White folks, is Tim Walz a "unicorn"? (non-political)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:White woman here but I think this post is really insightful. I've long felt white men as a group (and sometimes individually) are struggling with identity. I also feel this way about white women!

I think one interesting thing about Walz is that he has embraced certain classic aspects of masculinity (football coach, military background, his general vibe) while also being an empathetic and clearly caring person (teacher, champion of children's issues, generally warm person). These things shouldn't be in opposition to each other but many men seem to struggle with it and fear appearing "soft." It's basically the whole issue of toxic masculinity and Walz doesn't seem to have struggled with it. He embraces "soft power" and leading with kindness and warmth.

Absolutely yes. Especially I think the teaching and those years around kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up a white man in the south is really hard I think because white men in the south, culturally, have never really been on the right side of anything. The best thing they have going is a thin veneer of chivalry in certain circumstances.

Back in the day there was some sort of gentleman’s code at a large southern school I will not name, which was basically a pledge not to be rapey or treat girls like crap. I always thought it was interesting that men needed to peer pressure one another into some sort of public oath to treat women with respect.

As a white woman who grew up in the religious south in the 90s/early 2000s I was supposed to swoon over the fact these were such upstanding guys for pleading to not assault me and my friends. Sadly there were some girls who really believed this was some sort of sign of chivalry.

I always felt like ummm thanks for that.

White men in the south really didn’t have a lot of strong role models. Even just outside of a midsize city sexist and racist jokes/comments were not unheard of, even from friends’ parents! The boys I went to HS had rebel flags on their trucks because #historynothate or whatever. It was such a weird thing to grow up around. No wonder they are so lost and clinging to the cult of MAGA as the rest of the country evolves and leaves them behind.

OT maybe but I am reading Erik Larsen's The Demon of Unrest, which starts shortly before the election of 1860 and leads up to the shots fired at Ft. Sumter--Sumter and DC are the center of the book. He described the chivalric code of the south at that time, and each chapter starts with a quote from the Code Duello, written in 1838 by a former SC governor and published in Charleston. That tied in with the chivalric code and the whole medieval nature of the south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a white woman, I think he is your typical sane, reasonable, solid person. The kind of person who will stop and help you if you have a car accident.

He seems to have a lot of charisma.

We'll see. We've only just met him, and don't know a lot about him yet.

Interesting . You know he has been arrested for a DUI, right? (Long ago)

And after that he stopped drinking and moved on. Being a good man doesn't mean you never make mistakes, it means you learn from your mistakes and try to do better.

btw he offered to resign from his teaching job and the principal turned him down

[Anonymous]

I don’t think he’s very special (I’m not political) so I’m not sure why he’s a unicorn. I know plenty of wonderful southern and midwestern men who are wonderful parents and not bigots. Maybe you all watch too much fox.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up a white man in the south is really hard I think because white men in the south, culturally, have never really been on the right side of anything. The best thing they have going is a thin veneer of chivalry in certain circumstances.

Back in the day there was some sort of gentleman’s code at a large southern school I will not name, which was basically a pledge not to be rapey or treat girls like crap. I always thought it was interesting that men needed to peer pressure one another into some sort of public oath to treat women with respect.

As a white woman who grew up in the religious south in the 90s/early 2000s I was supposed to swoon over the fact these were such upstanding guys for pleading to not assault me and my friends. Sadly there were some girls who really believed this was some sort of sign of chivalry.

I always felt like ummm thanks for that.

White men in the south really didn’t have a lot of strong role models. Even just outside of a midsize city sexist and racist jokes/comments were not unheard of, even from friends’ parents! The boys I went to HS had rebel flags on their trucks because #historynothate or whatever. It was such a weird thing to grow up around. No wonder they are so lost and clinging to the cult of MAGA as the rest of the country evolves and leaves them behind.

That kind of “chivalry” stuff was always limited to select, priveleged women. That’s the kind of pledge someone like storm thurmond probably took.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of men like Walz (as described by the OP). He is not a unicorn. Too many biased people in this world. You all need to get out more.

You know, lots of men that publicly support LGBT people?

NP. I do, absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think he is just a good person who has focused his career on helping others advance as a teacher, coach, national guard sergeant, congressman then Governor. He has limited net worth so money has never been his goal. His policies are too progressive for me but when it comes down to character, he’s special.

He is a lot like Biden in this way. Biden was always known as the poorest member of the Senate, if not the Congress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of men like Walz (as described by the OP). He is not a unicorn. Too many biased people in this world. You all need to get out more.

You know, lots of men that publicly support LGBT people?

DP. I mean, yes? Of course, lots/most men do, at least generally.

No they don’t. They don’t go to the pride parade, they don’t fly a flag, they don’t vote for their rights, they don’t lead a club.

They just try really hard not to say f$&&)ot or gay in front of their gay niece/nephew.

Most supporters don’t go to pride parades or fly a pride flag.

I am a straight, white, 52 year-old man. I am 100% supportive of LGBTQ rights, but it’s not my *cause.* (That said, I actually HAVE been to a Pride parade in San Diego and had a blast).

I am a coach so have had LGTBQ students on my teams and have been their advocates. But I have coached teams, even those without my kids on them. My kids are grown and I am now a referee and I am not in it for the money.

[Anonymous]

Haven’t read all the pages, but I’m from Minnesota and Tim Walz is literally every dad there. Very typical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walz is a pandering, valor-stealing douche who would be shunned by any real Midwesterner.

—A real Midwesterner

Ok, Joey Mannarino. If you say so. Are you a “true” Midwesterner?

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/joey-mannarino-trump-fan-black-woman-kamala-harris-attack/

Did you actually read the article you posted? The woman he was claimed to have "impersonated" has said it was her post, her device. I mean, I couldn't care less, they're all scum. But you do nobody any favors when you spread bad information. This whole thing was put to rest but you didn't do any legwork to know that. This is the problem on both sides. Nobody thinks for themselves.

LOL, sure. He “claims.”

My dude. Do you KNOW how many white Trump supporters have been caught pretending to be black or otherwise? It’s beyond embarrassing.

No one believes you are a “real” midwesterner.

I was raised in Columbus, Ohio. Walz is the real deal.

Sorry, I should have clarified. I am a different person and not a dude. I am not mid-western but from Central PA, with parents who came from absolute poverty and very middle class. Walz does not strike me as having any "classic masculine" traits. Almost trying a bit too hard to, honestly. It's almost like he's a caricature.

The dude literally coached football.

[Anonymous]

I live in MN and know a LOT of white middle aged men like Walz. So I don’t think he’s a unicorn generally. But I do think we haven’t really seen anyone running for president or VP like him before. He’s a genuinely good guy. There are a lot of genuinely good guys. But not a lot of genuinely good guys who attain high political offices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in MN and know a LOT of white middle aged men like Walz. So I don’t think he’s a unicorn generally. But I do think we haven’t really seen anyone running for president or VP like him before. He’s a genuinely good guy. There are a lot of genuinely good guys. But not a lot of genuinely good guys who attain high political offices.

Not that the VP usually decides how anyone votes but just imagine having to choose being related to Walz or JD Vance. Which person would you be cool to hang on a boat with all day? Which person seems like they’d be more enjoyable to see at the holidays? Which person would you call to come change your tire if you broke down on the side of the road? Which person looks like they’d grill better? If you ran into Walz or Vance at a kid birthday party, who would make more pleasant conversation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in MN and know a LOT of white middle aged men like Walz. So I don’t think he’s a unicorn generally. But I do think we haven’t really seen anyone running for president or VP like him before. He’s a genuinely good guy. There are a lot of genuinely good guys. But not a lot of genuinely good guys who attain high political offices.

Not that the VP usually decides how anyone votes but just imagine having to choose being related to Walz or JD Vance. Which person would you be cool to hang on a boat with all day? Which person seems like they’d be more enjoyable to see at the holidays? Which person would you call to come change your tire if you broke down on the side of the road? Which person looks like they’d grill better? If you ran into Walz or Vance at a kid birthday party, who would make more pleasant conversation?

I think the much more important question to ask is which one you would want to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, keeping Putin from taking over Europe and Hamas out of the US. I mean, I'd rather hang out with Lebron at a birthday party over either of them, but that doesn't mean he should be in the White House. Come on. What a dumb way to decide who you should vote for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in MN and know a LOT of white middle aged men like Walz. So I don’t think he’s a unicorn generally. But I do think we haven’t really seen anyone running for president or VP like him before. He’s a genuinely good guy. There are a lot of genuinely good guys. But not a lot of genuinely good guys who attain high political offices.

Not that the VP usually decides how anyone votes but just imagine having to choose being related to Walz or JD Vance. Which person would you be cool to hang on a boat with all day? Which person seems like they’d be more enjoyable to see at the holidays? Which person would you call to come change your tire if you broke down on the side of the road? Which person looks like they’d grill better? If you ran into Walz or Vance at a kid birthday party, who would make more pleasant conversation?

I think the much more important question to ask is which one you would want to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, keeping Putin from taking over Europe and Hamas out of the US. I mean, I'd rather hang out with Lebron at a birthday party over either of them, but that doesn't mean he should be in the White House. Come on. What a dumb way to decide who you should vote for.

This was in response to saying Walz just seems like a regular good person. He does. Vance does not. He comes across as a creep. As for who I think would be more capable of being a heartbeat away from the presidency- again, probably the guy who has been in Congress and a governor of a state and not Vance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in MN and know a LOT of white middle aged men like Walz. So I don’t think he’s a unicorn generally. But I do think we haven’t really seen anyone running for president or VP like him before. He’s a genuinely good guy. There are a lot of genuinely good guys. But not a lot of genuinely good guys who attain high political offices.

Not that the VP usually decides how anyone votes but just imagine having to choose being related to Walz or JD Vance. Which person would you be cool to hang on a boat with all day? Which person seems like they’d be more enjoyable to see at the holidays? Which person would you call to come change your tire if you broke down on the side of the road? Which person looks like they’d grill better? If you ran into Walz or Vance at a kid birthday party, who would make more pleasant conversation?

This. Walz actually reminds me so much of my dad, who comes from aristocratic southern family, but who is the person you call at 2 am in an emergency, who would not like the way your car is sounding, and fix it without you asking. The kind of guy who is not above rolling his sleeves and getting into the thick of it. He's the one who was crystal clear that you should not judge people by their race. (My parents had black friends). The funny thing is that my dad used to be a democrat, until he brainwashed by GOP on gun issues. Like Walz, my dad is an ace shot an a big hunter.

I would much rather hang out with Walz, or my dad. Seems like he is both a gentleman, and fun to hang out with.