In times of trouble, everyone needs a little toxic masculinity. 

In the wake of the devastating floods in Texas over the July 4 weekend, a Coast Guard member named Scott Ruskan and his heroic aircrew are responsible for saving 165 lives. Ruskan himself physically carried many children to safety on what was his first mission as a Coast Guard officer.

Other stories of heroism have trickled in as the nation reels from a natural disaster that cruelly wreaked havoc on a children’s summer camp. While heroes come in all shapes and sizes and obviously are represented by both sexes, many of the most heroic stories from this flood involve men rising to their natural role as protector. Julian Ryan died saving his family. Richard Eastland, a camp director, was drowned saving children from the floods that overtook Camp Mystic. 

Yet, remarkably, no one—not even the most ardent of leftists—is heaping anything but accolades on the name Scott Ruskan. The imminent danger or rising, deadly flood waters has a way of eliminating feminism from everyone. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, it turns out that there are no feminists in natural disasters. 

The ESV (English Standard Version) Bible translates 1 Corinthians 16:13 as, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Other translations, such as the NIV (New International Version) remove the admonition to “act like men.” While I don’t claim to be an expert in the original Koine Greek and don’t impute feminist motives to those behind the NIV translation, it is interesting to consider this verse alongside verse 14, which exhorts readers, “Let all that you do be done in love.”

In a world where the word “love” has become weaponized and altered to mean the kind of soft-headed acceptance that permits the celebration of all manner of perversion, the biblical command to love is quite striking, because it clearly means something very different. It is a love that is no less vibrant in its masculine than it is in its feminine form. This love is one that manifests as strength, protection, and stewardship. Unfortunately for today’s society, it seems to take a disaster for people to realize the value of masculine love. Perhaps we need to feel sufficiently powerless before we can be humbled enough to accept a love that many otherwise brand as “toxic.” 

Consider the case of Daniel Penny. The now-infamous New Yorker, who fatally subdued a dangerous and insane man on the city’s metro system, was rewarded for his heroics with a legal ordeal. A bevy of leftists immediately accused him of racism, as they claimed he and the other riders were not in any real danger. Where conservatives saw a rare case of bravery and masculine exertion in defense of civilization, acclimated city-dwelling liberals were ready to impute toxic motives. As there was no undeniable rising tide of flood waters, all they saw in the man Penny stopped was a slightly addled Elvis Presley impersonator, who found himself on the wrong train car with a white man who had it out for black men. The rising tide of crime and danger their policies have permitted is something they prefer not to see.

Leftists would rather believe they are in no danger at all, despite dodging encampments of insane people on their walks home and narrowly avoiding cold-blooded homicides. Believing their lying eyes would mean accepting that their version of “love” is a failure and, worse, that they might have to rely on the masculinity they have spared no vitriol in decrying as villainy. 

Society’s issue with masculinity today is owing largely to its denial that we are in danger at all. Avoiding the problem by avoiding places where we might confront the criminals occupying our own cities isn’t normal. By accepting that masculine protectors are the only ones who make a dangerous world liveable, we will restore our faith in masculinity and inspire many more Scott Ruskans. 

https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/toxic-masculinity-strikes-again-in-texas-floods/