I can make a social history argument to support this thesis. WWII and Vietnam vets came home in completely different ways that affected the maintenance of their social ties.
Fun story, when I left Democratic Party politics (because of this very issue) to pursue a military history MA, I asked a friend who is a professor in the field for a reading list on origins of war and primitive warfare. He was happy to provide it but he told me he doesn't teach the topic anymore because he is afraid of cancelation by butthurt little munchkins. (I was the GA, I graded their papers and tests, I am allowed to say that.) So you have tenured professors of military history who are giving trigger warnings and calls for papers in professional MILHIST journals (not making this up) that deemphasize hierarchies to emerge themes of self-care. That's when I realized I had to climb back into the political fray, otherwise these morons are going to get everyone killed.
I served ten years as an infantryman in the Australian army post Vietnam. I was proud of what I did, and I loved the bonds I had with my mates as we enjoyed some experiences and endured (rain!) others.
I'd do it all over again without hesitation, despite the wear and tear it inflicted on my body, but I wouldnt want to do it right now, because the society isn't worth it.
I don't want to go to war to protect grotesque troons, drag queens, homesexuals and other such degenerates. Our government is lead by an effeminate, flabby closeted homesexual with a honking voice, and his colleagues are lesbians, pasty faced, pencil necked academics with arms like matchsticks. Everywhere I look there are Muslims and other foreign invaders. I could go on and on.
What we have isn't worth protecting. I hope that will change. I used to be proud of my country.
I think the bigger societal problem here beyond these specific gender dynamics is that what a job is actually supposed to accomplish has increasingly become irrelevant. There's increasingly this presumption that jobs exist for the sole purpose of earning prestige, and whether a person deserves the job is more important than if they can actually do it. The higher up you get, the worse this presumption becomes. It's a big reason why the managerial class is both so bloated, yet also so completely incapable of even explaining what exactly it is they do that warrants they soak up so much of our society's resources.
Blank state psychology is commendable in one degree in that it tries to insist a degree of autonomy inherent in each human being. However it falls apart not because humans lack free will but because most humans lack novelty for the level required for it to work in practice. Progressive ideology takes exceptions as rules, while culture is build on established norms cultivated by mimicry and altruism. Social norms are produced mainly though an interplay of biological traits with social learning, women wouldn’t be great caregivers if they didn’t also have a higher biological aptitude for caregiving.
“The answer to this riddle is to understand that the functions of women (choosing and taming men, instilling femininity in society, and bearing children) are the most important functions that anyone can fulfill for humanity’s future.”
Progressive women have no idea of their value or what to do with it. If men had this ability, you simply could not stop them from being mothers and housewives.
You are spot on in your analysis of the mental health challenges facing combat vets- it’s not PTSD, but loss of community and purpose that causes mental health problems for these men.
They used to have a job that mattered and they did it as part of a close-knit brotherhood. They get out and they’re just a cog in a corporation with no close relationships that can compare with what they had in the army. Having had the experience of this brotherhood and then being exposed to the atomized nature of modern culture, they have something to compare it to and it leaves them feeling alone and useless. Civilians, who generally mean well, often treat them as broken victims who must be suffering from trauma or PTSD, which makes it worse.
There’s another point to consider when it comes to women in combat- they make poor killers. Even in civilian society, look at the violent crime rates for men compared to women and you can see that men have a more aggressive nature than women, which makes them better material to form into soldiers. I was fortunate to have the opportunity lead paratroopers into combat in Afghanistan, and almost to a man the top reasons they gave for joining and serving as airborne infantrymen during a time of war were:
1. Because it’s hard, and I want to prove I’m a man.
2. To fight and kill men in close combat.
When two soldiers meet in battle and one wants to kill, while the other is only willing to do so, the one who wants it will usually win.
I never served myself , but i believe I understand. My father brother uncles grandfathers and cousins were all in some branch of military. Going back to WW1 . "Shoulder to shoulder" and "100 years ago , therapy was talking it out with a trusted friend" are totally spot on.
I can make a social history argument to support this thesis. WWII and Vietnam vets came home in completely different ways that affected the maintenance of their social ties.
Fun story, when I left Democratic Party politics (because of this very issue) to pursue a military history MA, I asked a friend who is a professor in the field for a reading list on origins of war and primitive warfare. He was happy to provide it but he told me he doesn't teach the topic anymore because he is afraid of cancelation by butthurt little munchkins. (I was the GA, I graded their papers and tests, I am allowed to say that.) So you have tenured professors of military history who are giving trigger warnings and calls for papers in professional MILHIST journals (not making this up) that deemphasize hierarchies to emerge themes of self-care. That's when I realized I had to climb back into the political fray, otherwise these morons are going to get everyone killed.
I served ten years as an infantryman in the Australian army post Vietnam. I was proud of what I did, and I loved the bonds I had with my mates as we enjoyed some experiences and endured (rain!) others.
I'd do it all over again without hesitation, despite the wear and tear it inflicted on my body, but I wouldnt want to do it right now, because the society isn't worth it.
I don't want to go to war to protect grotesque troons, drag queens, homesexuals and other such degenerates. Our government is lead by an effeminate, flabby closeted homesexual with a honking voice, and his colleagues are lesbians, pasty faced, pencil necked academics with arms like matchsticks. Everywhere I look there are Muslims and other foreign invaders. I could go on and on.
What we have isn't worth protecting. I hope that will change. I used to be proud of my country.
I think the bigger societal problem here beyond these specific gender dynamics is that what a job is actually supposed to accomplish has increasingly become irrelevant. There's increasingly this presumption that jobs exist for the sole purpose of earning prestige, and whether a person deserves the job is more important than if they can actually do it. The higher up you get, the worse this presumption becomes. It's a big reason why the managerial class is both so bloated, yet also so completely incapable of even explaining what exactly it is they do that warrants they soak up so much of our society's resources.
Crisis of meaning and the God-shaped hole
Blank state psychology is commendable in one degree in that it tries to insist a degree of autonomy inherent in each human being. However it falls apart not because humans lack free will but because most humans lack novelty for the level required for it to work in practice. Progressive ideology takes exceptions as rules, while culture is build on established norms cultivated by mimicry and altruism. Social norms are produced mainly though an interplay of biological traits with social learning, women wouldn’t be great caregivers if they didn’t also have a higher biological aptitude for caregiving.
I imagine SSRIs have a lot to do with PTSD, especially regarding suicides, a known and documented side-effect of SSRIs.
“The answer to this riddle is to understand that the functions of women (choosing and taming men, instilling femininity in society, and bearing children) are the most important functions that anyone can fulfill for humanity’s future.”
Progressive women have no idea of their value or what to do with it. If men had this ability, you simply could not stop them from being mothers and housewives.
You are spot on in your analysis of the mental health challenges facing combat vets- it’s not PTSD, but loss of community and purpose that causes mental health problems for these men.
They used to have a job that mattered and they did it as part of a close-knit brotherhood. They get out and they’re just a cog in a corporation with no close relationships that can compare with what they had in the army. Having had the experience of this brotherhood and then being exposed to the atomized nature of modern culture, they have something to compare it to and it leaves them feeling alone and useless. Civilians, who generally mean well, often treat them as broken victims who must be suffering from trauma or PTSD, which makes it worse.
There’s another point to consider when it comes to women in combat- they make poor killers. Even in civilian society, look at the violent crime rates for men compared to women and you can see that men have a more aggressive nature than women, which makes them better material to form into soldiers. I was fortunate to have the opportunity lead paratroopers into combat in Afghanistan, and almost to a man the top reasons they gave for joining and serving as airborne infantrymen during a time of war were:
1. Because it’s hard, and I want to prove I’m a man.
2. To fight and kill men in close combat.
When two soldiers meet in battle and one wants to kill, while the other is only willing to do so, the one who wants it will usually win.
I never served myself , but i believe I understand. My father brother uncles grandfathers and cousins were all in some branch of military. Going back to WW1 . "Shoulder to shoulder" and "100 years ago , therapy was talking it out with a trusted friend" are totally spot on.
What a wonderful breath of fresh air. I will send this to my grandchildren.
Brilliant essay, exactly right.