Connor Beaton argues modern men have lost the ability to mobilize, the capacity to move themselves and others toward action. Social media and comfort culture keep them passive and fragile. He cites Jordan Peterson's advice to clean your room as a way to rebuild agency through small, disciplined actions.
What if I told you that you as a modern man have become more weak, more fragile, less effective, less competent, because modern society and modern culture has encouraged you to forget this one skill that every single man throughout human history has known is incredibly valuable in and important? And what if I told you that modern culture and society in many ways has been shaped to disincentivize you from developing this skill. The truth, as I can see it, is that modern men have become so complacent, so lost, because they've been missing this valuable skill. And this skill, without it, makes us more fragile, makes us more receptive to control and to manipulation, less receptive to standing up for ourselves. The simple skill that I'm talking about is your ability to mobilize. Your ability to kinetically mobilize yourself and the people, and specifically the men around you, towards something meaningful, something purposeful, and something that's going to create change. So when you as a man begin to mobilize and you begin to mobilize people around your mission, around your, you know, whatever product, service, et cetera, that you're building, your idea, your party, your whatever, That becomes a danger to the system, that becomes a danger to the status quo, to the norm. And the truth is that we have to fight against the incessant IV drip of complacency that is fed to us through social media on a daily basis. It is easier to stay in place, to shelter in place on your living room couch, in your bed, doom scrolling through social media, playing video games again and again and again, watching the same Netflix show over and over and over again than it is to go out and do something with your life. So many men have got caught in this trap of complacency and nullifying their kinetic mobilization as an individual or having it be conscripted towards something because they think it's the quote unquote right thing to do. So most modern men have become so confused and so complacent and so utterly disconnected from the kinetic force and power inside of them, inside of their own bodies, that not only do they fear any type of conflict or any type of combat, but they fear the minor act of turning off their phone at night, of putting down the social media, of unplugging the video game machine, Of turning off Netflix and going out into the wilderness and doing something real. So here's the truth that most men don't want to hear, that most of us don't want to hear. And this is not about politics. This is not about women and blaming them. It's, it's, it's not even really about culture. It's about your capacity. It's about your willingness to mobilize yourself in a kinetic way to get off the couch to go out into the world. Because the truth is that somewhere along the way, many men, many of you stopped training your capacity to mobilize, to go and do shit, to act, to confront, to lead, to endure discomfort, to stand in the tension without collapsing, to stand up for something that's meaningful and worthwhile. And when a man loses his ability to mobilize himself, he cannot mobilize others. You cannot mobilize your marriage, your relationship, your children. You cannot mobilize your business. You cannot mobilize the employees that work with you. You cannot mobilize the people in society. It's not that you don't get mobilized by somebody else or some other force. It's that you get incentivized to shelter in place. So here's the question. When in your life have you become too passive? Are you too passive right now? Have you outsourced your strength, and where have you outsourced it, and where are you trading competency for comfort? Where are you trading competency for comfort? Don't comment about it. You don't need to debate about it. You need to do something about it. You need to mobilize yourself towards the things that you need to do. This is why Jordan Peterson became so popular by telling men, go clean your room. So in the essence of Jordan Peterson, whether you love him or hate him, Mobilize yourself, go clean your room, go do something in your life that might seem small or insignificant, but that moves you kinetically and energetically towards doing something real in the world, because healthy systems are built by healthy men, and healthy men are built by disciplined actions. They are built by being able to mobilize ourselves towards the things that we know we need to do. And so my challenge for you today, My brother is to look at the things in your life that you know you need to mobilize yourself towards and go kick some ass. Go get some shit done. Peel yourself off the couch, resist the complacency, say fuck you to the mediocrity, and go do something valuable today, tomorrow, and the next day, even if it seems small and insignificant. Just mobilize yourself to make progress. All right, thank you so much for tuning in. Don't forget to man it forward. Share this message with a man that you know needs to hear it. Man it forward. Do not leave men down. See you next time. Thank you.
How to Raise Strong, Unshakable Boys in Today's Culture, with Dr. Shefali Tsabary
