Is Western Civilization Too Civilized?

From banning jungle gyms and monkey bars to eliminating tackle football, American schools have slowly been removing any potential danger from our children's lives. Some schools have gone so far as to eliminate swings and slides, lest some poor child get hurt. Though girls are affected by the weakening of the American child, most of the activities being suppressed on the schoolyard are aimed at boys. But leave it to Canada to lead the way to the complete neutering of Western boys. They've taken away their balls.

The feminization of American males has been going on for decades since the rise of radical feminism. But sadly, even those who should know better have often joined in the blurring of natural biological differences between boys and girls, men and women. One Harvard president was even booted out of his post for daring to suggest that males tend to lean more toward the hard sciences than females.

Toronto public schools are now ball-less. Nerf balls are OK, but no longer will the kids be threatened by oncoming projectiles such as footballs, baseballs, volleyballs, or any ball with an exterior harder than Jell-O. I remember when I was playing football in elementary school, and I somehow got lined up against the biggest kid of them all. I prepared for death. But I was faster than he was, and managed to get out of his way. And I was nowhere near the ball. I don't think having the quarterback throwing a nerf football would have altered my fear one iota. As for baseball, I became a great hitter simply because the alternative was that the leather-bound rock being hurled from the mound would hit me instead of the bat. I survived.

I'm hoping the action in Toronto doesn't metastasize into America, but I'm not holding my breath. No wonder the jihadists think Americans are pushovers. Fortunately, our military has no such delusions about life being without danger. Life itself is about calculated risk. Boys tend to be greater risk-takers than girls. There are plenty of tough girls out there, but on the whole, boys tend to be the daredevils. They are overall more prone to competition, particularly physical competition. Take that away from them, and you get two types of male adults--the effete pinky-finger French wine drinker and the street thug.

Future Christian warriors are being told by their namby-pamby pastors, weak-kneed mothers and metrosexualized fathers that violence never solves anything. Well, tell that to the Japanese and the Germans. Rough schoolyard play, including those hard balls, are part of learning how to take necessary risks while avoiding injury as best you can. As the Duke of Wellington said, "the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." Instead, we are converting our children into the boy in the plastic bubble. Nothing, not even the smallest virus or bacterium must ever reach them. Remove the plastic bubble, and our children are exposed to all kinds of nasty dangers to which they have no defense.

Bullies and jihadists count on the other children being weak and submissive. A boy who hasn't learned how to dodge a foul ball isn't likely to grow up to know how to dodge a bullet. And he sure as hell isn't going to know how to fight back. Those who have not learned to face the dangers of a flying baseball bat or an oncoming linebacker haven't learned to dodge the hardballs of life or to hit them out of the park. They also haven't learned what differentiates Western civilization from Middle East barbarism--the rules of the game and good sportsmanship. To win honorably or suffer defeat graciously, knowing you've lived to fight another day. It is not the inherent danger that makes a boy a man, but how he handles it.

So to the American schoolmasters who teach left wing propaganda, gender confusion, rabid egalitarianism, cooperation without competition and childhood sexualization, I say "keep your hands off our kids' balls."

Note: It's annual physical checkup day at the doctor's office. Since the doctor's office is over an hour away, and the appointment is at 2 PM Pacific Time, I'm afraid I won't be getting to your comments until late in the day. My apologies, but I will respond as soon as I can.