Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- Possible Outcomes

Back and Forth)

I have discussed how some aspects of America’s historical treatment of women and the black population were immoral, how many of those issues were addressed, and how the pendulum kept swinging so that now there is much that is immoral in the treatment of men and white people also.

Now, there is a movement pushing against that most recent unfair treatment, but does this actually represent change and progress? If all we’re doing is changing which side has the stick to beat the other with, that would only be a continuation of the same.

As I mentioned before, this sort of tribalism and zero-sum game and cyclical oppression all seem to stem from our loss of spiritual identity, and shared purpose, and sense of one another as children of God. Unless we see a positive change at this deeper level, then I cannot be optimistic about any shift happening on the surface. So long as we remain godless, each shift is more likely to be an escalation of offense, not a return to balance.

What is Happening Now)

So, do we see any of those deeper shifts that would represent a return to godly living? Unsurprisingly, the answer is mixed. Let us look at the dynamic of men versus women specifically. On the one hand, there does seem to be a real movement of men back towards religion. A recent Axios article noted that “Gen Z men are more likely to attend weekly religious services than millennials and even some younger Gen X-ers.” It also noted that while historically there have been more women in church than men, that the female decline in church attendance continues. Thus, if the latest trajectories persist, eventually there will be more men in church than women.

Of course, this trend must be observed longer to see if it is going to actually have any lasting results. The numbers are still developing. Speaking anecdotally, though, I have also perceived a shift of men around me moving back to God and religion. Even I, who always called myself religious, had a shift seven years ago that has made my relationship with God far more real.

But that’s just one side of what’s happening. At the same time, we are seeing movements like MGTOW, which is built on resentment and rejection of women and society as a whole. We also see figures like Andrew Tate growing in popularity, who encourage men to treat women as products. And just like I have seen some men around me moving towards God, I have also seen other men moving towards anger.

For an entire generation, men have been told that they are irredeemable monsters. This is a gross lie, but my great fear is that this oft-repeated incantation will summon forth a generation of men filled with cruel indifference, men who truly are beasts, and thus become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Hope and Fear)

It is an unclear picture, with many parts still moving, and difficulty in telling how things will land. There is reason for hope and there is reason for fear. A time of potential, but also of danger.

I admit that my assumptions are pessimistic. I see the world following a downward trend overall. Also, I am a Christian, and I believe the Biblical prophecies that the world will be a hellish place before the return of Christ. I suspect we are in the last age before that return, so even if things do get better in the short term, I suspect that overall it is worse times that lay ahead.

Still, I could be wrong. There is reason for hope. Even if this shift turned out to be negative overall, there could still be a treasure of good within its midst. I will finish this series tomorrow by exploring that more hopeful view.

Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- The Pendulum Swings Back

In the last post we discussed the deep spiritual sickness that society has progressed in for over a century. We have pushed God further and further from our hearts and never found a core purpose to take His place. We have become technologically and financially superior, but depressed and bitter at the same time.

We also discussed how we never found a unifying force either. Now that we no longer see one another as brothers and sisters, fellow children of God, our fractures have grown deep, dividing us into tribes that compete rather than cooperate.

In the last sixty years there have been dramatic shifts in society, and we have changed who is “winning” at the game, and we call that progress. But that is an extremely shallow and shortsighted perspective. There is no progress in taking turns oppressing one another. There will only be progress when we stop playing the game entirely.

Men vs Women, White vs Black)

Two of the greatest divides in our culture today are on the basis of sex and on the basis of race. Feminism looks to disable the patriarchy, and racial justice seeks to end differences of outcome. In both cases, I believe there were valid concerns at the origins of their movements, but they have also each been corrupted by overreach, tribalism, and faulty assumptions. Let’s look at each in turn.

With feminism, all one needs to do is watch classic movies from the ’40s and ’50s to see that there was a genuine tone of misogyny common to the time, and that’s never alright. Even worse, there was little recourse for victims of abuse, and women have always been more at risk for that then men. These were genuine concerns, and any society seeking to improve itself would need to address them.

At the same time, though, man-hating has been an angle of feminism basically from the very beginning. Also, the movement goes far too far in assuming that every cultural tradition, difference in sex responsibilities, and difference in outcome is necessarily a problem. It lacks the nuance to see that some differences were mutually agreed upon because they were beneficial to both men and women and still would be today.

With racial justice, again there were clearly many legitimate concerns at its roots. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, Jim Crow laws and segregation prevented all races from enjoying the same freedoms. The Civil Rights movement was necessary to provide systemic equality to every person.

As the years have gone by, however, there has emerged a movement for reverse oppression instead. DEI initiatives have brought back the very same racial discrimination practices that the Civil Rights movement sought to end! There also has been an increasing trend of casual racist sentiment, with mainstream media unabashedly disparaging an entire category of people on the color of their skin. It wasn’t right when that was permitted towards our black brothers and sisters, and it isn’t right when it is permitted towards our white brothers and sisters either.

Lost Progress)

In summary, things have gone from correcting genuine problems to hurting one another in a zero-sum game. What at first looked like barriers being broken and all becoming one, transformed into barriers being re-established, and one group elevated at the expense of the other. Many have noted that gender and racial relations seemed to be improving for a time, up until the turn of the millennium, but that the last two decades has seen a reversal into increasing racism and sexism.

But then, over the last two years, it has appeared as though things are starting to shift again. The revolution seems to be facing a counter-revolution. White men, previously submissive to the public agenda, now are pushing back against it. It took about a generation for this to happen, as challenging the narrative seemed like social suicide, but people will not forever tolerate playing a game that has unfair rules. Thus, the rules are changing.

But is it for the better? We’ll examine that in depth tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

A Pivotal Moment- Introduction

Shifting Tides)

It has been my perception that society has been shifting over the past couple years. This observation has inspired a few different posts from me as I have grappled with the larger implications and pitfalls that such a moment entail. My tone has been cautious, because even though I do see some positive changes, transitory periods are as full of danger as they are potential.

People seem more and more willing to have conversations now that they weren’t earlier, more and more willing to call out long-standing problems that used to be unspeakable. That is a prerequisite for needed improvements to be made, but it isn’t a guarantee that we will actually end in the right place. It is entirely possible that we will shove off from one dangerous shoal, only to run aground on another. Perhaps one that is even worse.

I don’t normally speak very directly about current affairs, preferring to let my messages be universally applicable. In this case I will be a little more specific, though hopefully my message will be able to stand separate from the details of this particular moment in time, being useful for all of the future pivotal moments that society will inevitably find itself in.

Examples of Change)

Of course, when I speak of shifting trends, the one that probably comes foremost to mind is the result of the 2024 US Presidential elections. Many have interpreted that election (and other similar ones around the globe) as an indictment of extreme progressivism, a sign that transgenderism and DEI would no longer be winning agendas for the left. There wasn’t even the predicted wave of retaliation votes for the overturning of Roe v Wade, suggesting that America was at the very least apathetic on the matter of so-called Abortion Rights, if not outright opposed.

Clearly something has changed, but so long as we only concern ourselves with these surface movements, we are missing out on the far more significant tectonic shifts happening deep underground. The changes in the political climate are but a sign of deeper ideological transformations, ones having to do with our spirituality and personal identity.

Before continuing further, I need to take some time to try and define these core issues and how they first came into being. Something took root in society decades ago, and it metastasized into various malignant forms, including the modern forms of abortion, atheism, depression, feminism, racism, and sexual and gender identity. What is it that lays at the core of all these? And what does the fact that some of these outer tumors are declining say about how things are developing down at that core?

These are tough questions, ones that I am admittedly still figuring out, but I will try to take a stab at them with my next post. After that, I will attempt to forecast possible futures that we might be moving towards, and whether we should feel enthusiastic or concerned.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Fickle Popularity

I may not be very old, but I have already witnessed the way society can swing from one trend to another. I see the masses scramble onto today’s favored platform, only to be embarrassed when it becomes tomorrow’s laughingstock.

I believe that a key component of this is that too often we choose our stance more off of who else is standing there, and not by the merits of the platform itself. The fact is, there are values to be respected in most every position. Conservatism and liberalism, inclusivity and solidarity, faith and skepticism, individualism and collectivism, a solid case can be made for each of these, and it is my personal belief that the correct position comes by taking the good parts of each.

But balance is not the typical position of society. Typically, people go all in on one or another, believing that they do so because of their commitment to its underlying ideals, but more so because of the attractiveness of the community that is built upon it.

Whenever a platform becomes too popular, it starts to attract “all kinds.” Some of the meanest and least understanding jump onto it, and they bring out all the worst extremes of that particular ideal. The rest of society can see the growing ugliness in that position, and so they take up the opposition. In order to escape the depravity of the old platform’s worst tenets, people fully commit to its opposite, until it becomes the popular thing to do. As the masses invest in that side, then they also start to attract even the uglier parts of society to their platform and the cycle repeats, over and over again.

Playing this game is exhausting. Great effort is made, but any short-term progress is eventually undone by an over-correction in the other direction. It’s a pity, because I don’t think it has to be that way. I see the potential for mankind to balance one another out, to elevate the most powerful ideals in each platform, but to circumscribe them by the bounds of all the others. By this I believe we could continually progress towards greater and greater virtue, rather than rising only to fall as has been our historical pattern. I believe this unified progression is a vision of heaven, the society that we shall have when our Lord reigns supreme.