Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
The day after my 40th birthday, Vanessa and I found out we were the grandparents of an adorable 2 1/2 year old boy named Asher. On my 41st birthday, I wrote a blog post looking back at the year that followed, titled (Grand)Fathers, (Grand)Sons, and Reflections on Turning 41. Much in the world has changed since then.
As a husband to Vanessa and a grandfather to Asher, I constantly remind myself of my responsibility to protect them, not just from the threat of a carjacking criminal like those around the Minneapolis / St. Paul area, but from less obvious but equally evil threats brought on by our current culture.
I know of many men who deny what’s going on, believing the lies are the conspiracy theories and the truth is the CNN talking points. Others ignore their responsibility, hoping someone else will do or say something instead of them needing to get involved.
Still others put so much importance on their title at work that they remain silent, even though they know that their show of strength could move mountains in this culture war.
As the saying goes, “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Unfortunately, if men don’t stand for something, it isn’t just themselves that fall for anything. They take those they love with them.
That’s not to say that women don’t also have power to protect their families. In some cases, they do more than their husbands. And in almost a quarter of families, children are being raised by single parents, 80% of which are the mothers.
As a man, I’m writing more for men than I am for women, though. That’s why I’ll consistently refer to men in this blog post.
As a collective group, I hope we can reroute the destructive course our country is headed down.
What Are You Protecting Your Family From?
Much of the propaganda we’re faced with today is intended to confuse us. If the media causes us to question our beliefs about what’s good and evil, what’s true and false, and right and wrong, we’ll avoid getting involved in anything.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
As men, we need to be firm in our beliefs, but we also need to know what the “other side” is trying to say and do. If we don’t take the time to find that out, we won’t understand the significance of what we’re fighting against.
Read also: When will common-sense Americans get in the game?
Uncover the truth and call out the lies
Thomas Sowell said:
If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.
Thomas Sowell
I don’t think I’ve ever come across another person with less credibility than CNN or MSNBC. Were it not for a few of the people on FOX, they’d be in the same category of discredited media organizations.
It isn’t that those companies should be infallible, it’s that they have no issues with lying to viewers, creating exaggerated stories, or suppressing important issues in the interest of their advertisers and politicians. Even when their lies are exposed, they rarely, if ever, admit that they disseminated disinformation.
Make no mistake. The media isn’t a source of information. It’s a system of propaganda. It’s a marketing platform for anti-Biblical, insane, evil ideologies.
When I say media, I include social media, Google, and YouTube as well.
If you believe setting up a “parental control” system will keep your kids from seeing things they shouldn’t, or being influenced by content you don’t want them to be influenced by, you’re naive. Joe Rogan’s recent podcast with Dr. Robert Epstein will rock you out of your naivety.
Here’s a small taste of why listening to Dr. Epstein’s interview is so important.
I’m not suggesting you protect your family by shielding yourself from it all. If you don’t know what the media is doing, you won’t “know your enemy.” But I am saying that as a “protector,” you have a responsibility to find and know the truth, and arm your family with it.
You have to pay attention to what they’re saying so you’ll understand their agenda, but you should never take their point of view and make it yours.
You must always think for yourself and teach your family to do the same.
For example, if your beliefs about COVID have been shaped by the media, you’ll believe it’s a disease for which there isn’t a cure and an untested vaccine is the only answer.
On the other hand, with a small amount of investigation, you’ll find that treatments have existed all along, and almost no one should have died over the past two years. How else would a physician organization have treat 150,000 patients with a 99.99% survival rate?
Watching the news, you’d believe that teaching Critical Race Theory in public schools or teachers pushing transgender ideologies are conspiracy theories. With a little fact finding, you’d realize that these are issues across the country.
As a man, you have a responsibility to protect your family from this insanity, but if you don’t know about it, you won’t do anything about it.
Whichever cable news station you watch, if you listen carefully, you’ll realize that only about 5-10% of what’s said is facts about current events. The other 90-95% of what talking heads say is opinion about those facts. If you pay attention, you’ll see that their slant on a subject almost always lines up with an advertiser or a politician.
And let’s not forget about children. The news might be the main source of propaganda for adults, but the public school system can be just as bad for kids. Adolescents shouldn’t be forced into discussions that cause gender confusion, nor should we ignore the impact of them learning a distorted version of history.
And we certainly don’t need to force them into wearing useless masks or risking their lives with experimental vaccines.
It might not be an easy decision, but if you’re committed to protecting them, it might mean opting them out of the public school system and finding an alternative means of education.
Get and stay strong and fit
As John Mac Ghlionn points out in a recent American Mind essay,
boys are growing old without growing up, and failing to become true men in the process, because our dominant culture now celebrates and rewards their immaturity, and even punishes and alienates those who resist.
John Mac Ghlionn, China’s Sissy Problem—and Ours
As the saying goes:
Strong men make good times. Good times make weak men. Weak men make bad times. Bad times make strong men.
For many of us, our fathers and grandfathers were strong men. They made good times for us all. In almost every measure of life today, thing are better. Or, at least that was the case before Brandon took office.
The only way we’ll slow the downward trajectory is for men to get stronger. One way is by getting stronger physically.
Soft bodies often lead to soft minds. Strong bodies build strong minds.
Most would understand this intuitively, but research backs it up, too. Muscle loss is associated with cognitive decline. So is obesity.
While being strong and muscular for its own sake offers significant health benefits, the most important ones come through what you get in the process of becoming strong and building muscle.
The process of building strength develops persistence, trains you to overcome increasingly intense obstacles, and helps you become more tolerant of pain. These benefits have much crossover into every day life.
A weak-minded man will be much more likely to develop weak-minded and feeble children.
It’s bad enough that our culture won’t allow people to say or do something that could offend another, no matter how ridiculous the offense may seem, our culture of weak men only adds to the weakness that we will see in future generations if nothing changes.
A man who invests time in becoming fit and strong can protect future generations by teaching them to become fit and strong as well. In doing, they’ll be equipped to deal with difficulties, setbacks, and other unexpected obstacles.
Read also: Victimhood Fragility: 4 Ways We’re Weakening Our Bodies, Minds, and Culture.
Make a change if and when it’s necessary
I walked out on the patio of our Minneapolis loft on May 29, 2020. As soon as I opened the door, I could smell a combination of burning wood and rubber. I looked to my left and saw smoke billowing from North Minneapolis. I turned to my right and saw another plume of smoke rising to the sky from the Lake Street area.
Being that we had our grandson, Asher, that Friday through Sunday, we packed up and drove to Ely to stay with my parents. After talking through the mayor’s and governor’s handling of the riots and their complete disregard for public safety, Vanessa and I decided to list our loft and move out of the city.
I knew we’d take a serious financial hit, being that we’d just bought the loft the year before and had made a substantial investment in remodeling it. By the time we closed on the sale, we lost a lot of money, but I’d lose it again to give my wife the sense of peace she has by not living there any longer, and the safety we feel, living in an area where the police are appreciated and criminals aren’t celebrated.
Whether it’s selling a home, moving on from a job, or making any other change necessary to live according to your values, you almost always have a choice.
The most destructive belief in today’s culture is “I have no choice.”
While we were trying to sell our loft in Minneapolis, I also faced a difficult decision at work. I strongly believed the approach to COVID by mid-2020 was wrong. At the time, most of what I posted online was dubbed by Mainstream Media as “conspiracy theory.” Today, the data shows it was all true.
I knew that if I wanted to keep my Vice President position, I’d need to keep my beliefs to myself. If I didn’t, it would inevitably cause turmoil for the company I worked for. So, I resigned that June.
The next day, I published my blog post, Unmasked. Unmuzzled. Unvaccinated. Unafraid.
Leaving the company and the income was a risk, and it definitely made things more challenging as we looked to get out of Minneapolis. Yet, the short-term stress from that choice pales in comparison to what remaining silent might have done.
I only share my personal examples to say, “I’ve been there, and I’ve done it.”
Take a stand
At the time of this writing, the Freedom Convoy headed towards Ottawa stretches about 35 miles long. Tens of thousands of truckers have gone on strike, forgoing their incomes and risking their jobs to protest vaccine mandates in Canada and for traveling between the U.S. and Canada.
Canada’s Prime Minister continues to downplay the protest and disparage the protestors, but it’s real. And it’s huge. And it’s sure to have an impact across North America.
It’s an example of the power we have as a people when we unite against tyranny and for freedom and independence. Many men came together to do just that in the 1700s. We need to again or we’ll be ruled by the same kind of tyrants they tried to escape from back then.
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
