In March 2016, Wes Bellamy, Vice Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, called for city counsel to rename Lee Park and remove a statue of Confederate general Robert Edward Lee, the park’s namesake, from the property. In addition to representing the Confederacy, Lee was a known slave owner and, while he often (ironically) spoke out against the evils of slavery, was open and honest about how he felt Blacks were a subordinate race.

Just a year earlier, Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist opened fire inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in a race-fueled attack that ultimately claimed the lives of nine innocent people. Roof’s racist rhetoric and usage of the Confederate battle flag sparked a nationwide push to reconsider how this imagery is used and an urging to remove monuments and memorials built to honor the Confederacy.

By February 2017, the Charlottesville City Council voted 3-2 to remove the statue of Lee and voted unanimously to rename the park. This didn’t sit well with America’s white supremacist organizations and many protests broke out including the infamously embarrassing Unite the Right rally. During this time, I was asked (by a conservative) what was the point of all the monument removing, followed by the regurgitated talking point of “you can’t just erase history.”

I explained that it’s true, you can’t just erase history. What happened did happen and we can never change that. But in choosing to leave confederate monuments where they are, we are communicating to our local communities, to ourselves and to the whole world that we value and honor what they represent. Statues aren’t built to teach, they’re built to honor. By their logic, a Christian church could erect a statue of Lucifer in their main quarters because they believe he was a historical figure, right? But if a Christian ever went to a church that spent the time, money and effort to display a statue of the fallen angel enemy of god, you’d have serious questions about that church’s morals, no?

I didn’t receive any more questions.

The removal of images, icons and monuments for religious, social or political reasons is referred to as iconoclasm and those who partake in the destruction or removal of these relics are known as iconoclasts. Iconoclasm can take many forms that are religiously motivated, wartime-caused, vengeance-based or expressions of creativity.

Regardless of the example, Iconoclasm is, to paraphrase one dictionary definition, the act of attacking or seeking to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions. One popular institution that is prevalent these days that I don’t care for is the philosophy of the “alpha male.” We’re entering an era where our government leaders and social trendsetters are championing a masculinity that was built and honored in the days of yore but is no longer compatible with modern society. Clinging onto antiquated gender roles and irrelevant ideals of stoic masculinity and vehement anti-feminism, I view these macho chest-pounders as weak and insecure males who lack the capacity to understand basic evolutionary principles.

And I feel so strongly about it, I’ve started a Substack appropriately named Iconoclast.

On this platform, I intend to call out what I deem abhorrent examples of masculinity and dig into what it means to be masculine in the modern age. I spent many years of my life feeling as though a large piece of my manhood was somehow missing because I didn’t align with the classic examples. I finally learned that I have no missing pieces, I’m just not a part of this very flawed puzzle and I want to talk about it.

I also want to tear down problematic monuments to masculinity; for if we continue to let these outdated beacons of thought continue to stand, we are, to an extent, agreeing with the ideals for which they represent. I’m not okay with that and neither should you be.

If you subscribe to this blog, thank you. I love you for doing so and appreciate you immensely. This space will remain open, of course, as I continue cooking food and running many miles, but if you think you might be into this other type of content, I’d love it if you’d subscribe over on Substack. It’s free. You’ll dig it.

Hopefully see you there.

-JTF