What a stupid list

[pecunium]

Popular mechanics, referring to Glenn Reynolds (WTF?) has a list of things a "Man" should know how to do.

Such lists are always intereting, more because they reveal the social predjudices of the list maker, than they reveal much about those who take the test.

1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network

I can do all of those (and some of them, like 13, I can do a lot more besides, I can catch, clean, fillet, and cook the damn thing too. For 19, I can strip, tune, reassemble and dope it in too).

When they say unstuck, in 15, from what? Deep sand, mud, being parked in?

I notice that of the 25 6 relate to cars, and one (use a torque wrench) is; for most people, something which only comes up when working on cars.

And what is "male" about extending a network, hooking up a TV, or retouching a digital photo (not to mention... huh? A real man wouldn't need to retouch them :).

That's the interesting thing, actually. What makes any of these things which are essential to being, "A man,"?

The answer is... nothing.

Me, I hold to the theory that:

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.

There aren't any skills which belong to one gender over the other, and I can't really see any "set" like this to be telling, even if one were to make it "people".

Being able to communicate, check.

Being able to understand, check.

After that, yeah, it's nice to be able to change the head-gasket on my car, but if I didn't, I know where to go to find someone who can.

So maybe First Aid is one of those things which one can't afford to leave to other people.

But hell, one of the things which makes being human so different from (so far as we know) every other animal on the planet is that we can preserve the knowledge our predecessors collects, and refer to it, as needed.

We don't have to be remember every last thing we might need.

Comments

[michael-b-lee.livejournal.com]

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.

Heinlein's quote was the first thing that popped into my mind when I started reading this post. :)

I find, at 40, I'm still working on rounding out that list - but I'm getting closer.

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

"balance accounts"

Seems like a lot of people need to work on that one these days... Oh, and I like that quote better every time I see it. =)

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

Also, for someone who doesn't drive, I know how to do a sad number of the car-related items in that list.

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I can do 17 of the 25 things on the 'manly man' list. Cool.

[slave2tehtink.livejournal.com]

Can I substitute cleaning a semi-auto pistol for the bolt action rifle thing?

Otherwise, I'm doing pretty well on that list, liberated woman that I am. Although I have no idea how to rescue a capsized boater without a US Navy destroyer backing me up, if you want to get all technical about it. (What you do is, you call it on the 1MC and the SAR crew will go get them. See, easy!)

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Sure... it's as manly as any other firearm... probably harder too (more disarticulation required).

TK

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

The Heinlein quote was going around LJ as a meme a few years ago, and I ended up doing my own take on it here. My conclusion: in its own way, it's just as flawed as the one you're comparing it to.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

*points upwards* I did a rant on the same subject prompted by her post. It's equally skewed and useless in many parts. Diaper? Yeah, we all come into contact with babies. But pitch manure? How many people are around large animals these days? Or are around ships? I can't imagine that the folks who live in Arizona need to know how to conn a ship to live a decent life.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I agree, and not.

The difference is the wide variance in things, and the last line.

In short, the gist of the Heinlein quotation is, "people should be able to do anything; and they shouldn't let themselves be narrowcast".

For Pitch Manure substitute, "do dirty work."

Conn a ship is also navigate without known landmarks.

Yes, as a literal list, it's flawed.

But the PM list is about fulfilling some cultural stereotypes, "Guys do cars, tech and hunting/shooting."

Those stereotypes are harmful, where I don't see the same sort of rigidity in the other list.

TK

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Seriously, even fatally, flawed, I protest. I know of one person who's capable of hardly more physical action than than operation of the toggle-control of an electrified wheelchair and voice-synthesizer, but I have to consider him at least the equal, as a human being or as a man, of anyone I know who can perform all or most of the activities on both of those Lists.

But then, I'm the kind of person who couldn't decree "plan an invasion" without adding "and decide, correctly, whether to execute it or not".

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

As somebody with a form of "hidden disability" (a critical dependency on prescribed drugs), I have to agree that the specifics of the Heinlein list do assume an ideal of human ability.

Seeing it as a set of examples of sorts of task does work better, and no model works well at the extremes. I think your example is a poor reason to dismiss the lists. And not paying attention to the limits of a model is one of the attitudes that got the USA into such a mess.

I am, to be honest, finding it hard to imagine a simple model that would fairly handle both your friend and myself. But "specialisation is for insects" seems about right as a general standard.

(OK, yes; production lines. That does pay off, but it would be idiotic to assume that the worker can only do one thing.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'll agree that stereotypes are harmful... I had another point, but my brains have gone into 10:30 lockdown, so if it resurfaces in the morning, I'll get back to you.

[waterlilly.livejournal.com]

I also thought of the Heinlein quote, but I just got back from a Con where there was an excellent panel discussion on Heinlein to honor his 100th birthday being this year. I remember the first time I read that, I was 13, and I've been trying to be the kind of person who could do and/or learn those things (or that which is analogous to them in my own life) ever since. I took it as metaphor for "learn everything useful you can because nothing is too hard for you and nothing is beneath you."

I think most such lists could be reduced very simply to, "Can you learn what you need to do to survive any situation you find yourself in, or are you stuck on only knowing what you think you ought to know?" Specialization is for insects, and so is inflexibility.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I can't, really, program a computer. I know a little, and there are some languages (Fadal Machine Code) with which I am familiar enough to do minor things.

I could, I suppose, learn enough to do more than repair failures, but I don't need to.

Other than that, yeah... my copyediting instructor said the same thing my Library Science teacher did, it's not what you know, but what you know how to look up.

I have an extensive library.

[ketzl.livejournal.com]

1. patch a radiator hose

google "how to patch a radiator hose", read, filter information for consensus and quality, follow directions

2. protect your computer

google "how to protect your computer", read, filter information for consensus and quality, follow directions

3. -- etc

Communicate and understand, check!

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Although I admire Generalists, and would, myself, quite like to know everything about everything, and be able to do anything, I must confess that if I needed to have, say, a coronary artery repaired, I'd want it to be done by a specialist -- and I wouldn't consider her to be no more than an insect.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Glenn Reynolds fails at being a city dweller. Most people from non-urban areas do. Me, I can navigate most public transit systems throughout the world. I can find good, safe food in most cities throughout the world. I can avoid areas in which I'm likely to be a victim of a crime by instinct. I can find cheap/free net access. I can find paying work.

And so on. I have a city dweller skill set. People like Glenn Reynolds are nothing but tourists in real cities.

I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

I bet Mr Reynolds also thinks I ought to consider that a compliment.

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Appearence can be decieving. Then again you are Canadian, so the manliness is probably, in his mind, reduced.

Reynolds, actually, probably thinks it a detrimennt... I suspect he sees different speres for the sexes.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

*kicks him in the spheres*

*separately*

*but equally*

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Will you need your feet rubbed afterwards?

If it were a more manly man, I'd not ask, but the targets are small, and I suspect you will hit bone as well.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

There really isn't a lot of bone on that trajectory until you get to the spine.

And I'd be amazed if he had enough of that to give me any trouble.

So I'd like a celebratory, rather than consolatory, footrub after, please. I shall bring the champagne.

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Having been kicked there (and probably as hard as you intend to hit Reynolds) I can testify that the tailbone is there.

Since I expect people like him to react to the sort of emotion you'll be wielding by tucking their tails between their legs...

In either case, I like Vueve, and Tatt.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Technically, that's part of the spine...

*whistles* Damn, you're not cheap. but are yu easy?

OK, but I want coffee in bed. Kona or better.

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not as for the other...

Depends on how one defines easy.

In re coffee: How, pray tell, do you define better? I think I can take a pot's worth of the Blue Mountain out of the freezer, or I could roast some of the brazilian.

Otherwise: do you take cream? What sort of sweetener?

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

I am always open to discussions of definitional issues...

How, pray tell, do you define better?

I let you define it, and see what sort of mugful that gets me. Early indications seem promising...

Cream: yes, please! And proper sugar or nothing. Demerara or raw when I can lay hands on them.

But in truth it varies. I drink it double-double, barefoot, and every way in between, based on fluctuations in mood, quality of bean, and accompaniments.

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Ok, you bring the champagne, I'll make the brekkie. Real Cream and some sort of decent sweetener (honey, if you want it).

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Honey is good in tea. I find it Does Things to coffee.

And when did I so compromise myself as to mention breakfast, sirrah? I refer, or course, to the fine tradition of a demitasse at the end of a pleasant evening, and Madame Grundy will never prove otherwise.

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

OK, but I want coffee in bed. Kona or better.

That's where you made comments a gentleman would take to mean breakfast, and crepe-soled shoes, lest a guest be awakened in her room.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

*whistles innocently*

I meant "chaise longue". Clearly. The merest slip of the tongue, as the Bishop said to the dancing girl...

(Barefoot is quieter. And more convenient)

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I somehow mistdoubt your tongue slips.

Barefoot is far more common, even when I'm in the kitchen.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

I protest that I am slandered, sir, and demand satisfaction!

I am enjoined not to go barefoot until my foot heals, which irks me greatly.

And, talking of breakfast it is 4:30 am here, so I to my virtuous bed must go...

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

How then shall I satisfy you?

Coffee at 10:00 am?

It being well-nigh 0130 here, I should hie me to sleep as well.

I have work to do on the morrow.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

How then shall I satisfy you?

Oh ... use your initiative.

And so to bed. Having already provided a bedtime story, I send you off with a kiss. (and a frog, just because he is such a HANDSOME frog. Do you not admire my frog?)

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

He seems a trifle stiff; Prussian even. We'll have to teach him to unwind a little.

But he is a handsome frog.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

("strong enough to trot a mouse" is, however, generally desireable. I used to make espresso and put lots of cream and sugar in a mugful of it, and while this sounds as if it ought to be vile beyond belief in fact it is utter bliss.)

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Right...

I'll just creep out of bed about an hour before I expect to make you concious, and pulverise some beans, break out the briki and make some greek/arabic/turkish.

Maybe I'll manage to get Brust to tell me how to make klavah.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yum!

The secret to the espresso thing is that the espresso must be EXTREMELY freshly made, and of very good beans. Cinnamon is good in it, too, though it clogs the filter on the moka something fierce...

Re: I appear to be a man...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I don't possess a press, ergo you get something which isn't espresso.

But that's ok, because I know lots of ways to make drinkable coffee products without one.

TK

Re: I appear to be a man...

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Well, that's you taken care of on my Christmas list ... I need a coffee icon, I really do.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder how many of those things are as pointless (and apparently-clueless) as #2 "Protect your computer". That sounds as though Mr. Reynolds really needs to consult with /a/ /s/p/e/c/i/a/l/i/s/t/ an expert, such as Mpls fan Bruce Schneier. (There is no such thing as security. There is, at best, only less insecurity. All else is mere Theater.)

And #25 "Extend your wireless network". (Real men use real wires.)

[Post scriptum: No problem with lj's Preview function on this, except that it caught three typos.]