I don't want to talk about guns. The topic has been beaten to death with little result. The real discussion needs to be about why so many choose this path. Why are people lashing out, killing others en masse ? They are throwing a temper tantrum on a large scale. These people are not considering the consequences of their actions , not figuring to change anything at all, it is a cry for attention. You will pay attention to me ! But where is this coming from ?
In looking back at my own childhood I try to see what may have been different. Not just what was different for me, rather for the majority of us. To begin with we were held accountable, from a early age, for whatever choices we were allowed to make. And yes, the ability to make a choice was a reward for good behavior. When you show me you can, fill in the blank, then you can, fill in the other blank. Choice was an earned thing, otherwise you just did as you were told ! We were taught to respect authority. We were also taught to not resent authority. We were taught it was acceptable to question it. Now that didn't mean you got to throw a fit when you didn't get your way. No, you followed authority and then petitioned that authority for redress if you felt wronged. In other words, you did what you were told and complained about it later. If you didn't do that in a reasonable fashion you would be corrected for that. You definitely didn't start cursing or raising your voice as a form of protest ! The adults would do that on occasion and it was always pointed out how inappropriate that was. Parliamentary rules were followed. A breach of those rules could get you ejected from the discussion.
Really I do think we were taught more about expectations. There were few excuses. The first course of action was not to drug the child into compliance. I never heard of any such thing as ADHD. I'm not saying it didn't exist, I'm not saying it isn't a legitimate illness, just that I never heard of it before. So, the question has to be asked, where did it come from ? How have so many become so mentally weak ? It is a weakness of the mind that causes people to make these choices. Puzzling too is why is it almost exclusively men ? What were we, my generation, taught about being a man ? What has been taught since ? If you give that some thought you will realize that whole conversation has changed in a drastic fashion. In fact you're not even supposed to say things like, act like a man. Saying that is somehow wrong these days. Doing so will get you labeled a chauvinist ! And we have the whole campaign of " fight like a girl " that implies that girls can fight as hard as a man. What are they really saying ? They are talking about mental toughness. To even suggest that women are somehow different from a man will get you labeled a misogynist ! And the result is causing some confusion is my opinion. Of course I'm not a " mental health professional " and therefore unqualified to present a theory.
I'm thinking we may be seeing these displays of " manliness " as a result of some of these changes. We are teaching our men to be far more emotional and far less stoic than in the past. I know, I know, emotional responses are associated with whom ? This is were I get called a misogynist. The ladies seldom lash out in a physical sense, just a truth evidenced throughout history. Yes, it is a generalization. Now we are making our men emotional and they are lashing out how males traditionally lash out, in a physical way. Could there be an inherent property to being male that causes this reaction ? Can we medicate the " male " out of our kids ? Maybe that medication should be teaching them to take a more stoic approach to life.
In looking back at my own childhood I try to see what may have been different. Not just what was different for me, rather for the majority of us. To begin with we were held accountable, from a early age, for whatever choices we were allowed to make. And yes, the ability to make a choice was a reward for good behavior. When you show me you can, fill in the blank, then you can, fill in the other blank. Choice was an earned thing, otherwise you just did as you were told ! We were taught to respect authority. We were also taught to not resent authority. We were taught it was acceptable to question it. Now that didn't mean you got to throw a fit when you didn't get your way. No, you followed authority and then petitioned that authority for redress if you felt wronged. In other words, you did what you were told and complained about it later. If you didn't do that in a reasonable fashion you would be corrected for that. You definitely didn't start cursing or raising your voice as a form of protest ! The adults would do that on occasion and it was always pointed out how inappropriate that was. Parliamentary rules were followed. A breach of those rules could get you ejected from the discussion.
Really I do think we were taught more about expectations. There were few excuses. The first course of action was not to drug the child into compliance. I never heard of any such thing as ADHD. I'm not saying it didn't exist, I'm not saying it isn't a legitimate illness, just that I never heard of it before. So, the question has to be asked, where did it come from ? How have so many become so mentally weak ? It is a weakness of the mind that causes people to make these choices. Puzzling too is why is it almost exclusively men ? What were we, my generation, taught about being a man ? What has been taught since ? If you give that some thought you will realize that whole conversation has changed in a drastic fashion. In fact you're not even supposed to say things like, act like a man. Saying that is somehow wrong these days. Doing so will get you labeled a chauvinist ! And we have the whole campaign of " fight like a girl " that implies that girls can fight as hard as a man. What are they really saying ? They are talking about mental toughness. To even suggest that women are somehow different from a man will get you labeled a misogynist ! And the result is causing some confusion is my opinion. Of course I'm not a " mental health professional " and therefore unqualified to present a theory.
I'm thinking we may be seeing these displays of " manliness " as a result of some of these changes. We are teaching our men to be far more emotional and far less stoic than in the past. I know, I know, emotional responses are associated with whom ? This is were I get called a misogynist. The ladies seldom lash out in a physical sense, just a truth evidenced throughout history. Yes, it is a generalization. Now we are making our men emotional and they are lashing out how males traditionally lash out, in a physical way. Could there be an inherent property to being male that causes this reaction ? Can we medicate the " male " out of our kids ? Maybe that medication should be teaching them to take a more stoic approach to life.
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