Credit to Tony Dungy for Speaking Truth About Fatherhood

CLAY: Buck, one of the things that is probably the most frustrating about the power of social media is when there is an effort made to disallow things that everybody knows to be true, right? And you’re not allowed to say them somehow.

And Tony Dungy, former coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as the Indianapolis Colts, he was with Ron DeSantis at a press conference. We played that press conference audio I think yesterday about $70 million being given to help forward fatherhood initiatives, and Tony Dungy spoke about the importance of fathers and how so many kids who were in prison did not have strong father figures at home.

And he said — he tweeted out this morning,

And, Buck, what he cited here was the statistics are — and this is from Obama, which is basically what Tony Dungy reiterated, is that kids who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of schools, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.

We have a crisis in many families around the country when it comes to fathers’ relationships with their kids and responsibilities. And Tony Dungy, credit to him, credit to Ron DeSantis for being willing to say that, because it is one of the primary causes of so much of the crime that exists in this country.

BUCK: You know, the left takes an approach that almost tries to replace the father with the state or maybe you could say the state as father. The state sends checks.

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: You know, steps in and says that they’re going to provide for you, they’re going to do things for you. But there is no replacing a father, right, there is no replacement for one’s father that can exist. And all of the data, all of the actual research you can compile on this shows that it’s very damaging to children of any race, of any religion, anywhere to be abandoned by a father at the earliest stages.

And anything we can do as a society to try to encourage — I mean, it’s from all over the place, right? I mean, Ron DeSantis is trying it with government policy but also culturally. You know, there should be a real celebration of being a dad.

You know, there should be much more effort to say — I mean, you are a dad. I’m not. But I know what it’s like out there for people who have grown up without fathers. I know what it’s like for people whose fathers left when they were very, very young. They have challenges for the rest of their lives. A lot of people overcome it and deal with it, and we’ve all got our issues and our hurdles. But dads who stay around, I mean, that’s — who was — I think someone very wisely said first rule of being a good dad is stay. Be there.

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: It’s true.

CLAY: It’s a hundred percent true. And I’ve got three boys. And, Buck, what the data reflects is that boys are far more impacted in a negative way by absent fathers than girls are, which is kind of a fascinating study. And it’s not even close. Young girls who grow up in single-parent households do infinitely better than young boys who grow up in single-parent households. And, by the way, there are people out there listening to us right now that are raising their kids in single-parent households. Good for you.

I know how challenging that is because I’ve got three kids and my wife and I can’t imagine being a single parent and how challenging it was. And it doesn’t mean that your kids are not gonna grow up and be successful. The larger statistical numbers those are true. And we don’t talk enough, I don’t believe, as a society about the struggles that boys are having, right, with absent fathers, but also schooling.

Go look at any elementary school — they got a lot of teachers, got a lot of moms and dads out there. Girls are dominating, when it comes to educational levels over boys. The percentages of people who are graduating from college now, Buck, it’s right around 60% of all college graduates are women. Dissents get talked about a lot. Men are not having the same level of success in modern education environments as women are. Why is that? What’s going on?

BUCK: There’s a war on manhood that the left is — remember, there’s a war on gender, of course, the separation of genders, the distinction between men and women that we all know exist, we’re all very aware. All of human civilization, all of historical has known about this. Biology proves it as a reality.

But there’s a war on gender that’s going on. There’s also a war on manhood and masculinity which is waged by the left. They talk constantly about toxic masculinity. What’s always fascinating is if you ask a leftist — and I’ve, unfortunately, been on a few dates with leftists in recent enough years, not recently, but in recent years, where this occasionally will start to veer into the conversation. And masculinity that is defined as describing yourself as a male feminist who announces his pronouns and cries a lot and, you know, is a huge proponent of soy milk — yeah, I said it, libs. I said it. Come after me on the soy milk.

That’s actually not constructive for society. Masculinity that’s focused on honor, keeping one’s word, keeping one’s obligations, prioritizing one’s family, treating women a certain way, treating one’s — you know, creating a family, being a good husband, being a good father, those are all ideals that almost people suggest, Clay, that it’s not only old-fashioned, that it’s out of date, out of touch. That’s what the left says.

And there is a movement against this. Jordan Peterson is an international phenomenon because he talks to people about what does it mean to be in an actual relationship and be a good person, and what does it mean to be a dad.

CLAY: He talks to boys who are lost. I mean, I think that’s a lot, and young men who are lost. And I think there’s a huge number of those people out there. And, Buck, I’ll just point this out. You were talking about toxic masculinity. Have you ever heard the phrase toxic femininity? Because we get so used to using the phrases that are become popular, and there a lot of people out there who have bought into the idea that toxic masculinity is a huge thing. But there’s never the flip side, right? Like, there’s no suggestion that femininity can be in some way toxic. It doesn’t even exist. It’s an attack on men.

BUCK: I mean, toxic femininity usually displays itself with somebody who has blue hair, a nose ring, looks to be perhaps in need of some basic grooming and — meaning, you know, brushing up one’s hair and stuff — and hates men. That’s what toxic feminity looks like.

CLAY: Could also be The View. If you were having to summarize in media toxic feminity, you might say it’s the ladies on The View.