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May AAR — The "Bad Guys" Take, We Want to Take Back

Modern Man

Modern Man's first After Action Report — a monthly episode where Brad, Sam, and Noah react to their own podcast. What did they say last month that they want to defend? What did they say that they want to take back? What did they say that they're still chewing on weeks later? This first AAR landed almost entirely on one thread: the "bad guys" debate from Ep 19. A month later, Sam is doubling down. Noah is pushing harder against it. Brad is pressing both men on what they actually lose if their take wins. Sam holds the line: yes, the category of bad guys exists, and naming it is what lets a father teach his sons what to fight. Noah pushes back: no one is born bad, and the category forecloses the redemption the gospel is built on. Brad lives in the tension — paraphrasing Solzhenitsyn on the line between good and evil running through every heart. Featuring callbacks to the four-stages framework from Ep 17, the Schertzinger twins from Ep 18 and 20, and the Just War conversation from Ep 19. The conversation turns when the question goes from abstract to practical — what do you teach your son when a stranger calls your wife a name? When a bully shows up on the playground? Each man ends with the one improvement he's committing to before the next AAR. If you've felt the gap between what you believe about people in theory and how you actually have to lead in practice — this is the conversation.