When Good Men Do Nothing
In the early 2000’s when I was growing up in Idaho, the Church of Jesus Christ (of LDS) was deeply troubled by a trend that was developing with younger members of the church, more specifically more youth than ever before were turning away from Christianity and/or Christian values for a more secular lifestyle. It is important to note that this was not a problem “only seen with the Mormon church”, in fact it was/is much worse than that; across the board Mormons still boast some of the highest gains and the fewest losses vs all other Christian denominations (http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/). This has been a massive problem for all of the Christian faith. A lot of resources and research went into pinpointing the exact cause of this alarming downward trend and the church finally came to the conclusion of “men without women become pigs.” Okay, not “literally”, but when you read between the lines, yes, yes that is exactly what they were saying and they were/are correct.
What the church found was that historically speaking the young women of the church lived a standard that was much higher spiritually than the young men, and their example and influence quite literally dragged the young men up spiritually and kept them in the faith; however this historical trend was changing- were women’s effect on men wearing off? Was its magic now void? No. What they in fact found was that “women were doing nothing”.
What do I mean by that? Historically women have been and are more so “creatures of the spirit” then men, with women constituting an overwhelming percentage of “church goers” vs their male counterparts in every single Christian denomination- ie. when men would and do on a whole sleep in on Sunday, women wake everyone up and march to church. This cycle worked for many, many years because of one simple truth; “men like women”. Men, if your lady friend wants to watch a chick flick, what do you do? And men, if you are being honest, have you ever sat through one and said to yourself “this really isn’t so bad…”? Welcome to being a Christian in America… Or at least, what it used to be…
What changed?
Feminism. In the words of Milo Yiannopoulos, “Feminism is cancer…” and in this context he couldn’t be more right... Feminism crept like a cancer into women’s (and more specifically, young women’s) lives and successfully changed women’s perception of “what made a woman a woman”, as well as “what makes a woman happy?” The answer they provided as a substitute was “your spiritual life centered on family is what is bringing you down and is not making you happy… what you need is a career, education, money, etc” Did it do its job? Yes. Women (more specifically younger women) bought into the narrative in droves and for the first time church leaders were seeing young women leave their Christian roots behind for a more secular life. What effect did that have on the men? Well, that should be obvious…
A couple things might be coming up in your mind as you read this so let’s address those issues right now before some become (ironically) straw men:
1. Is/Was it fair for women to have to drag men into a more spiritual less secular life and be held to a different standard as men?
2. Are you saying women getting an education, making money, ect is bad?
To answer both of these let me start off by bringing your attention to the title of my piece once again, “when good men do nothing”, which is an excerpt from a quote by Edmund Burke that stated that "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I believe we are now in a time when good men and women are doing nothing and are doing nothing because they are in fact asking variants of these two questions, which simply boil down to “what about me?” or “what do I get out of it?” The answer is quantifiably “happiness” and anyone who says anything else IS lying to you. The question to ask right back should be, “Does it matter if it is fair or not if it makes you happier?” The answer should be “no”.
What do you mean “quantifiably happier”? Like a pinpoint, since feminism’s inception, overall “happiness” for women has plummeted in America while those that have stuck with the very things feminism is actively seeking to destroy, namely “spiritual life centered on family, marriage, etc.” are still overwhelmingly “happy”. What do you glean from this? That it doesn’t matter if it is “fair” if what you are getting out of it is true happiness, while getting an education, making money, careers, ect are not “bad” they will NOT bring you happiness.
Bringing this back to the church and summarizing, what they found is that women on a whole were buying into these narratives and falling away from their Christian roots for a secular life and by default taking the men with them. What they also found (as I just described) was that their new lifestyles were not making them happy, and in fact were making them miserable, and women later in their life were catching on and coming back to church but as either single or single mothers. This process created the gender dynamics of churches that we now see today. What caused it? “Good women doing nothing” when it mattered the most. So why bring this up Micah, what sparked this?
Two things, first was a new movie preview that I saw, “Bad Moms” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKCw-kqo3cs) in which the movie’s entire premise is that of single mothers (one scratch already) deciding to just be “bad moms” and focus instead on themselves, which turns out to be awesome and makes them happier… Once again, feminism pushing for more “do nothing” because that is the magical drug; they already have an army of unhappy working single moms, why not take it a step further I suppose. At a time when we desperately need women to stop “doing nothing”, read the data, and come to the realization that the crap that has been shoveled to them for years is in fact a giant lie, Hollywood and feminism attempt to push for harder, stronger drugs to fix your depression that is caused by living their lies. Society desperately needs women to stop “do[ing] nothing”, not just for the sake of women’s happiness (happy wife happy life) but for the sake of society itself; women’s historical contributions that have been downplayed and undervalued by the very people self-labeled as their champions are what elevated us as a community, and “doing nothing” is what is destroying us.
Second, the #NeverTrump “conservatives”. How do they relate? Conservatives, let alone Christians have never taken the spotlight in the Republican Party (or any other party), they have historically always been “the other guys” who at best appear as cabinet members, senators, or vice president choices. Much like women described above, these men and women Conservatives worked hard to “pull other Republicans up to their level” and have succeeded for many, many years at influencing policy and meaningful change. What changed and what terrifies me? For the first time that I have read about or learned of, Conservatives are pulling up stakes, claiming #NeverTrump and pulling out of the Republican Party. Now, exactly like the young women I talked about above, if you’re truly a Conservative, let alone Christian, and are pulling out of the Republican Party, who is left to keep them honest? Who is there to drag them up, either by words or example? Moms, you might not ever get a “mom of the year award” on national television, but that does not mean your contributions go unnoticed, and that sure as hell does not mean your contributions are anything less than nation building; Conservatives need to understand the same thing. Much like motherhood, if Conservatives pull out now, #NeverTrump, and don’t endorse Trump (Thank you Cruz) do you really believe there will be a time in the future where your voice will be heard in the party? Do you truly believe that you can “come back from that”? Much like a mother that says “enough with you kids!” do you really believe that years down the road you can turn around and say “hey, I am back!” and your kid will welcome you back with open arms and heed your council? No! Exactly in the same manner, Conservatives if they continue down this path will make the title “Conservative” obsolete, and even repulsive; the party will reject them in the future because of the abandonment today, “Conservatives” will then flee to other parties and fade into obscurity.
Conservatives, the answer isn’t #NeverTrump, the answer isn’t fighting against your party and not endorsing Trump, the answer is not “to do nothing”; Mothers, the answer isn’t #NeverMarriedMother, the answer is not fighting against what makes you happy and not endorsing having children, the answer is not “to do nothing”. The GOP IS your party, the answer is to endorse Trump, the answer is to be in a position “to do something” when he wins; your family IS your happiness, the answer is motherhood, the answer is to be in a position “to do something” when your children need you.
I am living in a time when good men and women are choosing to do nothing, I hope I also live to see the time when good men and women choose to wake back up.
July 29 2016
Micah T English
What the church found was that historically speaking the young women of the church lived a standard that was much higher spiritually than the young men, and their example and influence quite literally dragged the young men up spiritually and kept them in the faith; however this historical trend was changing- were women’s effect on men wearing off? Was its magic now void? No. What they in fact found was that “women were doing nothing”.
What do I mean by that? Historically women have been and are more so “creatures of the spirit” then men, with women constituting an overwhelming percentage of “church goers” vs their male counterparts in every single Christian denomination- ie. when men would and do on a whole sleep in on Sunday, women wake everyone up and march to church. This cycle worked for many, many years because of one simple truth; “men like women”. Men, if your lady friend wants to watch a chick flick, what do you do? And men, if you are being honest, have you ever sat through one and said to yourself “this really isn’t so bad…”? Welcome to being a Christian in America… Or at least, what it used to be…
What changed?
Feminism. In the words of Milo Yiannopoulos, “Feminism is cancer…” and in this context he couldn’t be more right... Feminism crept like a cancer into women’s (and more specifically, young women’s) lives and successfully changed women’s perception of “what made a woman a woman”, as well as “what makes a woman happy?” The answer they provided as a substitute was “your spiritual life centered on family is what is bringing you down and is not making you happy… what you need is a career, education, money, etc” Did it do its job? Yes. Women (more specifically younger women) bought into the narrative in droves and for the first time church leaders were seeing young women leave their Christian roots behind for a more secular life. What effect did that have on the men? Well, that should be obvious…
A couple things might be coming up in your mind as you read this so let’s address those issues right now before some become (ironically) straw men:
1. Is/Was it fair for women to have to drag men into a more spiritual less secular life and be held to a different standard as men?
2. Are you saying women getting an education, making money, ect is bad?
To answer both of these let me start off by bringing your attention to the title of my piece once again, “when good men do nothing”, which is an excerpt from a quote by Edmund Burke that stated that "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I believe we are now in a time when good men and women are doing nothing and are doing nothing because they are in fact asking variants of these two questions, which simply boil down to “what about me?” or “what do I get out of it?” The answer is quantifiably “happiness” and anyone who says anything else IS lying to you. The question to ask right back should be, “Does it matter if it is fair or not if it makes you happier?” The answer should be “no”.
What do you mean “quantifiably happier”? Like a pinpoint, since feminism’s inception, overall “happiness” for women has plummeted in America while those that have stuck with the very things feminism is actively seeking to destroy, namely “spiritual life centered on family, marriage, etc.” are still overwhelmingly “happy”. What do you glean from this? That it doesn’t matter if it is “fair” if what you are getting out of it is true happiness, while getting an education, making money, careers, ect are not “bad” they will NOT bring you happiness.
Bringing this back to the church and summarizing, what they found is that women on a whole were buying into these narratives and falling away from their Christian roots for a secular life and by default taking the men with them. What they also found (as I just described) was that their new lifestyles were not making them happy, and in fact were making them miserable, and women later in their life were catching on and coming back to church but as either single or single mothers. This process created the gender dynamics of churches that we now see today. What caused it? “Good women doing nothing” when it mattered the most. So why bring this up Micah, what sparked this?
Two things, first was a new movie preview that I saw, “Bad Moms” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKCw-kqo3cs) in which the movie’s entire premise is that of single mothers (one scratch already) deciding to just be “bad moms” and focus instead on themselves, which turns out to be awesome and makes them happier… Once again, feminism pushing for more “do nothing” because that is the magical drug; they already have an army of unhappy working single moms, why not take it a step further I suppose. At a time when we desperately need women to stop “doing nothing”, read the data, and come to the realization that the crap that has been shoveled to them for years is in fact a giant lie, Hollywood and feminism attempt to push for harder, stronger drugs to fix your depression that is caused by living their lies. Society desperately needs women to stop “do[ing] nothing”, not just for the sake of women’s happiness (happy wife happy life) but for the sake of society itself; women’s historical contributions that have been downplayed and undervalued by the very people self-labeled as their champions are what elevated us as a community, and “doing nothing” is what is destroying us.
Second, the #NeverTrump “conservatives”. How do they relate? Conservatives, let alone Christians have never taken the spotlight in the Republican Party (or any other party), they have historically always been “the other guys” who at best appear as cabinet members, senators, or vice president choices. Much like women described above, these men and women Conservatives worked hard to “pull other Republicans up to their level” and have succeeded for many, many years at influencing policy and meaningful change. What changed and what terrifies me? For the first time that I have read about or learned of, Conservatives are pulling up stakes, claiming #NeverTrump and pulling out of the Republican Party. Now, exactly like the young women I talked about above, if you’re truly a Conservative, let alone Christian, and are pulling out of the Republican Party, who is left to keep them honest? Who is there to drag them up, either by words or example? Moms, you might not ever get a “mom of the year award” on national television, but that does not mean your contributions go unnoticed, and that sure as hell does not mean your contributions are anything less than nation building; Conservatives need to understand the same thing. Much like motherhood, if Conservatives pull out now, #NeverTrump, and don’t endorse Trump (Thank you Cruz) do you really believe there will be a time in the future where your voice will be heard in the party? Do you truly believe that you can “come back from that”? Much like a mother that says “enough with you kids!” do you really believe that years down the road you can turn around and say “hey, I am back!” and your kid will welcome you back with open arms and heed your council? No! Exactly in the same manner, Conservatives if they continue down this path will make the title “Conservative” obsolete, and even repulsive; the party will reject them in the future because of the abandonment today, “Conservatives” will then flee to other parties and fade into obscurity.
Conservatives, the answer isn’t #NeverTrump, the answer isn’t fighting against your party and not endorsing Trump, the answer is not “to do nothing”; Mothers, the answer isn’t #NeverMarriedMother, the answer is not fighting against what makes you happy and not endorsing having children, the answer is not “to do nothing”. The GOP IS your party, the answer is to endorse Trump, the answer is to be in a position “to do something” when he wins; your family IS your happiness, the answer is motherhood, the answer is to be in a position “to do something” when your children need you.
I am living in a time when good men and women are choosing to do nothing, I hope I also live to see the time when good men and women choose to wake back up.
July 29 2016
Micah T English