Intelligent Masculinity

Masculinity In Review This episode takes one of the most combustible subjects in American politics — antisemitism and the war in Gaza — and treats it as a test case for whether men can hold hard truths without flattening them. Nick Paro brings Cliff Schecter — longtime Democratic consultant, 2020 Biden ad-writer, and founder of the independent outlet Blue Amp Media — into a conversation that refus...

Masculinity In Review This episode takes a single loaded word and uses it to pry open a much larger question: what does it actually mean to be deliberate about how you move through the world? Nick Paro brings Dean Blundell — the Toronto broadcaster, Save America movement contributor, and self-described emotional support Canadian — into a conversation that starts with the word “p***y” and ends with...

Masculinity In Review This episode takes a man the public knows as a footnote in an impeachment and asks him the question the news never does: not what did you do, but what changed you. Lev Parnas — Soviet-born immigrant, recovering Trump-world insider, the figure at the center of the Ukraine pressure campaign, and now one of the most relentless voices for the Epstein survivors — joins Nick Paro f...

Masculinity In Review This episode reframes a conversation that the loudest voices in American culture keep trying to flatten. Jarrod Zisser — independent journalist behind The Take, Marine Corps infantry with two Iraq tours, and a man who walked away from a paying job a year ago to report from federal-occupation flashpoints — joins Nick Paro to do something the moment makes unfashionable: argue t...

Masculinity In Review * Check out Jonathan’s sci-fi book series, The Night Sky Trilogy Nick Paro sits down with Jonathan Buchwalter — a Holocaust and 20th-century U.S. history teacher, Shelton State adjunct, TikTok historian, and as of a few days ago the newly-elected chairman of the Tuscaloosa County Democratic Party — for a late-night, second-of-the-day Intelligent Masculinity conversation that...

Masculinity In Review Nick Paro sits down with Ann Kramer — a licensed therapist of more than thirty years, creator of the Life Puzzle model, and a clinician who long ago walked out of what she calls the disease model of counseling — for a conversation that begins with a 10-year-old’s temper tantrum and ends, by way of Elon Musk’s bunker, with a vision for a post-AI economy. Ann’s framework is dec...

“We are the freaking problem. We are the agent of chaos.” ~ Tim Whitaker ~ Masculinity In Review Tim Whitaker walked into today’s Intelligent Masculinity discussion with years of experiences - through a faith community that raised him, a church that eventually removed him, and public-facing projects — Tim Whitaker Speaks and The New Evangelicals — built explicitly to help Christians find a path fo...

“When people don’t know you’re coming, they don’t know how to stop you. And so I feel like they don’t know I’m coming. And so I’m just tiptoeing in.” ~ Ellie Leonard ~ Masculinity In Review Nick Paro sits down with Ellie Leonard — Substack writer, mother of four, and one of the independent journalists pulling Epstein survivor stories out of the place legacy media stopped looking — for a conversati...

“That oath never expires. And I still have that raging fire to help the people of this country get a better life.” ~ Angry Male Vet ~ Masculinity In Review Nick Paro sits back down with Angry Male Vet — retired Air Force intelligence officer, 23-year combat veteran, and one of the sharpest voices connecting military reality to civilian political life — for the follow-up conversation they couldn’t...

“Admitting that I did something wrong was the first step, and it was incredibly difficult. It took me years to actually fully believe — not just say so that my probation officer didn’t ride my ass — but actually believe: I, Kenyon Byers, have done something wrong. And I have to change.” ~ K.R. Byers ~ Masculinity In Review Nick Paro sits down with K.R. Byers — writer, creative satirist, and self-d...

“Your responsibility as a human being should be to care for people in your community, care for people and whatever your community is, whether it’s your preschool, whether it’s your family, these are all little community spaces for you.” ~ Rachel Maron ~ Masculinity In Review In this 27th interview of Intelligent Masculinity , Nick Paro brings Rachel Maron on as the series’ first female guest, and...

“The most productive investment anyone can make is to look within and figure out what you haven’t come to grips with. Are there things from your past that you’re still dealing with but don’t want to face? Having the courage to turn inward and face yourself — that allows you to navigate life in a better way.” ~ Angry Male Vet ~ Masculinity In Review For this 26th interview of Intelligent Masculinit...

“It was a very unique spot. You could tell that they’ve been through something, some kind of trauma. There’s almost a look to trauma that I deal with a lot in my day job that you can usually see. But at the same time it was conflict-free. An event with thousands upon thousands of people in a small parking lot, shoved together in front of this space, and I just don’t recall conflict. I don’t recall...

“What's masculine is to be tough enough to sit down and not debate and not fight — but to have an honest, uncomfortable conversation. That's what, in my mind, a real man should learn how to do." ~ Joe Walsh ~ Masculinity In Review In this 24th interview of Intelligent Masculinity, Nick Paro sat down with pro-democracy advocate, former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh , for a conversation that refu...

“If an infantry fucking Marine can understand this shit, anybody can understand this shit. You just gotta be willing to open your fucking mind and accept the goddamn truth.” ~ Matt Gordon ~ Masculinity In Review In this 23rd interview of Intelligent Masculinity, Nick Paro sits down with Matt Gordon — Marine Corps veteran, nine-year infantry guy, and the man behind the USMC Angry Veteran platform —...

“At its core, toxic masculinity — the opposite of intelligent masculinity or positive masculinity — is about cowardice. And you can push insecurity and overcompensating and all of that into it, but I think if you frame it in terms of cowardice, it not only skewers the performative cosplay of the Pete Hegseths and the Markwayne Mullin, it allows viewers and fans and others to begin to see it when i...

“I would add another aspect of intelligent masculinity — spending time knowing yourself. There's a great saying in Islam, and it's in most traditional traditions: know yourself and you'll know your creator. And this includes knowing the bad parts of yourself, the weak parts of yourself, the messy parts of yourself. That requires radical honesty with yourself. Where am I good? What am I bad at? Wha...

"She got really upset with me. She was like, you're talking down to me in front of my boyfriend. And she was absolutely right. And I just gave her a full-throated apology — to her face, then again later in a text message. I made sure not to defend myself in any way. None of that. Apologize fully without defending yourself. Do it in such a way that it is definitely sincere and you will build every...

“It really goes back to watching men perform badly throughout my life — men who have been my father figures more or less, who in various ways succeeded, but in various ways failed to step up to the moments and been absent when they shouldn’t have been. And I just never wanted my stepson or my biological son to ever feel like they were alone and didn’t have somebody there to support them and to be...

“In order to be good, you have to do good, and [this] definition of evil is more like Edmund Burke. It’s the ability to do good and [then] not doing it. So evil doesn’t have to be a specific act. It just has to be the ability to make a better decision and choosing not to.” ~ Joe Plenzler ~ Masculinity In Review In this 18th interview of Intelligent Masculinity , Joe Plenzler — Marine Corp combat v...

“Ego wants to win arguments. Discipline wants to build something that lasts. The problem with ego-driven masculinity is that it’s loud but fragile. Discipline is quiet, but it compounds. It shows up every day. It doesn’t need applause. And it doesn’t collapse when someone disagrees with you.” ~ Nick Paro ~ Masculinity In Review I have had the distinct pleasure of working with them for the majority...

“A lot of people think masculinity is about these big moments — but it’s really about the small ones. It’s whether you keep your word. Whether you stay consistent. Whether you choose discipline when no one would notice if you didn’t. That’s what builds trust. That’s what builds character.” ~ Will Fullwood ~ Masculinity In Review In this 16th interview of Intelligent Masculinity, Nick Paro sits dow...

“Growing up with an abusive father gave me a very clear example of what masculinity can become when it’s rooted in control and fear. I watched how anger was used as power. And I made a conscious decision that if I was going to live as a man, I was not going to live like that. I wasn’t going to repeat it. I had to build something different — something steadier, something safer.”~ Jack ~ Masculinity...

“There’s no such thing as serving God without first serving humanity… If your religiosity doesn’t translate into dignity and care for your neighbor, then it’s just ego. There are no asterisks on humanity." ~ Qasim Rashid, Esq. ~ Masculinity In Review In this 14th interview of Intelligent Masculinity, I sit down with Qasim Rashid, Esq. for something completely different, yet entirely on theme. Wher...

“If I got pissed off every time something like that happened, I’d just run my own blood pressure up. Writing about it lets me examine it. Sometimes I realize I was wrong. Sometimes I realize I reacted better than I would have years ago. But I try to be honest with myself — because if you’re not honest with yourself, you’re not growing.” ~ Marlon Weems ~ Masculinity In Review In this 13th interview...