AskMen stop hunting
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AskMen, the self-professed “experts” in men’s lifestyle for almost 20 years, say men should give up obsolete skills in today’s modern world. And they place hunting as skill #1 men should ditch “to be the kind of man who’s tops in the near future.” Wait, it gets better.

Ian Stobber wrote the piece called “Obsolete Man Skills You Should Ditch,” for AskMen, telling today’s young (beta) males how to get a leg up on other men when it comes to landing a great woman (or is it officially “partner” now?).  Going out on a limb, I bet AskMen’s self-righteous scribe doesn’t have a lot of love for guns or they guys who own them.

Let’s face it, the left in America has declared open war on more than guns. They hate masculinity in general.  terming it toxic. But let’s face it, American men – real American men – have lots of masculine traits. Some more than others, of course. It was American masculine men (and women, most fo them more masculine than some of these AskMen types) gave us America’s freedom and independence. Since then, strong men and women have kept our nation free and prosperous for almost 250 years now, frequently using guns, grit and determination.

But AskMen says all that’s no longer needed. Instead, they give us new skill sets that, in their view, will make a man more “manly” in the 21st Century.

The final paragraph of the author’s preamble says a lot. From AskMen.com:

Now, if you want to stay focused on being the coolest guy ever circa the 20th century, knock yourself out! Nobody can make you respect 21st century manliness if you don’t want to. But if you’re at all interested in being ahead of the curve and exploring how to be the kind of man who’s tops in the near future rather than the distant past, then read on to discover which skills are becoming obsolete, and what you should be looking to replace them with.

From there, Stobber tells us “Hunting” ranks as the first and foremost skill “new men” should leave behind.   Instead, men should learn how to cook a meal. “Take a cooking class,” he writes. “Or try a meal-kit delivery service”.  Maybe even “hunting” for ingredients at a grocery store stands as a hill too high for Ian and his pals to conquer.

I hate to break it to Ian, but those who can successfully hunt, almost always can successfully cook what they kill, too. After all, vegetarian means “lousy hunter” in many languages. Or so I hear.

Obsolete skill #2? Fighting. Instead of learning how to fight to protect those you love, the AskMen scribe suggests learning to mediate. At first I read that as “meditate”.  Not that it matters. Both would prove equally worthless if Ray-Ray and his pal Mongo decide they’d like to have some fun with your girlfriend, wife or teenage daughter.

He writes:

Physical fighting literally doesn’t solve anything — it just leaves people angry and bruised, or worse.

What a load of namby-pamby, wooly-headed liberal wishful thinking. Physical fighting gave us our independence from Great Britain. It allowed us to triumph over the Axis of evil powers in World Wars I and II.

Closer to home, here in the real world, criminals understand the use of force. Violent criminals, especially.

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In my personal life, I have returned to the gym at least three times a week, and will soon return to twice-weekly Krav Maga classes. I earned my green belt in Krav last year after four years of training, practice and a little sparring.

Already, I have used my Krav to save an innocent teen girl from serious injury at the hands of a violent male intent on repeatedly slugging her in the face. The individual I “restrained” had zero interest in my mediation skills. (Or meditation for that matter.) Without those Krav skills, I might have eaten a knuckle sandwich or two, or worse.

So yes, Ian, you go right ahead and hone those mediation skills and take a few cooking lessons while you’re at it. You’ll make a nice, easy victim for Mongo and Ray-Ray.

Dr. William Petit probably wished he had boned up on his hunting and fighting skills. In 2007, a pair of bad guys broke into the Connecticut home that he shared with his wife and daughters (pictured).

John Muldoon/AP

They beat the doctor with a bat, then tied him up as he tried to reason with them. From there, they set about repeatedly raping his wife and daughters. For hours.  Later, they tied the two daughters to their beds, splashed them with gasoline, then set them alight. The only survivor was the doctor.

But men don’t need to know how to fight, according to AskMen.

Among the other obsolete skills this guy says new age men don’t need: auto repair (learn computer coding instead), fixing things at home (learn how to decorate), and being a leader (become a collaborator follower!).

I think I saw one of Stobber’s AskMen followers last week. While waiting at a truck stop in Dwight, Illinois, I saw a couple come out of the store to a car with something hanging under the front bumper.

John Boch for TTAG

The male half stood and watched as the female got onto the ground and diagnosed the problem. Then she went to the trunk, found a pair of pliers, and returned to the ground while Mr. Millennial stood there watching.

For five minutes she worked under the car in near zero degree wind chills. At that point, I decided I needed to take a pic. Unfortunately for me, she had just fixed the problem and started to get up when I got this photo.  You get the idea though.

Yes, this guy must belong to the “new man” fraternity. The one that doesn’t need to know how to do basic car repairs, protect his loved ones or hunt for meat. Not the kind of guy I want as a friend, neighbor or even an acquaintance. Nor the kind of guy I’ll raise my boys to become.

What say you, people of the gun?  Do you plan to ditch your guns and hunting skills to learn to cook a better bisque and decorate your home more tastefully?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

164 COMMENTS

        • In Illinois, the law prevents lawsuits against anyone that used justifiable force. That thug’s family will be laughed out of court if they try.

        • That would be kind of hard to do after the jury found that he acted in self-defense. The jury, if they learn this, and after seeing the photos of James’ injuries, plus the evidence of the “victim’s” intoxication, will not likely find that James was negligent. Bad optics for the family all around, even with the cutesy graduation pictures..

        • Sue the thug’s family for negligent child-rearing, looking for them to pay your legal fees from the encounter.

    • Who the fuck would read an article in something called Ask Men and, really, why would anyone give a shit? Anyone that would pay attention to that drivel needs to grow a dick.

    • yeah, but maybe Love should just meditated, or mediated, or whatever while being beaten to death, instead of using an obsolete to save his life…

    • It is just possible that all the artificial female hormones from the pill that are our water system are effecting these men’s brains!!!

      Pretty soon we will be told that we should not wear facial hair since women don’t.

  2. POTG at an advanced age will be able to conquer the Earth. Just wait another 20 years and it will be easy…

    • There is no way the article under discussion is serious. It’s got to be a joke written just to get a rise out of those who it is apparently getting a rise out of.

      I suspect the author is really saying that those skills are the very ones you do need. And hunting is number one.

      • Nah. He’s a giant c u c k. This is why when feminists and their gimps started talking about “real men” and “new man,” actual men created lad culture and mancaves.

        • there are two varieties of boondogglers around these parts. i enjoy both of them immensely and in moderation.

        • This “article” is a joke designed to keep people looking at their website. Then you can get mad and go to another related website to get mad about. You’re being manipulated.

          Anyone who uses the term “cuck” is an idiot, btw.

    • Went and read Corriea’s take, he dismantles the guy. Unfortunately, however, that means I had to read soy boy’s entire article – dude is a fool.

      Among other things, he regards home repair as something that future-man shouldn’t learn to do. Quick question there sparky; If all the men take your advice and no one knows how to frame, finish, plumb, wire and install climate controls then who is gonna build the home you live in? You might need to work on your sod house building skills or start a subscription to Better Caves and Natural Shelters, dipshit.

  7. No wonder that there are so many sissie live with their Mommies millennial trolls clogging up the WWW.

    • Says the self-righteous and hypocritical asswipe who can’t say any of that shit to other people’s faces since he’s a troll himself.

  10. Chicks dig useless guys. They stay at home and clean the cat box while she’s out clubbing with Chad.

  11. Lol an iced coffee sipping, scarf wearing, Prius driver is trying to tell us how to be more “manly”…. hahaha my mom is more manly than this wimpy pussboy.

  12. I absolutely agree, ban hunting and especially trapping, you have no idea how many two toed possums wander the swamps. Speaking of swamps, I ask a Cottonmouth snake the other day what he thought of draining the swamp, he said” Now why would a ssssnake want to drain the sssswamp ?”

  13. I can’t wait for the follow up article “How to be an ignorant twatwaffle with no muscle definition, useful skills or any chance of ever getting laid”.

    • Can’t you figure this out? The kind of “individuals” they would like us to become aren’t interested in the opposite sex.

      • Homosexual preference isn’t an explanation. Feminine lesbians often prefer a “butch” partner. Not always but often. Even effeminate homosexual men prefer prefer a “manly” partner most of the time.

    • “twatwaffle”
      Oh my gawd, I laughed so hard I got a headache. That was fantastic. I gotta find a use for that one.

      I read the replies to the article in question and the numbered titles of the different components. I was VERY amused. I was at first, under the impression that it was a spoof article for attention. Apparently it was not and this “author” has written other articles of this flavor.
      Amazing. 1. Someone actually typed all that out with apparent belief in their thinking. 2. AskSomeOtherMen actually put it out for the world to see.

      “Shit be crazy”….

    • Figures Gov. would make a Blazing Saddles reference.
      Darn good movie. “Almost wasted a perfectly good 400 dollar hand cart.”

      • To be honest, I have no idea who ‘Ray-Ray’ is. Should probably be either Taggart or maybe Lyle and Mongo. But maybe I missed something in the 40 or so times I’ve watched that movie.

  15. I will quit hunting and fishing when this girly boy admits how big of a dam idiot he is and vows to never give advice to real men

  16. Hunting is one skill I wish I had developed more. I don’t enjoy it (it’s like work), but I can definitely see the benefits. I feel that skill will become much more important in the near future. And, of course, it’s one of the most primeval manly skills that there is.

    • rc,

      On a particularly difficult year financially, I hunted the deer season and was fortunate enough to take two deer. That venison was our only red meat for the next 12 months. (We literally could not afford beef.)

      About the same time, I also managed to fix my furnace for about $18 in parts: the service call would have cost about $600.

      And I recently fixed my clothes dryer for $18, which saved us the $600 expense of purchasing a new dryer.

      Oh, and I also did full brake jobs on all three of our family cars saving us about $2,000 in the last two years.

      And this year one of my children and I were fortunate enough to each take a BIG deer — that put about 105 pounds of pure red meat (no bones, no fat) in our freezer, again saving us the cost of beef for the next 12 months.

      I could go on. The point is that my hunting and repairs around our home has saved us several thousand dollars over the past few years. Those are invaluable skills to have.

      • Uncommon_Sense,

        I know exactly what your talking about. Electrical, Plumbing, Sheetrock, HVAC, the engine in the daughters car, then the wife’s, one from scratch for my Jeep.
        Dad taught me well, and I had enormous go interest to pay attention.

        • I come at it from a slightly different angle. I know how to hunt and dress game but I don’t really like to do it. I can literally build a house even though I dont anyone. I know enough about plumbing and electrical work to diagnose and if need be fix anything in my house even though I don’t. I have rebuilt everything from lawn mowers to cars but I go to the store for an oil change. I have been stranded in the wilderness and in cities and been able to survive. I can run 5 miles and lift my own body weight. I can shoot and fight even if I prefer read and cook. My dad told me a man should be as capable as he can be, able to stand when others run, to have the integrity to speak truth when others lie.

        • Tom in Oregon,

          Speaking of full-blown electrical, plumbing, and home building:

          When I moved into my home several years ago, I expected to pay/spend about $15,000 to replace all the flooring, paint everything, replace all the ceramic tile in the bathrooms, and replace all the windows. Imagine my dismay, as I started into the bathrooms, to discover that the builder who originally built my home BRIBED the inspectors and did not build our home anywhere close to building codes. My herculean effort to rebuild my home (to actually be safe and meet building codes) would have cost in the neighborhood of $80,000 had I paid someone to do it. And since I would have had to pay them in after-tax dollars, I would have had to earn something like $115,000 before taxes to fix my home. Granted, it sucked that it took me every extra waking hour for two years to renovate my home. That sure beats trying to find a way to earn an additional $115,000 in my “spare time”.

          Or I could have sold my home at a $100,000 loss.

          And I haven’t even mentioned the monetary value of substantial work on my parent’s home.

          Being able to do stuff myself has saved my family on the order of $150,000 over the last 20 years. Where I come from, that isn’t chump change.

    • I love hunting but hate when I am met with success. It’s one thing to spend some alone time in the woods but once that deer goes down I’m in for a lot of work.

  17. It gets even better if you read the article. Other gems are “fixing things at home” and “being a leader” that are now obsolete. Instead they advocate for learning to decorate and collaborate. Are you f***cking kidding me!?!
    Our country is doomed 🙁

  19. What a stupid piece from AskMen. All people regardless of sex would do well to cultivate the skills disaparged by AskMen.

    That said, people who can’t accept that what has been termed “toxic masculinity” is a problem are a bunch of snowflakes. If you treat others with respect, value strength, courage, and goodness, like to barbeque, shoot guns, practice martial arts, etc., you are NOT part of the “toxic masculinity” problem. If you treat women like toys or sex objects or try to assign them restrictive gender roles, if you delight in violence, if you make excuses for people who misuse their power and influence, or if Gillette’s latest commercial hurt your feelings – then you are part of the “toxic masculinity” problem. It’s time for you to get your act together, because the rest of aren’t going to take your sh-t anymore.

    • The problem with “toxic masculinity” is that it’s a motte-and-bailey argument. This article is a prime example of the bailey – identifying everything traditionally perceived as masculine as outdated and obsolete. Your comment is the motte, where “toxic masculinity” is restricted to its most defensible manifestations, like the abuse of women.

    • That sounds more like a patriarchal authoritarian government than masculinity.

      A lot of people that use the term “toxic masculinity” are not happy with the natural instincts of males. They want males to be more like females. It is to the benefit of these people.

      The main problem in taking over a people/government is the males especially the alpha types. You need to make them docile/domesticated. Suppress their instincts and castrate them.

      • Or CZJay, keep some of the alpha males and make them the enforcers. That’s what the USSR did. All that “energy” was used to control the people. Keep the soy boys as drones, need lots worker bees, ya’know.

    • @SaltyBear

      Personally, I think there needs to be a distinction made between “traditional masculinity” and “toxic masculinity.” They’re not the same thing, but a lot of people of all genders mix up the two.

      I’m of the opinion that most of what people are calling “toxic masculinity” is basically equivalent to “rude, bullying, deceitful, belligerent, thoughtless behavior layered atop a deep core of fundamental cowardice, often seen in those who were not brought up right” which looks equally ugly in ALL genders. It isn’t any prettier in women.

    • It’s just called being a douchebag. Some people, no matter what they, or anyone else does, man or woman, are just douchebags. There’s no need to assign NewSpeak to an activity there’s already plethora of words to describe.

  20. I hate to break it to you guys but his advice is actually spot on. Think of where he lives and the kind of society that liberals like him dream of:
    * Hunting will be impossible when most of the population lives in megacities. As will legal firearm ownership. Look at NYC.
    * Violence will be illegal, even for self defense. Look at Great Britain.
    * You won’t own a car in a megacity. Impractical and unacceptable carbon footprint. You wouldn’t be able to afford one anyway after social justice has been restored in our economy.
    * Leadership positions will only be held by people who rigidly hold to the left’s PC values, the only people with the righteousness to lead us. And you’ll have to be a snake to hold onto your power. Get good at licking boots.

    All in all he is helping us prepare for our future.

    • Environmentalism will be the “tool” used to emasculate men…
      If environmentalism restricted itself to truly caring for our natural resources, I would have no problem with it. However, with the secret science and questionable funding that these environmental groups possess taints the whole barrel. It turns out that many claims that environmentalists make have no basis in fact and are not based on good, honest, scientific investigation. This is why environmental scientists have to hide their data, as it does not fit their agenda. A good example of this is the so-called global warming crap, now renamed climate change. For one, the climate is always changing. The East Anglia emails in which data was purposely falsified by climate scientists comes to mind. Not only that, the climate scientists purposely installed temperature monitoring sensors in cities, contrary to manufacturers recommendations and good scientific practices, in asphalt-covered parking lots, and other heat sink areas in order to prove their (faulty) hypothesis. This is scientific dishonesty at its worst.
      It turns out that the solar system is in a cooling cycle due to decreased solar activity. There are two long-term solar cycles that reinforce themselves when in phase and cancel themselves out when out-of-phase. Look up the Maunder minimum. There are no SUVs on Mars or other planets, yet they are also experiencing the same solar variability.
      Environmentalism has been the method used to impose communist principles on western society, especially in the USA.
      Environmentalists are not content with promoting clean water, air and land, but are hell-bent on controlling human behavior, and yes, promoting extermination plans for much of humanity as these anointed types consider mankind to be a pestilence (except for themselves) to be reduced in population by any means necessary.
      Environmentalists HATE the God-given concept of private property and have imposed government-backed and enforced land use controls on private property owners without compensation, clearly an unconstitutional taking of private property. If environmentalists want to control land use, let them purchase it themselves, not by government force. Today the only method of negating government-imposed land use restrictions is shoot, shovel, and shut up.
      If environmentalists had their way, the earth’s human population would be reduced by approximately 90%, with the remainder to (be forced) to live in cities, in soviet-style high rise apartments, utilizing bicycles, buses and trains for transportation. The use of automobiles and access to pristine wilderness (rural) areas would be off-limits to us mere mortals, and would only be available for these anointed environmentalists.
      The endangered species act is another abuse of environmentalism. Species are always changing, to adapt to their environments-survival if the fittest. In fact, the hoopla over the spotted owl (that placed much northwest timber land off-limits to logging) turned out to be nothing but scientific misconduct and arrogance. There are virtually identical species in other parts of the northwest.
      More scientific malpractice occurred when government biologists attempted to plant lynx fur in certain areas to provide an excuse for making those areas off-limits for logging or development. Fortunately, these scientists were caught, however, no punishment was imposed.
      In a nutshell, today’s environmentalism IS communism like watermelon-green on the outside and red (communist) on the inside.
      It is interesting to note that communist and third-world countries have the WORST environmental conditions on the planet. Instead of the USA and other developed countries spending billions to get rid of that last half-percent of pollution, it would behoove the communist countries to improve their conditions first. Here is a question for you environmentalists: Why is there a push for restrictive environmental regulations, but only on the developed first-world countries, and not the gross polluters such as India and China?

        • China, India and Russia are three of the four worst greenhouse gas generators on the planet. They have signed the Paris Accord because it allows them to self-exempt from doing anything to reduce their emissions until 2030, at which time they will likely extend their self-exemptions another 12 years. The USA, had it signed and ratified the Paris Accord would be the sap left holding the bag and paying trillions of dollars of damages to “harmed nations”.

          The Paris Accord is a nothing more than a wealth redistribution scheme. Read it sometime, it’s about 24 pages of socialist-communist snowflake crapola.

      • Environmentalism/global warming/climate change is a religion. If you you don’t agree with them you’re a ‘denier’ ‘unbeliever’. You can’t debate it, because it’s “settled”. You can, tho, buy indulgences for your ‘sins’. It’s called Carbon Credits and you can go to terrapass.com and give them your money.

    • I’d rather be dead…… The megacity utopia is unobtainable without a way to totally control minds. Rats get along pretty well until they become over crowded and the food source diminishes.

      • Such a suicidal dickhead you are. You think that killin’ yourself will solve problems? And you think it’s all right for you to control others?

        If those are how you think, then go ahead and blow your damn brains out. And if you do, no one will miss you.

    • “All in all he is helping us prepare for our future.” I think you may be right. “Toxic Masculinity” is basically a metaphor for men’s self-empowerment. The core of radical feminist complaints is a seething resentment over the fact that women aren’t as powerful as men. Urban cosmopolites like the author have bought into this feminist critique/resentment/envy of self=empowered men (and women). It has produced a regressive political social dogma that refutes thousands of years of socio-biological evolution.

      The progressive administrative state envisioned as being our future cannot exist unless it creates and maintains the kind of learned helplessness you get with people who believe that calling 911 will cause the police to come and save them. This is why cosmopolites, feminists, and progressives argue that it is better to accept the occasional spree-killing in our schools instead of insuring that there are armed and trained teachers on hand who are prepared to fight back. Simply put, there is no room in their imagined utopia for the kind of men who showed up, put their boats in the water, and started saving people during the Houston flood.

    • If that’s true, then screw pacifism. As much as I hate machismo, I also hate pacifism. Like it or not, all people have the right to defend themselves. But that doesn’t give ’em the right to go around bullying the hehll out of others.

  21. #IDateDated

    Just kidding. Still in my mom’s basement. We celebrate my big 40th birthday tomorrow!

      • His mom is great.

        You should try it without the dentures. That sure is fun I tell you what.

        Wait you talking about the original post you replied to or the author’s mom who wrote the article on how not to be a man? I give em both a thumbs up! Thank God the sons can cook a good breakfast in the morning, their mom’s are too tuckered out!

        Only problem though is I’m tired of them complaining about how much of a b*tch their sons are.

    • What a weak-willed candy-ass you are for not being able to move out of your mom’s basement. If you ask me, bein’ a neckbeard won’t get your far in life.

      And if I’m one of your parent’s, I’d disown you like the turd.

  22. Those who beat their swords into ploughshares will plough for those who do not. Except in this case it’s going to take a long time and a lot of wasted swords before these guys manage to produce a workable ploughshare, and the whole thing is going to be hell on their manicures.

  23. I’m not mad. I see it as Social Darwinism. Those who do not have those “obsolete” skills at some point will be weeded out of the gene pool. Let nature take it’s course.

    • Social Darwinism has total bullshit and gone too far. Seriously, who the fuck are you to decide who’s weak and gets weeded out? You don’t own the world.

      Seriously, this is the 21st century and you still think as though we live in prehistory. That’s pretty fucked up.

      What’s also fucked up is your desire to impose your shitty beliefs on others. Well, doin’ that will get your ass handed to you.

  24. I…I admit to not being the best at car repair, nor do I know how to hunt all that well or skin a successful kill.

    However I am greatly interested in learning these things, the issue is a teacher and the fact that I am lucky to not ever rrally have car problems.

    Still, the desire is there.

  25. I can’t cook unless you like eating “food” that’s been turned into charcoal (ask my wife about the brownies I made. They were literally chocolate flavored concrete). I hate fishing because it aggravates my ADD. I’ve never been hunting, because everyone I know who could show me the ropes hunts from a blind (see previous sentence about fishing).

    But I can fix or build damn near anything if I have the tools to do so, and sometimes even without the proper tools. I can cut, split, and stack firewood all damn day (And run a chainsaw without chopping my foot off). I could probably take a crackhead in a fist fight. And I can even hit the broad side of a barn with a Hi-Point.

    The things that idiot listed as obsolete are what makes a man…well, a man. You can’t view those things as obsolete and still call yourself a man. You may be male genetically speaking, but a man you are not.

    • Be grateful you have the opportunity to do these things. Recently loosing my residence, a rented country shack, and now not having the opportunity to just” go outside and pick up a stick” makes one appreciative of what they had. My father had a bad habit of comparing people to how they should be , to what he was, and them having no feasible way to attain his standard. The likely hood of an inner city Chicago kid becoming a 2000 acre farm holder are slim. Just be glad for what you got-)

        • 25 years no neighbors, shoot hunt fish, dogs run loose, doors open in the summer with chickens in the kitchen pecking crumbs,now I’m living in a hotel waiting on paperwork clearance for a low rent. LoL… Thanx Tom, I’m pretty down

      • Wow possum! Sincerely sorry to hear of your turn of fortunes. That sounds like an incredibly difficult transition you are going through. I really hope things will turn around for you quickly. Or as the Great Cheeto would say, “I hope you win, bigly.”

      • Hang in there Possum, I’ll send up some prayers for you. You still doing better than the twit that wrote this article.

  26. Are these the same type as the PETA people who thought you could teach Tigers to eat grass? Or the young animals to do something other than sucking their mother’s milk?

  27. Call me bad names, soyboy. But I’m going to continue hunting. And fishing. I really like crabbing.

    Just bought my wife a new car. We both agreed before the shopping began. No hybrids.

  28. Haven’t really been into hunting for decades, though I was quite seriously for some years when I was young.

    Even so, if I’m out for a hike and I see a coyote or a rattlesnake, I kill it.

  31. a) This smells like click-bait.
    b) I applaud the twerp’s article, because
    c) it will result in many more women available for the men who ignore his advice.

  32. What do you want to bet that the woman has a concealed handgun to protect the both of them in case a hostile male with “obsolete skills” tries to harm them?

    I once knew a psychologist who maintained that aggression was learned behavior rather than an innate trait. Today, I would agree with her to the extent that aggressive people learn that it gets them what they want. It takes someone with “obsolete” fighting skills to teach them otherwise.

  34. DUMB ASS, COMMIE , is what my dad would say, me , I’d just say , DUMB ASS, COMMIE,,,! But don’t fall far from the tree,

  36. Yeah, fixing things at home is a pretty dumb skill to have. It’s not like fixing a water heater for $35.00 in parts will make you a hero to your wife and daughters or anything. Much better is to call someone and stand by watching as they fix or replace your water heater for the cool price of only 300 to 600 dollars. Nothing handy about being able to fix the washing machine for less a fifth of the cost of a new one. Your wife sure won’t appreciate it when you add remote start to her van so that she can head to work with an ice free windshield. This list is best thrown in the garbage.

  39. Hunting is an obsolete skill.

    Right up until the point where it isn’t, and that point can take you by surprise.

  40. Geez I don’t hunt or fish. Or plan to…but I’ve thrown guy’s over bars, lifted huge weights and protected my wife and kid’s. I can change a flat too. The SHTF group I peruse would have a few apt description’s of this girl-boy. It’s funny but my 44year old ex-military DOD employed son wrote a post in “The Art of Manliness”…he thinks I’m a gun nut. Won’t have a gun to protect my grandkids. No soy boy but leftarded beyond belief…sigh.
    .

  41. AskMen useless skills:

    Map reading and navigation. (dude! that is what a GPS is for!)

    Changing tyres on a car. (dude! haven’t you heard of roadside assistance?)

    Taking charge in an emergency situation. (dude! you MUST leave that the professionals.)

    My counterpoints. GPS can be jammed or does not work everywhere. I taught my son map reading and navigation via BattleField 1942 as the maps were so big. He now likes to practice navigation with a book street directory or Google Maps.

    I’ve changed 3 tyres in 30 years and 2 of them were not my car. But those people were very grateful I knew how.

    Emergency services can take time to get to a situation so if you are there take charge if no one else has and assist. I’ve helped in a number of situations and police thanked me for my work of directing traffic around an accident, as I knew the local roads better than they did.

  42. I’ll give up my toolbox when they pry it from my cold, dead hands!
    Meanwhile, ass-man can meditate while he’s cowering.

  43. Interesting that the author views hunting (and other things) as MAN skills. Women don’t hunt, then? They don’t learn how to fight or take self-defense? etc.?

  44. How curious people professing to “love animals ” are condeming those that not only “love animals and the environment ” but support them with their post-tax dollars ! “Hunting” is an exercise in appreciating nature . Time spent afield with boon companions – two and four legged – is not only a solace to the soul but an enrichment of the spirit ! Who can’t but help to smile and be happy with a dog’s successful point and their extatic joy at a successful retrieve ? Who can’t help but enjoy the sight of deer ghousting through cover ? Who can’t help but enjoy the antics of squirrels and birds foraging ? And – if fortune smiles their way – can’t help but feeling proud of making a clean killing shot resulting in meat on the table and tales for the fireside ? “Hunting ” is not killing ! Its submerging one’s self into nature’s larger plan where life and death are part of a cycle of renewal .

  45. A small sampling of disputes solved by fighting:
    * the Battle of Kadesh
    * the Battle of Lake Trasimene
    * the Siege of Alesia
    * the Battle of Actium
    * the Battle of Teutoburg Forrest
    * the Battle of Stamford Bridge
    * the Battle of Hastings
    * the Battle of Poitiers
    * the Battle of Crecy
    * the Battle of Sekigahara
    * the Battle of Blenheim
    * the Battle of Quebec
    * the Battle of Trenton
    * the Battle of Yorktown
    * the Battle of New Orleans

    …and we haven’t even gotten out of the flintlock era.

    Some people call these losers “cucks”, but even a cuckold has the basic equipment. They should be called instead eunuchs. Considering the martial role of Chinese eunuchs, we might be insulting the castrati..

      • Thanks CZJay. That video was shocking. Thanks for posting. I’ve heard this called “the new anorexia”. Kids who are going thru the normal ‘who am I’ in the pre-teen ages. They’re questioning their life. They want to belong to a group. It used to be girl/boy scouts, Indian guides, church youth group, 4-H. That’s why street gangs target young kids. They need to belong to a group. These parents should be charged with child abuse. I wonder if their children will sue them in 10 years for mental & physical abuse.

  48. Bwahahahaha… Good god in heaven… This article had to be a joke, right? Please tell me this pathetic soupy waste of “man” who wrote this is just, who knows… either joking for funsies, or compensating for being laughed at his entire sorry life.

    I nearly gave myself a hernia the reading the comments left by the “AskMen” readers… that was a truly wonderful, healthy and hearty laugh. My god, how ridiculous– 100 comments of people absolutely savaging the author. “Good luck getting raped by barbarians,” and “Donald Trump will grab you!” and so on, one after the other of just pure comedy gold….

    I guess I’d say to this sad twat… when the SHTF, me and a couple other men here from TTAG will handle it all, while you’re soiling yourself and crying, wishing you were back at home “decorating,” mmkay? Don’t worry your pretty little pea brain about it. …good lord, help us… that was hysterical

    • All is not lost. Largely due to some of my career choices, I have come into contact with quite a few millennials and the thing I am most often asked by them, particularly men, is if I will teach them how to do many of the things that were on this and similar lists. There are certainly a lot of young men who grew up in the cradle of suburbia who, as they are venturing out into life on their own, are discovering that they don’t know how to do much. Some of them, when they discover this, start looking for a teacher. Many of these young men cannot, unfortunately, look to their father because he doesn’t know how to do much either. I am seeing a resurgence of young people who really do want to learn how to build something, create something, become more self-sufficient. I hope it is a trend that continues.

      • + This. You’ve pretty much described my experience also. Knowing that it’s OK to ask for help/advice when you don’t know how to do something is an important first-step on the path to self-empowerment.

        • I agree that asking for help/instruction is key and, unfortunately, it is a skill that has been pushed aside over the last several decades but, happily, it seems to be making a comeback. It may seem to be trivial to some but I am encouraged by the number of young (or youngish, I’m getting to be a bit oldish) people who want to learn how to make things of wood and iron and stone, or grow things from the soil, that are expressing such interests. As I said, I hope this is a growing trend. While there are, to be sure, many wonders being brought about by our current technological age, there is and will always be value in knowing how to build, make, and grow things.

      • I just had a couple young guys from Cali ask if I’d teach ‘em to shoot a rifle. All is not lost. +1

  50. The anti hunting and anti fighting thing is not surprising in a culture that constantly complains about “toxic masculinity” so I am just going to ignore that BS.

    What gave me a good laugh is that they say men shouldn’t know how to fix things around the house. Who the hell wrote this? Knowing how to fix the things that you own is incredibly important. If your dishwasher starts dumping water on your floor and you don’t know how to turn off your water or how to clean out a pipe you face serious water damage as opposed to a 15 minute mop up job had you understood the things in your house.

    I feel bad for clicking the link and reading the article. Hopefully all my ad blockers ensured they didn’t generate any revenue from my click.

  53. 1. Hunting – Instead, Learn How to Cook for Yourself
    2. Fighting – Instead, Learn How to Mediate
    3. Repairing Your Car – Instead, Learn How to Code
    4. Fixing Things at Home – Instead, Learn How to Decorate
    5. Being a Leader – Instead, Learn How to Collaborate
    6. Being a Disciplinarian – Instead, Learn How to Communicate With Your Children
    7. Holding Your Emotions In – Instead, Learn How to Talk About Your Feelings

    Sounds like a list of item, Ian, the author of the article, can’t do. Further, it’s like a shopping list on how to be a beta male. Look at the alpha male traits:

    Courageous, assertive, stoic, being a leader, resourceful, self reliant. Exactly all the things he thinks are obsolete and need to be discarded.

    Look at his replacement items: learn to cook, learn to meditate, learn to code, decorate, collaborate, communicate with your children, don’t discipline them, be emotional, and talk about your feelings. Sweet mother of God, it’s exactly like a beta male living in mommy’s basement.

    1. Hunting – Instead, Learn How to Cook for Yourself
    Learn both! Why limit yourself at all? My wife does most of the cooking, because she likes to cook and then feed our children the food that she put her labor into, it’s a maternal thing.

    2. Fighting – Instead, Learn How to Mediate
    Learn both! Why would you purposely want yourself helpless to those who would seek to make you a victim? You mediate, until you get the part where the other party isn’t going to mediate. You avoid fighting, unless the other party can’t avoid fighting. Then you whoop ass in the most dominating fashion possible, with epic and competent force, preferably, if possible, in a fashion that doesn’t hurt your opponent, but subdues them. And we do it in this fashion, because life has value. How much force do you use to subdue them? The least amount necessary.

    3. Repairing Your Car – Instead, Learn How to Code
    Learn both! I have programmed in C, visual basic, microchip 16 and 18 series assembly, Motorola assembly, ANSI C, some C++, ladder logic, HDL and Verilog. And I’ve worked on my car! I’ve replaced axles, brakes, radiators, tires, plugged tires, power steering pumps, starters, batteries, pretty much anything and everything except for the engine and transmission because those are outside my level of competence. But the goal is to be capable and confident to do as much as you can, not less.

    4. Fixing Things at Home – Instead, Learn How to Decorate
    Do both! Granted, I don’t care for decorating. I don’t have a drive to decorate. I see things in the house in a more utilitarian light than artistically. But nothing wrong with doing both! My wife decorates because she likes it. So I leave it to her. She says, lets put this over there. Lets install this here. And the “home DIY fixing guy/handy man” gets to it. Women like a “can do” guy, not can’t dos. Welcome to traditional gender roles Ian!

    5. Being a Leader – Instead, Learn How to Collaborate
    Ian doesn’t seem like much of a leader. A leader leads and collaborates. To be a leader, you also have to be a collaborator. I see nothing wrong with pursing a leadership role, and I think Ian needs to re-adjust his perception on what a leadership role is.

    6. Being a Disciplinarian – Instead, Learn How to Communicate With Your Children
    Do both! Have disciplined kids that communicate with you. And you do that by disciplining them. Make your kids into creatures that pursues the individual ideal, and lead by example. And part of that is never letting your kids act or behave in a manner that makes you dislike them.

    7. Holding Your Emotions In – Instead, Learn How to Talk About Your Feelings
    The man is traditionally stoic, with his back straight, burdening the entirety of all suffering in his circle of responsibility that he draws around himself. Talk about our feelings when it benefits those in the circle, not when it benefits you. Be stoic and improve the lives of those in the circle and you can burden the silence of your own feelings.

    The good man is stoic, who does what needs doing without complaining. If “talking about your feelings” is about you and your whiny individual complaints, then you need more responsibility to silence your urge to express them.

  54. The west has declared war on men, heterosexuality, individualism, procreation, families, the list is huge, and it’s not just America.

    • Marx taught that the three parts of human civilization that needed to be destroyed in to be able to achieve Communism are:
      1. All religion and belief in God
      2. Private property (and all individual rights)
      3. The family unit. (Father , Mother and children in unit)

      Lenin, Alinsky and their followers and dupes, have been working hard to do that for many decades

  56. If you need to ask a website how to be a man, you ain’t one. Also, lol at getting a meal delivery service instead of hunting. They’re just shilling anyway.

  57. I’m sure that article would be good advice to his wife’s son. That column would be great to read with his extra-soy latte and a pack of Gillette razors.

  58. Everyone needs to stop hunting and receive all of their nutrients and thoughts through a large tube hooked directly into the brain stem, delivering copious amounts of liquefied macdonalds, panera bread, cnn, fox news and amazon, all provided by the IMF and world bank. Only then can we have world peace.

  59. Look, as a man my place is in the kitchen. Using equipment in a house that I maintain. Cooking the fresh game I took and brought back with my old shitbox of a car I’m constantly wrenching on. Better believe I’ll fight any asshole that tells me otherwise.

  60. Answer to OP Question,,, AskMen Says Men Should Ditch Obsolete Skills… Like Hunting.
    Go suck a D.
    Didn’t need to read it.

  63. A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

    -Robert A. Heinlein

  64. in the interests of full and truthful disclosure, “Ask Men” should change their name to “ask pajama boy”.

  65. I’m guessing this is wishful thinking on the author’s part. If the skills he can’t do aren’t necessary, and the ones he can do are required, he’s the new, ultimate alpha.

  68. Modern cars are pretty much rolling computers and you need to know some coding to be able to tune one. Even the dome light is computer controlled. However, it is still important to know at least basic automotive repair to not get ripped off at a shop.

  69. Can’t agree with Mr. Stobber in the least. Why can’t you be proficient at both auto repair and computer coding? Having a degree in computer engineering doesn’t hinder me from doing my own (basic) car repairs. Just because you’re a skilled hand-to-hand combatant you can’t be a gifted orator as well? I took TKD classes for years and still managed to do a bang up job on the Upward Bound debate team. Instead of diminishing your skillset why not add to it? I’d like to take a blacksmithing course to see if I’m as interested in it as I think I am. On the other side of the coin I love cobblers of all kinds but have never made one so learning to bake is on the to-do list as well. I’m about adding tools to the box. Not taking them out.

  70. What a bunch of macho bullshit. You really think that you can far in life by being an bastard to others? If so, you’re sadly mistaken.

    Honestly, being macho will only get your ass kicked lots of people ‘cuz it won’t earn your any friends. In other words, it’ll cause you to make many enemies.

    So if you want to be respected for who you are, then lay the hell off toxic masculinity ’cause that stuff’s really crap.

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