Running amok

..us with some unanswered questions, not the least being what is it about
our society that young men find this the only way to express their frustration
with Life, the Universe etc.?
I dallied with the thought that perhaps as an only child, our troubled young
man might’ve been accorded too much maternal affection, (is there such
a thing?), and so later feels betrayed by the realisation of his inevitable
death and decides to make a Big Statement. It sounds banal, but a young man
on his own in front of a computer with no friends and no life might see things
that way.
Here’s a thought. It’s been noted over the years in various censuses
that the population’s affinity with religion, particularly with Christianity,
is quite spectacularly on the wane. Although you’d think that to an
atheist this detail would be of little concern, I am concerned that there
is no substitute source of moral guidance to fill the aching void left by
the flickering remnants of the once dominant Christian churches.
Atheism has come in belatedly on the heels of apathy to dance on the grave
of the old Christian religions and to add its cloak of intellectual rigour
to the dancethon, but I can’t help thinking we’ve thrown the baby
(boy) out with the bath water if we dismiss the framework formerly provided
by religion as illogical and unscientific claptrap.
In religious organisations, such as churches or even cults, there is a defined
path to manhood, perhaps best exemplified by the bar mitzvah of the Jewish
faith. If your family holds to no belief and is otherwise not motivated to
instill some value-system in their male off-spring, then it’s understandable
that a boy might turn to his peers and popular mythology, as espoused on TV
or the social media for inspiration.
Here the messages are confusing at best, and sometimes downright anti-social.
Materialism has produced a society looking to the empty promise of commerce
for a quick fix and, while there are plenty of extravagant promises being
made, most of it involves our buying something we don’t need and doesn’t work
and we end up with a house full of useless toys and a restless and unsatisfied
mind.
Frederick Marx was here recently talking to Rachael Kohn on The Spirit
of Things on Radio National (or RN as they prefer now) and he has concerns
about demise of the religious role the transition of boys into manhood.
‘.. I think the religious traditions and certainly all of the indigenous cultures
across the planet I think are the fountains, the source fountains of this
knowledge about initiating young people. There is an African proverb that
says if we do not initiate the young, they will burn down the village to feel
the heat. In fact that is I think a lot of what we are experiencing around
the world now with our young people. But what has happened in the modern age
is that so many of these wonderfully rich and powerful traditions have been
corrupted by consumer ideology, by the worldwide consumer fever.’
His thoughts on the subject are well worth reading and I commend the interview
on RN.
The Scouting movement was far more prominent in the ‘50s and boys were
encouraged to participate. I can remember reading Lord Baden Powell’s
Scouting handbook and being quite impressed and excited about joining up.
I did spend some happy times in the Cubs, (I have fond memories of cuddling
up to a busty Baloo the Bear), but the Scouts defeated me with their marching
and their stupid bloody knots. Scouting has fallen into disrepute over the
years, most appallingly because, along with the Catholic Church, it’s
become a target destination for boy-molesters and the very opposite of a helpful
transition into manhood.
There again it could be argued that sport is Australian society’s substitute
for religion. It’s often been noted by satirical commentators that sport
has many of the attributes of a religion and in Australia that’s especially
so. However, while voting is compulsory in Australia, participation in sport
isn’t and so most of us are consigned to being spectators – at which
point sport becomes relevant to Karl Marx’s dictum about religion being
the opiate of the people.
That leaves education as the remaining resource that society has to deal with
potentially lethal behaviours in the young. I wonder though. I look out the
window at my favourite café Choclatté as I sip my green tea
and nibble on my gluten free bread. I see the table outside with some strapping
lads, most of whom are dragging on cigarettes. Adam says they are good young
fellows and some of them even go to the gym. I say they are idiots nevertheless.