This week saw a kind of “resolution” in the long drawn out trial with gun manufacturer Remington for the killing of 20 children and 6 adults in Sandy Hook elementary school ten years ago.
As Nicole Hockly, father of six year old son Dylan who was one of these victims, remarked, Remington used reckless marketing tactics that appeal to at-risk and violence-prone young men. Marketing that is targeted to those who want to appear more intimidating, more powerful and more masculine through their use of their AR-15s.
Remington did in fact market a “combat weapon” designed for war, to civilians. Lanza, the 20 year old shooter also killed his mother off site and himself that day. One ad that Remington/Bushmaster pushed told people to “report your friend for not ‘being a man’ because they didn’t own a Bushmaster.” Advertisements said this gun was “a card to be a man.”
One wonders if the pitiful shooter of 3 people (two who died) in Kenosha, Kyle Rittenhouse, might have been influenced by parallel advertising when he purchased his AR-15 as well. His “card to be a man?” Now he is being hailed as a hero by some on the far right.
The question I ask is this: Why do so many young men in America need a gun as a “card to be a man”? Need an AR-15 to feel “more masculine?” And, so many politicians?
Might it have a lot to do with a lack of healthy male role models? And a confusion about what a real man is?
This is one reason we have been discussing the sacred masculine and the divine feminine for a number of weeks in our DM. It is time we faced the confusions and messages being promulgated not only by advertisers but by politicians through their actions as well as their words. Was January 6 an event to “prove one’s manhood” for some who came armed and ready to maim and kill?
When one separates virtue and living out values from virility and being a fully developed human from manhood, one can expect trouble. When lying and bullying is praised as a virtue, one can expect trouble. When the reptilian brain is honored, but the mammal and compassionate brain is not, one can expect trouble. When the rational brain is elevated, but the intuitive brain is not, one can expect trouble. To be continued
See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors for Awakening the Sacred Masculine, pp. 277-296.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: “The Showdown.” Boys “fool around with heavily modified AR-15 rifles (the civilian cousin of the M-4)” Photo by Danny on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Why do you think some young men in America need an AR-15 to feel “more masculine”?
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
11 thoughts on “The Role of Toxic Masculinity in Gun Violence Unveiled”
The deeper issue that lies beneath what has been touched on within today’s DM, is the powerfully influential mentality and mechanisms of consumerism, and it’s illusional propaganda perpetuated through advertising, which has become particularly sophisticated in identifying, through technological advances such as algorithms, the desires within the hearts, minds and souls of humanity. Once identified, this information is used in subtle, subliminal and misleading ways… a temptation directly targeted, as an attempt to fulfill these desires.
As Mathew has aptly and succinctly stated, without spirituality and the rituals and ceremonies within this, humanity has lost its way, in navigating the pathway through our human desires, in connection and relationship with the unifying desires of our Creator. Sadly the consumeristic machine is all to aware of this, and is now using even spirituality within its illusionary, influential propaganda.
Truly, these are dangerous times we are living in… and we must be very mindful in discerning what and whom we let into our circle of influence. Through contemplation and inward reflection, we learn to intuit the wisdom needed in order to imaginatively and creatively traverse the pathways of our hearts, minds and souls, true desires. Through ritual and ceremony we spiritually connect and are drawn into communion with the Creator of the all and the everything, whom is the only One whom can reveal and fulfill co-creatively with humanity, these deeper and truer longings within. It is this One, whom has seeded and sealed these inherent and latent desires within the hearts, minds and souls of humanity that we are all in the process of coming into alignment, harmony and unity with. Within and in the midst of these chaotic times we are collectively experiencing an unfolding, evolving, emerging and unifying desire taking place, within the hearts, minds and souls of humanity… that of becoming Oned With not only the true nature, essence and presence of divinity within our humanity, but also the Oneing With the all and the everything of creation; and the inter-relationships, the inter-connections, the inter-reliance and the inter-dependence that threads and weaves its way through the Great Webb of Life.
Jeanette, Thank you for your comment, however let me say a few things that you mention in your three paragraphs. First, you say: “The deeper issue that lies beneath what has been touched on within today’s DM, is the powerfully influential mentality and mechanisms of consumerism, and it’s illusional propaganda perpetuated through advertising…” While it is true that consumerism is a real problem, I feel the greater problem is the lack of spirituality and a lack of virtue. Second, after acknowledging Matthew’s advice for the need for rituals and ceremonies you say: “Sadly the consumeristic machine is all to aware of this, and is now using even spirituality within its illusionary, influential propaganda.” What you say here is very true, and the way that this is happening is insidious. And finally, you say: “Through contemplation and inward reflection” and “Through ritual and ceremony” we can “Within and in the midst of these chaotic times we are collectively experiencing an unfolding, evolving, emerging and unifying desire taking place, within the hearts, minds and souls of humanity…” AMEN.
It’s all Toxic Testosterone!
Growing up in an Irish/Lakota family—Remington, Winchester and S&W were familiar names for “tools” that put food on the table. I was taught respect for firearms and food (animals that provided). My father, a WWII infantry veteran, was my primary teacher in these things. He also witnessed close hand the evil and destruction of weapons used against human beings. He loathed automatic weapons as only tools of death and destruction. To be a true man in our family meant leadership that flowed out of compassion and understanding. I see now that ours was a rare upbringing. I still own firearms of those manufacturers, all single shot hunting tools. But I don’t hunt anymore, so they are mostly just mementos from my past life. One last note, I am a lifetime member of the NRA who has in respect for my father continually supported gun control and “railed” against commercial sale of semi-automatic weapons. I’m sure NRA Leadership hate me. 😳🤪
Patrick, In the words of the philosopher, Simone Weil (and Groucho Marx): “I would never belong to and organization that would have me as a member.”
I think greed underlies all the false advertising, which harms women in their self-image as well as men in theirs. When wars slow down a bit, if they ever do, armament manufacturers turn to the domestic market for more revenue. Profit is the only motivation. What does it say about our “system of justice” that it took 20 years to make one of the gun manufacturers accountable, and that only in civil court? I so admire the parents that persisted and finally prevailed.
I read recently that men have a very high suicide rate, and some think it may partly stem from the confusion about masculinity. We need to be very careful not to shame men who may have and use guns for hunting or for self protection, who have trucks, who enjoy and participate in certain potentially or actually violent sports, etc. I agree with everything about the need to incorporate the feminine so that we are fully human, but sometimes it seems we can fall into a kind of elitist mind frame whereas we associate certain things with “toxic” masculinity and others with integrated masculinity. I think we need to take a both/and approach to what is true masculinity and true humanity.
Sue, My own experience as a man is, that I don’t feel that a balanced masculinity is “elitist.” But then again, when it comes to men heeding the call to balance, in the words of Jesus recorded in the book of Revelation: “Let he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to… him.”
My hope for humanity is in the small everyday acts of kindness and compassion we show for each other. I witness this in the small community we have formed in this apartment building. We show this on a daily basis and I am sure that this occurs in many other places. Change happens at the bottom and eventually bubbles up to the top. The Spirit moves where it will.
Barbara, I agree with your hope for humanity, that it is in “the small everyday acts of kindness and compassion we show for each other.” And your comment also reminds me of the Dalai Lama’s statement that he believes in the “Religion of kindness.”
Unfortunately, like you’ve covered elsewhere, the deeper roots of toxic masculinity have been historically for a long time the toxicity of aggressive egocentric patriarchal cultures around the world that have devalued and dominated feminine values of the Divine Feminine in interrelationships, human institutions, nature, and even religions… We’re slowly evolving in the arch of Justice, healthy masculine values from the Sacred Masculine, and as a species. We have to maintain our faith that God’s Spirit of Love~Light~Life~Justice~Peace~Creativity~Joy~Oneness is always with-in us….
Damian, It is my hope to that, “We’re slowly evolving in the arch of Justice, healthy masculine values from the Sacred Masculine, and as a species.” AMEN !!!