Most tribal societies marked the transition into adulthood with rites of passage, which often amounted to little more than senseless torture that had to be endured. There is evidently something to the principle of a coming-of-age ritual. In our civilized society, there is no clear transition to adulthood. Delayed adolescence is the norm, with many seeming to never mature. Common phrases like "the 30s are the new 20s", "adulting is hard", and "age is just a number" are all expressions of a desire to remain lost boys into perpetuity. Learn to adopt a healthy disdain for such language.
If American society has an analog to the rite of passage, it is the high school graduation, full of lofty sentiments of new independence and self determination. But high school no longer challenges students (up to 60 percent of college freshmen require remedial education) and half the students show up drunk, high, and rowdy to their day of honor. In addition, graduation ceremonies are now routine at all grade levels, reducing the ceremony from a celebration of a major life transition to more of an inflated reward for not flunking out. Even pre-schools perform graduations now. If my daughter completes college she will have participated in some half dozen graduations. (Although, the pre-school ceremony was so adorable that I almost don't mind participating in the trend.)
Primitive cultures might require a boy to take on a bear to prove his status as a man. Recent events have been inspiring. Perhaps the new ritual should be to take on a left-wing hate squad, and walk away with one's dignity intact. Despite the language adopted even by many on the right, Covington Catholic's Nick Sandmann did not smirk or engage in any sort of condescending behavior. While a still shot has captured the imaginations of millions of rage-addicted facebook junkies, the video shows that he merely stands where he was already standing, and uneasily attempts to keep a smiling face. He didn't instinctively turn to his heels at confrontation. (In fact, the boys have stated they weren't even sure if Nathan Phillips was being friendly or confrontational.) At any rate, they certainly were met by endless confrontation in the aftermath. Prominent mainstream voices were calling for the boys to be exiled from society & the economy, given as slaves to Indian tribes, or tossed into a woodchipper. To my knowledge, the students have not groveled to the media under the shame of hoax hate crimes nor have they apologized, although did express some regret at the whole incident. Very solid, especially for kids. Not all adults do so well. Tim Hunt apologized for his (admittedly foolish) candor before getting his career axed. Matt Taylor pathetically sobbed his way into keeping his job after wearing a provocative shirt. Brett Kavanaugh, of course, put on a display of public crying in response to a whole slew of ridiculous accusations.
On the right, the highest respect should be given to those who poke the bear and live to tell the tale. Trump, of course, does this routinely. During the campaign, he said good words - the best words - but everyone is skeptical of political promises. He demonstrated his valor by driving the left into incredible fits of rage, from which he always survived. We should measure our leaders primarily by the hate they receive from The Cult. If you aren't being called a racist, you aren't even trying. That's actually an understatement. McCain and Romney were both called racists at various times in their presidential campaigns, even as devoted stooges to the mainstream press.
It's understandable why people buckle under the pressure. For one, they are naive. They don't understand that the media is primarily a political weapon for the left. Second, they are unprepared. The media don't just hit the kinds of people experienced in handling attacks, like politicians, and gang up on kids. Normal people assume these things won't happen to them. Third, they see the incidents as unfair attacks that will destroy their reputations. It's time to start framing these as glorious opportunities to prove our mettle to the people we care about. Who cares what the left thinks? They hate us whatever we do. Grovel and apologize, or stand up like a man. (Or woman.) They don't care, but we do. If regular people start to see that their status is enhanced - not destroyed - by leftist rage fits, then the cowardice that grips so many will relax, and many will help us in our mission to destroy the left by fueling their own insanity.
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