I picked Wilson and Vaughn for the pic but it could just as easily have been any other group of comedians. Truth in writing, I really enjoyed Wedding Crashers but I could not help but notice that they were too old to be acting like a couple of high school students.
Vaughn and Owens personify the 21st Century fascination with boy-men. Movies and pop culture show irresponsible, sophomoric behavior as deriguer. House MD for examples shows a brilliant physician who is addicted to Vicodin and regular engages in frat boy behavior without consequence. Such behavior in reality would have landed the dear doctor unemployed and quite possibly in jail.
The gangsta persona is nothing more than a bunch of immature males running around with guns, bling, drugs and hookers somehow or other passing for adult behavior.
I was reading some friends Facebook postings today and there is an effort to reduce bullying. The examples were that the girl who got called fat has an eating disorder. The boy who got called stupid now has a learning disorder. Please stop bullying. What I did not read was the story about the boy who got called stupid and ended up graduating magna cum laude. Or the fat girl that went own to run her own fortune 500 company. There are stories like that out there but we emphasize consensus building instead of strength.
Hence we are experiencing a generation of boy-men who contribute nothing back to society except their stupid antics. Kids are routinely kicked out of school for drawing pictures of guns. Why? How does kicking the kid out of school teach the kid anything except how to become alienated from society?
We've got to start allowing boys to grow into men and then hold them responsible for being men. Stupid, immature behavior should be labeled as such and not excused as "edgy". Imagine these boy-men dealing with the crisis in Japan or handling the Libyan army?
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