The big problem of the human race, ever since the dawn of agriculture, is giving young men something else to do.
You see, in the hunter-gatherer age every young man was enrolled in the Border Patrol. When he wasn't patrolling the border he was probably making and repairing weapons.
But then came the agricultural age and a lot fewer young men were needed to patrol the border, which was now assigned to border specialists, called "marcher lords," that retained the necessary fierceness required for survival in borderlands.
But what about the rest of the men? What would they do, now that their services were only occasionally needed for warfare? The answer was simple. They would be needed for plowing. It turned out that women, who were perfectly good at most agricultural tasks, suffered miscarriages if they attempted the heavy work of plowing. And so, indeed, throughout the agricultural age, men found new roles doing the heavy and dangerous work. What a relief.
But then came the industrial age and much bigger political units, featuring the nation state. Now even fewer men were needed to be soldiers, and very few were needed for the backbreaking labor on the farm. For a while, at least, men were used in the backbreaking work of mining and work in iron smelters and steelworks. But then came the day when machines started taking over most of the heavy work from men. Now what? Perfectly simple. Men would now sit staring at computers all day building computer models rather than actual buildings and models.
But the truth is that all along, what young men really like to do is get out in the street and break a few heads, and there are always older men encouraging them in this reversion to instinct.
Here's another problem. For the last two hundred years, in the Great Enrichment, a new idea has sprung upon the world. It is that people should negotiate their differences through the price system instead of by war or by government force. But almost immediately a reactionary movement arose, that we call the Left. It argued that the peace of the price system was a sham. In fact, the left argued, revolutionary force would be needed to abolish the price system and its exploitations so that people could live in perfect harmony without the malevolent influence of prices.
No doubt. Except that the Southern racists found it necessary to write segregation laws to prevent businessmen from treating people like people on buses, and in the job market.
And where there is discrimination in the workplace, is there not an opportunity for a canny entrepreneur? Suppose that an evil software company refused to hire women software engineers? Would it not pay an entrepreneur to hire women, and pay them less because of the market marginalization of women, and make bigger profits than the companies that only hired men software engineers? Or is something else at work?
The truth is that none of us really like the results of the price system. And so we get government to rectify the situation, by force. And another truth is that men are natural warriors and rather like being called to the colors and having a nice big dust-up. The price system makes it very difficult to have regular, satisfying dust-ups.
No doubt that is why the left keeps erupting every generation onto the streets. That male fighting instinct keeps erupting in another cohort of human males. Right now we have Black Lives Matter that enacts not very peaceful protests because it doesn't like the way that the police harass young black men on the street. And we have Antifa that believes that violence is the only response to hate speech. Of course they do. There are always young men coming up that can rationalize their natural instinct for war. Only these days they say that they are fighting for peace and justice.
And there will always be new grievances. That's because the price system doesn't care. If employers are mildly prejudiced against young black men in baggy pants, then the wages for young black men in baggy pants will be a bit lower than for white young men that look like they will follow instructions. It ain't fair, but it isn't the end of the world. Then there are the little old ladies that insist on hiring only female certified nurse's assistants to look after them. What about the perfectly nice male CNAs? Distcrimination!
But after all the Sturm und Drang, there is still the problem of what to do with young men and their natural instinct to march towards the sound of the guns.
That is the basic problem of civilization: how to tame the young men from fighting and turn them to working, from military victory to market share victory.
And when our liberal ruling class turns a blind eye to the violence of left-wing activist groups that are trying to subvert the price system, or blow up minor cases of discrimination into major political conflagrations, they are turning the clock back to a more violent world.
Even as they pat each other on the back for their devotion to justice and compassion.
You see, in the hunter-gatherer age every young man was enrolled in the Border Patrol. When he wasn't patrolling the border he was probably making and repairing weapons.
But then came the agricultural age and a lot fewer young men were needed to patrol the border, which was now assigned to border specialists, called "marcher lords," that retained the necessary fierceness required for survival in borderlands.
But what about the rest of the men? What would they do, now that their services were only occasionally needed for warfare? The answer was simple. They would be needed for plowing. It turned out that women, who were perfectly good at most agricultural tasks, suffered miscarriages if they attempted the heavy work of plowing. And so, indeed, throughout the agricultural age, men found new roles doing the heavy and dangerous work. What a relief.
But then came the industrial age and much bigger political units, featuring the nation state. Now even fewer men were needed to be soldiers, and very few were needed for the backbreaking labor on the farm. For a while, at least, men were used in the backbreaking work of mining and work in iron smelters and steelworks. But then came the day when machines started taking over most of the heavy work from men. Now what? Perfectly simple. Men would now sit staring at computers all day building computer models rather than actual buildings and models.
But the truth is that all along, what young men really like to do is get out in the street and break a few heads, and there are always older men encouraging them in this reversion to instinct.
Here's another problem. For the last two hundred years, in the Great Enrichment, a new idea has sprung upon the world. It is that people should negotiate their differences through the price system instead of by war or by government force. But almost immediately a reactionary movement arose, that we call the Left. It argued that the peace of the price system was a sham. In fact, the left argued, revolutionary force would be needed to abolish the price system and its exploitations so that people could live in perfect harmony without the malevolent influence of prices.
No doubt. Except that the Southern racists found it necessary to write segregation laws to prevent businessmen from treating people like people on buses, and in the job market.
And where there is discrimination in the workplace, is there not an opportunity for a canny entrepreneur? Suppose that an evil software company refused to hire women software engineers? Would it not pay an entrepreneur to hire women, and pay them less because of the market marginalization of women, and make bigger profits than the companies that only hired men software engineers? Or is something else at work?
The truth is that none of us really like the results of the price system. And so we get government to rectify the situation, by force. And another truth is that men are natural warriors and rather like being called to the colors and having a nice big dust-up. The price system makes it very difficult to have regular, satisfying dust-ups.
No doubt that is why the left keeps erupting every generation onto the streets. That male fighting instinct keeps erupting in another cohort of human males. Right now we have Black Lives Matter that enacts not very peaceful protests because it doesn't like the way that the police harass young black men on the street. And we have Antifa that believes that violence is the only response to hate speech. Of course they do. There are always young men coming up that can rationalize their natural instinct for war. Only these days they say that they are fighting for peace and justice.
And there will always be new grievances. That's because the price system doesn't care. If employers are mildly prejudiced against young black men in baggy pants, then the wages for young black men in baggy pants will be a bit lower than for white young men that look like they will follow instructions. It ain't fair, but it isn't the end of the world. Then there are the little old ladies that insist on hiring only female certified nurse's assistants to look after them. What about the perfectly nice male CNAs? Distcrimination!
But after all the Sturm und Drang, there is still the problem of what to do with young men and their natural instinct to march towards the sound of the guns.
That is the basic problem of civilization: how to tame the young men from fighting and turn them to working, from military victory to market share victory.
And when our liberal ruling class turns a blind eye to the violence of left-wing activist groups that are trying to subvert the price system, or blow up minor cases of discrimination into major political conflagrations, they are turning the clock back to a more violent world.
Even as they pat each other on the back for their devotion to justice and compassion.
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