That really is a great piece, thank you for posting it.

Anna Machin: Among our close animal relatives, only humans have involved and empathic fathers.

She just fed feminists their next argument. "Our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom do not have involved fathers and they successfully raise their offspring to adulthood. That proves that fathers aren't important."

"Among our close animal relatives, only humans have involved and empathic fathers. Why did evolution favour the devoted dad?" ~ Anna Machin

"Men have evolved to father and to be an equal but crucially different part of the parenting team. By not acknowledging who they are or supporting what they do, we are really missing a trick." ~ Anna Machin

We humans created language, art, science, agriculture, theology, philosophy, and commerce. We are the only species aware of our own eventual death.

We've been to the stars - and, while our "animal relatives" have also made that trip, they went as our crash-test dummies, not as drivers.

Our "animal relatives" are huddling in caves, cringing at thunder, and digging grubs out of stumps for food. We build shelters out of materials that we make, we conquered the lightning and put it in small glass globes to light our shelters on command, and we consume food grown thousands of miles away by people we've never met and probably never will.

Do you think, perhaps, that evolving into having an intact family unit and the involvement of both parents might have had a hand in that development?

From pages 180-181 of "----- ---------."

(Do I really need to tell you who wrote it, once you've read it?)

Mind you, he wasn't talking about males in particular. Note the last paragraph, too.

IF ONLY WE WERE HUMAN

"This species is a dear, hateful, sweet, barbaric, tender, vile, intelligent, confused, virtuous, evil, thoughtful, perverted, generous, greedy species. In short, great entertainment.

"As I said before, humans are the only species that systematically tortures and murders its own for pleasure and personal gain. In fact, we are the only species that systematically tortures and murders its own, period.

"We are serial killers. All our poems and symphonies and oils on canvas will never change that. Man's noble aspect is the abberation.

"Those who argue that art and philosophy are proof of human worth neglect to mention that, in the scheme we have devised, artists and philosophers are completely powerless and largely without prestige. Art, music and philosophy are merely poignant examples of what we might have been had not the high priests and traders gotten hold of us.

"Most animals, when fighting one of their own, will show aggressive behavior, but very little hostility or intention to harm. And when the outcome of the struggle is inevitable, the losing animal will signal its defeat by exposing its most vulnerable part to the victor, affording it the opportunity to finish the kill. The victor then walks away without inflicting further harm. These are the creatures we feel superior to."
___________________________________________

And I wonder about this: "Some 80 per cent of men aspire to become fathers."

Given that 20% of women in their 40s do not have children, that suggests, at least, that the number of women and men who WANT children is about equal. Really? Or are we including those men who say they want children but change their minds the first time they have to, say, babysit an infant nephew and change that baby's diaper? Or even just put up with colic-related screaming for two hours?

(*I* made up my mind not to have children when I was six and couldn't stand my baby brother's crying. IMO, that's one good reason not to make the condescending remark "you'll change your mind" to ANY child, however young. Even if it's about a different subject. At the very least, you don't want to risk cutting off the lines of communication with a child who's close to you.)

So there's a lot of discussion about "toxic masculinity". You want to know what toxic masculinity is? It's boys raised without fathers, without male role models of any kind. It's boys who are told, practically from birth, that they are inherently inferior and that society has no place for them. It's boys who get the message that their only option for gaining respect is to join a gang. It's boys who give up on civilization, because as they see it, all doors are closed to them. It's boys who are prepared to die because life has nothing to offer.

In fact, we are the only species that systematically tortures and murders its own, period.

Chimpanzees will be shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War

If you google "chimpanzees murder" and you'll find this link.

https://www.livescience.com/57714-chimps-kill-mutilate-cannibalize-other-chimp.html

We've elevated combat to a high art form, but the results are the same.

It's boys who are prepared to die because life has nothing to offer.

That reminds me of this:

Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman--a rope over an abyss. A dangerous across, a dangerous on-the-way, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and stopping. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under. I love those who do not know how to live, for they are those who cross over.

Friedrich Nietzsche
Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This quote has always filled me with a certain sense of dread.

One of the big differences is how fathers play with the kids. Fathers tickle, chase, throw the kids in the air, give horsey rides, say "boo", make jokes. I recently read where the hormone vasopressin in men causes a change in their behavior toward playfulness toward their kids. This playful behavior helps kids become more resilient, more outgoing, less fearful.
My kids called me for help with homework. I never once said I was too busy. I taught them at a young age to read phonetically and they were way ahead of classmates. We caught frogs, lizards and snakes together. Dads are essential and yet the culture keeps insisting they are optional or even harmful.
As to the comments above about humans being violent, let me suggest that it is also humans who created laws and civilization so that almost all of us no longer need to be, and are not, violent. I've known guys who fell off a roof and died and suicides but never have known personally either a murder victim or someone who killed. I think that is progress.

@Patrick: She just fed feminists their next argument. "Our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom do not have involved fathers and they successfully raise their offspring to adulthood. That proves that fathers aren't important."

It proves that single mothers can raise animals. Raising humans requires a bit more. It does not have to be the father and husband - and not all fathers and husbands do their children any good - but substitutes such as an uncle, grandfather, or stepfather may not always be available or as effective. Crime rates are higher where there are more single parents.

> It's boys raised without
> fathers

✓

"Most animals, when fighting one of their own, will show aggressive behavior, but very little hostility or intention to harm. And when the outcome of the struggle is inevitable, the losing animal will signal its defeat by exposing its most vulnerable part to the victor, affording it the opportunity to finish the kill. The victor then walks away without inflicting further harm. These are the creatures we feel superior to."

We prevent even the idea that there can be a "winner" and "loser" from being presented in school, and then wonder at the spectacle that results when a snowflake melts when such a thing is pointed out to them forcefully.