Rise of the Barbarians

mans-fistOn Friday night, a Huntington Beach man, 43, was walking back to his car after the Los Angeles Angels played the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series. Three men accosted him, and then proceeded to beat him senseless. He is currently in critical condition at a local hospital after police found him unconscious.

I didn’t find the story particularly shocking, given that I took my father and two younger sisters to the Angels-Royals game on Thursday night. Throngs packed the stadium — the team announced the attendance at 43,321. We had bleacher seats, which sold for $68. The team must have also sold standing room tickets, since behind the bleachers — lines of fans stood three deep, watching the game.

When my family and I arrived at the game, the ushers had not cleared paths through the standing-room crowd for those who wanted to get to their seats. We gently edged our way toward the seats.

Which is when I heard a guy scream into my ear: “Why the f—- are you bumping me?”

I turned to face a young Hispanic man, wearing a long-sleeved flannel shirt (it was reportedly 93 degrees outside at the time), baggy jeans, an Angels cap cocked off at a bizarre angle, the brim unbent. He wore a close-cropped three-day stubble. He was approximately my height, but probably 20lbs. heavier than I. Two of his friends flanked him.

Though I hadn’t bumped, I quickly apologized — after all, what point is there in a confrontation at a sporting event?

My apology, however, was not accepted. “I said, why the f—- did you bump me?”

Again I apologized. When it became clear that this fellow had downed at least a few beers and had his mind set on some sort of violence, my sister grabbed my arm and we walked away. He glared at me the rest of the game. My sisters focused on reassuring me that getting into a physical fight with the dolt would have served no useful purpose, and could have ended in a 3-on-1 beating.

Which didn’t make me feel much better.

Unfortunately, this fellow wasn’t the only beer-soaked Neanderthal in the bleachers. When a Royals fan, who happened to be black, showed up with his girlfriend, two boozy white Angels fans screamed — with children in close proximity — “Go back to f—-ing Kansas City!”

It’s unlikely any of these charming folks were involved in the beating of the Huntington Beach man after Game 2 of the ALDS. But we now live in a society where young male barbarians are growing in number, their masculinity tied into useless aggression. More and more, young men seem to channel their aggressive instinct not into building, but into destroying — not into defending the innocent, particularly women and children, but into confrontations for no apparent reason other than demonstrating dominance.

Why?

As a society, we have robbed men of their protective missions. Men who seek to protect women and children are called anti-feminist, gender normative. Men have abandoned their responsibilities to the state. As for building things — well, there too, men have been told that to build is to act selfishly, without concern for the community. And young men have no male role models, since many of their fathers have abandoned them or abandoned true maleness in pursuit of vainglorious brutality. All of which leads to an increase in destruction by men without purpose, hemmed in only by the power of the state and the benefits of self-interest.

None of this is an excuse for barbarianism, of course. But it does help explain why masculinity used to center around acting like a gentleman, while now it centers around acting like a boor. The more we foster the barbarian mentality, the more barbaric society becomes.

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  • Patriot077

    Though this theory may be correct, even men with nothing better to do would not pound someone into unconsciousness. The people who did that are beyond even Ben’s barbaric descriptor. They are subhumans.
    A similar event occurred just a couple years ago after a Dodgers/Giants baseball game, and the victim, who has a family, will never be able to work as a paramedic again. In fact he himself requires 24/7 care. He can’t dress himself, take a shower, or go to the bathroom without assistance.
    Sickening.

    • UCSPanther

      I remember that one. The scum who committed that crime should have been hanged.

      They effectively condemned that man to a life imprisonment in a body that he can no longer use.

      • Patriot077

        Yep. Whatever their prison sentences were, they were not sufficient as far as I’m concerned.
        I think the guy lives with his parents now and they care for him. I hope his wife and kids haven’t deserted him.

      • Michael Garfinkel

        Was there an arrest made in that case?

        A conviction?

      • Ari Asulin

        holy crap, you people are real

        • Nabukuduriuzhur

          Yes. It’s called right and wrong, Mr. Asulin.

        • UCSPanther

          I consider permanently disabling someone the same as killing them.

          • Douglas J. Bender

            It’s not the same. But it should be punished as if it was.

  • UCSPanther

    This is what could be called “anomie” the term for when social norms get rejected and more barbaric behavior comes to the surface.

    When work ethic, honesty, discipline, family cohesion and faith get rejected in favor of atheism, deception, broken families, hedonism, greed and laziness, societies collapse into disarray and lawlessness.

    Ghettos have sadly become glimpses of the future, of violence, broken families and substance abuse.

    The best we can do, is preserve the old virtues for the future.

    • mjsmart

      Wrong, my friend. That is anything BUT the “best we can do.” We just need to unite, and then compel the Progressive agenda (papers, Hollywood,TV,internet,teachers & colleges) into upholding their civic responsibilities. Boycotts, pickets, divestiture,lawsuits, and anything else that makes Progressive influence untenable are fair game. Become politically savvy and outspoken.

      • Ari Asulin

        That’s … not very realistic

        • I_Am_Me

          You’re right. And I think you know what is.

  • tickletik

    This article very weakly touches on the problem. Which is embarrassing given the wealth of information on the subject.

    70-90% of divorces are initiated by women due to the relentless pro divorce propaganda as well as the rewards offered by the family court to women. Alimony, child support, the house, the car, etc. it is now considered routine for divorcing women to file restraining orders against men in the opening moves of divorce.

    Nearly half of all rape accusations are proven false, there are no consequences to it. Campus rape hysteria demonizes the natural assertive nature of men.

    Most programming on television and print is geared toward women, this is because women consume 80% of the goods. So the advertisers and businesses cater to them. As do the laws.

    If a woman beats her “husband”, and the man calls the police, in many jurisdictions, he is the one automatically arrested.

    There are numerous shelters for battered women, but few if any for men. This despite the fact that Errin Pizzey, the woman who opened the first women’s shelter in England has been calling for men’s shelters for the past 50 years.

    • The Brass Cat

      Our society has become gynocentric and misandric. Men are second-class. Ben is putting women on a pedestal. He plays into the “damsel in distress” nonsense. He see all women as inherently innocent and all men as reservoirs of evil.

      • Sigi

        Did you even read the article? There was nothing like that in it.

  • radicalrepublican

    It’s Christianity vs. Barbarism. Civilization was built up by Christianity over centuries and now it is being destroyed. The secularists don’t know what they are doing in their assault on traditional society. There is no such thing as a “cultural-religious” vacuum and Christianity will be replaced by various barbaric ideologies.

    • mjsmart

      For the sake of historical accuracy, Christianity is derived from Judaism, the first monotheistic faith, and the one that received the ten commandments. Jesus put into practice that which he learned as a Jew. Barbarism is its’ antithesis.

  • kiwi41

    This is why concealed carry is such a necessity. And controlled breeding.It will take a major change in government, but the foundations need to be started .
    Selective ethnic cleansing would be the ultimate.

    • Ari Asulin

      wow!

      • UCSPanther

        Are you trying to defend gutter scum who attempt to prove their warped masculinity through brutally assaulting strangers?

    • chicagorefugee

      Who would actually be fool enough to trust the government with that sort of power? Aside from left-wingers, that is ….

  • I_Am_Me

    This is what societal collapse feels like. Fearful. Thankfully, there is an explanation behind it. Mr. Shapiro, do you ever delve into the comments like other FPM writers?

    • Ari Asulin

      sorry your generation isn’t in charge anymore

      • Nabukuduriuzhur

        At the moment it’s the Boomers in charge.

        Temporarily.

        Unlike their forebears, they are the first generation since industrial cigarettes were introduced in the 1890s to have a reduced lifespan. The drugs have wreaked havoc on their minds, with “early onset alzheimers” now being common in people in their 50s and 60s, thanks to pot.

        Indeed, the reason that in 2009 the Boomers went so whole hog into evil with such things as 2009 H.R. 1913 is that they realized that they were getting old and were not going to be able to bring a Soviets-style communism to this nation. They abandoned the incrementalism that had changed our culture so much and that woke the nation up.

        • Tony Holmquist

          Just one correction, Brother. The radical, liberal/progressive, anti-American hippie Boomer portion is in charge. Temporarily. There are many of us that have been tangling with them since back in the day, growing up in the Los Angeles area. While we went into the military services or got started in our jobs and careers, they went about infiltrating academia, politics, media and public “service”. Yes, we got distracted and lost track of them a bit. That is a big reason why there is such a wave of opposition building. We know these people, we grew up with them, we know what they are about and we aren’t intimidated by them like the generation just 10-15 years before them (the RINOs in power). We know their game, we know their lies and tactics and not afraid to use them, against them. They have led the moral and societal decline of the last 40 years. Whatever time I have left on this rock will be spent fighting them and their agenda at every corner…Thanx

        • Sigi

          Take heart then. Gen X is not all that fond of the Boomers and will give strong consideration reasonable-sounding alternatives. The trick is to get around that segment of them which has been brainwashed and doesn’t bother to think. ETA- reality has awakened many of those since 2008.

      • Nabukuduriuzhur

        Before I forget, read “Care and Treatment for Older Drug Users” that the EU health agencies have published. It’s rather an eye-opener about what “harmless” pot and other drugs do to people as they age.

        From paranoia to HIV to senility. It’s very grim.

  • Biff_Maliboo

    Shapiro is bullied by a drunk guy.

    “RISE OF THE BARBARIANS!!!!!”

  • victoryman

    We live in an perverted society which teaches that men need to be more like women and women more like men. Homosexuality and homosexual “Marriage” are the flavor of the day, along with a healthy serving of Islamic propaganda and the continual downgrading of our country via the current administration and its enablers in the state run media. Next in line will be the normalizing of polygamy and the lifting up of the transgendered. “Pop” culture reigns supreme. Just look at the current programming on TV whose programs are interrupted by what I call, “Moron-mercials.” Has anyone here suffered through what passes for comedies today? Geared to the lowest common denominators in our society. Ask a parent – or what passes for a parent today – to name an outstanding feature of their children and they’ll probably answer, “An opposable thumb.” Pray for our nation and the future of fast fading decency in our society.

    • Nabukuduriuzhur

      Most people don’t even pay attention to Hollywood anymore. The “top” program last year had 0.3% of potential viewers. This is the fourth straight year that 9 of 10 movies have lost money. Aftermarket DVD sales are extremely poor.

      What IS selling are old movies and old TV programs. Things that families can watch with their kids and not have to worry about the garbage.

      I watch an hour of TV a day while running on the elliptical, and it’s METV, which is the old 1950s-1980s TV shows like Mission Impossible.

      • garyhope

        Ooo, I love METV. Perry Mason, Adam 12, Get Smart.

        Why do I like them so much?

  • Ari Asulin

    so you’re that guy at the game huh

    • Nabukuduriuzhur

      Why are you being so aggressive? Are you acting like the bullies in the article?

  • hrwolfe

    The death of right and wrong, ethnic pandering and not holding All American’s to the same standards is how we got there. A sever lack of civility and extreme lack of discipline in schools, where else do they learn that they get away with this stuff? I’ve watched this evolve since before young Ben was born, and people wonder why? We’ve made excusing bad behaviour a national pastime and then wonder why bad things happen.

    • nobullhere

      One thing which will give a rebirth to right and wrong is wehat these thugs and slugs are short of – a good caning. If they got the sort of thrashing that they would get in Singapore, society might be changed for the better.

  • phoebeintheforest

    I would say avoid all places that attract hundreds/thousands of young men and then serve them beer. If folks stopped going to baseball games in significant numbers, the team owners would figure something out to keep people safe.

  • laura r

    the man was hispanic. i wouldnt go into a crowd of 43,000 people w/lower class mexicans. maybe ben should not repeat this activity?

  • Libslayer

    We also have a race baiting president who tells achievers, “you didn’t build that”.

  • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

    Shapiro mentions the decline of the family, which is certainly a large part of the problem, the problem being cultural deterioration. Some other factors he didn’t mention, although may have been covered by the commentators here:

    2. Rotten schools
    3. Mass immigration with failure to integrate, resulting in the importation of inferior (and more violent) cultural norms
    4. Lack of moral guidance. Religion is declining with nothing to replace it – this is the same path Europe took before us with disastrous results.
    5. Increasingly thuggish government in which brute force displaces reason and law.

    And of course we know what ideology and political party are responsible for all of these.

  • Colt

    The loser was likely a gang banger. They seem to populate Angels and Dodgers games.

    • Toa

      And they don’t go to the games because they are big baseball fans; it’s only to strut around, show off, and hopefully rat-pack some white person.

  • EamonnDublin

    Grrrrr! Grrrrrrr!! Oink Oink!! Grrrrr! Grrrrr! Snorrtt! Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

  • The Brass Cat

    Ben, your root analysis is backwards. You’ve identified the absence of fathers as the problem with male abandoners as the root cause. But in reality it is women who are abandoning marriages en masse (70% or more of divorces are initiated by the wife), and the fathers are largely denied custody by the courts. In addition, many women are choosing (yes, it is a choice via birth control) single motherhood, typically with massive government assistance (the welfare state replaces fathers). So, Ben, when you cite male abandoners as the root cause, you have it backwards… it is women who are abandoning men and families. It is large-scale misandry: http://www.singularity2050.com/the-misandry-bubble/

  • Red Baker

    It is Lord of the Flies time. Fatherless boys are being raised by gangs, barbarians, savages. Thanks, LBJ.

  • wildjew

    Aside from the moral and ethical implications of this article, if I had a son who got picked on by bullies at school like I did as a young man, I don’t think I would hesitate to let him train for a few years in martial arts under a good instructor, maybe do some physical work either in agriculture or construction, etc. He might not be able to prevail against a larger male but my experience is that it builds up a male’s confidence and that is what (especially young) men need; self-confidence. Generally bullies can detect a lack of confidence in other men. I am not saying Ben should have confronted this bully. I am saying what men need is self-confidence. Bullies have been around since the beginning of time.

  • UCSPanther

    Even more if you add so-called “Erotica novels” like 50 Shades of Grey…

  • William

    It’s always sad when grown men act like bratty children or bullies.

  • Lorilu

    See my comment above–a teacher told her high school class that being a housewife was equivalent to being a prostitute.

  • Douglas J. Bender

    “Barbarians”. Sounds like a good name for a sports team. (“Release the Barbarians!!” Or, “Tonight on CBS Sports — The Vikings versus the Barbarians.”)

  • Douglas Mayfield

    There are many reasons for the rise of violent behavior. One if the welfare state which leaves young men unemployed and unemployable.

    Another is the deterioration of public education, especially with the national imposition of Common Core by fiat. How do you develop a sense of efficacy as a young person which your brain has savaged by our schools?

    And there is issue that we are all supposed to be in thrall to the omnipotent state. How can one treat another individual with respect when there are no individuals, only members of the giant gray amorphous mass that is the state?

    Savagery has always been with us as human beings. If it is more omnipresent in our current society, it is so in direct proportion to the general deterioration to the way in which we are governed, the general expansion of government, the taking control of our lives cradle to grave by government, as we drift toward some form of police state in America.

  • Randy Townsend

    Well written. Rise of feminism, death of the two-parent family, rise of no-fault divorce, acceptance of abortion, growth of “women’s rights groups” at the expense of men, massive increases in social support programs, and the ABSENCE OF GOD-FEARING CHRISTIANS IN POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP…. And it’s going to get worse.

  • Tzila Godzilla

    It’s a very scary scenario juxtaposing the rise in barbarianism with the rise of Muslim converts in the U.S., and how the leaders of extreme Islam have been taking advantage of this demographic, if it can be called one at this time.

  • Sigi

    I see a few of the neanderthalls have turned up here too.

  • Sigi

    The co-opting of the DNC by the new left happened prior to the 1970′s. Also, as very bad as those organizations you named have been on this society, it dilutes the term “terrorist: to use it for them. Save that for the Weather Underground and the like who committed acts of real-life terrorism and violence, or we won’t have adequate words for what is coming around again. Otherwise, great post.

    • Demo P. Seal; PouponMarks

      Thanks, and you are right about the chronology. But consider that the EFFECT is the same. Terrorism causes widespread fear and conformity to whomever perpetrates it. What would you call the Feminists of academia who shut off debate or dissension, and personally attack those who merely question? The Left terrorizes by not using physical weapons; it destroys professional and personal lives by using virtual morbid weapons.

      What is Harry Reid attempting to do with the Koch Brothers? What does the ACLU do to any entity that opposes it? Answer: law fare.

      The results are the same. To rob you of your money could be accomplished by a man with a gun, or a man from the Gummint backed up with men with guns.

  • The Brass Cat

    The other way to look at it is, in our desire to assist the needy, we have instead incentivized being a baby momma. Baby mommas don’t need no stinkin’ man ’cause they got Big Government watching their backs. They are strong independent women (who happen to receive a ton of government aid).