The Very Idea of Masculine Virtue By John Steele
Andrew Tate, the champion of masculine virtue and strength, has recently stated his defence against sex trafficking charges that the Romanian police are to lay against him. He and his brother are under house arrest until the charges are laid and trial begins. Certainly, Tate has done good in encouraging young men to resist the feminist attacks upon their manhood, and in these desperate times, we cannot be too picky about allies. Still, as detailed by Lifesitenews.com, the Tate position falls far short of the Christian ideal on manhood, which among other things involves defending Christian values and virtues, such as the faith from false teaching and heretics, and institutions such as marriage, and opposition to abortion. Tate does not go into any of his, and as far as I can see, he remains a secular humanist, and probably a sexual liberal.
He contrasts with Roosh, who once was a womaniser, like St. Augustine before his conversion to Christ, but now Roosh lives an orthodox Christian life. He is a preferable model I think to Tate, even given his enormous popularity with a generation of alienated young men. Roosh’s latest, where he argues that the life of a Godless man is pointless, no matter how much affluence they have:
https://www.rooshv.com/the-life-of-the-godless-man-is-pointless
“In an apparent attempt to counter the current focused attacks against authentic masculinity in the West, Tucker Carlson travelled to Romania to interview former kickboxer and social media celebrity Andrew Tate, who while offering some useful insights on the importance of healthy masculinity provides a grossly corrupted view of this important topic in both theory and practice.
Introducing the 150-minute interview in Tuesday’s episode of Tucker on Twitter, the former Fox News ratings king rightly lamented the varieties of messaging being imposed on boys and men in the West to diminish their inclinations to masculine virtue and supplant them with more feminine qualities.
Boys in school are taught that “female qualities are virtuous, masculine qualities are oppressive,” and schools have now even begun to remove urinals from boy’s bathrooms indicating “the male body itself is shameful,” Carlson said. “Sit down when you pee like a good little girl.”
Results have included an increased suicide rate among men, homosexuality, attempted “transitions” into being women, and withdrawal into a life of porn, marijuana, and video games that Carlson calls “a less dramatic form of suicide.”
According to Carlson, Tate offers a different vision that encourages men to seek respect by becoming impressive: “Wake up early. Work as hard as you can, stay sober, find God, keep yourself physically fit [and] don’t complain.” Such messaging that he began on social media about 10 years ago, may have helped contribute to Tate being “the most Googled man in the world last year.”
But while earlier generations “might have found parts of Tate’s message inspiring,” Carlson says it is “seen as a threat” which brought about the media treating him like a criminal and the Romanian government eventually raiding his home late last December and arresting him and his brother, eventually charging them with “human trafficking.”
Tate and his brother are now under house arrest awaiting their trial, though “not a single woman has come forward to say that she was kidnapped or imprisoned or moved across international borders against her will by Andrew or Tristan Tate.”
Carlson goes on to suggest this prosecution may be similar to the political weaponization of the judicial system that has become more common in recent years, including the “lawfare” waged against the likes of Julian Assange and Donald Trump.
While this is more than plausible in the case of the Tate brothers, it doesn’t mean that when Andrew puts forth a vision of “masculine virtue” it is fully or even sufficiently true and accurate as can be witnessed by not only his own words, but the results of his life as well.
When Carlson inquires about his message, Tate labels it as “traditional masculinity,” which, in the West can only logically be associated with the traditional understanding of virtue which is far more robust than any narrow program Tate appears to propose.
According to this traditional system, for a man to be virtuous, he must conform his soul and behavior to each and every virtue, including justice, charity, humility and chastity.
If, for example, he shows up for work on time, accomplishes his tasks with a laudable degree of effectiveness, but on occasion steals from his employer, he is a thief. And there is no such thing as a virtuous thief.
If he has great amiability and generosity to his family, friends and employer, yet drinks too much, he is a drunk. And a drunk cannot be a model of “masculine virtue.”
Such is the case with Tate, as is evidenced in his own statements to Carlson. While he provides some inspiring yet limited reflections about the importance of diligence and personal resilience, he also reveals himself to be fundamentally flawed in some of the most important areas of his life.
At one point, the former kickboxer lamented being labeled a “misogynist” by cultural leftists for simply stating men should have “standards” with regards to the women they date. Carlson surmised, “So are you arguing that it’s better to be with a virtuous woman?”
“I don’t want to come across as extreme, but yes, I am,” Tate quipped. And he further developed these thoughts, stating, “I’m arguing the only way to do that is via masculine excellence. I’m saying in the world we live in today, it’s hyper-competitive. And if you want to be the kind of man that has the choice of women to choose a good one, you need to be an excellent man.”
True enough and inspiring for sure, which Carlson affirmed showing the value and virtue of his own Christian marriage, stating, “If you’re arguing that it’s really important for a man to find a good woman, a decent woman, an honest woman, that’s the truest thing that’s ever been said. That’s the most important thing any man can do. I can just tell you firsthand. I’ve been married 32 years. That’s the most important thing.”
However, sadly, in the same interview, Tate appears to have fallen short of his own criteria for being an “excellent man” in this regard.
While he rightly appeared very proud to announce he is a “father” he did not say he was an actual “husband.” In another place, he mentioned speaking to the “mothers of my children” about child rearing and sadly later stated, “I can tell you why I wouldn’t want to get married in America. I don’t see the point in being married to a woman who’s had so many partners before me that she can’t properly pair bond with me and then giving her the opportunity to financially destroy me. I think that would be a bad chess move.”
Is Tate suggesting this to be the background of the “mothers of [his] children”? Is he also conceding that perhaps he himself has not lived a sufficient life of “masculine excellence” that is necessary for securing the love of a virtuous woman with whom he could entrust his heart and life, as Tucker Carlson apparently has?
In Western philosophy, the life of virtue is naturally ordered toward one definitive end: the abiding happiness of man and of society in general. That is what is at stake in the drama of our personal lives and of society as a whole.
This is why the Church provides us with the examples of the saints, who having lived lives of heroic virtue usually excel in one or more providing us with an example to imitate: St. Joseph, exemplified justice and chastity; St. Thomas More, prudence and courage; and St. Thomas Aquinas, wisdom and chastity.
In the pursuit of “masculine excellence,” that is, masculine virtue for the prize of abiding happiness, men should choose their models and teachers wisely.
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