Shrink Rap

So what led Adam Lanza to go on a shooting spree? We may never know. but it almost certainly had nothing to do with white, male privilege, some sort of toxic masculinity, or any of the tripe spewed from the mouths of feminists and other racist, sexist bigots like Kimmel, Schwyzer, Wampole, and Peck who have political and ideological axes to grind and who find some sort of perverse enjoyment in demonizing men and masculinity. It is far more likely that the cause can be explained by examining Adam Lanza as an individual.

This assumption deals with Type I error rates, the rejection of a correct null hypothesis. A large difference between M and μ may lead a researcher to reject the null hypothesis when it is actually correct. This is related to the α level chosen to determine significance. An α of .05 indicates a 5% chance of making a Type I error, provided all the assumptions for NHST are met. Decreasing the α decreases that risk.

The roles of men and women in any given society have always differed. As I previously pointed out, this is due to biological functioning, primarily in pregnancy, ability to nurse young children, and physical size, speed, and strength. These differences tended to tie women to the family home and permit men to come and go as necessary. Specific roles developed around these differences in order to benefit the family unit.

Recently Paul Elam at AVfM challenged the staff of The Good Man Project to define the “Good Man” as an entity differing from a “Good Woman.” He wanted to know specific qualities unique to men. Three of them took up the challenge and according to Paul, they each failed There found nothing, no quality at all that was unique to men.

This is the very question that brought me to the men’s movement. I was in search of a modern definition of masculinity and what it means to be a man, specifically, how that differs from being a woman. Is there anything unique about men?

The debate of nature vs. nurture seems to be central to the theory of feminism. Feminists tend to hold that for men and women to be equal, there can be no significant innate differences between them. While some obvious innate differences exist, they have no significant impact on ability, thought processes, choices, actions, etc. Any difference that does exist that holds significant impact is the result of socialization. Nurture (the environment) is solely responsible for the creation of gender roles and differences based on those roles. It is not uncommon for a feminist to state “Men and women are far more similar than they are different.” Those who would refute feminist theory frequently argue that innate differences between men and women do exist and those differences are significant. Thus, whether arguing for or against feminist theory; it is important to understand the debate of nature vs. nurture. This can be accomplished through the examination of several philosophic and psychological perspectives.

But the discrepancy between attention grabbing headlines misrepresenting the outcome of the research and the overall finding isn’t the only problem with the article. The biggest problem is the tendency to depict boys in the worst light possible. For instance, when discussing drug use, they mention that 15% of the boys said they had tried cannabis, no mention of how many girls. When discussing bullying, they mention that almost a third of girls are afraid of going to school because of bullying. No mention of the number of boys who are afraid. But they do mention that 10% of boys admitted to bullying behavior…

Katherine Birbalsingh is apparently a teacher and published author. But I’m not so certain I would want her teaching my children. It isn’t that I disagree with anything she says, it’s that she probably needs to return to school herself. She recently published and article in the Telegraph entitled A Male Teacher Can Never Replace a Missing Father. I can’t say that I disagree. No one can replace a parent, not a step-parent and certainly not a teacher. But after Reading Ms. Birbalsingh’s article, I’m not sure I know why she thinks so.

“Certain feminist groups were concerned that inclusion of the disorder would serve the interests of defense attorneys representing sadistic offenders. They could claim that their clients “suffered” from Sadistic Personality Disorder, which could then be exculpatory of their wife-bashing, rape, or other sadistic crimes, the diagnosis could at least argue for “diminished responsibility.”

The absence of proof is not proof of absence. Evolution, although it is not yet proved, most likely exists. The presence of God, although it cannot be proved, remains in the realm of possibility. If God is defined as the unknown and we admit that we don’t know everything, then God most definitely exists, but His existence is tenuous.

The answer to Monday’s question was doggedly pursued by his arch rival, St. Bernard (pun intended). Bernard eventually had him condemned as a heretic.

This entry is part 7 of 17 in the series QuotablesSpoken like a true heretic: “It is by doubting that we come to investigate, and by investigating that we recognize the truth.” “The key to wisdom is this – constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we [...]

What’s the Difference? In a recent discussion over at the The Elusive Wapiti, a question of the difference between ethics and morality arose. I stated that I support the legalization of abortion on ethical grounds, while opposing the act of abortion on moral grounds. EW replied “One would think that moral and ethical would overlap [...]

How Bad Statistics Come to Life How do we know whether we can trust what we read? What is a good source of information and what is a bad source? How can we tell between them? Everyone loves to quote statistics. But how can you tell a good statistic from a bad one? When looking [...]

This entry is part 4 of 17 in the series Quotables From Carl Jung (with my commentary) “So they speak soothingly about progress and the greatest possible happiness, forgetting that happiness is itself poisoned if the measure of suffering has not been fulfilled.” The fallacy of post modernism is that every individual has a right [...]

Although I was born into a Christian family and raised to be a Christian, I have often found myself questioning the existence of an external God. Back in the 80’s I used to enjoy watching the reactions of others when I would proclaim that “I am God.” While I don’t go around attempting to convince [...]

This entry is part 2 of 17 in the series Quotables I frequently find that others speak with far more eloquence than myself. I will allow them to speak. I will merely connect the dots.  “Fear always springs from ignorance.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American lecturer, poet, and essayist  “Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and [...]

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series BullyingBullying is a problem that needs to be addressed. It is much more than merely schoolyard taunting or teasing and can be quite harmful to its victims. It takes place in nearly all aspects of life and in a variety of places and institution. It [...]

 It isn’t often that I repost someone else’s work, especially when I don’t intend to deconstruct it. But this video has much to say about the state of public education, how it got this way, and what can be done about it. Of particualr interest is the portion concerning ADHD. Without identifying it as such, [...]

A real problem, but over-diagnosed I read a lot about how some people don’t seem to believe that ADHD actually exists and that it is some sort of conspiracy to drug or children (primarily our boys) into submission in order to provide profits for “Big Pharma.” Now I won’t deny that a considerable amount of [...]

Image via Wikipedia Does Media Exposure to Violence Lead to Aggressive Behavior? The answer is probably. Many studies have made a connection between what we see repeatedly in the media and belief and behavior. It isn’t just violence and aggression. If there was no link, advertising would be an extreme waste of money. In that [...]

Will a longer school year result in better education? Our President seems to think so, at least according to this article: Obama Calls for Longer School Year. Simply throwing money at the problem will fix nothing, he’s right about that. But will throwing time at the problem fix it? It’s an interesting idea, but without [...]

How to deal with a picky eater Mealtimes can be one of the most stressful times of the day when dealing with young children. Many children can become picky eaters, some may even develop food neophobia (fear of new foods). At such times, parents may feel conflicted as to how to deal with a child [...]

The modern day witch hunt This post was inspired by a post at Toy Soldiers’ blog. Having been a life-long practitioner and student of psychology and social work, repressed memories are one of my pet peeves. I have never understood how otherwise competent and responsible therapists came to accept these recovered memories as historical fact. [...]

Or how apples get compared to alligators Note: As part of a discussion with Ampersand who responded to this article on his own blog, I was convinced to reassess the type of argument presented by Koss in defense of her original study. After further review, I believe that I have misidentified it as a straw [...]

Image via Wikipedia Prats and pitfalls of quoting scientific research Recently I was involved in a discussion on another site concerning conflicting research findings. I cited several pieces of research that supported a position and discussed findings that conflicted with this research with the owner of that site. I don’t know whether the owner had [...]

As is often the case, this post is inspired by a discussion on another blog, True Equality.  What follows is a comment (modified) that I made on a discussion about the nature of truth. What is or is not true is frequently dependent upon perspective. How one defines truth is a fundamental philosophical argument. There [...]

On First Philosophy “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” This age old philosophical question has recently come to be of interest to me. The answer is either “yes” or “no” so it may seem simple enough. But it is not the [...]

Today I wrote a letter to the editor of the Fathers & Families blog in response to an article by Robert Franklin titled Part 2: Erring on the Side of Hidden Harm. The first part of the article is TRO Issuance: ‘Erring on the side of hidden harm’. My Letter follows: For 13 years I [...]

Is prison welfare for men? Can Male Studies make a difference? Over the past twenty years, men have gone from being a slight minority on college campuses (as they are in society at large) to a disproportionate minority. Men now comprise only about 40% of all college students. Recent census data indicate that women now [...]

Follow the link below to a very interesting article on the choices women have to make between motherhood and career. I don’t necessarily agree with all the points it makes, particularly about men and fathers, but I found it quite fascinating and it raises some very interesting questions. It is based on both social theory [...]

Answer: In a novel by George Orwell and in the Global Gender Gap Report, 2009 I have just finished reading what is perhaps the single most one-sided, biased, and sexist document that I have ever read in my life. It is from the Geneva based World Economic Forum and is called the Global Gender Gap [...]

Does Disney promote female violence against males? This morning I was watching Hanna Montana with my granddaughters. They seem to like the show and for a children‘s show, it seems quite well done. It does have some funny moments. However, I was shocked to see the violence on today’s episode, especially in light of recent [...]

Could Forest Grove end public education as we know it? A recent Supreme Court ruling may improve Special Education Services for those in need, but it could destroy public schools altogether. In Forest Grove School District v. T.A the court has forced public schools to provide special education services or to pay for parents to [...]