It’s an interesting hypothesis. I think the portion about the feminization of culture is pretty spot on, but I think it’s just a symptom of one of our biggest problems, which is the state of our education system.
You’re probably wondering how I made that jump. K-12 is a disaster, IMO. Kids spend too much time “re-learning” the same things (I put re-learning in quotes because it’s more like temporary memorization than actual learning, but I digress…) year in and year out and too little using their hands and bodies in meaningful ways.
Every child is treated the same and every child is not the same. I’d wager children spend 85% if not more of their time in school sitting at a desk. For a large percentage of people, especially boys, this is unnatural. You never build anything anymore. If recess still exists it’s limited. If you’re lucky you get to take a gym class once a year. There is little or no mechanism for our youth to determine what it is they have a passion for or are good at. Regardless of your personality, you’re supposed to be able to solve for X or write a report on The Tempest. Being able to hang drywall not so much.
Then you get to college, which you’ve been conditioned to believe is your golden ticket and you sit for another 4+ years at a desk. Re-learning the same shit or learning pointless shit for half of that 4 years. I’m looking through my undergrad transcript and here are some examples; The History of Rock Music, Intro to Ancient Civilizations, Intro to Criminal Justice, Public Speaking, Sports and Society, Intro to Biology, Intro to Electronic Media, Sexuality in a Diverse Society, Nutrition and Weight Control, Physical Wellness in America, etc… That’s 30 credits of bullshit for a degree in Accounting.
Then you get a job sitting at a desk for 8+ hours a day 5 days a week. That’s fine for some, but a nightmare for a lot.
Now you have an ever increasing number of people that are up to their eyeballs in debt, with jobs that they aren’t suited for and that pay okay at best, and that still have almost no outlet to be passionate.
On top of the above, my hypothesis is that the decline of the apprenticeship and/or a complete lack of mentorship is also a huuuuuuge part of the problem.
It’s true if you end up in a trade that you can still go through an apprenticeship, but as our economy and society have shifted towards services we’ve lost this valuable tool. There is no apprenticeship in the finance world. You get your degree and then you’re thrown in the deep end to figure it out. If you’re lucky you have a mentor that can guide you (not hold your hand), but my experience is that this is rare. Or, perhaps, you work with or for someone that you can emulate and learn from if just through observation, but, again, this is rare in my experience. Mid-level management is ill-suited to mentor anyone. Hell, again I’d wage 85+% of management across all industries lacks the ability to effectively manage anyone. Our workforce simply lacks those skills.
Leadership is a skill just like everything else and it’s sorely lacking in America.
All of this leads to being pissed off. Pissed at the world, pissed at the government, pissed at society, pissed at what you deem is unfair (whether it is or is not actually unfair), etc… Not surprisingly, many act on this anger. Some through voting and some through violence.
TL;DR: People end up in the wrong jobs because we no longer have an environment where a person can easily discover what they’re good at or what their calling is. Instead, everyone is treated and conditioned to be exactly the same, which is short-sighted and stupid. The backlashing shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
