Force for Good is a bold, balanced exploration of positive masculinity, inspiring
men to become forces for good. Rejecting extremes – aggressive dominance
or passive disengagement – it presents a vision of healthy masculinity: strong
yet gentle, confident yet humble. The book emphasises that power, often
misunderstood, is neutral; used rightly, it enables men to fulfil their potential
and serve others. Divided into Being Man, Becoming a Force, and Doing
Good, it examines the journey from boyhood to manhood, internal and
external struggles, and the sacred responsibility to grow in strength and
purpose. A courageous call for men to act for the good of others.
Dangerous by design
‘A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very, very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control.’
– Jordan Peterson
Men are made to be dangerous.
And the world is a safer, better place for it.
Weak, passive men are not safe.
Aggressive, domineering men are not safe.
Dangerous men make the world a safer, better place. But only if they are good.
You may be wondering why on earth I would use the word ‘dangerous’ in the opening chapter of a book written to inspire men to be a force for good. Let me explain. For good to prevail, it must have the ability to be dangerous to what is bad. If it doesn’t, there will be nothing to stop bad from prevailing. Dangerous simply means the ability to inflict harm. And if what is good does not have the ability to inflict harm on what is bad, what is bad will have nothing to stop it from inflicting harm on what is good.
A bully won’t target someone who can fight back. A country won’t invade another if it knows the opposing army is strong enough to retaliate. In the same way, evil cannot prevail against
good when good has the power to resist it.
In the lion kingdom, male lions are equipped with fearsome strength, bone-crushing jaws and a protective mane, which gives them the ability to inflict lethal harm on any creature that threatens the pride. Because they are so dangerous to any threat, the pride is safe. What saved the world from nuclear destruction during the Cold War was the very real threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD). What kept the Soviet Union from using its nuclear arsenal for global expansion was the fact that the USA had a very dangerous arsenal of their own. It’s the concept of peace through strength.
It’s not toxic
Back to men and masculinity. Men have to be dangerous to whatever is a danger to humanity. They need the strength, power, force, competence and ability to resist evil. Without it, evil will prevail. With it, they can be a force for good.
It’s not masculinity that is toxic; it’s the lack of true, positive, healthy masculinity that is toxic. Rape, war, abuse and neglect all have two things in common: bad men who make them happen and weak men who do nothing to stop them. Men who do bad things are toxic. Men who do nothing to stop bad men from doing bad things are toxic. Neither of these is true masculinity. True masculinity is both dangerous and good. Just as good medicine is dangerous to bad germs, good men have to be dangerous to whatever is bad in the world.
Over the last few decades, there has been a growing tendency to soften men. To make them safe and harmless. We have developed an alarming and unimaginably destructive culture of ‘safe spaces’, ‘trigger warnings’ and ‘taking offence’. Protecting people from offence only weakens them. These so-called safe spaces are anything but safe. If you raise a child in a hermetically sealed bubble, when you finally let him out of the bubble, he will die. The bacteria you protected him from will kill him because, in his formative years, he never had the opportunity to develop the strong immune system so crucial to fighting it. Character is the same. It has to be developed by being exposed to offences, disagreements and struggles of many kinds. In other words, the real world. Not a false, protected, sanitised version of life.
Without exposure to real-life challenges, character simply cannot grow. Like unused muscle, it will atrophy. In place of a backbone, there will be a wishbone. Muscles are developed through resistance training, and character is no different. It needs resistance, not protection. Safe spaces are actually dangerous places because they deprive us of the conditions essential for building strength and resilience, ultimately making us weak.
Being offended by words makes us weak and fragile. We need real-life encounters with people who disagree with us and even offend us to develop strength of character and courage of conviction. The only way to truly know yourself and what you stand for, and be a productive, fruitful member of society, is to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with world views, opinions and approaches that differ from your own – even if you find them offensive.
It’s enlightening to observe the difference between young men from past generations and young men today. During World War II, the Allied fighter planes that flew above the English Channel to do battle against invading Nazi bombers were often piloted by men as young as nineteen. For them, offence wasn’t a word or conflicting ideology – it was a highly trained enemy pilot flying a lethally armed war plane whose sole purpose was to blow them out of the sky and then bomb their family and home into oblivion. Every time these brave young pilots took off, there was a good chance they would never return. The courage, skills and resilience of these young men were astounding.
‘Offence’ is now taken as anything from a word you don’t agree with to a simple suggestion or mere mention of something that might cause emotional discomfort. These ‘offences’ are so far removed from actual danger that they are comical. The truth is that offence is a gift! Challenges are a gift. They develop strong men with competence and character who build a good future.
We are doing our young men and the world a great disservice by not inspiring, encouraging and equipping them to be strong, brave, tough, competent, competitive men. There is a profound saying by G Michael Hopf in his book, Those Who Remain, that ‘Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.’ We are in real danger of raising a generation of soft men that is allergic to offence and captive to political correctness, who will ultimately usher in a very dangerous future.
The storm clouds are gathering. The cycle always repeats itself.
Developed nations now live in the easiest times ever experienced by humankind. We take luxuries and conveniences for granted: running water, flushing toilets, electricity and instant communication; road, air and sea travel; endless supplies of food on neatly packed shelves, a short, air-conditioned drive from our warm, secure homes that offer a dizzying array of instantly accessible entertainment options. It’s utterly astonishing.
Yet none of this came easily. It was hard-won, borne out of blood, sweat, tears, wars, human rights abuses and struggles that are almost unimaginable today in our civilised, sanitised, temperature-controlled environments. The comfortable lives we lead now are the result of relentless effort and personal sacrifice by millions of men and women.
Soft, passive men are destructive to the world because they do nothing to take action against evil. They are silent in the face of lies, absent in the face of need, missing in action.
In war, the most reviled are the soldiers who abandon their posts out of fear and cowardice. The world needs strong, capable, dangerous, skilled, brave men to be at their posts – as fathers, husbands, protectors, providers, builders, maintainers and pioneers. Without good, strong men standing firm in these roles, the world is not safe, and our future is in peril.
Extracted from Force for Good by Craig Wilkinson, out now.
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