THE CRISIS OF
MASCULINITY AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE SOUL
I will begin my reflections, this month, by introducing a
Canadian psychology professor who has recently become the centre of debate in
the global media. His name is Dr. Jordan Peterson. He just published a book
entitled: 12 RULES FOR LIFE – An antidote to chaos.
One of his central themes is the crisis in the West today.
The Western society is suffering a major crisis of masculinity because male
kids are encouraged from birth on by an apologetic society full of ‘political
correctness missionaries’ to believe that traditional masculine qualities like
physical strength, aggressiveness, self-reliance etc, are negative and should
be eliminated and instead the feminine qualities like willingness to cooperate,
sharing and networking are a way forward for all human race. Jordan Peterson
offers scientific support to the claim that forcing men, without reason, to
become more agreeable, soft, less competitive etc, will most likely to be the
death of masculinity and along with that the death of our society.
Here is a quote from
the book: “These science-blind assumptions about men do real damage. If we
assume that cognitive ability doesn’t matter and build a society on ruthless
ideas of meritocracy where only the cognitive elite can succeed, we will
produce a broken system that will produce many, many losers. If boys and men
are repeatedly told that masculinity is essentially “toxic” and in need of
suppression, this may produce a society of angry, repressed men. At every level
of our civilization, human biology is relevant, and engaging with it
thoughtfully could not be of more critical importance. If we can’t be honest
about the biological aspects of our nature now, how will we possibly deal with
debates going into the future? Discussions around gene editing, cognitive
enhancement, even artificial intelligence and automation are more crucial than
ever. But if we cannot even agree on the basic scientific facts about our own
fallible nature, how can we possibly agree on the right ways to proceed?” A
suggestion:
Dr. Jordan Peterson writes: “Start with yourself. What good
are you? Get yourself together so that when your father dies you’re not whining
away in a corner and you can help plan the funeral. And you can stand up solidly,
so people can rely on you. That’s better. Don’t be a damn victim.”
He’s preaching strength and resilience during a time when
victimhood is the primary means of gaining status and respect. Sociologists
call this “victimhood culture”, and many argue that we’re currently living in
one. In victimhood cultures, respect is given to those who publicise their
oppression, victimisation and, ultimately, their lack of responsibility over
their lives.
Victimhood is, after all, antithetical to responsibility. A
victim is someone who isn’t responsible for their affairs. Dr Peterson’s
response: “Life is an existential catastrophe and a tragedy.” We’re all victims
in life. You’re not owed anything because you’re a victim. That’s not the
answer.
The only way to overcome victimhood is to attend to your
responsibilities and return to the genuine meaning in your life. Don’t reward
someone for being a victim, reward them for adopting responsibility amid
victimhood. Reward them for not acting like a victim despite being one.
Admiration always beats pity.
My generation knows a lot about “rights”, “oppression” and
what’s unfair about the world. This, to our credit, has made us very accepting
and tolerant. But Dr Peterson says that discussion about “rights” has crowded
out the (more important) discussion about “responsibility”. So it’s not
surprising that young people are starving for that discussion. Of no fault of
our own, the current generation is taking longer to enter adulthood. And we
know it. We still feel like kids well into our twenties.
Dr Jean Twenge’s research shows that we’re less likely to
leave the house without our parents. We’re more likely to spend time by ourselves.
We’re taking longer to get our driver’s license. We’re less likely to have a
part-time job in our teens. We’re starting dating at a later age. We rely on
our parents for everything. And contrary to popular belief, we drink less and
do fewer drugs.
Dr Peterson’s success is proof that the so called “me
generation” is desperate to break free from the unhealthy reliance we have on
our over-protective “helicopter parents”. His followers are tired of relying on
other people. They want to be the kind of person others rely on. In other
words, they want some responsibility.
You might be asking: Why young men though? Why aren’t young
women flocking to him to the same degree as young men?
Well, he attracts a lot of young men on the peripheries of
society. Young men who aren’t particularly successful and spend a lot of time
on the internet but have been told they’re the beneficiaries of an oppressive
patriarchal system which bestows upon them “male privilege” — their ticket to
success that somehow isn’t working.
He states: “We’re so stupid. We’re alienating young men.
We’re telling them they’re patriarchal oppressors, denizens of rape culture and
tyrants-in-waiting. It’s awful … It makes me sad, deeply,” he said in an
interview with the BBC.
Dr Peterson treats young men like individuals. He recognises
that life is difficult and depressing for everyone. He acknowledges their
emotional struggles when a lot of people don’t and he’s providing them with a
solution. He doesn’t talk down to them. And he doesn’t lecture them about any
advantages they may hold. Unlike young women, young men rarely confide
emotionally in their friends. Instead, they quietly look to mentors and
authority figures. And they’ve found one in Dr Peterson, whose essentially just
providing the emotional support to young men that young women have always
provided each other.
While young women were taking care of each other, encouraged
and inspired by their feminist sisterhood, lost and isolated young men have
nothing. Why do we have “women studies?” at Universities and no “Men Studies”?
Peterson sees young men as victims of a society that hasn’t
prepared them to be men, where postmodern, identity group politics has leaked
out of the campuses and into the elementary schools, where being an energetic
boy is considered a mental health defect or a ‘bully’.
What they find in Peterson is a guide and someone who is
frank, and honest about reality. Peterson doesn’t simplify the world’s
problems, he acknowledges them as complicated and that has given him
credibility among his fans, who are navigating the new world of ever changing sexual
politics, be it at school, work or the dating sphere. His lectures combine his
expertise in clinical psychology, along with religious themes and Jungian
psychiatry. He skips postmodern and ideological meanings and gives answers in
metaphors that run the range from philosophy and religion to Greek mythology.
Peterson painting the world as a dark place isn’t surprising
for Generation Xers, who came of age during the Cold War and the possibility of
nuclear annihilation.
Peterson would suggest meeting in a coffee shop in public if
you were to pursue an online relationship and avoid bars and sex for at least
four dates.
This statement led to one interviewer on Vice News to guffaw
and react with shock. “Not even a bar on a first date?”
Young men have found a public advocate, after years of real
or imagined blamed for being the cause of all the world’s problems; and for not
meeting the expectations of anyone. The millennial male is neither sufficiently
manly, or is toxically masculine, depending on the given think piece, magazine
article or girlfriend.
But watching and reading Peterson, and analysing what his
audience is attracted to most, it suggests young men are crippled by a
prolonged adolescence. They were never given the tools to progress to maturity
or the tests to gain the confidence to take their place in the world as adults.
As Peterson’s popularity has grown, so have the number of
women who have begun watching his videos and lectures. It seems adolescence is
a cage that spares neither sex when it enters adulthood, and despite the
supposed sophistication of young people, there’s a lack of maturity.
I found Dr. Peterson’s book very inspiring, particularly his
explanation of BEING - This is SOUL work. He states: “You act as if existence
might be justified by its goodness – if only you behaved properly. And in that decision, that declaration of
existential faith, that allows you to overcome nihilism, and resentment, and
arrogance. It is that declaration of faith that keeps hatred of Being (soul) at
bay and that Faith is not just a childish belief in magic. That is ignorance or
even wilful blindness. It is instead the realisation that the tragic
irrationalities of life must be counterbalanced by an equally irrational
commitment to the essential goodness of Being” (Soul).
Watch Dr. Peterson on youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2u62u4entc (on Political Correctness)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJr6CYHHOnk (Au leftist interview)
