Exploring Protector Mindset and Warrior Culture: Part One
This article is the first installment in a multipart series on protector mindset and warrior society, and the implications of both for us modern Americans. The first parts of our discussion will focus on the interaction of masculine identity and warrior culture; however, the overall conversation applies to all citizens, male or female, who desire to be protectors and stand up against evil, chaos, and the moral decay of civilization.
Have you ever heard the term “mall ninja” or “G.I. Joe” used to describe a guy who collects and wears tactical gear or memorabilia, but lacks the grit and authenticity of real warrior ethos? There is a demographic of people who want to wear the cool gear, throw around terminology learned from video games and movies, and associate themselves with a culture of courage and competency, without going through the rigorous process of growing and maintaining the accompanying mindset and skillset. Why is this? What drives men to desire to imitate the attire and jargon of warriors, while failing to assume the character of real protectors: discipline, drive, and selfless dedication? Is the surplus of men who never get past just “playing army” a concerning note about contemporary society?
My short answer is yes. The long answer is what we will explore in this series as we seek to understand the mindset of protectors, and the kind of culture that both fosters them, and is fostered by them.
It’s apparent that good men find affirmation through the ability to protect, to fight for a just cause and prevail, at great personal risk. Watch a group of boys playing: the game nearly always becomes some sort of dramatized battle, where sticks are transformed into weaponry, and themes of violence, command, territory, strategy, and conquest abound. The warrior instinct is innate in most young boys, just as the nurturing instinct is innate in most young girls.
Properly developed men are warriors in mind if nothing else: they approach tasks, goals, and debates like hills to be taken and pillboxes to be charged. They play for keeps, and they play to win. Society needs the right kind of aggression, particularly from its men. With the right kind of discipline, structure, and mentorship, aggression is the stuff of great leaders, everyday heroes, and odds-defying freedom fighters. So where does this kind of development come from? Who builds these heroes? The answer is a phenomenon called warrior culture.
A lone warrior is an unlikely anomaly. Good warriors need society as much as society needs good warriors. Society provides warriors with identity, camaraderie, and accountability. Perhaps most importantly, it provides them with a cause higher than the pursuit of personal glory or gain. Society meets the warrior’s need for loyalty and belonging. In turn, warriors provide society with security and stability, models of virtue, and a sense of sacred honor surrounding the values they sacrifice to protect.
Within society, warriors form a distinctive subculture. They run in organized packs, maintaining a tribal loyalty, and creating a shared identity based on a common code of values, respect, and shared suffering… and loathing of the enemy. Initiation, mentorship, discipline, rank, and accolades are hallmarks of warrior culture—badges to be worn with honor. The warrior culture’s discipline and indoctrination ensure that the proper controls are in place for applications of violence which meet society’s expectations for moral justification—social accountability.
Throughout history, warrior culture has taken various forms: European knights, Japanese samurai, Zulu impis, and Roman legionaries are just a few examples. Less romantic, but perhaps historically more important in the American context, is the manifestation of warrior culture in frontier society, the militia.
“Militia” has taken on a negative connotation in modern times, so allow me to define my term carefully. Here I am strictly using the historical sense of the word militia: the defenders of the home front, made up of every able-bodied man a town or region could field in an emergency. The kind of militia that drilled on the village green in every town in the days when our own nation still wore its frontier identity with pride and sobriety… the days when our forebears understood that extinction was not only possible, but a real and ever-present threat to their homes, communities, and states, and so regularly participated in the rituals of war preparation, not in a game of military make-believe or raucous, anti-government saber-rattling, but to ready themselves for common defense of what was precious to them. It was a far cry from playing dress-up in mom’s basement, and it had real impact on the men who participated, as well as the society that depended on them in times of danger.
That is what we will explore in the next installment of this series.