The Mighty Man of Sixteen Tons
In the nineteen-fifties, Tennessee Ernie Ford sang a song called
Sixteen
Tons that perfectly captures a certain kind of masculine ideal. The
song’s protagonist is a mighty man with a grievance. He is stronger and tougher
than anyone can imagine, but he is trapped in a system that exploits him. The
song says,
If you see me comin’, better step aside.
A lota men didn’t and a lotta men died.
One fist of iron the other of steel,
If the right one don't get you, then the left one will.
This man can load sixteen tons of coal in a day, an
unheard-of amount, but the system does not reward his strength, which gets him
nowhere. He knows that he is trapped. He says,
You load sixteen tons, and what do you
get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter don’t you call me ‘cause I
cain’t go.
I owe my soul to the company sto'.
He is proud of his strength. In fact, he embodies a
certain ideal of manhood. He is strong and independent. He stands on his own
two feet with no help from anyone. He is feared by those around him, but at the same time, he is
trapped in a system that exploits him. He understands that. He knows there
is nothing he can do about it, but he stands tall.
The Price of Being a Such a Man
A man can build a life in this way, but it exacts a price.
Such a man must continually validate his status as the toughest of the tough
and the strongest of the strong. He has to get into fights that have no purpose
except to maintain his honor and his reputation as a man who is stronger and tougher than anyone around him. He can
never back down from a challenge.
He Should Never be a Leader
This kind of man should never be a leader. He must
be either a loner whose decisions affect only himself or a subordinate who uses
his talents in the service of a “boss” who keeps him from getting himself or
his organization in trouble. We see a memorable portrayal of a mighty man as a subordinate in the film, The Irishman
where Robert de Niro plays a mob hit man.
Such a man should not be a leader because he cannot be
counted on to make decisions for the benefit of his followers. He is always focused on his need to maintain his honor, and he is likely to
lead his followers into conflicts in which they have no stake and in which they suffer
and sometimes die for no reason except to maintain the honor of their leader.
Trump and Hegseth Portray Themselves as Men of This Kind
Trump and Hegseth portray themselves as such men. They stand tall and thumb their noses at “the system” and “the elite.” That pose is one of the sources of Trump’s power. Millions of Americans admire that kind of manliness, and they say, “Right on!”
Unfortunately, however, Trump and Hegseth are led by their pose to approach international conflict in a dangerous way. They see an international conflict in the way that the hero of Sixteen Tons would see a bar fight: it provides them with an opportunity to uphold their manhood and their reputations. To Trump and Hegseth, war is not - as Clausewitz famously said - "policy carried on by other means." War, in their view, is a way for them to demonstrate their strength and their valor and to uphold their honor. In their eyes, they become heroes like Roland at Roncevaux, where he and all his men died in a battle against the Saracens - a battle that served no purpose other than to demonstrate Roland's knightly honor.
Now we find ourselves in a war with no national purpose in Iran. People are being killed, and American treasure is being wasted to demonstrate Trump and Hegseth’s manhood. They get to show unbending resolve, and they are able to make awful, theatrical threats to destroy Iran completely. They parade their “warrior ethos” before the world, while we pay the price for having such men as leaders. Let us hope that the price does not include a third world war.
