It’s not about sissy
So along with the idea that manhood is about predation goes the idea that the only alternative to predation is sissy. False choice.
Contact sports are violent. That’s ok because it’s between willing participants. If two people (men or women) want to get into a ring and beat each other senseless, I say have at it. If that’s what two willing adults want to do then go for it. Football, mixed martial arts fighting, it’s all good. In fact I’d rather watch Ultimate Fighting than boxing any day. Those guys don’t mess around. No thickly padded gloves, just mano a mano. But that’s not predation. It’s fair because they both know what they’re getting into, they both have the choice to be there or not, they both want to be there … it’s no coincidence to see this is the same line that demarcates the difference between rape and consensual sex.
Humanity bringing order to chaos is not the same thing as humanity mirroring predation. Predation is part of the chaos. Let’s stick with the sports metaphor. We know deep down what qualifies as unfair advantage. Boxing divides men into different size/weight categories. It wouldn’t be sport if a Heavyweight went into the ring with a Featherweight. In a real way that would be predation. There would be no honor in that kind of victory. Follow that through to powerful nations and weaker nations, the strong taking unfair advantage of the weak is predation, the strong helping the weak is bringing order to chaos. Keep going to what makes us different than other animate life – we alone have the power to bring order to chaos; we are made in the image of God. Using our strength to prey on their weakness is predation and it’s the exact same kind of wrong as all the other examples.
Christ showed us what real strength is about. The power of God revealed in the foolish weakness of the cross.
Sex and food are good in their proper place … and predation isn’t the proper expression of either. I’m not making that up. It looks to me like God did. I believe if we take one more step away from monotheism with man-the-predator at the center we will find ourselves closer to the real Christ on the cross and one step away from the long heritage of mistaking the creature for the Creator.
