One of the left’s agenda items is the de-masculinization of society. Framing men as dangerous, irresponsible, and driven by nothing but a thirst for power and subjugation has produced excellent results for them. Not only has it further driven a divide between men and women, but it has made too many men feel guilty for simply being born male. The fallout from this guilt has had many wide-ranging effects, some consequences being depression, suicide, and at least one extreme case resulting in mass murder.
The bottom line is that mainstream culture has turned its back on men. It’s a tragic turn in our cultural thinking, especially given the importance of men in our society. Men create, build, maintain, and provide, and in ways that women either can’t or are unwilling to do.
As the left typically does, it takes a small truth and turns it into an egregious issue. Men’s “masculinity” however has been boiled down to its dangerous and unsafe aspects, completely bypassing nuance in order to spread fear. Yes, masculinity does involve a lot of aspects that are “unsafe” but under most circumstances the question of “unsafe to whom” is what really needs to be asked.
As “Wild at Heart” author John Eldridge wrote: “Yes, a man is a dangerous thing. So is a scalpel. It can wound you or it can save your life. You don’t make it safe by making it dull; you put it in the hands of someone who knows what he’s doing.”
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley seems to understand this. The left’s attack on masculinity has left men scarred and withdrawn as Hawley highlighted.
“The Left want to define traditional masculinity as toxic. They want to define the traditional masculine virtues — things like courage and independence and assertiveness — as a danger to society,” Hawley said according to the Washington Post.
“Can we be surprised that after years of being told they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, more and more men are withdrawing into the enclave of idleness and pornography and video games?” he added.
“We need men to raise up sons and daughters after them, to pass on the great truths of our culture and history, to defend liberty, to share in the work of self-government,” Hawley said. “We need the kind of men who make republics possible. And it is not too much to say that our ability to get that kind of men will determine the success of our long experiment in liberty.”
He’s right. In order to maintain a great nation, it has to give birth to great men and women. Our culture is currently concerned with the suppression of these kinds of men, and while it claims to elevate women, it really only elevates a certain kind, namely those obedient to the kind of culture that the left has determined is “empowering.”
But more to the point, our culture has made men afraid to move for fear of having their lives destroyed. Stories of men who were abused by the system over mere accusations of wrongdoing from women are numerous. Men’s groups and clubs are being dissolved for not being inclusive enough and today’s society pushes gender fluidity and homosexuality on male children in an effort to stop masculinity from cultivating at the source.
The only thing left for men and boys to do is fall back to safer territory. Interacting with women is a gamble with women either having been raised to be unintentionally abusive toward men and society willing to side with women over men in a heartbeat. It’s much easier and culturally safer for men to receive sexual gratification from pornography.
Pornography is addictive and destructive.
However, Hawley misses the mark on video games.
Video games do run the risk of becoming addictive and men can become overly dependent on them for stimulation. However, video games are not necessarily bad for men, or especially boys, if utilized properly.
The reason gaming is so seductive to men is because it strikes all the right notes for men in terms of information gathering, exploration, domination, leadership, creativity, and destruction. Gaming when utilized as an educational tool teaches the male sex in ways other mediums cannot. It’s also become an excellent social tool, allowing men to speak freely to their peers and cultivate friendships through digital space.
Of all the subcultures out there, the gaming subculture is the largest of them all, overlapping even sports subcultures.
Gaming is not going anywhere and will only proceed to become more integrated into our lives. Augmented reality, a concept born from gaming, will become a standard on the planet for everyone with HUD overlays and wearable tech. Business and social gatherings will become more of a thing performed in the virtual world than in the real world as companies like Facebook develop technologies that create virtual spaces for these things.
Just like masculinity is looked down on because its nuances are ignored, the same can be said for gaming. Where the actual dangers lay need to be better identified and its benefits should be sussed out. Gaming could be a tool to better refine good masculinity but first we have to stop looking at gaming as a blanket problem.
