So I've been trying to figure out what to make of these “log cabin”-style homes and these houses built from rough-hewn timber with ludicrous amounts of mortar between each piece.
First, they’re butt ugly. I’m pretty sure no real log cabin ever looked anything quite like these modern imitations with perfectly even logs stained a very, very dark brown. And I’m sorry, but that mortar just ruins it for me with the rough-hewn timber. If there was ever anything for homeowners’ associations to get up in arms about, these houses should be it.
So, given that they’re butt ugly, who’d want to live in them and why?
My hypothesis follows:
Fairly obviously, they hearken to the 17th and 18th centuries and the colonization of North America. So who’d want to live in a pathetic imitation of something ancient, uncomfortable when authentic, and butt ugly? Who would want that perception?
I think this isn’t about patriotism, though the people who have these homes built probably rationalize them that way. I think it’s about “if I had built my own house, this is what it’d look like because I’m Paul Bunyan the lumber man.”
Which is to say, masculinity desperate to prove itself and therefore toxic rather than masculine.
David Benfell, Ph.D. (he/him/his) /
npub1qn…emx0u
2024-04-24 14:25:34
Author Public Key
npub1qnvuavqzak7z9htwth8zccavwdvsvvp9zj0lt2xxxkuhf9z2w2ks5emx0uPublished at
2024-04-24 14:25:34Event JSON
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"content": "So I've been trying to figure out what to make of these “log cabin”-style homes and these houses built from rough-hewn timber with ludicrous amounts of mortar between each piece.\n\nFirst, they’re butt ugly. I’m pretty sure no real log cabin ever looked anything quite like these modern imitations with perfectly even logs stained a very, very dark brown. And I’m sorry, but that mortar just ruins it for me with the rough-hewn timber. If there was ever anything for homeowners’ associations to get up in arms about, these houses should be it.\n\nSo, given that they’re butt ugly, who’d want to live in them and why?\n\nMy hypothesis follows:\n\nFairly obviously, they hearken to the 17th and 18th centuries and the colonization of North America. So who’d want to live in a pathetic imitation of something ancient, uncomfortable when authentic, and butt ugly? Who would want that perception?\n\nI think this isn’t about patriotism, though the people who have these homes built probably rationalize them that way. I think it’s about “if I had built my own house, this is what it’d look like because I’m Paul Bunyan the lumber man.”\n\nWhich is to say, masculinity desperate to prove itself and therefore toxic rather than masculine.",
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