I don’t often read something I then recommend to you as a “must read.” This morning I ran across one such, courtesy of RealClearPolicy which provided the link. It is entitled “For the Roofers” and appears in Claremont Institute’s publication The American Mind.
Author Alexander Riley is a sociology prof who appreciates skilled trades work and workers. He writes well in service of making a point about how civilization relies on tough, smart men cheerfully doing hard, sometimes dangerous physical work. Of tradesmen he writes:
The culture we currently live in has turned a good deal of its attention to attacking and denigrating such men, disparaging their character and the work they do, insulting them as a class and accusing them of the vilest crimes, insinuating that they are capable of nothing that could not be done better by women.
Many of the people doing this denigrating and suggesting that perhaps we would be better off without such men have not spent a moment reflecting on what impossible burdens that would create for the critics.
Feminism seeks the extinction of that kind of man. And preserving him will require opposition to feminism. It really is that simple.
The DrsC have had built three new homes and a large steel barn. We enjoyed watching the process and knowing the carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers, masons and other tradespeople who did this complicated, difficult, and sometimes dangerous work on our behalf. As I recollect, only one of the workers was a woman, the wife of the electrician on our last build, she worked alongside him, pulling wire and installing.
The hands-on contractor who built our last two homes later was framing someone else’s roof, fell, hurt his back, and was disabled thereafter. Risks like this were taken on literally every house you see, and we often take for granted those who face them on our behalf.
The DrsC have been proud to call an electrician and a plumber friends. One of our regrets leaving CA was leaving behind our plumber, electrician, gardener and weed and pest guy, all of whom had repeatedly done work for us over the years.
