Root Down — The Good Men Project

The Zen of Don Draper’s Frown

June 5, 2013 by Carl Pettit Leave a Comment

Jon Hamm’s compassionate sneer manages to capture the Zen koan of Draper’s ambivalent soul.

Filed Under: Media Men, Root Down, Season 6, The Good Life Tagged With: Carl Pettit, confidence, Don Draper, Don Draper's scowl, insecurity, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, Mad Men Season 6, masks, Root Down, staff writer

Rich Man, Poor Man

May 15, 2013 by Carl Pettit 3 Comments

wealth inequality, rich eat poor, luxury goods industry recession proof, Root Down

Why should the obscenely rich scale back so they’re just extremely rich?

Filed Under: Editors' Picks, Ethics & Values, Featured Content, Money, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: capitalism, CEO salaries, charity, economic recession, employee perks, enlightened self interest, eroding middle class, libertarian values, luxury goods, luxury goods industry recession proof, luxury yachts, middle class, one percent, rich eat poor, Root Down, social unrest, Super Rich, tax shelters, underemployment, unemployment, wealth, wealth inequality

A World of Illusion

April 26, 2013 by Carl Pettit 3 Comments

conspiracy theorists, paranoia, vast government conspiracies, alternate theories of historic events, violence, mass murder, Root Down, Carl Pettit

A world full of conspiracy theorists is the perfect place for an evil mastermind to work, undetected. So warns Carl Pettit: but just which side is he on?

Filed Under: Featured Content, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: alternate theories of historic events, black helicopter theories, bombings, Carl Pettit, conspiracy theorists, da vinci code, discussion 9/11, Illuminati, manufacturing consent, mass murder, military strategy, news cycle, news cycle criticism, paranoia, Root Down, Stonehenge, vast government conspiracies, violence, who killed JFK, world leaders, X-Files

Prison Utopia

April 3, 2013 by Carl Pettit 12 Comments

United States prisons, US prison rates, American freedom jail, Carl Pettit, Root Down, The Good Life

The United States leads the world in incarceration rates of its citizens. Is America really home of the free?

Filed Under: Ethics & Values, Freedom, Prison, The Good Life Tagged With: American freedom jail, Carl Pettit, Root Down, The Good Life, United States prisons, US prison rates

Toilet Scribes

January 9, 2013 by Carl Pettit Leave a Comment

If you must write on the bathroom stall wall, make it good.

Filed Under: Men Are Funny, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: 867-5309, alone time, for a good time call, inspiration, loo, men's drawings of vulvas, men's room, natural functions, public bathrooms, reading, Root Down, The Good Life, toilet humor, wc

Earth without Humanity

December 12, 2012 by Carl Pettit 14 Comments

Life on Earth can survive any man made disaster. But will we?

Filed Under: Ethics & Values, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: asteroids, cataclysm, catastrophe, climate change, climate change hurricane sandy, climate skeptics, climatological science, earth, ethics, expanding deserts, extinction, former Soviet Union, Friends of the Earth, glaciers, Global Warming, global weather, greenhouse gas, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kyoto Protocol, life, mass extinction, meteorite collisions with Earth, Middle East, nuclear proliferation, nuclear war, nuclear winter, Pakistan, polar ice, pollution, rising sea levels, Root Down, subjective time, Superstorm Sandy, survival, The Good Life, War

Santa Sex Tape

December 5, 2012 by Carl Pettit 2 Comments

One celebrity whose star will never set is Santa Claus’, and one reason why is that he’ll never be brought low by scandal.

Filed Under: Christmas 2012, Featured Content, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: bah humbug, birth of Jesus, Black Friday, celebrity, Christian holidays, Christmas, Christmas cheer, Christmas complaints, Christmas shopping, Christmas traditions, Christmas tree, donating to charity, fame, Father Christmas, holidays, meaning of Christmas, milk and cookies, New Year's Resolutions, New Year's traditions, Oreo Double Stuf cookies, pagan holidays, reason for the season, Root Down, Santa Claus, scandal, Scrooge, sex scandal, St. Nick, The Good Life, Toys for Tots, UNICEF

The Girl with the Smurf Tattoo

November 28, 2012 by Carl Pettit 3 Comments

It’s hard to avoid reading into someone’s appearance, especially when they’re intended to intimidate.

Filed Under: Body Modification, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: abuse survivors, anger, body image, body modification, fashion statement, gangs, Lisbeth Salander, masks, Millennium series, monsters, piercings, punks, rage, Root Down, scars, smurf, smurf tattoo, Stieg Larsson, tattoo meanings, tattoos, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Smurfs

Death By Side Effect

November 2, 2012 by Carl Pettit 4 Comments

TV commercials now sell prescription drugs, including controlled substances like testosterone. Is 30 seconds of knowledge a dangerous thing?

Filed Under: Health, Psych, & Addiction, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: advertising, big pharma, commercials, Doctors, health, Hippocratic Oath, Jon Jones, medical diagnosis, medical ethics, medicine, mixed martial artists, pharmaceuticals, physicians, Root Down, side effects, side effects of testosterone, testosterone, The Good Life

Normal for Now

October 16, 2012 by Carl Pettit Leave a Comment

Our beliefs and values surrounding concepts like family, childhood, and masculinity, are products of our time and culture.

Filed Under: Ethics & Values, Historical Perspectives on Goodness, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: ancient Greece, child labor, childhood, egalitarianism, emotional intelligence, ethics, gender roles, hanna rosin, Historical Perspectives on Goodness, medicine, mental health, mental illness, pedophilia, progressive, rights, Root Down, self-improvement, society, standards, Technology, The End of Men, values, vikings, what is normal

The Media Wants You Dead

August 14, 2012 by Carl Pettit 1 Comment

Carl Pettit explains how the stress of breaking news, 24/7, is breaking you down.

Filed Under: A&E, Featured Content, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: 24-hour news, anxiety, business, cable news, celebrity affairs, competition, crisis, danger, entertainment news, fear, gossip, if it bleeds it leads, information, internet news, local news, magazines, Media, memory loss, mens news, newspapers, outrage, Root Down, Stress, The Good Life, world news

True American Gods

August 7, 2012 by Carl Pettit 6 Comments

Carl Pettit explains how Superman, Iron Man, Batman, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Man became the American Titans.

Filed Under: A&E, Featured Content, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: abilities, Allah, American Gods, American pantheon, batman, belief, bible, buddha, Clark Kent, comics, Culture, dc, Dionysus, God, Greek gods, Incredible Hulk, Jack Kirby, jesus, Krishna, life after death, Marvel, modern life, Mount Olympus, mythology, Neil Gaiman, Osiris, reincarnation, resurrection, Root Down, Spider-man!, Stan Lee, superheroes, Superman, supervillains, Technology, theology, Thor, titans, tradition, Umberto Eco, worship

Liberty and Death: What a Man Can Do With a Gun

July 31, 2012 by Carl Pettit 30 Comments

Second amendment rights come with limits, including discipline and regulation.

Filed Under: Featured Content, Guns, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: 2007, 2nd amendment, Aurora mass shootings, burglar, citizens, disciplined, founding fathers, gun control, gun rights, guns, home invasion, militia, murder, Norway, play, regulated, right, Root Down, second amendment, Small Arms Survey, standing army, survivalists, The Good Life, Thomas Jefferson, tyranny, violence, Yemen

For The Love of Zombies

July 17, 2012 by Carl Pettit 4 Comments

Whatever ills you see in society, or perhaps your self, can be personified in zombies.

Filed Under: Advice & Confessions, Featured Content, Root Down, The Good Life Tagged With: analysis, apocalypse, Cold War, conflict, dreams, enemies, Families, fantasy, friends, guilt, horror, killing, machine gun, massacre, murder, nazis, relief, Root Down, symbols, The Good Life, violence, zombies

Good Feed Blog

13-Year-Old’s Football Invention May Save Lives

Ryan Beck won third place at the California State Science Fair with a football helmet that could reduce sports-related brain injuries in pros and teens alike.

Australia’s Army Chief Takes a Firm Stance Against Sexual Misconduct

Ladies and Gentlemen; this is called, “Taking a Stand.”

Sergio Vieira de Mello ‘A Complicated Hero’ (TEDTalks VIDEO)

Political Scientist Samantha Power tells the story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Facing the Reality of Men Who’ve Been Raped By Women

An article in The Atlantic exposes the reality of male survivors who’ve been assaulted by females, including Don Draper, the main character in the show Mad Men.