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There is a plague in America. It is spreading rapidly and aggressively. It has already taken countless lives, and threatens many more as we speak.
This plague is called passivity. It disproportionately affects men, but don’t worry, the women have their own dragon to slay (feminism). We will deal with that another time.
A brief diagnosis
This plague of passivity is eroding any chance of recovering a sense of respectability and gravitas to the male gender in our country. For many, it has reached critical mass and they see the bankruptcy of effeminacy in men. But how did we get here?
The wicked, unbelieving world has always sought to neuter men. In general, passive and effeminate men are easier to control and bulldoze with ungodly agendas. This was done in a variety of ways throughout history, but there have been a few key ones in our day that are worth pointing out.
First, we have pornography. Nothing has wrecked the modern man more than the over-sexualization of the brain. From SuperBowl commercials all the way to porn sites, sex and nudity is everywhere. Not only can we access mass-produced pornographic content, but we can now create custom sexual fantasies through platforms like OnlyFans. This has led to an epidemic of low-testosterone, weak-willed, shame-ridden men who are so sapped of all virility that they have a weaker handshake than their grandmother. This has said nothing of the psychological and emotional effects, like attachment and relational issues. The world has done a great job of neutralizing the modern man with an age-old tactic: sex.
Second, we have substance abuse. This one may seem like a no-brainer, but hear me out. Back in the day, every dad drank a little too much beer and every mom had a few too many glasses of wine at dinner. But nowadays, teenage kids have access to traceless and scentless devices that allow them to smoke synthetic weed wherever they want, whenever they want. Add to that the staggering number of young boys taking prescription grade meth to counteract the supposed attention disorder they have and make sure they sit still for 8 hours a day and you have a recipe for disaster on your hands. This may make me sound like a boomer, and I'm fine with that. But get the young people drunk, high, doped up, and consuming hours of porn every day, and you have effectively nullified the young male population.
Finally, we have feminism. This one is more devious than the first two, because it is the one most loudly preached and socially accepted. What feminism has done, admittedly well, is make every boy that wants to be a man feel like they have to check with the women around them to make sure they aren't being too manly. What this does is breed generations of men who are afraid of rising up, taking charge, and leading in the home, the church, and the commonwealth out of a fear that they will be publicly admonished, stripped of their supposed 'privilege,' and told by an angry mob of childless online cat-mothers to 'check their patriarchy.' Feminism has essentially created a fear-based shame culture that tells men they are allowed to come out and play in public, provided they are eunuchs like the guys Jezebel hung out with.
Before we give an antidote, however, I need to address a potential cliff that many are driving off of in an effort to get out of the previously outlined ditch.
No black-pilling
Human beings are natural over-correctors. We swing from one extreme to the other, like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. An example I am fond of using is that of legalistic versus loose upbringings. Some people are raised legalistically, which could be summarized as all rules and no relationship, while on the other side of the coin the loose upbringing involves no rules at all. The loose parents lay down no rules because they believe that the best way to establish a loving relationship with their children is to never say no. Now, when either one of these people experiences salvation in Christ Jesus, and the subsequent freedom found in Him, they will almost always experience a rapid and drastic swing to the polar opposite of how they grew up. The legalist will abuse freedom and live in an unbiblical manner, all the while claiming “grace.” The loose individual will realize the damage the lack of rules did to them and respond with legalistic and unbiblical rule-making and enforcing. Either one of these overcorrections is a problem.
My concern is what I perceive to be the dangerous counter-plague that is creeping up all around us. That is the issue I am calling fake masculinity. This is arising due to a right recognition of the sin of effeminacy and a wrong solution to it. Many men are swinging the other direction and becoming hyper-masculine morons, which is, in reality, not masculinity at all. There are plenty of internet influencer types that are great examples of this. They see pathetic and passive weaklings and essentially do the opposite of what they see them do. If a weak man is monogamous and unhappy, the fake man is a whoremonger. If a weak man is in a boring and simple job that isn’t exciting, the fake man is a greedy and selfish mammon-lover. If a weak man is a pale and gaunt shell of a man, the fake man becomes a jacked and tan jabroni with more steroid acne than he has brain cells. The list really does go on and on.
There is a level beyond this, sometimes called black-pilling. This is the idea of accepting the degradation of the world around you and plunging yourself into a nihilistic and self-destructive abyss of despair like a kamikaze pilot. It destroys both yourself and the people around you, and is in reality the most cowardly and fake path of all.
All this foolishness must be stopped. And the only hope is real Christian men.
The cure
The path forward is not a pretty one if this trend continues. The only hope we have is for a reclamation of the biblical view of manhood. This is the only way out that leads to a flourishing and healthy society. Gone are the days where men can sit on the sidelines and watch the world unfold around them; it is on fire, and only slightly mad and mostly courageous men have the water needed to put it out.
I have listed many different descriptors of the passive man; weak, cowardly, effeminate, hyper-masculine, selfish, greedy, whoremonger, etc. .
In an effort to end on a high and holy note, I will simply list the virtues of the biblical and godly man, with accompanying scripture verses. Read these. Test yourself against these. Ingest these. Then when (not if) you feel conviction, pray to the Lord to grant you repentance and lead you into obedience by the Holy Spirit.
Violently monogamous (Matthew 5:29-30).
Relentlessly honorable (1 Peter 3:7).
Ruthlessly sacrificial (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Intensely joyful (John 15:11).
Painfully humble (James 4:6).
Stalwartly faithful (Hebrews 13:4).
Patiently paternal (Ephesians 6:4).
In everything, loving (1 Corinthians 16:14).
"Come on, boys, don't you know?
There're dragons out there, dragons out there.
Come on, boys, don't be slow,
Cut down Leviathan, go get the girl."
Old Neptune He's Roaring - Brian Sauvé