So many people are freaking out over the knife sharpening. A) you're in this picture and you don't like it B) hand sharpening on a whetstone isn't necessary for home cooks. Other tools will get you to adequate with a lot less effort, both in learning and using the tools.
It's ok to not optimize everything in your life. It's ok to put your knives in the dishwasher. It's ok to shave with an electric. It's ok to not look like or dress like how these sites say you should.
Edit: jeeze, apparently it's not ok so much so that it's ok to imply violence is acceptable against people who put their knives in the dishwasher. I'm pretty grossed out by this interaction and at the people that insist their way of doing something is better, easier, whatever, when I've already said no thanks. Ew.
Whetstones require less effort than most commercial sharpening systems, and provide a better edge and more flexibility. But the point isn't that you need to use a whetstone, it's that you should be sharpening your knives.
I actually don't use a whetstone any more because I found a couple of systems that work better for me, and because my main pocketknife uses steel that is too hard to be effectively sharpened with a whetstone. But they're still very effective sharpening solutions for most knives. I use this cool system for day to day sharpening, and I use this belt sander when something has been seriously neglected, or I have a lot of knives to sharpen.
It needs a diamond rod or stone to sharpen it, yes. It's not about manliness, it's about function. Having a harder steel means that it retains an edge longer, and doesn't require as frequent sharpening. There are potential drawbacks to steel that hard, such as increased brittleness, but that doesn't matter for me because I'm not using it to strike anything, and don't cut things that would cause the brittleness to become an issue.