Make Men Masculine Again - Behind the Scenes at PragerU

- AGENT: So you have a pitch for me?

- WRITER: Yes sir I do, so we’re gonna do a video about how men need to be more manly! But get this, it’s gonna feature… a woman!

- AGENT: Oh my god! That’s brilliant! Because if a woman says that men shouldn’t be like women…

- WRITER: it’s gotta be true! Yeah yeah yeah...

- AGENT: So who did you want to cast?

- WRITER: Allie Stuckey

- AGENT: And what’s her deal?

- WRITER: Well she’s a white woman

- AGENT: Ooo white women are tight! Also we need to save the blacks for our race episodes!

- WRITER: Ooh probably shouldn’t say that…

- AGENT: No no, it’s cool, one of them has the last name black… I think

- WRITER: Oook… so Allie is the Host of the Relatable podcast.

- AGENT: What relatable podcast?

- WRITER: No no no the podcast is named Relatable

- AGENT: Oh… Is she relatable?

- WRITER: Not really

- AGENT: Oh really?

- WRITER: Well she can’t do air quotes… But she scores high on the “people who fantasize about Sarah Palin” demographic

- AGENT: Is that an important demographic?

- WRITER: Sure?

- AGENT: Fair enough! So how do we start this instructional video?

- WRITER: Well I was thinking we begin with Allie smirking about [CLIP] "rape, murder, and war"

- AGENT: Wait… what? [jaw and pen drop]

- WRITER: Yeah yeah yeah it really catches the audience off-guard!

- AGENT: Ok… not how I would personally start things, but if you only say it once then…

- WRITER: Oh no, she’s gonna say it at the end too.

- AGENT: Oh really?

- WRITER: Yeah yeah yeah because you know how stories have a beginning middle and end?

- AGENT: Uh huh...

- WRITER: Well if you start AND end a story with the same quote, it SEEMS like you’ve proven something, regardless of what you say in the middle!

- AGENT: Oh really?

- WRITER: Yeah yeah yeah. It’s writers trick, get off my back!

- AGENT: Fair enough! So what happens next?

- WRITER: Well Allie is gonna make a bunch of sweeping generalizations about masculinity, based on absolutely no research, but it’s cool because about half way in we’re gonna throw out a BUNCH of statistics…

- AGENT: Oh good, we have to make sure we back up our…

- WRITER: That in no way backs up our overall argument.

- AGENT: Oh really?

- WRITER: Nah we’re mostly just gonna use statistics from Fathers.com and talk about how too many people don’t have Dads… 

- AGENT: Well I’m not sure how that proves your point but…

- WRITER: You didn’t let me finish!

- AGENT: O…k

- WRITER: We’re gonna talk about how too many kids don’t have dad’s, and then we’re gonna show a quote from OBAMA talking about how too many kids don’t have Dads… [CLIP]

- AGENT: That’s brilliant! That way, it seems like we’re making a balanced/moderate argument…

- WRITER: Exactly! And then we’re gonna say kids can’t play dodgeball anymore. [CLIP]

- AGENT: Wait, kids can’t play dodgeball anymore?

- WRITER: I’m sure its been banned at least once, so technically it’s not lying.

- AGENT: Fair enough! 

- WRITER: Also we’re gonna say that kids are being told NOT to try when competing. [CLIP]

- AGENT: Have you ever been to a high school football game… ever?

- WRITER: Nope

- AGENT: Fair enough!

- WRITER: So then we’re gonna say that, [CLIP] “The solution to toxic masculinity isn’t less masculinity, it’s better masculinity. And we already know what that looks like!"

- AGENT: Wow, powerful stuff! But will it be hard to find the perfect example of healthy masculinity?

- WRITER: Actually super easy, barely an inconvenience!

- AGENT: Oh really?

- WRITER: yeah yeah yeah, because there’s obviously no better role model than President Donald J. Trump, right?

- AGENT: Well obviously I know that, but I think we should maybe go with a less controversial rich white man…

- WRITER: Dennis Prager?

- AGENT: Too desperate

- WRITER: Glenn Beck?

- AGENT: Too whiney

- WRITER: Roger Ailes?

- AGENT: Too rapey

- WRITER: Chuck Norris

- AGENT: Too much sex appeal

- WRITER: Ted Cruz

- AGENT: Zero sex appeal

- WRITER: The Koch Brothers

- AGENT: I hate twins

- WRITER: Wait, what?

- AGENT: Actually, what if we just give a bunch of super vague examples of masculinity and not name ANYONE at all?

- WRITER: Or what about Obama…?

- AGENT: Should should should the first black president, with infinite charisma, NO scandals, and happily married to an incredible woman? I MEAN COME ON!

- WRITER: There was fist bump gate…

- AGENT: Oh yeah, that was scary!

- WRITER: Also I liked your earlier idea of doing less work.

- AGENT: Oh good, so what’s next?

- WRITER: Well then we’re gonna say that, [CLIP] “The problem isn’t that men are TOO masculine, it’s that they aren’t masculine enough!"

- AGENT: But didn't you JUST say that the solution was BETTER masculinity?

- WRITER: Umm… maybe?

- AGENT: But now you’re saying the solution is MORE masculinity?

- WRITER: Get off my back please!

- AGENT: Fair enough 3A

- WRITER: So then Allie tells a secret that EVERY woman knows…

- AGENT: But how can it be a secret if EVERY woman knows? That’s like 50% of the population.

- WRITER: Maybe you’d have a different point of view if you weren’t so high up on my back? (Angrily)

- AGENT: …okay (scared)

- WRITER: so the secret is that [CLIP] “Women want real men”

- AGENT: Wait, THAT’S the secret?

- WRITER: Yeah yeah yeah, but she’s gonna say it… profoundly

- AGENT: Oh really? And that works?

- WRITER: Of course, how do you think I got this writing job?

- AGENT: Fair enough! 4A

- WRITER: Then we’re gonna say that, [CLIP] “Women want strong, responsible men”

- AGENT: Aren’t you just repeating what you said earlier about women wanting real men?

- WRITER: ...Writing is hard!

- AGENT: Writing is hard!

- WRITER: So then we’re going to say that [CLIP] "passive men don’t do the things we have always needed men to do for society to thrive”.

- AGENT: …

- WRITER: I can’t tell if you’re angry or hungry

- AGENT: Whoopsie forgot where I worked at for a moment.

- WRITER: Whoopsie! So we good?

- AGENT: Yep, definitely (quotes/hands out like Allie) nothing wrong with saying we need MEN to do manly things for society to thrive.

- WRITER: Coolsies, so next we’re gonna show a quote by CS Lewis out of context!

- AGENT: Oooh out of context CS Lewis quotes are TIGHT!

- WRITER: Yeah yeah yeah and we’re gonna call him an “English social philosopher”

- AGENT: But that would mean he’s an expert of “English social philosophy”

- WRITER: Exactly

- AGENT: But he isn’t

- WRITER: Exactly…? Small details don’t matter!

- AGENT: Fair enough!

- WRITER: So CS Lewis says that, [CLIP] “By his intellect man is mere spirit, and by his appetite mere animal”.

- AGENT: Go on...

- WRITER: That’s it

- AGENT: Oh really?

- WRITER: yeah well, the point is, we need both parts of to protect us from, [CLIP] "rape, murder, and war."

- AGENT: Oh that’s so clever! You erroneously connected the CS Lewis quote to your introduction! 

- WRITER: Yeah yeah yeah, so what do you think?

- AGENT: Oh that’s the end?

- WRITER: Well we try to keep our videos short to keep any expectations of actually saying anything worthwhile to a minimum.

- AGENT: Cool trick! Well you definitely didn’t come close to proving your central thesis, whatever that may have been. I’m not sure why you think attributes like responsibility or hard work are in ANY way masculine traits. Also you say that we should have more — not less — masculinity, but you never actually DEFINE what masculinity is, nor explain anything beyond feminism is bad, masculinity is good, and too many dad’s are fatherless. Personally, I’d call this garbage at best and evil propaganda at worst.

- WRITER: Ok…

- AGENT: but this is Prager, a University LITERALLY by name only, so I doubt it matters. It’s not like people would actually watch this crap or take Prager University seriously….

Please check out my video above, subscribe to my channel, and let me know what YOU think in the comments below...

I’m Leo Ashe, stay angry my friends! #AlwaysAngry #PragerPropaganda #PragerU

FULL CITATIONS: https://www.leoashe.com/pitch