A hat tip to Derb in The Corner for pointing out this fascinating essay, Wimps and Barbarians, by Terrence O. Moore. He traces the development of young men into adults in our current day and suggests that they lack the proper guidance to become what used to be real men. Now, he correctly observes, most are either barbarians or wimps. We certainly hear enough of this from single women, as well as from the older generation, to which I am assuming Mr. Moore himself belongs.
I am not sure you can pigeonhole any one young man, or adult male into simply one or the other. I would think many of us fall somewhere in between. But I think his generalities help explain his premise, which is a solid one. Further, I have to disagree with his assumptions about certain forms of music, namely rock & roll. I see the point he is getting at, but I dare say much of his position on this is based once again in his personal bias rather than any scholarly research or academic theory.
I would suggest that this change dates back to before the 80's and 90's as well. Much of this, in my opinion, is the trade-off we get from improving the societal status of women. He obviously touches on this point. I dare not suggest that we change this for the worse as it would only serve to contribute to the unwanted imbalance, but we must find an equal footing of some kind in which men are able to be real men and women are able to be real women.
Both can have their place in society that allows for proper growth and acheivement without one being at the expense of the other. But we must have the discussion if we wish to see a change for the better. Read it all, for Moore does a very nice job getting the ball rolling for such. That is all.
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