What is Killing Young People in Modern Society

By Ryan Felman

@PathToManliness

“Most mass shootings are public suicides.” – Larry Sharpe on Joe Rogan #1167

Libertarian candidate running for Governor of New York has some refreshing thoughts for why young men grow desperate enough to take their lives, and at times, the lives of their classmates. His response to what is killing these kids: a lack of community, a lack of purpose and loneliness. Hard to argue against any of those so let’s expand on the theory.

Community

There has been a systematic destruction of American society over the last fifty years, especially towards men. Church has been perverted through priests forced to be incels. Not to mention the feminization of church and the rise of giant mega churches which seem to only serve as tax evasion for power hungry and immoral con artists. Looking at Joel Osteen, who could offer prayers but no money or supplies to the people of Houston after the devastating flooding from Hurricane Harvey.

Suburban life and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. It offers all the negative effects of city life and country life. Look up Revelations 3: 16. This is particularly true for kids who grow up in the suburbs where they have nothing to do. There are no stores or places to entertain themselves, nor is there natural beauty to play in so they are stuck staying inside playing video games. The rise of social media and online gaming has only exacerbated these problems.

The dinosaur media peddles fear which leads to helicopter parents being overprotective of their children and not letting them play outside alone. Not to mention the state has arrested parents for letting their kids walk alone outside.

Most parents today are too busy to play with them, so kids are left with socially sanctioned play times: gym, recess, sports clubs. Nothing against any of those activities but kids need time to be left alone and create their own games, rules and solutions to inevitable social conflicts without the intervention of adults.

The recipe for the Peter Pan generation: helicopter parents, everybody gets a trophy, feminized school structure, constant surveillance, destruction of cheap jobs through minimum wage hikes.

Purpose

Society needs a rite of passage. Life is too soft and too comfortable. Hence the rise of Tough Mudders, Spartan races and cold showers.

Man’s greatest battle today is our lack of purpose. Modern society lacks a rite of passage and this leads to a generation of manchilds. The Peter Pan boy who refuses to grow up and plays video games all day in his parent’s basement is a tired old joke, but it is happening with greater frequency. To add to that is the Van Wilder who spends more than four years in college for fear of entering the real world. Years ago, the Virginia Tech shooter opened fire on his classmates killing 32 people. The fear of entering the real world may have been too much for him.

Is the education process failing to prepare young boys to transition into men and enter the real world? Well, education is certainly failing to prepare them for education seeing as the average student takes six years to get their bachelor’s degree. Is it the lack of purpose that is not inspiring these students to finish sooner? Are they enjoying their time in college and postponing their lives? Is the school system failing to offer a true education and merely offering childcare for overworked parents while teaching basic skills that could be taught in half the time? Probably all the above but I will posit an addendum to that list. There are numerous students who have no interest and maybe no need for the education.

After reaching a certain age, students perhaps should be given the chance to enter the real world. If you are in sales, you are taught to speak at a 7th grade level so that you don’t talk over the average client. This is the economic truth of the average intelligence of a typical American.

Modern society is obsessed with equality, but we are not all equal and acceptance of this fact could lead to an education system that accepts this truth and utilizes it to offer a better education to each class of student. It is obvious that the future salesperson does not need the same level of education in grammar as the potential writer, and the future plumber needs less focus on biology as the future doctor.

Loneliness

This is the reason stories such as the Sky King, Killdozer and Michael Douglas in Falling Down resonate with so many despite their actions. Though most don’t condone the acts, they can empathize with the feeling of despair and futility in a society that seems to view men as expendable.

Women claim there is a patriarchy in place, but I have reservations about this notion and know many other men do as well. If modern society were a true patriarchy, would men be faced with the inequities of the draft, male incarceration and male suicide being 3.53 times as prevalent as female suicide.

I could write an entire article about the inequities found solely in the family court system where custody is nearly always awarded to the woman and the man is assumed guilty until proven innocent. Along with this comes the child support and alimony which comes with no strings attached and rarely goes to support the child. The fact that these payments are not given a ceiling show that it is simply a front for socialistic ideals to wedge their way into American society.

The fact is that women spend money way more than men, and capitalism always wins, even if it uses a socialistic practice of spreading the money around to further economic growth. No wonder the majority of divorces are initiated by women. They are economically incentivized to do so.

The worst effect of the divorce is the separation of the nuclear family unit which leads to our boys being feminized by an unbalanced social structure. There is no escape from this when the kids are dropped off for 8 hours at the government sanctioned daycare we call school. Check out your local elementary school and I’m sure you’ll find nearly all teachers are female. At what point do our children receive any influence from men?

If you are involved in your sons lives or the lives of young men in the making, it is your duty as a man to be a positive role model. The attack on masculinity in society is all encompassing and detrimental to the development for men and for women. Look at the emasculation of men in society, culture and media and it is no wonder that women will whine about “where are all the real men?”

The few places in society where men are still allowed to be men are sports and martial arts. If you haven’t given your son the opportunity to try out martial arts, you’ll see that it still provides a positive outlet for masculine energy. It teaches discipline, respect and work ethic in addition to self-defense skills. And of course, girls can learn all these skills as well in martial arts.

If modern society is to have a future where its inhabitants can live meaningful lives, we will have to work to restore our traditional ways. We will have to find ways to reestablish communities in a world growing increasingly busy and detached.

Changing our values and seeking more real world interaction and perhaps focusing less on dedication to careers will lead to lives that are less lonely. And for your purpose, that one is up to you to find. Start writing every night about your thoughts and it should help paint a clear picture as to what you value. In the meantime, see how you make a positive impact on young lives and your own community.