Masculinity is to Blame: if only Anthony Weiner was ugly!

Ever since this whole soap opera with Anthony Weiner began, I told myself to limit my exposure to the media (print, television, internet) that ran the story of his demise. I also told myself that I am not going to comment (write) on any of his failures and mistakes he had made. Obviously, what he did was wrong and stupid. Why would there be a reason to keep talking about it? And than I read an article by Vicki Larson, on Huffington Post, titled “Hot or Not? Why Woman Shouldn’t Pick Attractive Husbands.”

This article is a perfect example of how much drivel there is out there, and that 1) those who claim to be writers can’t write and put together coherent argument and 2) the leftist “intelligentsia” is continuing to make superficial and unintelligible judgments.

The running argument in the article is that if a woman wants her husband to be faithful, then she should marry an ugly, not an attractive man. The assumption, of course being, that Anthony Weiner is attractive. And how could a woman so accomplished herself, Huma Abedin, even get involved with such a man? (Well, I do hope that the larger than life levels of irony in my voice are being heard now). The writer, Vicki Larson (who boldly states she is a “journalist, mother, thinker”) says: “whether you find him hot or not, [Weiner] is a fit, intelligent, passionate, promising politician with a six-figure income who had a reputation of a ladies’ man and was even named a Cosmo eligible bachelor—the kind of man that many, many women are drawn to.”

Goodness gracious! There is so much wrong with this statement that I can hardly contain my emotion and passion, and I don’t even from which direction to attack this puny premise. First, there is the issue of attractiveness (inherent in Anthony Weiner) itself. Where is my vision? Where are my eyes? How could I miss the sheer sexiness of this hunk and his ‘hot bod’? Attractive? Maybe if you’re into men who look like botoxed lizards.

Secondly, he is “intelligent,” so says Larson. Cosmo says it! Do I even need to comment on that?

Larson goes on to say that the reason men are unfaithful is because they are too masculine. As if the American man needs to be feminized even more! Already, the feminists have successfully turned (most) American men into self-effacing wimps. As Hemingway utters in the new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris, to Owen Wilson’s apologetic character: “Don’t be so self-effacing! It isn’t manly!”

What Anthony Weiner did has nothing to do with masculinity. In fact, he acted in a most cowardly and weak way, and there is nothing masculine about that. Masculinity in a man implies honorable behavior and protection of a woman. These characteristics Weiner dreadfully lacks.

As for the whole notion of marrying an ugly man: even if we assume that Weiner is attractive (or hot, as this writer implies: why use such a juvenile description of another human being?), we will quickly come to the conclusion that his supposed attractiveness has nothing to do with his unfaithfulness. Weiner is ontologically flawed, that is, his lack of virtue (in this case, temperance) is what caused him to react to the flocking women the way he did.

The absolute joylessness and hopelessness inherent in the leftist rhetoric is what always stands out for me. Larson, who is obviously part of the leftist wave of hedonism, quotes author Helen Fisher: “regardless of whom we [women] pick—handsome or ugly—chances are we’re going to be struggling sometime in our fourth year of marriage.” Speak for yourselves, Ms. Larson and Ms. Fisher! There is an incredible lack of substance in this argument simply because there is an incredible lack of substance in the being of these “thinkers.” What we are seeing here is lack of emotional intelligence on the part of the writer.

At the beginning of the article, Larson asks how could Huma Abedin get involved with a man like Anthony Weiner? And how can he, such intelligent and passionate man, engage in such perverse behavior? What Larson is obviously missing is that just because someone is accomplished (in their career) does not mean that they have moral virtue. Maybe, just maybe women (and men) need to grow up, take responsibility for their actions, and stop calling each other “hot.”