“Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the revolutionary army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the revolutionary war.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: ‘For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.’”
Michael W Smith
This doesn't work for normal men and I'm going to explain why:
What Tom Holland is doing here is called "counter-signalling." This works by demonstrating that you have so much surplus social status that you can get away with breaking social norms and expectations.
For example: at most jobs everyone wears a suit or uniform to work and shows up at 8 AM...except for the owner of the company who shows up at noon wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The owner can do that because, as the owner, he has so much influence and status within the company that he can break the dresscode amd show up late and still get away with it. The regular employees can't do this, if they ever even tried it they would get fired.
The same goes with the video below.
Tom Holland can do it because he's a millionaire actor who plays spiderman, and Zendaya loves it because it's a display of the fact that he has so much social status that he can do this stuff and get away with it. If a regular man tried this on a first date (or even a 1pth date) it would look completely cringy. Being able to pull this off is a result of Tom Holland having enormous social status, it isn't the reason he has that status. It like the company owner: he doesn't own the company because he wears tshirts and shows up late, he wears tshirts and shows up late because he owns the company.
Telling young men to aspire to do drag to get a girl gets the causation exactly backwards— Tom Holland isn't famous cause he can pull this off, he cannpull this off because he is rich and famous. This won't work for normal men because they don't have the social status to pull this off; confidence and "security" are irrelevant. I can have the security and confidence to show up late to work wearing a t-shirt instead of my suit or uniform; but if I do that I'll still get fired.
The same thing applies here.
How much status you have and the social position you occupy play a big role in determining how the signals you send get interpreted. A regular woman talking to a regular guy is going to have very different opinion of him if he shows up in drag than she does of the famous actor does over the top performative drag on a TV show.
Telling young men that secure masculinity looks like doing drag performances is like telling people trying to get a promotion at work that they should wear t-shirts and show up late.
It doesn't work that way.
A few years ago, I infiltrated a support group for parents of “trans” children.
What I found there were mostly attention-seeking women eager to use their children as pawns in their own personal fight for relevance.
As they say, a “transgender” child is like a vegan cat; we all know who’s making the decisions.
I feel zero guilt for exposing this child abuse. #TranshausenByProxy
@LizHighleyman@JeninYounesEsq side B used to be better(imo) until they decided to start fighting fire with fire. they started using the internet, social media and arts the same way liberals used it to make fun of, mock, and demean conservatives or ppl who voted conservatives. then they became what they hated
@annbauerwriter@nycexpatmom Cuz feminist rather be louder about wanting it as a tool for themselves. My body my choice. They see it as a self-empowerment thing.
@TobyTurner@GuitaristGabe12 Yea I've been thinking about this too recently. Don't think it's meant to necessarily distance from Jesus but I can see how i guess. I lowkey have been thinking whether a monarchy or hierarchy would be better tbh. Only because it seems ppl desperately need leadership
@annbauerwriter Imo. Freedom of speech was intended for a population devoted to God. Ppl weren't all upstanding Cristians back then either but we were headed towards something special I think. over the centuries, post WW2. Unfortunately, that all kinda fell apart as we got comfortable
@annbauerwriter@JeninYounesEsq Maybe I'm wrong but in hindsight it seems movies/entertainment has been priming ppl for 2020. I can't help but think about Heath ledgers' Joker quotes from TDK a lot. A fictional character that has been idolized to death and back. 2020 feels like a test we ultimately failed
@whatwillbwillbX@cliftonaduncan I wouldn't mind it if we treated EVERYONE who are simply doing their jobs the way we do actors and even shitty celebrities. But we don't.
@whatwillbwillbX@cliftonaduncan Honestly, for real. Acting and the movie industry. Seems like a net negative at the end of the day. Idolizing and Glorifying ppl who play fictional characters to the point of worshipping the actors just because they're doing their job. It's not good imo. It's brainrotting
Gangster rap was never black culture. It was created by the Feds, who proferred deals to homosexual black men in prison and then turned them into artificial celebrities. The goal was to create false idols to destroy black American values.
I will never change my mind on this.
@annbauerwriter@JeninYounesEsq Maybe I'm wrong but in hindsight it seems movies/entertainment has been priming ppl for 2020. I can't help but think about Heath ledgers' Joker quotes from TDK a lot. A fictional character that has been idolized to death and back. 2020 feels like a test we ultimately failed