>>>>>>>Why IS it ok for men to tell women to 'Smile' all the time, yet rarely tell other men that? Is every man out there somehow the arbiter of women's attitudes?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>FWIW, we also need to stop telling our sons that "big boys don't cry." Same problem, actually.
>>>>>
>>>>>I think you're stuck in a bit of a time-warp. "Big boys" are crying all over the place.
>>>>>
>>>>>Athletes, soldiers, politicians, news anchors, Darth Vader...
>>>>>
>>>>>This society has been telling little boys that it's ok to cry for a couple decades and we're seeing the results. Grown men are publicly blubbering like babies.
>>>>>http://www.askmen.com/top_10/dating/top-10-shameless-male-crying-displays.html
>>>>
>>>>Smells like a blunt right wing statment, usually made by men they think the're (or want to be) a rolemodel of a 'real men'.
>>>
>>>Sounds like someone who cannot separate their politics from life. ;)
>>>
>>>>I doubt men are crying more than a couple of decades ago, but rather that society has changed in the way we'd like to record videos of everything.
>>>
>>>The proof IS the video. Public figures engage in and reflect what's acceptable to society.
>>
>>A single video is the proof of your claim?? Very strange definition of the word proof if you ask me.
>>
>>>When the Speaker of the House freely cryo in public and on camera, we have clearly experienced a sea change in acceptability.
>>
>>You inferred that we are growing crying men by telling then its ok to cry when they were a little boy.
>>I've seen sportsmen crying on TV 30 years ago when they won or lost a race or game. I've seen men being overwhelmed by their emotions now and in the past.
>>And how come there are examples of politicians that now are 70 years old being an example of crying in public. Are you saying that they have been told that to cry is OK more than 2 generations years ago?
>>
>>Society has changed alright... it would be bad if it didn't, but to say that we are growing crying men, is IMO typical for right wings self righteous nonsense.
>
>Your inability to engage in a simple discussion without name-calling and finger-pointing is yet another unfortunate sea change in society.

I did not call you anything, that is your interpretation. I strongly disagree with the statement, provided arguments, and expressed my opinion (!!) that these type of claims come from men that claim to be tougher than they really are. And yes, this attitude (IMO) is much more prevalent in conservative society. Not because men are tougher, but because their environment expects them to be.

So indeed I cannot seperate this issue from politics because they are directly connected, as you really indirectly have indicated yourself. Your assesments is that this is opposing the "Conservative" man. I cannot discouple "Conservatism" from the political movement, because they really share the same ideology: Opposing progression in a broad sense and holding onto traditional values, in which the mantra "Big boys don't cry".

This has nothing to do with telling little boys that it is ok to cry. If has everything to do with the development of society and personal freedom. How else could 70 years polticians (yeah even republicans) turn into blubbering babies?