In defense of that Gillette commercial you all hate

I’m a few days late on this because it sounded like the sort of thing I’d probably pass on writing about.

Another corporation decides to establish its progressive bona fides with a social-messaging spot that’s designed to do little more than genuflect to the social justice warriors and send them to go after someone else with their boycotts and protests?

Yawn. I don’t have much to add to the conversation about that. I’d heard all the chatter about how Gillette was basically condemning masculinity, and I could muster little more than an eyeroll in response. Certainly not a whole column.

Then I decided when I had a minute to actually watch the spot, and I realized this was not what I was expecting.

Here’s the 90-second spot:

TRENDING: Democrats Revolt Against Progressive Biden Bill, President Forced to Personally Intervene

This is not what it’s being made out to be. It is not a blanket condemnation of men as sexist brutes. It is not a broad indictment against masculinity. It is not about putting us in dresses, scoffing at our role as breadwinners or attacking either strength or toughness.

If I could sum up the basic theme of the spot, it’s: “Men, don’t be jerks.”

That is not the same thing as claiming that men by and large are jerks. It is simply an acknowledgement that there is a strain of meanness within the community of men at large that’s awful, and does a lot of harm to a lot of people.

Thematically, it’s pretty much the same as this column I wrote in October 2017 as the Harvey Weinstein thing was exploding. It’s about treating others with respect and decency. It’s about declining to make excuses for those who do not. It’s about having the courage to consistently stand for what’s right regardless of your surrounding environment.

And it’s not only about the way men treat women. It’s about the way boys are taught to treat others. Not gonna lie: The scene where the young boy sinks into his mother’s arms and cries got to me. How could it not? Did nothing like that ever happen to you? Then I’m glad for you. But I bet you know someone it did happen to, whether they’ve told you about it or not. I bet you know a child it’s happening to right now. Maybe it’s even your son, but he doesn’t want to tell you because he’s afraid you’ll judge him as weak.

For the life of me, I don’t understand how anyone could view this as an attack on strength, toughness or masculinity. It is nothing of the sort, unless you have a very warped view of what these things mean.

Good men make themselves strong so they can take care of their families and those who need help. Good men build up toughness so they can persevere through difficult challenges. Good men are bold and decisive so they can achieve worthwhile objectives that benefit those around them.

Good men command respect – they don’t demand it – because of the examples they set and their faithfulness to keep their promises and do what’s right.

RELATED: Watch Joe Biden Refer to Doug Emhoff as 'Kamala's Wife'

I realize that many people associated the #MeToo thing with left-wing politics, which is mainly because it’s the political left that’s tried to co-opt it to its own advantage. But if you strip the politics out of it, what you’re left with is simply this: Don’t mistreat people. Don’t hurt people. Don’t use your interactions with people to mock or belittle them. You have no idea what that does to people, or how hard it is to recover from it.

This spot is about understanding that masculinity is strength in the service of love. That is about the best message anyone could send.

Kudos to Gillette. You’ve done well. And anyone who thinks this ad is an attack on men or on masculinity needs to watch it again. You completely missed the point. Or maybe your heart was predisposed to be hostile to the point, in which case it’s yourself you need to examine.