The Tragedy Of America's Disappearing Fathers

By Juan Williams - June 14th, 2008 - The Wall Street Journal

As we celebrate Father's Day tomorrow, we should reflect upon a sad fact: It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster-care homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them.

I am not alone in observing that being a man is under attack. It comes under a great range of subterfuges with one common goal. Denigrate our cultural history and the belief that courage, sacrifice, integrity and honor are attributes of the leaders of a great society. There have always been dead beat fathers. Today, our laws assume that all fathers are dead beats.

On cable all the heroes are now women. Feminism has successfully created the image that men are all stupid and mysoginist. With the expectation that all men are evil, women no longer love anyone but the bad guy. Decent men, honorable men, are considered a joke. Where is the John Wayne of the current generation? Today Evan Gahr describes our heroes as "angst-ridden and self-absorbed" comic book illusions. Such men are never going to be admired by their kids, or the women who don't marry them.

Women constantly criticize the man who leaves them with a child and will not support them. However these same women will not date a "nice guy". Only the "bad boy" who treats them as sexual objects ever gets their attention.

Tupac Shakur and Michael Vick are typical of today's male heroes to women, even as they are condemned. Being a real man is impossible in such a world. Who can men look up to? Who can boys look up to?

Our culture is imploding with each passing decade . . . and few seem to care.