Monday October 2, 2006 - 5:04AM EDT

The title of the post is kanji for elephant.  In japanese at least, it might be a slightly different one in Chinese. Anyway that is neither here nor there. I remeber watching this documentary on elephants that were killing rhinos for no reason in a wildlife sanctuary and they didn't know why. The documentary went on to explain that these elephants were in "musk" for extended periods of time. Musk is a state of arousal for male elphants that corresponds with mating and mating season. Elephants in musk act very different and will destory trees and rip up vegetation as shows of dominance. Problem was that these young male elephants were continually in musk and took out their agression on rhinos, simply slaughtering them for no reason. There was no competition for food or water. What they found out was that these elephants had been put in the reserve as young elephants without any older males. The older males were culled because there was no place for them and they thought that the least they could do was save the young males to save the younger generation of elephants. So these males grew up in herds without older males.  Females dominate elephant herds so I think they thought that the older males were less important to keep around when they were running out of space or money. To fix the problem with these young males being in musk and being hyper agressive they introduced older males from other reserves slowly to keep the younger ones in line. The young ones would try to attack the older males at first but were easily beaten back by the older ones. Eventually the younger males dropped out of musk and lost their agressiveness and the random rhino killings stopped. In wildlife preserve all across africa during their creation older males were culled and young males were allow to grow up without their influence so the problem of these violent elephants has been repeated in other reserves.

Why did I go through that story? Why is it important? It only really struck me when I saw violent crime comitted by young human male adolescents. Though many have been calling out the lack of strong male presence in young african american males lives for a long time it never occured to me how much a problem it really is and not just with young african americans anymore. The recent spat of stories of teenagers beating up homeless people seem like an exact parallel to the elephant story. Except when reading these stories of the kids beating up homeless I never hear anything about father figures and little about parents in general. I just read about the bemoaning of violent cultural influences like video games and movies and people asking themsleves, baffled, why this stuff happens.
After seeing the elephant documentary I wonder when I read those stories about the fathers. I'd just like to know what the relationship with the father was. I don't want to oversimplify things but could some of this violet behavior by young males be prevented by strong fathers. Could it be caused by absent, abusive or just plain bad fathers.  Not just fathers but whoever takes the male lead role or roles. Sometimes you hear the anecdotal statement that females leaving the home has ruined the family. Has that statement been a symbol of the wrong group taking the blame for something seriously wrong? Is it the silent decline of mature male dominance that really has done serious damage to the family and society. I can say with some certainty that cultural male role models have changed over my lifetime as things like that do. I know that when I look at male role models now there seems to be a common theme of infidelity or promiscousness. Many times when one looks at some man held up as an example of manliness they are sullied by some kind of sexual infidelity or held up for sexual prowess.

I think there is so much here to discuss that isn't discussed enough. Feminism help break the shackles of gender bias and helped to define women more broadly and strongly in society. It also brougt into the common discourse the idea of questioning and examining female roles. Where once it was relgated to a standard based on tradition it was now up for discusion which lead to the improvment of even the traditional female roles. Males have still not had such a renaisance in their traditional roles. What I think we have seen is a more organic discussion arising from more openness in questioning things in general. Also what is kind of ironic is that some questions of male roles have been off shoots of changing female roles. Such as men staying in the home while the woman works. There is also the perceived conflict of machoness and sensitivity. It has been difficult in modern pop cultural to seriously define both aspects in a single person. A man can find it difficult to fill both roles and maintain a favorable standing in the minds of all people. Its like you can't be a cry baby and tough guy at the same time. I feel like I am starting to get a little cliched so let me reformulate my thought.  The question of what defines a admirable, no not even admirable. The question of what defines a good man has not come up for discussion in the public discourse or in popular cultural references. While something like Sex and the City can ask multiple questions on female roles and be demonstrative of women trying to figure it out. A show like Two and a Half men simply define two male roles and have them duke it out to the death. In that show the two characters are who they are and can't do much about it.  I am not articulating this thought correctly. It all comes back to the elephant thing and teenage boys commiting violent acts. Ok, pop culture-wise women have gained the ability to at least question  or challenge the role they play. Men in many ways have not. Is it that lack of choice the gives rise to roles skewed in  either direction to an extreme that is detrimental to society. Being strong and macho has become being violent and overbearing because for a man there is no other way to go sometimes. I'm not sure. I just lament the fact that what is held up as male role models is pathetic sometimes yet it is still celebrated. I don' tknow, The Nyqill is kicking in, time for bed, and more work tomorrow.