Well, no one else has admitted it, so I will. I envy all kinds of people with mechanical & electrical know-how. I secretly long to be a skilled craftsman. Cabinetry, baby.
I won't admit it. There's only one real white-collar in my family.My dad is kind of in-between. I've worked with a number of blue collar guys on different sorts of odd jobs. There's skill there, yeah. And a lot of tricks. But it's not something that would occupy me as a career. You don't need the plumber; you could go out to the library or bookstore, get the right book, buy the right tools, and do the job yourself. But the time investment is pretty big. Easier just to pay for it. And now you're talking a borderline master-slave relationship. Not quite emasculating in my perspective. To be blunt to the point of being crass, what's a bigger aphrodisiac, power and money and education, or low wages, (probably) low education and mechanical know-how (and, in many of my experiences, bad dental care)? You may object to the value system, but I'm just putting it out there, not advocating it.
That said, I think most guys want mechanical skill; just not typical blue-collar employee skill. You want to be a master carpenter or something. You're not going to find a lot of self-sufficient master carpenters. So, Ogged, I think you have it backwards. What guys fear isn't the educated fireman. It's the reverse, the white collar who is a master carpenter on the side . It's like sweetening the package for potential mates. THe other guy, the fireman, he's not really a threat.