Fighting Against A Not So Brave New World

You might want to target a girls school which is safer because there are no beta males throwing themselves for their rescue.

Anonymous

See the quote above? It’s not meant to be inspirational but a horrible exposition of our modern society.

The day before the Umpqua College shooting that took 13 people and injured 20 others, it’s believed that the killer headed to the anonymous forum of the university to discuss his intentions. The reaction from several other posters, instead of trying to talk him out of hit or alerting the authorities, was to offer their advice on how to best execute his plan! Again, the same rhetoric that we saw after the Isla Vista shooting in 2014 came up, to go after women as they offer an easier target, but to do this, he needed to avoid “beta males throwing themselves for their rescue.”

Back then I discussed how we as a society create and feed this kind of monsters. I commented how a culture of cowardly infamy and a need to be noticed no matter what provided the perfect breeding ground for this kind of cowardly act. What I didn’t consider back then is how we already have a way to dissuade this kind of events, something that hit me across the face as I read that quote.

…No beta males throwing themselves for their rescue…

I found this quote rather surprising as this behavior is exactly what has been socially defined as the Beta Male.  The Beta Male, as defined by Urban Dictionary, is “an unremarkable, careful man who avoids risk and confrontation. Beta males lack the physical presence, charisma and confidence of the Alpha male.” Yet with that definition, most acts of White Knighting are usually attributed to beta males. Last I checked, throwing yourself in harm’s way to protect others is actually the opposite of “avoids risk and confrontation.”

Unfortunately, the extreme factions within the Feminist movement have promoted the idea that any man stepping up and helping women is an open act of sexist and a promotion of the patriarchy. On the other end of the SJW spectrum, the extreme MRA’s (Men’s Rights Activists) promote the idea that men being told to step up and defend women are actually hurting men as it promotes the idea that a man’s life is worth less than a woman’s.

Just to be clear, neither of these extreme factions represents either the Feminist Movement or the Men’s Right Movement and shouldn’t be used to diminish what both groups do to help gender equality. Now if both movements would try to keep in check and muzzle their more radical members that would be great.

So how can we challenge a word that tells men not to step up? How can we promote the idea that everyone is willing to run and hide, letting evil run rampant? How can we change a world where everyone validates their personal Victimhood as an excuse to commit horrible acts?

The answer is rather simple. By letting the world know you’re not a victim. I’m not talking about walking around with an assault rifle flung over your shoulder. In truth, I view that as an act of promoting the notion of victimhood as you believe it will keep you from being a victim. I am talking about having the moral fiber and the character to do moral acts no matter what society tells you. It’s about speaking up and standing up when they want you to sit down and be quiet. It’s about keeping your warrior spirit alive when everyone wants you to kill it off. It’s about wearing that White Knight Armour proudly. 

Stop saying that Violence isn’t the answer

Only a warrior chooses pacifism; others are condemned to it.

Unknown

As our world advances, we have developed innumerous ways to achieve a civilized society. We have implemented zero tolerance policies on school bulling, where we make social media protests and marches against violence, and develop policies to defend and help anyone who feels victimized in any way. Cellphone videos have become the modern weapon of justice and social media trolling has become the new style of combat, as public opinion is a lot more important than actual safety.

So when a blind teen is being beat up by another classmate and everyone is just standing around taking video, I am not at all surprises. Out of all those present, only ONE is willing to step in and deal with the bully. And that’s the result of a society that keeps telling everyone that violence isn’t the answer. We are left with a society that’s not willing to stand up for themselves and for others.

We are left with a society willing to embrace victimhood and its only defense mechanism is passive-aggressiveness.

Sure, you might call out every single protest and social movement as proof that I am wrong. But when you look at those event’s it’s easy to brave injustice when you are just one more within a crowd. These, in truth, are little more than social events to express community opinion.

It takes real cojones to step up when you stand alone.

Sure, taking video as evidence is crucial, but it does very title to stop the actual violence. Sometimes you need violence to stop violence. And if all we teach our kids is to not get involved, we end up with a society where violence will exist, and our only option is to deal with the aftermath. We need to change this.

We need to forge a society where the bully will think twice about being a bully. We need to bring back the fear of the older brother who’ll beat you up for abusing his younger sibling. We need to bring back the fear of the father who will “deal” with whoever thought of messing with his daughter. We need to bring back the fear of the stranger who will step in and stand up to whoever tries to bully someone in the street. And this is only done by having men willing to stand up against abuse.

Sure, violence isn’t the answer. But we still have to realize it’s an option.

Warriors Wanted: Inquire Within

Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.

C.S. Lewis

As I have mentioned several times before, every civilized society across the globe throughout history has members who serve as examples of what an exemplary man is. These men dedicated their lives to a code of self-betterment and development through service, serving as the warrior-elite, scholars, and enforcers of justice. They served as inspiration and example to how far a man could go when he dedicated himself to creating a just society and promoting a good greater than themselves.

Sometimes I feel that those days are gone, and it saddens my soul. When you look around you see a society that has turned its back to the ideals of living the warrior’s exemplary life, as we reduce the old warrior codes into happy quotes said by overweight old wise folk who promote little more than helping helpless old people cross the street. Even the words as powerful as Social Justice have been reduced to little more than a keyboard activist providing socially acceptable cyberbully attacks with a passive-aggressive political correctness that would make the worst Machiavellian proud. We have turned community service into calling out “evil” in a virtual community instead of working to achieve some good for an actual community.

Today, men are told that taking up the role of protectors is a bad thing and, worse yet, some men happy embrace this idea as words like service and honor have lost their importance. More dreadful yet, we see how men, who would otherwise be given a purpose in life, drift aimlessly unfulfilling lives as their serviceless existence ends up having little meaning.

Others have bastardized the ideals of the warrior; in an attempt to fill their egos as they become little more than the oppressors the warriors of old would have fought. They strive for recognition and glory as payment for service, seeing themselves as more important than those they help.

Then we wonder where all the good men have gone.

But before you lose all hope, know that they are still around. The biggest challenge these men face isn’t leading a warrior’s life, but finding room for a warrior’s life in a society that refuses to recognize the need for these exemplary men. So, instead of listening to a world that ignores the need for their help, these men simply help, and create the space for other likeminded men to help. You see them teaching other young men the importance of strength, both mental and physical. You see them promoting the ideals of discipline and virtue. And more importantly, you see them setting the example, as they apply these lessons to their own lives. You can find them as the volunteer coach at your local schools, as the martial arts instructor at your local community center, or the volunteer mentor at your local resource center.

Some have gone even further and created a much needed social justice service that can only be handled by these old school warriors. The following are just three organizations created by these exemplary men, just to give you an example of what good men can create when given the opportunity and how we still need men to pick up the mantle of Warrior in a world that is still dangerous.

Brothers for Sisters

Many Russian cities at night are a dangerous place for anyone, much more so for young women who are viewed as easy targets by the less savory elements within the criminal elements. So what is a young man to do when faced with the reality that his friends’ lives are at risk every night they head home? He and his friends started taking turns walking the young women home. And that’s when it hit him, how many more women have this same problem? How many more men would be willing to help out? So, the call went out for young men willing to walk women home safe late at night and young women needing an escort to reach their home safely.

Next thing you know, the Brothers for Sisters are born.

All brothers are required to pass a rigorous selection process, involving several interviews and background checks coordinated with the local authorities, as many of the brothers are off duty police men themselves. All candidates and members are required to be reasonably fit, and aren’t allowed to smoke, drink, or swear. All volunteers are discouraged from accepting invitations from the ladies they are helping out, even for something as simple as tea or coffee, as it might give an improper message.

What started as a couple of guys making sure their friend got home safe has grown into an entire social movement.

(I mentioned this group previously, but have been unable to find more information about them. If you know anything else about them, let me know as I would love to know more about them.)

B.A.C.A.

Some men volunteer to be strong, some men train to be strong, and some become strong as life gives them little choice. This last group is viewed with distrust and even fear by many within society, as they are men who have often been forced to make do what it takes to survive, and not all these actions are socially acceptable. So what do you do when you are strong and feared?

You go and help out little kids who need a strong and intimidating man to protect them from the monsters of the world.

Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.) is an organization of volunteer bikers who provide a sense of safety to kids who have been victims of child abuse. If ever the child feels threatened, scared, or simply wants someone to be there, they simply have to call, and a couple of riders will come by. They are there to provide a safe environment, a place for the child to feel secure. This might be to scare of the abuser, to walk with the kid to school, or simply to stand guard all night in front of the house to scare off nightmares.  

Not everyone is accepted within the BACA. These men train for their duty, as many are actual social workers and all are required to pass a string of background checks although having a criminal record doesn’t disqualify you as a candidate. Each candidate is evaluated and required to training courses to deal with the emotional strain of their duty as the mission they have taken up isn’t an easy one. Below is a short vid explaining who they are.

(I have spoken about BACA and my absolute respect for the group before. If some of the members who left messages would contact me and let me know who to contact for more information, as I would love to make a more in depth post about them.)

Safe Passage

Many times the inner cities have been compared to warzones and quite often they are not that far off. Many of those who grew up within that environment want nothing more than to help change it into a better place. They know from personal experience how something as mundane as a child walking to school and back is a perilous journey.

Plenty of young men within these communities chose military service as a way to find purpose and meaning in a world that keeps telling them they will achieve little simply because of where they were born. Yet, when their tours are done, these men are left again without the very sense of purpose that allowed them to be more. So, instead of getting lost in a meaningless life, a group of these veterans joined together to provide the next generation of students a safe passage between the kid’s homes and schools.

Leave No Veteran Behind (LNVB) approached the Chicago school system to see if veterans could help out the kids by standing guard, positively engaging with the youth and maintaining the peace in street corners previously known for repeated violent incidents. So was born Safe Passage, as now over 400 veterans within the program with about 130 veterans patrolling the streets at any given time. Below is a short video explaining how the program came to be.

The days of the Warrior are far from gone. Neither are gone the days of men doing what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. All you have to do is find your purpose. The space needed to manifest it will find you.

The All Too Common Hypocrisy Of Modern Social Justice

Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Those who have been following me for a while or know me personally know how involved and passionate I am about social justice, equality, and empowerment. Even when I started writing online articles, they focused on discussing some of our social ills. This is the very least anyone should do. Yet, if you look as of late, my contributions as a SJW (Social Justice Warrior) have drastically lessened.

The reasons aren’t that I no longer believe in social justice or I no longer believe that what’s wrong within society shouldn’t be called out. The reason is that the current Social Justice trend of online warriors, in their crusade to condemn what’s ‘bad,’ have become just as oppressive as those they fight, and just as blind to the damage they cause.

As we fight sexism, racism, homophobia, religious intolerance, bigotry, or just simply prejudice, there are way too many who do so by being sexist, racist, homophobic, intolerant, and plain old fashion bigots. If this is a minority, as is stated over and over within the SWJ groups, wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is that it ISN’T a minority as people cheer on such actions, showing how their true intentions aren’t social justice, but rather power hunger or vengeance.

While fighting oppression, they get drunk on the power of oppressing.

We see this as we excuse inexcusable actions, simply because they are done under the flag of what’s right. We rationalize such abuse constantly. The best explanation I have heard to date explaining how this mental Kung Fu is done was given by a fellow blogger within a writer’s group as he was calling out this behavior in a post.

You are THIS and if you get mad, it proves my point. And because you're emotionally compromised because you're THIS, you don't have a say. You're the problem and someone else will be the solution, so shut up, sit down, and wait for it.

ZachRosenberg

We speak of having freedom of expression by openly shaming anyone who has an opinion different from ours. Body shaming if fought by calling models “skinny bitches” or defend the right of women not to use makeup by attacking any woman who uses makeup. Gender discrimination and sexism against women because they are women is fought by making sexist and gender specific attacks against men because they are men. Racial and ethnic discrimination against minorities if fought by making racist remarks against the majority. Even religious intolerance if fought by being intolerant with any faith (or lack of faith) different from our own. We stopped using our ideals as a means for empowerment. Instead we turned them into weapon to excuse attacking the ideals of others.

This type of debate doesn't offer conversation nor has the intention of finding a solution. It’s a way to oppress while feeling good about yourself as an oppressor, as other like-minded SJW will applaud you for it. It’s a way to be a bigot without the fear of backlash. If anyone dares to call you out on it, you are then given the entire backup needed to unleash your “righteous fury” against said person.

I should know as I have been on the receiving end of this equation enough times to realize that I no longer want to be a part of this kind of social justice. Just because you assume you’re right, doesn’t excuse you when you do wrong.

If you are unsure if your actions and comments are wrong, here’s a simple mental exercise. Before posting up that righteous attack, replace the people you are attacking with the group you are defending. If you would consider that comment hate speech, it probably is. Before posting that defense of your group, replace it with the group you fight against. Are you giving them special privileges over the rest of society? If so, then you probably are doing that for your own group.

Social justice shouldn’t be about everyone being equally discriminated or oppressed. It should be about everyone being equally empowered. It should be about using our diversity as a way to expand our ideals and our understanding.  Instead of focusing on how to knock someone down to the lowest position as a solution, we should on how to raise everyone up to the highest denominator. Instead of calling out privilege as a bad thing, we should view privilege as what should be fair for everyone, and work in that direction. And above all, we really need to stop expecting equality to happen because we are all the same, but expect it because being different is no reason for inequality.