I see this a lot. I have a whole manifesto on angry eye'd jeeps ready to be unleashed at any given moment.
I live in an area with many white collar professionals who have the need to own pickups and buy all the tools possible. One of my good friends included. I will never be able to explain to him how dumb it is to own an f150 "to tow" when he has never and will never tow anything. Or how he buys tools for the sake of buying them rather than needing them. I will admit as someone who enjoys working on cars with no space for a project, it is nice to have a friend who loves to buy dumb shit and lets me drive it because I'm always offering my free labor when hanging out.
i've heard two dads who dress up like bikers without riding motorcycles tell their sons to eat the "man food", rather than the grilled vegetables.
These totems of manliness, the brown leather, wood handled, sharp bladed items are seen as a way to buy one's way into some kind of masculinity that they fear they don't have,
Things like "Dude Wipes", "Bespoke Post", "The art of Manliness", etc are all ways to buy into some kind of Man club. Its like when a kid wants to be "cool" so they put on sunglasses like they see on TV.
It sorta bugs me too because I genuinely love working with my hands. I'll trim a friends bushes if he neglects it. I once masked off two whole rooms and painted in an afternoon because I had enough automotive masking experience to do it 4x as fast and wanted to see my friend live better. I'll pull furniture out of the trash and refinish it just because it makes me happy.
It bugs me because these dudes are cosplaying a blue collar lifestyle they know they could never fit into. I have a desk job, I'm not blue collar, but I know I got along better with machinists and maintenance guys at the smoking area than I did with the computer guys inside. I've gotten to intimately see both sides and it drives me up a wall when a guy is trying to tell me about beard maintenance or craft beers.
I see this a lot. I have a whole manifesto on angry eye'd jeeps ready to be unleashed at any given moment.
I live in an area with many white collar professionals who have the need to own pickups and buy all the tools possible. One of my good friends included. I will never be able to explain to him how dumb it is to own an f150 "to tow" when he has never and will never tow anything. Or how he buys tools for the sake of buying them rather than needing them. I will admit as someone who enjoys working on cars with no space for a project, it is nice to have a friend who loves to buy dumb shit and lets me drive it because I'm always offering my free labor when hanging out.
i've heard two dads who dress up like bikers without riding motorcycles tell their sons to eat the "man food", rather than the grilled vegetables.
These totems of manliness, the brown leather, wood handled, sharp bladed items are seen as a way to buy one's way into some kind of masculinity that they fear they don't have,
Things like "Dude Wipes", "Bespoke Post", "The art of Manliness", etc are all ways to buy into some kind of Man club. Its like when a kid wants to be "cool" so they put on sunglasses like they see on TV.
It sorta bugs me too because I genuinely love working with my hands. I'll trim a friends bushes if he neglects it. I once masked off two whole rooms and painted in an afternoon because I had enough automotive masking experience to do it 4x as fast and wanted to see my friend live better. I'll pull furniture out of the trash and refinish it just because it makes me happy.
It bugs me because these dudes are cosplaying a blue collar lifestyle they know they could never fit into. I have a desk job, I'm not blue collar, but I know I got along better with machinists and maintenance guys at the smoking area than I did with the computer guys inside. I've gotten to intimately see both sides and it drives me up a wall when a guy is trying to tell me about beard maintenance or craft beers.