OPINION:
America has witnessed a war on masculinity over the past three decades perpetrated by well-intentioned over-parenting, the agenda-driven entertainment industry, dangerous political correctness, and deliberate political strategy.
Whether through misguided nurturing, intentional shaping of perceptions, fear of offending someone, or Democratic party politics, the result has produced an emasculation of American men rising to alarming heights—threatening traditional society and our economic future.
It starts as early as Kindergarten. Boys who act ’rambunctious’ are immediately prescribed Ritalin or Adderall to keep them docile and calm. While the number of girls being prescribed medication for attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is on the rise, boys are prescribed ADHD drugs at over two and half times the rate of girls, according to a recent NBC news report.
In addition to their natural behavior being stifled through medication, American boys are subjected to constant positive reinforcement where no one is allowed to have their feelings hurt, lose a game, or make the Honor Roll.
Outside of school, an average American child’s every moment is now planned and supervised through play dates, organized extra-curricular activities, and helicopter-parenting. This social conditioning is creating a generation of male wimps that become cannon fodder for the demands of the real world.
The assault on males continues everyday through our media, best exemplified by the network television template for primetime sitcoms—from “King of Queens” to “Modern Family”, and “The Big Bang Theory”. Immature, usually overweight, lazy, spineless men navigate life by accident, dumb luck or with the help of superior female characters. While this may be reality for some, it reinforces the negative stereotype that any form of masculine behavior is to be marginalized, ridiculed and shunned.
The scourge of political correctness has seeped into every facet of American life and threatens to silence dissent, cower our leaders and weaken our military. Nowhere is this more apparent than the current social experimentation occurring on a regular basis in our armed forces—one of our last bastions of masculinity.
After speaking with dozens of U.S. Army soldiers, and as one myself, it is clear the massive social and cultural changes that have been forced onto the uniformed services, to include openly gay and—coming soon—self-identified transgendered service members. These changes have created confusion, contradictions, low morale and censorship among the ranks during a time of war.
Our highest ranking military leaders refuse to publicly oppose these measures for fear of removal by the Obama administration, and junior officers are discouraged from voicing their opinion for fear of investigation or harm to their career.
The result is an inordinate amount of the military’s time is now spent undergoing classes on cultural sensitivities, sexual harassment, suicide, and discrimination. Maybe this is why our Commander-in-Chief still cannot bring himself to call ISIS a Muslim entity.
Giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, these first three causes for the emasculation of American men can be seen as well-intentioned. However, the last and perhaps most pernicious cause is a directed strategy by the Democratic party to produce as many voters dependent on the federal government as possible.
Democrats have realized that traditionally masculine traits stand in contrast to a culture of dependency and entitlement. It is no coincidence that nearly one-in-six Americans are on food stamps—a 50 percent increase under President Obama’s terms.
Voters whose political leanings stem from traditional beliefs of masculinity, both men and women, tend to reject pro-dependency and entitlement policies and candidates. By encouraging and fostering gender-warfare at all levels of society, the Democratic Party has been successful in stifling masculine thought and ensuring voters who espouse traditional beliefs of masculinity are marginalized and branded ’cavemen,’ ’anti-women,’ or worse.
Thankfully, it seems the 2014 election rejected these ploys, but rest assured, the Democrats will bring them back in 2016. Winning one or two elections won’t stop the systematic changes they have put in place in all elements of society. It is difficult to see how America survives as a leading world power unless we continue to resist these dramatic changes.
Christian Kachel is the author of “Spoils of Olympus: By the Sword” and served three combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq for the Army.
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