The outpost of lunacy known as the post-American university

There is a campaign afoot at Duke University to ban the phrase "Man Up."    Three of the posters created as part of the campaign say, "I don't say 'Man up' because I don't believe in gender norms," "I don't say 'Man up' because strength is not defined by sex or gender," and "I don't say 'Man up' because being tough doesn't make me any less of a woman."

Did you catch the part about "sex or gender?"  This is part of the Great Leveling Project, in which the kind of genitalia you have between your legs has nothing to do with your identity, the character traits you ought to have by virtue of the balance of hormones coursing through your bloodstream.

There is a certain way of assuming responsibility, of leading, of acting in fealty to principle, that is indeed distinctly male, and everyone knows it.  It is different from the female way of exhibiting those behaviors.  A man can back up what he is standing for with his greater physical strength, and that, even if perpetually held in reserve, is the trump card that puts the seriousness in his assertion.  He also knows that, ultimately, whether he may have to eschew comfort and even safety, he must do what is before him.

And a real man holds his power in proper regard.  His virtue is sufficiently developed to restrain him from using it exploitatively.  It is to be used only for that which is right.  The aim is to secure desirable conditions for those he cares about, as it is for a woman, but in his case, it may require a sacrifice of those desirable conditions for himself.

There's glory in this, and that's what the Left hates.  If male power can assure the sovereignty of an individual or a family, the state's power is less than total.  That's what is at the core of a garbage initiative like the Duke campaign.