If you look around the world you live in, it won’t take too long before you observe men in a pointless struggle for dominance in the male hierarchy that exists in their own mind.
These are men who use religion as an excuse to vilify and commit violence against others they see as un-manly or as valid targets to establish their own manliness: Gay men, transgender persons, women who want equality, and men who belong to a different group. The objective is simply to keep people down who look, think, or behave differently. If they are not an alpha male and a member of this group, or they aren’t a compliant female and a member of this group, they are targets, they are the enemy, they are lesser human beings or not human beings at all.
They indulge in fantasies regarding heroic male violence- they talk about how they’d shoot a member of the opposing group without hesitation, they join the army for the purpose of killing A-rabs. They join Al-Qaeda for the purpose of killing infidels. They strap bombs to themselves and blow themselves up, believing themselves to be the heroes. They amass a ton of weapons and gun down innocent people in a nightclub, because they believe if they lash out against these perceived enemies, their own lack of manliness will be washed away with the blood of the innocent. They will prove to themselves, to other men, and to their male god figure that they are indeed a worthy man, not one of those weaklings who isn’t (in their own mind) the ideal alpha male.
A man must be physically strong, in their minds. Or they must be extremely deadly and violent. They must be willing to inflict violence on others at the slightest provocation. They must identify others who are weaker than themselves and shame them, antagonize them, threaten them, defeat them, or kill them outright, otherwise they’ve failed in their duty to the male hierarchy that exists in their mind.
These men are often racist, ultra-nationalist, xenophobic, intolerant of other faiths, and isolationist. Their politics reflect the viewpoint that people who look like me and agree with my views are okay, and everyone else is undesirable and inferior, and we need to kill them or keep them out.
These men are often abusive toward their girlfriend (or boyfriend). These men rarely care about the rights of women, and are controlling and violent toward women who try to make choices for themselves. You can see it in an abusive relationship, or you can see it in cultures where women aren’t allowed to do anything without their husband present, where they can’t hold down a job or drive a car, where they are threatened with violence if they disobey.
These male supremacists have much in common with one another, fundamentally. But if they are even slightly different or in opposing groups, they will attack one another just as mercilessly. Thus you have gang violence, civil wars, armed conflicts across the globe. Men using politics, religion, and national borders or territory as an excuse to identify and kill an enemy, because if they manage to do so, they will be seen as a real man in the eyes of their fellow men. They will have glory. They will be the hero.
The man who straps a bomb to his chest, or stockpiles semi-automatic weapons and plots to use them, the man who joins a racist group or fringe militia, doesn’t see himself as the villain. No, he’s heroic. He’s facing off against impossible odds. And if he puts himself in the position of gunning down 50 people, then he’s just evening the odds and being smart about it, in his mind.
The membership of Al-Qaeda see themselves as righteous and heroic soldiers fighting in a glorious war against the weak and un-manly infidels who do not respect their hierarchy. The lone gunman sees himself as a martyr, a hero taking down the undesirables, who wants to be remembered as a REAL man. In this moment of violence, he is washing away all the things that made him weak and a lesser man. In this moment of violence, he is declaring to all the other REAL men out there that he is one of them. Willing to fight and die, and kill the enemy. He is dying for the cause, the cause of righteous manliness.
If the government threatens to take away his gun, he is willing to stand his ground and shoot the police one by one, and die for his gun. That gun represents his manliness. You will not emasculate him that way. He refuses to surrender and become like the weak people who aren’t smart enough to arm themselves like he did. He views his selfishness as a source of strength, and considers weak a society that develops any program that helps the poor, the sick, or the elderly get by. For he is self-sufficient and those who aren’t should simply die off.
This man cannot concede one thing he believes in, and will respond to any questioning of his righteousness, authority, and manliness with violence.
There is one motivation that explains all of these behaviors, and that motivation is fear. He’s afraid of not being seen as a strong alpha male. He’s afraid of being seen as weaker than his perceived enemies, or being seen as weak by those same enemies. He’s afraid of being powerless, of being rejected by his male peers. He’s afraid of what might happen if he concedes that his ways are not the only righteous ways, he’s afraid of accepting anyone else’s authority. He’s afraid of his allies and needs their respect, and he’s afraid of his enemies and he hides that fear through violence and by arming himself. He’s afraid of the consequences for his actions, so if he does in get caught by his enemies, he makes certain he dies without having to face his accusers.
Basically, he’s a fucking coward.
Meanwhile, other people are perfectly content to live their lives without subscribing to this hierarchy he’s created, without living a day of their lives in fear, without stockpiling weapons, without closing borders or threatening war against everyone in this world who isn’t in 100% agreement. Other people live in a world full of the very same dangers as alpha male asshole, and yet, can get to sleep at night without needing the security blanket of a gun within reach. Other people don’t need to belong to a militia or a violent gang in order to feel like they belong. Other people don’t see society itself as a weakness and they choose to obey the social contract. Other people don’t have a problem with people of different cultures, ethnicities, identities, or beliefs, so long as they are not trying to impose them on others through intimidation and violence.
Women are not immune to the same weaknesses I see in male supremacists. Women can be violent, abusive, and divisive as well. But it is not to the same extent. If you are a man reading this, picture yourself actually being a woman in most of the countries on this planet, and ask yourself if those would be tolerable conditions for you, personally. Realize there is no notable society on Earth that puts women on top of the hierarchy and mistreats men in an equivalent manner.
What would *actually *be a sign of strength is to realize these things, and to let go of the insecurities which lead to a desire to be respected by others, whose respect can only be earned through violence, or by defeating your perceived enemies. They are not people who are worthy of your own respect, and their respect is not worth having.
It seems like every man has a fantasy of being the “good guy with a gun”, who would take down the bad guy without hesitation with his cleverly concealed weapon, and from that day onward, be admired for his heroism and courage. It’s just that they’re too self-absorbed to realize that every other guy out there with a gun truly believes he’s the good guy with a gun. He’s also being a hero, in his mind. He’s earning the respect of his peers, and he will also be admired for his heroism and courage when he guns you down.
On behalf of the entire rest of humanity who isn’t packing, you’re not a hero, you’re an insecure moron suffering from delusions of grandeur. Go fuck yourself with your gun. Unless you’re a law enforcement officer who has trained their whole lives to take down active shooters, to save innocent lives, you’re just another cowardly prick obsessed with the fantasy of heroic violence, seeking to gratify your own ego.
The world doesn’t want your martyrdom, your petty religious or ideological crusade, or your so-called heroism. And if you think that is what you need to do to be recognized as a man, then guess what, you’re a pretty fucking pathetic excuse for one.
