I’m going to put on my amateur sociologist/evolutionary psychologist hat and ramble at you, so I’d appreciate some preemptive forgiveness at my uninformed indulgence.
The survival of a species is driven by two distinct primal forces: creation and destruction. Humans, like most animals, have these forces allocated by sex. Male is destruction, female is creation. I know some of you flinch immediately at the mention of destruction, but a primal force is not inherently good nor evil. It simply is. And a thriving species needs both forces working in concert.
Creation encompasses not only the most important and literal manifestation (children) but also the creation of strong group cohesion for the in-group: the family, the tribe, the community. Using empathy to resolve conflict between members of the in-group and to prevent internal threats to community stability.
Destruction shapes the external world and bends it to the good of the in-group. And it defends the in-group from the out-groups that threaten the safety of the tribe, securing the resources that the tribe needs to live.
These forces are not exclusive to their respective sexes. Men have empathy for their in-group. Women use social violence to maintain order and to prevent the upheaval of direct competition within the tribe. It’s a dynamic relationship that works for the human animal. But each force must be bound by the other.
2 things have happen in modern society that have upset this balance.
First, destruction has been marked as unredeemable evil, and creation as absolutely good. In practical terms, men have been condemned as dangerous beasts who must be restrained and trained to never use violence. And with enough stern lecturing and scolding about feelings and empathy, they will be able to remove the ‘stain’ of violence from their souls. But scolding does not, and will never stop the ill intention actions of hostile members from the out-group. By shackling the strong men in your tribe, you submit yourself to the tyranny of weak men from outside the group. And destruction as a primal force is hard-coded into our DNA. The same biology that gives men the capacity for terrible physical deeds also fuels the most heroic of our actions: soldiers defending their children, firefighters rushing into a burning building, cops chasing down violent psychopaths. In a healthy society, the force of destruction is used as a tool to protect the weak and vulnerable of your tribe.
The second disruption is unbounded empathy. It’s been expanded so that effectively every human is part of the in-group, and empathy is allocated on an emotional basis of who you most feel bad for. But for empathy to be effective there must be a shared priority of the welfare of the entire group. The former out-groups that you have no classified as part of your tribe have no allegiance to you or your actual tribe. And by spending limited resources on the out-group, you expose your group to danger.
Here is an example of empathy gone horribly wrong. To summarize, a non-citizen was spared a criminal conviction, because a conviction would have prevented him from becoming a Canadian citizen. The crime that he was charged with? Trying to pay at 15-year-old girl to have sex with him. Our empathy-driven criminal justice system prioritized adding this man to the Canadian in-group instead of protecting Canadian children from sex predators. So the safety of our internal group has now been compromised (repeatedly. This is sadly not the only example of our failed rule of law). And since empathy has not only failed to stop the danger, but actively increased it, men will come to the decision that they must take action. THIS IS NOT A GOOD SITUATION FOR SOCIETY. I believe in the value of strong laws that are applied fairly, to prevent violence as a solution. But when the Rule of Law fails to protect the weak, men will take the law into their own hands. And there will be blood.
Chris Loblaw, Author 