Thursday, June 2, 2016

Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out




I had an elderly woman make the comment today about how horrible it would be to have the Russians and Chinese invade.  I told her, the Chinese think in terms of 100 years out.  Why would they invade us now when all they have to do is wait five to ten years and we will do it all ourselves?

And then I had this brought to my attention from Matt Bracken's facebook page:

The stark difference between millennial men and their dads

An excerpt:

"When [our Millennial protagonist] car broke down one day at the grocery store, [he] couldn’t afford to fix it or retrieve it from the impound lot. He wouldn’t ask anyone for money. So, he dropped out of school, lost his job and landed on a friend’s couch."

The kid could not find a solution so he reconciled his defeat and completely gave up.  The solution was to abandon school and continue his latent adulthood.

But the Victim Train has not come to a full stop.  Stay tuned.

"Less than a third of men in the 18-to-29 group reported feeling “completely masculine,” compared to 65 percent of those approaching retirement age. Thirteen percent of those under 30 said they identified halfway between masculine and feminine, and 12 percent said they’re slightly feminine."

Maybe I was asleep that day of Social Engineering class, but I would love for someone to explain me how you can feel half-cow boy and half-cow girl.  Do you sit down for a number 1?  


"Andrew Reiner, a Towson University professor who teaches a course called “Real Men Smile: The Changing Face of Masculinity, said our culture has gradually shifted toward individualism. More young people are rejecting social norms. The need for acceptance, however, remains."

You say individualism, I say hopelessly self-absorbed man-child.  Semantics at this point, really.

He continues:
“Despite the emergence of the metrosexual and an increase in stay-at-home dads, tough-guy stereotypes die hard,” Reiner wrote in an April essay. “As men continue to fall behind women in college, while outpacing them four to one in the suicide rate, some colleges are waking up to the fact that men may need to be taught to think beyond their own stereotypes.”

"Some young men, unable to meet the tough-guy stereotype, become ashamed of themselves and start to resent others. Others simply don’t want to embody that stereotype but feel pressure to perform it."

The only people we have to blame for this is ourselves, Dads.  If I saw it once, I saw it repeated thousands of times with senior military leadership.  Officers, First Sergeants, Sergeants Major, about every damn one I ever came across is guilty.  They would openly coddle junior NCO's and Soldiers and play the doting grandfather role as counterpoint to the immediate supervisor or team leader.  If I would try and enforce a punishment, I would quickly be chastised for being "too rough", or to "take it easy".  These people were so busy trying to be the "cool guy/girl" they forgot that setting the example meant saying the hard "no" was preferable to the easy "yes".  

I know the mentors and role-models for the senior leadership when they were rising through the ranks would never accept that behavior.  Mine sure as hell weren't. As for today's NCO's and Officers that grew up with this coddling?  What do you think they are doing because it was all they know?

The military is where the "Warrior Ethos" was pounded into your head from day one.  If you were lucky and stuck around for a bit, at every turn your head would be filled with grand oaths and platitudes that taught you the basic tenets of Stoicism, mainly dealing with that bad stuff happens and you just have to man up to it.  It was supposed to be a way of life to be virtuous and disciplined for your country, your community, and yourself.  For the vast majority of the population that never served, I could only imagine how this mass coddling and emasculation infected everyone it touched.  I would love to know what happened to the Boomer/Gen X crowd that produced the never before seen Helicopter Parent

The bottom line folks is that history is replete with stronger cultures eating up the weak ones.  Sometimes it is for the betterment of civilization as a whole.  Sometimes it isn't.  When the light does out on Western Civilization, (and let's face it Folks, it just may well be inevitable to happen within our lifetimes), who will be there to turn out the lights?

9 comments:

Chiu ChunLing said...

Nations fall when their leaders are too decadent to face the enemies of civilization.

But civilization can survive the fall of even great nations.

There will be losses, but the millennia of Western Civilization will not be lost. Only the ephemera of modern life, really...along with those who can't live without them.

Anonymous said...

Communist infestation of public schools happened, along with the bullshit called femenism. The nail in the coffin is the federal reserve, dereliction of duty by Congress all around!

The point though was not to create helicopter parents, the point was to create helicoptered kids that turn into non functioning adults. Indeed, helicopter parents and turning teachers into parents was just a means to the end.

The solution isn't as hard to identify as it is to apply. It really boils down to personal responsibility. This covers the hard no over easy yes you talked about and also our damaged moral compass. Some things are right and some things are wrong...and if we are going to survive as a nation we must return to that set of directions. We will remain lost and wandering until that comes to pass.

Winners get the trophy, losers just get to try again. There is no shame in competing and losing...the shame is in refusing to risk losing because that means you can never win either.

Americans had best wake the he'll up!!

Sean said...

Then it up to us to chastise and guide these young men NOW to help them get on the straight and narrow. When I was a young buck sergeant, the older guys put me wise, but quick. They were tough, but fair, and they made damn sure I did it on my own merits. That, is the solution. If young men lack the basics, then we should all be looking to help them along towards being real men, NOT JUST CRITICIZING THEM. I see this all the time. Lots of carping and criticism, and no help. Let's just get with the task, if we're all such bad asses. One guy, one on one at a time, or in groups. You can't help them all, but damnit help some one!

Anonymous said...

Greetings:

Allow me to reiterate this quote from the article:
"Andrew Reiner, a Towson University professor who teaches a course called “Real Men Smile: The Changing Face of Masculinity,” said our culture has gradually shifted toward individualism. More young people are rejecting social norms. The need for acceptance, however, remains."

You say individualism, I say hopelessly self-absorbed man-child. Semantics at this point, really.

Andrew manages to misuse, mock and denigrate the term 'individualism' and, in doing so, illustrate the ideology of Social Construction.

Everyone interested in fighting this beast needs to know their enemy and there are few books better at educating you than Berger & Luckmann's 'The Social Construction of Reality: a treatise in the sociology of knowledge

We are in the latter stages of an ongoing attempt by certain 'forces' to alter society into something more amenable by deconstructing it and then constructing it.

At one level, the saving grace here is that conflicting methods and manners the enemies of Western Civilization are using. Marxist v Fabian Socialist, Leninist v Maoist, National Socialist v Fabian Socialist...

If we are to win we need to understand the enemy and how best to beat that enemy OR how best to let the enemy beat itself.

Thoughts?

Unknown said...

" If I would try and enforce a punishment, I would quickly be chastised for being "too rough", or to "take it easy"."
As a young Infantry Team Leader, I was threatened with Courts Martial by the POG post commander (a Colonel) for "smoking" one of the E-4's in my Squad because he called the Platoon SGT an "Asshole" in formation. The culprit (E-4) complained the next day at sick call that his shoulder hurt, and told the Clinic Doc why it hurt. When advised by my Platoon Leader that the Colonel wanted my head for hurting one of his "Specialists", and was threatening Courts Martial, I said "Bring it, I want my peers to tell me I did the wrong thing." He took that message back to the Colonel. Next day, the PL said the Col. would settle for a Company Grade ART-15, to which I said, No, I want Courts Martial. I want my peers to tell me I screwed up.", so he took that message back. Next day the PL comes to me and says " He will accept a letter in you file." to which I replied "NO! I want Courts Martial. I want my peers to tell me I did the wrong thing." Needless to say, the next day the PL said tells me "The matter was dropped". This taught me a very valuable lesson as a young NCO and it was one I never forgot when I made decisions that concerned discipline, and the nature of effeminate men with their coddling and apologizing for other effeminate men. Did I want a Courts Martial? Hell No! Did I feel it was important to stick to my guns and say "I did the right thing." and see if my peers said I was correct? Hell Yes! It proved to me that the Colonel was a typically effeminate POG POS who liked to threaten things because he was used to getting his way, but that he had overstepped his bounds when someone actually called his bluff.

FSHB said...

I am not a perfect father. My sons know how to shoot, are courteous to women, know what the constitution says and profess a love of Jesus Christ. I really can't ask for more.

Unknown said...

" If I would try and enforce a punishment, I would quickly be chastised for being "too rough", or to "take it easy"."
As a young Infantry Team Leader, I was threatened with Courts Martial by the POG post commander (a Colonel) for "smoking" one of the E-4's in my Squad because he called the Platoon SGT an "Asshole" in formation. The culprit (E-4) complained the next day at sick call that his shoulder hurt, and told the Clinic Doc why it hurt. When advised by my Platoon Leader that the Colonel wanted my head for hurting one of his "Specialists", and was threatening Courts Martial, I said "Bring it, I want my peers to tell me I did the wrong thing." He took that message back to the Colonel. Next day, the PL said the Col. would settle for a Company Grade ART-15, to which I said, No, I want Courts Martial. I want my peers to tell me I screwed up.", so he took that message back. Next day the PL comes to me and says " He will accept a letter in you file." to which I replied "NO! I want Courts Martial. I want my peers to tell me I did the wrong thing." Needless to say, the next day the PL said tells me "The matter was dropped". This taught me a very valuable lesson as a young NCO and it was one I never forgot when I made decisions that concerned discipline, and the nature of effeminate men with their coddling and apologizing for other effeminate men. Did I want a Courts Martial? Hell No! Did I feel it was important to stick to my guns and say "I did the right thing." and see if my peers said I was correct? Hell Yes! It proved to me that the Colonel was a typically effeminate POG POS who liked to threaten things because he was used to getting his way, but that he had overstepped his bounds when someone actually called his bluff.

oughtsix said...



JC, I know it was unintentional, but that was actually very much worth repeating!!!

Anonymous said...

We FEAR change more than anything, but in the end Mother Nature knows best. What is happening is she is setting up a great culling of useless hungry mouths. Get over it, mankind NEEDS THIS CULLING, so that productive men can return to preeminence without having to murder millions of his brothers. They will take themselves out by their own choice. Better that they remove themselves voluntarily by abstaining from procreative sex. Trust me this is for the better all around. You can guess what happens to a population when it is overrun by males who are incapable of being alert knowledgeable survivable material. I seldom comment with palatable welcomed comments, but i never refrain from proven natural truths reflected by nature.

Sign me, Neal Jensen