“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” –Mark Twain
“What we know matters, but who we are matters more.” –Brené Brown
Young men (and women) are being assaulted by today’s world of Artificial Intelligence and algorithms that manipulate the user and take them down dangerous rabbit holes.
Take the recent trend of kids as young as twelve “Subway Surfing” in New York. Multiple young people have died as this “TikTok Trend” has taken hold. This, and another that involves kids riding on upside down folding tables dragged behind a vehicle, has led to the deaths of numerous young people.
The explanations as to “why” these kids take on these dangerous activities are as absurd as the activities themselves.
This is not a “mental health” issue, this is youth “initiation.” The young men and women have not had elders mentor them and initiate them into their full potential. As a result, they take on risky initiation rituals amongst themselves.
Young men are being seduced by these algorithms that take them down very dark and destructive places. A mild curiosity can easily turn into algorithms serving up “Manosphere” content which is typically filled with violent language, misogyny, PUAs and promises of get rich quick schemes in things like crypto and meme coins.
The “Manosphere” should more appropriately be labeled as the “Boyosphere.” These are undeveloped, uninitiated ‘older’ males who profit in sleaze and destructive social norms…particularly regarding females. The misogyny is off the charts. The PUAs (pick up ‘artists’) prey on disaffected young men and bombard them with poisonous content that often leads to violence.
Young Men’s Initiation
“In the end, the only metric that truly matters is character.” –General Stanley McChrystal
This is why initiation for young men is so critical in our modern world. For centuries, the older men would separate the boys from their mothers and take them into the wilderness for initiation rituals. In the rituals, the young men would learn what it takes to be a man of character.
This involves introducing a young man to his heart, his empathy and his emotional intelligence (EQ). When a young man learns to listen to his inner voice, he begins a pathway toward defining his life.
As General Stanley McChrystal says in, On Character: Choices That Define a Life: “Some endeavors warrant obsessive focus.”
McChrystal’s book outlines how “Who we are” “…is found in our character—the most accurate, and last full measure, of who we choose to be.”
Young men must be introduced to this reality through male initiation. If the elders do not step in to steward these young men, they will find their own paths through danger and/or seductive internet rabbit holes.
The World of AI Slop
“New survey data finds that nearly one in five high schoolers say they or someone they know has had a romantic relationship with artificial intelligence. And 42% of students surveyed say they or someone they know have used AI for companionship.” --Cameron Kasky: FYPod
This epidemic of AI slop and rage bait algorithms is damaging our young people. The Covid crisis created fertile ground for machines to manipulate young minds and drag them deep into fever swamps.
This has allowed the big tech purveyors to prey on impressionable minds and mold the younger generation to fit neatly into their destructive algorithmic pattern recognition which feeds increased slop and B.S. into the kids’ eyeballs and brains.
The goal of these social media algorithms is to continuously trigger the brain’s amygdala. When the amygdala is hijacked, it shuts down our ability to use reason and logic and to move from emotional clarity.
This is why initiation is so critical to the development of young men of character. We can build emotionally intelligent young men who recognize when they are being used by tech to operate in ways that do not align with their true values.
“Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.” --Marcus Aurelius
McChrystal says this requires ‘obsessive focus.’ The self examination of learning what feelings in the human body signal the choices we make toward deepening our character. If my muscles are tightening and my body temperature is rising, it is time to ‘check in’ and ask, “What’s really going on?”
This takes focus, it takes “work.” Initiation introduces young men to the processing of feelings and the clarity of reason and logic found in the cerebral cortex. This is the birth of the leader and the majestic path for a young man. It is up to the elders to assure these young men find their path toward their own command through emotional clarity.
“If the young are not initiated into the tribe they will burn down the village just to feel its warmth.” ― African Proverb