Some articles defy attempts at categorization. This one started as a modest link in our “Environment and Asatru” section, then I realized it was also vital to “Our People and Our Culture.” Insofar as more passive men are less likely to defend their freedoms, it could go under the “Freedom and Asatru” heading as well. I finally realized it was too important to pigeonhole, and decided to flesh it out with enough commentary to fully explain why this subject is so relevant to us all.
What do the decline in American masculinity, dropping fertility, illegal immigration, pornography, and the rise of Islam all have in common?
While no one factor can be blamed for all of these, there is one surprising link affecting them all.
Dr. Leonard Sax was interviewed by Ian Punnett on “Coast to Coast” on February 16th. Now, you may never have heard of Dr. Sax - I know I hadn’t - but you’re going to want to hear what he has to say. He’s written a book called Boys Adrift: The five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men. The subtitle says it all, and in the course of his two hours on Coast to Coast, Sax touched on all those subjects I listed at the top of this essay.
Our young men, for quite a few years now, have been educated in ways that are unsuited to their developmental style. They’ve been given negative messages about masculinity and deprived of male role models. Their minds have been hypnotized by endless video games, and their motivation dulled by the over-prescription of drugs to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD). Finally, they have been subjected to a witches’ brew of environmental chemicals harmful to their bodies. The result has been their lack of motivation, dropping testosterone and sperm count, disinterest in marriage and children, and underachievement.
The social effects are all around us. As motivation to seek out and bed actual women drops, pornography is now the preferred solution - not an auxiliary or a temporary remedy - for a growing number of males. Increasingly, young men are more interested in their video games than in dating or career advancement.
Demographically, the phenomenon has come to the notice of scientists like Dr. David Gilmore of State University of New York. He predicts the collapse of secular English-speaking culture in the United States within fifty years. According to him, America fifty years from now will be characterized by two cultures, one Spanish-speaking and Catholic, and the other evangelical Christian. The reason? Those are the groups that value marriage and children. Secular, English-speaking culture will have become extinct.
Dr. Gilmore also predicts that Europe will be predominately Muslim within fifty years, for the same reason. A century from now, he believes America itself will have fallen to Islam.
Although Dr Sax did not specifically mention illegal immigration in his radio interview, he pointed out that the trades - plumbing, carpentry, auto repair - are dying in America. Young men are not particularly motivated for work of any kind, and they certainly are not motivated to take up the trades, which they see as beneath them. As much as some of us hate to hear it, there may indeed be some kinds of work that “Americans won’t do” - Americans who have been damaged by liberal anti-male policies, by over-prescribed drugs, and by environmental chemicals. The implications for European-Americans are obvious, and ominous.
Deserving of special attention is a group of chemicals called “endocrine disruptors” that interfere with normal hormonal behavior. These are found in certain foods and in plastics - for example, in the ubiquitous disposable plastic drink bottles that have become a hallmark of our civilization. These substances reduce ambition in men, lessen their testosterone production, and interfere with sperm count. In general, they make men less masculine and women less feminine. Endocrine disruptors are the chemical revenge of radical feminism and they play an important role in the changes we are discussing here.
As mothers and fathers, we must act with vigor against those influences that would harm our children. We need to give them strong and positive male role models - in our own families, and in the heroes of our Folk. We must not let normal male restlessness be falsely diagnosed as ADD. We must take into consideration the normal developmental process in male bodies, and we must remove from our immediate environment those chemicals dangerous to young endocrine systems.
All this is extremely relevant to the future of Asatru. We are in direct competition with three other faiths that, because of their emphasis on family, marriage, and children, may claim the future. These are Catholicism, evangelical Christianity, and Islam. Secularists, hedonists, and the politically correct will become extinct - so we must be sure that our own pro-family, pro-marriage, and pro-children values show forth in our lives and in the lifestyles we pass on to our descendants.
http://www.boysadrift.com/ - Sax’s book
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2008/02/16.html - link to a “Coast to Coast” interview with Dr. Sax
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/index.htm - a site with lots of general information
http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/04malehealth.htm - discussion of soy products adverse effect on male health and fertility
