The Most Dangerous People on Earth

I read through some lengthy portions of the book Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters in the bookstore the other day. It was a very interesting book. The premise is that evolutionary biologists can come up with the best explanation to some of the most confusing questions about human behavior. I am not sure I buy the answer to every question (such as the size of human testicles and the shape of the human phallus assume that human females are biologically hardwired for multiple sexual partners), but several of the explanations of human behavior were compelling.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things I discovered is how much of our nature is hardwired to percieve adolescent, young adult, and single adult males as a threat. And, how subsequently young, unmarried males (15-35??)become the most dangerous folks on the planet.

As I read, I first began to think about this as I was agreeing with the author's assesment of why most suicide bombers are muslim The book says terrorists are willing to sacrifice their lives for the promise of 72 virgins because they are young males without status, whose reproductive possibilities are limited by polygamy among older wealthier males, and who live in societies with very little mobility among social strata. (So, if we want to win the war on terror provide wives for young muslim men. Also, I wonder how the broad gender descrepancy in China with young men outnumbering young women 2 to 1 is going to change the world if this is true.)But, as I read, I discovered many other ways folks percieve younger males as a threat.

Then, I began to take a look at the world we live in. What do we fear? Gangs? Gangs are populated by adolescent and young adult males. Terrorists? How many suicide bombers are men with families over 30? Very few to none? War? Wars are fought primarily by males under 30. Who are the primary victims of murder? Young men (even though the murderers are often older).

There is another half of this equation that we learn from history. Young men are often the folks that are courageous and bold enough to bring about social change. Martin Luther King Jr. was 26 when he led the bus boycotts. Calvin was the same age when he led the Swiss Reformation. Jesus was 30 when he started his ministry with men in their late teens and early twenties. The Biblical David was a teenager not yet able to grow a beard when he slew Goliath. Martin Luther was in his twenties when he began his wing of the reformation. Adolescent men and young adult men are the ones historically that have brought about social change.

If you doubt my theory on the power of young adult men in world history, look at where many of our great influencers have been found. Marx and Darwin were university professors. Osama Bin Laden, for all intents and purposes, is a youth minister funding camps for unpriviledged boys and young men. Hitler's Nazi party was a youth movement made up of low-income young men. Martin Luther was a professor/priest before the reformation, influencing young adults with profound questions. For good or for ill, and despite of the political incorectness of the statement, the future of our world is going to depend on how we listen to, treat, and share power with young men. Especially young men on the margins of society.

Now look at our society. Look at our rates of divorce. Look at how many young men are raised without fathers in the home (like me). Look at how we devalue young men in our society. Take time to think about how much more difficult it has become for young men without a trade and without money to go to college to get by. Then ask, what does that say for all of us in the future?

Anyway...this is something I have been thinking a lot about, and I would love to hear if you have any more input.