Interesting perspective but I'm left wondering why so many men burn it up - affairs, abandonment, addictions, etc. It is the woman who is left to tend to the wreckage. Sometimes it might have been preferable for the man to have chosen celibacy rather than selfishness.
I've heard it told, and seen, that in India once a devout (hindu) man has done his family duties (marry, children, providing) he will then leave to live the pilgrim life. Sounds like the middle ground!
Appreciate your thoughtful post, and this thoughtful reply by you. My thought is that Walter White uses TV 'bumper sticker' philosophy to inform his own path, i.e. "a man provides" which is something Tony Soprano says. Both Tony Soprano and Walter White are sociopaths. The 'family' is their excuse for lives of quiet desperation, but they (and the wider world) would have been safer and unharmed if they didn't lean into their sociopathy. The 'second half' of Breaking Bad, by which I mean Better Call Saul, is the flip side of sociopathy. Walter White is 'nurture' while Saul/Jimmy McGill is 'nature'. Both funny and charming, but the world is better off with White dead, and McGill in Supermax.
Interesting perspective but I'm left wondering why so many men burn it up - affairs, abandonment, addictions, etc. It is the woman who is left to tend to the wreckage. Sometimes it might have been preferable for the man to have chosen celibacy rather than selfishness.
Do you think there some who are able to bridge this binary and live in the middle ?
Able to have a family but also continue to take high amounts of risk. Musk comes to mind but also many other founder types.
I've heard it told, and seen, that in India once a devout (hindu) man has done his family duties (marry, children, providing) he will then leave to live the pilgrim life. Sounds like the middle ground!
Yes but it's tough.... not sure how to think about Musk. How good a dad is he? Does it matter? Does quantity have a quality of its own with kids?
Appreciate your thoughtful post, and this thoughtful reply by you. My thought is that Walter White uses TV 'bumper sticker' philosophy to inform his own path, i.e. "a man provides" which is something Tony Soprano says. Both Tony Soprano and Walter White are sociopaths. The 'family' is their excuse for lives of quiet desperation, but they (and the wider world) would have been safer and unharmed if they didn't lean into their sociopathy. The 'second half' of Breaking Bad, by which I mean Better Call Saul, is the flip side of sociopathy. Walter White is 'nurture' while Saul/Jimmy McGill is 'nature'. Both funny and charming, but the world is better off with White dead, and McGill in Supermax.
Great stuff as usual
thanks!
It's different for cats. Maybe because cats don't really do romantic love or pair-bonding the way humans do.
Nice. I'd be interested to hear your take on the Lonesome Dove books.