time Lord on January 8, 2013 at 7:08 PM
Did they deliberately leave out the pharmaceutical industry? How many of the young shooters in the last decade were prescribed drugs for behavioral issues? Perhaps we need a national registry for people taking certain prescription drugs.
Wendya on January 8, 2013 at 7:13 PM
Exactly.
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 7:17 PM
I’ll treat your silly question as serious, and answer: Because Biden is a politcally ‘reliable’ apparatchik. He’ll do what the marxist Obama handlers want done. As you can see from recent cabinet nominations, that is their principal measure of worth.
rayra on January 8, 2013 at 7:19 PM
What is racist is a rich, white, liberal law professor at Harvard telling a 76 year-old, African-American veteran and retired maintenance engineer, who was once a sharecropper in the South, who has been living in the same house in the Morgan Park neighbourhood in Chicago that he had purchased in 1971 where he and other working-class African-Americans carved out their little piece of the American Dream only to watch it deteriorate dramatically and become riddled with crime, that the “coasts” should decide whether he should get to have a Second Amendment right to bear arms to defend himself against the criminals that have continued to break into his home.
What is racist is Alan Dershowitz telling Otis McDonald that he knows what is better for him while living in an Ivy League Tower.
Bob Costas’ Casus Belli
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 7:22 PM
Oh, please, oh please, oh please, Mr. Arulanandam, have your representative ask this in as loud a voice as possible and in front of as many TV cameras as possible.
As for Biden and the entertainment industry, I plan on ignoring as forcefully as possible any so-called “ideas” that their diminutive little brains manage to emit.
PatriotGal2257 on January 8, 2013 at 7:28 PM
Saw the first one.. mayor jackwads against guns is airing primetime spots exploiting Chistina Taylor Greens mother on abc.
I’ve about had enough of this crap.
You want them? Come get them…
Molon Labe
wolly4321 on January 8, 2013 at 7:30 PM
Because when a guy named Miller challenged the law, the courts took so long that, when it finally got to the Supreme Court, Miller was dead and his lawyer didn’t bother to show up. So the government was able to argue their side without opposition, and in many people’s opinion told the court many lies, which the court relied upon to make their ruling that the 2nd Amendment allowed the government to regulate those weapons.
Socratease on January 8, 2013 at 7:34 PM
CNN Anderson Pooper et al now freaking out that there has been five lines of exclusionary language discovered in the Obamacare legislation. It was inserted late in the process and it expressly forbids the government from collecting / collating gun ownership information.
Seems it was a deliberate addition to undercut the AMA’s long advocacy of doctors asking intrusive questions of their patients about firearms ownership.
Pooper is serving up softball questions to Sanjay Gupta, who is playing it off as ‘safety’ and public health issue.
Now with the digitization of medical records, such Q&A will lead DIRECTLY to the FedGov harvesting information identifying gun owners.
rayra on January 8, 2013 at 8:10 PM
…naaaaah!…Uncle Joe’s not in charge!
KOOLAID2 on January 8, 2013 at 8:42 PM
I joined the NRA because my Senator is Dick Durban and I also have the Chicago Democrats to deal with. I needed representation, God knows I’m not getting any from these so called elected officials.
Hvywgt on January 8, 2013 at 8:44 PM
I suppose that Biden will flash his “disarming” smile (as in the Ryan-Biden debates and say “malarkey” several times.
onlineanalyst on January 8, 2013 at 8:46 PM
‘Toon of the Day: Which One Should Be Banned?
Resist We Much on January 8, 2013 at 9:45 PM
The same reason the 1st Amendment does not allow you to shout “FIRE” in a crowded theater with a bullhorn just for your own amusement, perhaps?
But frankly I won’t oppose the nutcases who actually WANT to do things like own their own AA gun. Because they are very d@mn few compared to the loudmouths who keep bringing up such a hilariously useless white-elephant ‘firearm’ just for the sake of ‘argument’.
MelonCollie on January 8, 2013 at 9:48 PM
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/276155-blumenthal-introduces-new-legislation-on-gun-ammunition
wolly4321 on January 8, 2013 at 9:54 PM
In a perfct world the representative from the NRA would publically place in front of this communist regime a document outlying a law that would FORBID ANY Government Entity from owning, possessing, or USING HOLLOW POINT AMMUNITION! The outrage from the discovery of Social Services, the IRS, and other executive branch employees having them would certainly hurt the democrats for years to come as NO ONE can explain why they need them.
We all know [unless you are a mindless liberal] that these would be fired at AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO REFUSE TO SUBMIT TO THE WILL OF THIS COMMUNIST ADMINISTRATION and/or the Democrat Party.
Feel free to explain any good reason for Social Service employees to be armed with Hundreds of THOUSANDS of rounds of this sort of overtly destructive ammo.
DannoJyd on January 9, 2013 at 6:30 AM