Texas Last Will And Testament Package: Fill & Download for Free

Here’s one. I do not know how to add the PDF of the letter mentioned. I wrote this back in 2010. Thanks…Summer 2010Just thought it poignant on this Memorial Day weekend that I forward to you all a letter I found about a year ago while going through my mother’s papers. This will take some back ground information so you all will know who the author is, my Dad, and what, when, and why it was composed.I apologize for the quality of the PDF. And, the first sentence of the second page has been cut off as my Mom, who copied it, was not ‘hardware savvy’. The dates are correct. It was written before most of us were born.BACKGROUND.My mom was a Captain in the US Army Air Corps. She was part of the 13th Air Wing stationed on Luzon, Philippines prior to the outbreak of WWII. She was an (Texas) Upshur County farm girl who threw a newspaper route after high school to earn the $14.95 tuition for Nurses training at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. The student nurses worked their way through the training as nurses and after three years received their Registered Nurse certificate. This type of training is not available for RN’s anymore as you must have a BS for RN credentials, but, we are talking about Pre WWII Texas. My Mom worked and trained many days in the Parkland Hospital emergency room where, when shot, they took President Kennedy. Unknown to her at the time, this training in the ER would serve her well in the very near future. After gaining her RN, she enlisted in the US Army, went to the then equivalent of OCS (Officers Candidate School) for women and came out a Second Lieutenant making $30 a month. After her OCS graduation, the Army gave her 10 days leave and then sent her to the Philippines. While in Manila, at the Officer’s club one night she met an artillery Captain, Captain Daniel W. Jopling. Mom was an AIR MEDIVAC MASH nurse as popularized by the TV show of the same name. She was one of 16 female, American military personnel assigned to the Philippines under the command of General MacArthur, and upon his departure, General Wainwright. She flew to all US held Philippine air fields and on many occasions came under enemy attack from Japanese air craft. She was one of 16 American females among 30 to 40 thousand US soldiers. Many times she mentioned to me that during the ordeal she was about to endure, patients would grab her arm and ask for forgiveness at merely wanting to touch an American female. So many of these wounded soldiers were touching one for the very last time.To capsulate Moms experience in the Philippines, she and her nurses, she was Chief Nurse, spent their time after the bombing of Pearl Harbor caring for soldiers wounded in combat. The Japanese forces invaded Luzon shortly after the Pearl event and simply pushed the ill equipped and under supplied American forces down the island of Luzon onto the Bataan Peninsula, where she and her nurses escaped to the island of Corregidor. Early in the attack, they were put on ½ rations, then shortly after, ¼ rations. After this, it was eat what you could find. I can remember during many Christmas dinners, Mom would become a bit sullen and recant that the meal we were eating was excellent, but paled in comparison to the Christmas meal she was awarded at the mouth of the Mylantan Tunnel, where the hospital housed on Corregidor Island. The meal was ½ can of military pork and beans with some ketchup. A feast in the midst of the chaos of war. Mom weighed 90 pounds at that time.On Corregidor they stayed and worked in the Mylantan Tunnel until one evening. Abruptly she was ordered to gather her nurses and assemble at the mouth of the tunnel to be evacuated. Under objection, she still had patients in the surgical ward where she would cut them open for surgery and ‘suture’ them back up with communications wire as they had no sutures, she complied as ordered. The 13 nurses were allowed one small bag and the clothes on their backs and all of them climbed aboard a jeep. Yes, all 13 in one vehicle. The jeep was driven down an irrigation ditch and into the sea, then, they swam to an inflatable raft which was staffed by two sailors. The raft was rowed out to another small craft where they were helped aboard. When the Japanese shore batteries saw them, they immediately opened fire at them with shore based cannon. The craft motored out of the light of the city of Manila and out into the choppy waters of Manila bay where they boarded the USS SPEARFISH submarine and it quickly submerged. The submarine, under orders of the Captain, sank to the bottom of Manila Bay where it stayed motionless and silent for the next 23 hours. The SPEARFISH was giving the Imperial Japanese Navy the old Upshur County, Texas version of ‘playing possum’. All other US personnel, military and civilian left ashore that night spent the next 4 years as Japanese Prisoners of War, or, as ‘guests of the Imperil Japanese Army’ as Japanese General Houma referred to them. You can now “GOOGLE” the name USS SPEARFISH and see the microfilm of the Captain’s log. They were declassified in the 1980’s and recently put on the internet. I believe in the log of Patrol #3 the captain describes picking them up and lists their names. Mom’s name at the time was Lucy Wilson. Her name is there. This is a not a story composed to entertain. It is the truth. They stayed submerged for weeks until they could run underneath the Japanese blockade and reach Australia which was in allied hands. During the weeks of the escape all 13 nurses had one bucket of water for all them for drinking and personal cleanliness. The food they ate was what the sailors could share. Many times she mentioned many of these brave men forwent their meals so these women could eat. And yes, many of them asked to hold their hands as this might be their last opportunity to touch an American female. No bunks were available and they slept in shifts atop the engine compartment in the heat. Only when submerged did the diesel engines get shut down the temperature aboard the submarine become reduced. Before her death, Mom took us on a tour of the USS SEAWOLF in Galveston, Texas. The SPEARFISH (SS-190) and SEAWOLF (SS-197) are both the same SARGO class warships. She walked us through the small cramped submarine and showed us the stuffy, hot ‘cabin’ above the engines where they lived and slept during the 17 day trip back to Australia. The SPEARFISH had to stay submerged during daylight as they were in enemy held waters and the slow moving submarine would be an easy target for any well gunned Japanese war ship. At that time, the SPEARFISH made 3 knots ahead speed while submerged. The sub only came up during the night to run the diesel engines long enough to recharge the batteries they would need for forward progress during the next day.For her actions, Mom was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and eight bronze stars, two of which have “V” valor devices, and about 15 other medals. The valor devices are awarded to recipients whose actions earn the Star in combat scenarios. The other medals are too numerous to list here. She had escaped the Japanese with her thirteen nurses. Dad was less fortunate.Dan Jopling of Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, earned a business degree from a college in San Diego, California and joined the New Mexico National Guard because his buddy, and soon to be brother- in-law, had joined. Plus, the extra $3 dollars a month added a tidy sum to the duos beer budget. Dad had a college degree and was able to take a correspondence school mail order course to earn his commission as an officer in the US Army. His soon to be brother in-law, my Uncle Bill Carr had no such degree. Three weeks after receiving his commission, the US Army cancelled this program which was never reinstated. He beat a deadline that unknown to him at the time, played a small role in saving his life. When the clouds of war were darkening over the USA, President Roosevelt called all reservists, National Guard Units and furloughed soldiers back to active duty. My grandfather knew one of the US Army Generals in Albuquerque where Dad had been called to active duty. My grandfather was a tailor and made the generals clothes. This general, as a favor to my Granddad, hired my Dad to be his aide as Dad could take short hand dictation and use a type writer. When his unit, the 200thCoast Artillery, was given orders to go to the Philippines, my Dad objected to the general that he had not received the same orders to go overseas with his buddies. The general questioned my Dad hard on this issue as the General knew the Philippines were in dire danger. If war did break out, there was no way to resupply or remove any expeditionary force that far away from American soil as the USA did not have a suitable naval task force to accomplish such a large and lengthy task. And, President Roosevelt had committed all available war stuffs to the war in Europe. The US Navy, as well as the US Army, was not ready for war. Once deployed and hostilities began, they would be completely cut off and on their own. However, my Dad won his orders to go. So, instead of spending the Second World War in the US drinking beer and training other men to be artillery soldiers, he would fall to the Japanese and be a POW 4 months later. He reported to Luzon at 220 pounds. He was weighed 4 years later in Seoul, South Korea at 85 pounds, but he claimed this was inaccurate because they had been eating peaches dropped to them in 55 gallon drums by US bombers. And, for the first time in 42 months, they had been eating meat. Close to the prison camp was a rice field where as prisoners, the men watched an old North Korean farmer plow his rice field with the help of what my Dad called a Caribou. The starved men dreamed of barbequing the old caribou and eating it. Once liberated, they immediately dispatched a detail to capture the old work horse and bring it into camp for the feast. They were still staying inside the camp as they believed this was the safest place for the men so as to avoid any Japanese Army or Korean civilian reprisals. Unfortunately, no man or group of men had the strength to take an ax and kill the animal. They had to cut the animal’s jugular and let it bleed to death. Once expired, it was butchered, roasted and eaten.It is clear to me, without the atomic bombs being dropped in Japan, the men in this camp would not have survived if the planned, conventional amphibious invasion of Japan by the allies had taken place. Simply, without the two atom bombs being dropped over Japan and the war brought to a swift end, you would not be reading this as I would not be here. Yes the bombs were horrific. ‘WAR IS HELL’. However, the lives saved by these two bombs were mostly American. Never in my life will I believe the use of the atomic bombs was ‘overkill’ of an already defeated foe. One merely needs to review the accounts of the fanaticism of the Japanese Army and civilians during the Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Bougainville campaigns to gain a full appreciation of how this foe could delay the liberation of the prison camps. Dad often mentioned he believed all of the POW’s had about 6 more weeks to live at best. They were given no rations, none. They were given no medical care, none. Many men lost their lives and eyes to conjunctivitis, simple pink eye. 42 months of starvation, lack of water, exposure and heavy labor had taken their toll. Well over eighty per cent of their original task force was dead and of those repatriated, 25% of those men later died in hospital. In contrast, once captured and interred by Hitler’s German Army, the WEHRMACHT, only 3% perished. You can do the math here. Dad was interred with over 40,000 US soldiers.The letter you are about to read was written by Dad and you will see signed by himself and Mom. It shows the signature of “Lucy Jopling” so it must have been written after their marriage. Dad spent 5 years in the hospital in San Francisco after returning to the US and would go AWOL (military for Absent Without Leave) to chase Lucy Wilson around the USA trying to convince her to marry him. This wasn’t easy as the old Upshur County farm girl had clear, hard prerequisites for a spouse and many of the traits demonstrated by Captain Jopling didn’t fit the mold even though he was rich with 4 years back combat pay totaling some $14,000 USD. Many times Mom told me he would give her $100 dollars (three months pay) to return to Big Sandy, Texas by herself only to realize, when she arrived, Captain Jopling had beaten her back to that farm in East Texas to be there when she appeared to continue his soliloquy on the many benefits of becoming his bride. Once, upon convincing him to return to San Francisco to continue his treatment and that she was not ready to marry, he did not call her for three weeks. He had suffered a relapse of Malaria and had been taken delirious and blue by ambulance to the hospital from the Dallas airport. For three weeks, the US ARMY nor Lucy Wilson knew of the whereabouts of Captain Jopling. This event would repeat itself later in her life when, after fathering three children, then Major Jopling disappeared for six weeks in South Korea during the police action there.After their return state side the US Army awarded all POW’s six weeks of leave at any state side hotel. This was totally free. Of course Dad was in the hospital and couldn’t use the benefit. This lasted until the Army started getting liquor bills from the hotels and cancelled the ‘free booze’ portion of the benefit. When Dad did finally convince Lucy to marry, they honeymooned in San Francisco and used this benefit. Two weeks into the honeymoon, Dad had another relapse of malaria and yellow fever. Mom, being a nurse laid out instructions to return to the hospital for treatment. Dad’s response to this idea was that after four years of eating cockroaches that were farmed and collected from camp latrines, crickets, grasshoppers and snakes and crickets captured during work details and dandelions pulled and stuffed into what was left of trousers and shirts to be boiled in seawater to make soup, he was going to enjoy the 6 weeks free time or die. He almost died. After turning blue and delirious from the malaria, Mom called the military hospital and the Army medics came and carted him off to hospital.Standing in that hotel hallway, after the medics had bundled Dad up on the gurney and hauled him down the hall to the elevator, Mom, watching the elevator doors close, began to cry. She was scared. After watching thousands of American soldiers die, after being starved and shot at by Japanese fighters and artillery, Capt. Lucy I. Jopling was filled with fear. Strangely, what caused her tears was the fear of not having a safe, secure place to stay. (with US Army soldiers surrounding her for the previous 4 years, she never felt alone or in any real danger) She would have to leave the hotel as Dad was not there. She had little or no money and Dad was delirious and could not recognize her. She was a thousand miles from the small east Texas farm where her Mother was tending a stroke riddled husband. She had no money to return to the farm and no means to stay and ensure her new husband would live through the night. Upon hearing her sob, a passerby, an employee of the hotel stopped and asked Mom as to the reason for her tears. Mom could only muster one simple sentence. Now, in a full tilt sob and heavy tears, she could only mutter, “I have no place to stay.” This lady, this ‘passerby’ quickly and heartily solved Mom’s problem. “Yes you do honey” quipped the lady. “You’re staying with me. Let’s get your things and get you home and settled right now!” I cannot imagine the humanity of this woman. Mom stayed with this lady for several weeks until Dad had regained his senses and was able to get the paper work through the US Army benefits structure so the US Paymaster would recognize Mom as Dad’s wife. Later, upon having three children and the Jopling’s still living in San Francisco, this lady was called upon many times to baby sit and supervise the Jopling children. I am embarrassed I cannot remember her name. Upon her death in San Francisco in 1973, Mom sent me a check for a few hundred dollars from a law firm in California. This was the final settlement of this lady’s estate. This passerby, this Christian lady working in a hotel in California in1946 who had opened her home to a total stranger had willed all of her earthly belongings to Suzanne, Michele, and Pat Jopling. The sons and daughter of a total stranger she met in a hotel hallway some 25 years earlier.During the time Dad was in the hospital in San Francisco is when I believe this letter was composed. Note the repeated requests to have the letter destroyed as the hospital staff was under strict orders from General MacArthur to censor anything that might show the American people the truth about what their sons AND DAUGHTERS had been through as Japanese POWs. All POW mail was heavily censored before it left the hospital. General MacArthur was tasked to rebuild Japan and he did not want any state side provided political ‘backlash’ to hamper his efforts. If we consider Japan and their position in the world today, I believe we can say the General did his job well. This is only one of the great things this great man did. Upon seeing the Japanese ‘prison camps’ in the Philippines and Japan, the condition of the prisoners, General MacArthur issued clear orders protecting all US Army internees. Those standing orders by the then five star General of the Army protected my Dad the rest of his life. Certainly, going AWOL several times a year was not behavior becoming an Officer of the US Army. General MacArthur had seen war and what war does to men and women. Also, he had seen firsthand what the Japanese had done to his men. In his personal notes after his death, it was discovered one of the General’s remaining life’s ambitions after the War was to see to it that both groups of men would never harm one another again. The killing was over, the atrocities and hatred was to be stopped. He also made sure General Wainwright, who was Dad’s boss on Luzon and who had also suffered as a POW at the hands of General Houma, was on board the USS Missouri for the signing of the surrender by the Japanese. He made sure General Wainwright received a pen from the ceremony. It is very easy to identify General Wainwright in the films of the event. He is the man in the starched khaki uniform that appears three sizes too large for his body as they had no uniform aboard ship small enough to properly fit his emaciated torso.The letter was written to my Mom’s parents as they had not heard from him in quite some time. Also, the “Ag” he refers to is his mother, my grandmother, Agnes Jopling. The “EIGHT BALL” he mentions is the odd, black ball in billiards. Mr. Wata survived the war and was tried and hung for crimes against humanity. Lt. Tachino was killed in action against US forces. General Houma also survived the war and was tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity and hung. The pictures from the US aircraft that sunk the first prison ship Dad was on (Oryoku Maru) are now in the US Library of Congress archive and have been shown on the TV military channel. You can also now “GOOGLE” the name of the ship and see the listing of the men that were put aboard. Dan Jopling, Ft. Sumner, New Mexico is there. The combat photographs from the AVENGER air plan that sunk the ship show the burning sinking ship, men swimming in the water, planes attacking and firing their machine guns at the ship and the Japanese soldiers on the shore firing at the men in the water. And, somewhere in these photographs, is my father.I will refer you to books on Billibid Prison, Cabanatuan Prison, Camp O’Donnell Prison, Japanese Hell Ships, Angels of the Philippines, Corregidor and Bataan Death March and the ship’s logs of USS Spearfish and the Oryoku Maru. My mom and dad are listed as credits in many of these texts as dad was in all of these prisons and ships, he was in the Bataan Death March and mom was a nurse on the Bataan peninsula and on the island of Corregidor during the conflict.Here is the web link to the USS SPEARFISH Captain’s Log. Mom’s name is listed on page 73 of 489 of the microfilm reel, in the third War Patrol. [Original page number -17- of War Patrol 3] I can’t remember, but I believe, in one report in this microfilm reel from the Pacific Theater operations center that was sent back down the chain of command, a rubber stamped signature caught my attention. It was remarkable feed back to the submarine commanders from their commander and it startled me at its stark, clear, aggressive tone. It was stamped W.F. Halsey. [note: W. F. “Bull” Halsey was later to be named Fleet Commander, South Pacific]http://issuu.com/hnsa/docs/ss-190_spearfish?mode=a_pOne last note on Dad’s experience aboard the Oryoku Maru (sunk by American forces as he describes) which I believe shows the brilliance of my mother’s mother, Granny Wilson and my Dad. Soon after Mom had gotten word to Granny the she was not ‘MISSING IN ACTION, PRESUMED DEAD’ as the US Army had reported to Granny, Mom told Granny about Dad and asked if there was any word state side about the internees. Certainly, there had been none, but Granny now had a contact to write to in a vain attempt at obtaining any information about Dad to be passed along to Mom. Mom was still in Australia. My Grandmother (Agnes Jopling) had indeed gotten word via the RED CROSS that Dad was alive and ‘Well’ in Billibid Prison in the Philippines. (Internees were dying at a rate of 500 aday at Billibid) Granny “Ag” had sent information to Granny Wilson as to how best to get ‘Christmas Gifts’ to the internees. I cannot understand the dilemma both women shared. What do you send to men who are Japanese Prisoners of War? Granny Wilson’s answer was as swift and as shrewd as the east Texas farm girl she was. The gift was to be a bottle of vitamins. Unbelievably, at Billibid Prison in the Philippines the bottle of vitamins made it to him. Dad took ½ of one tablet, shared the other ½ with his buddy GAMBLE, (also from New Mexico) and the rest of the vitamins went quickly to the camp hospital. Dad however, saved the bottle and amazingly, this little bottle would later help save his life. Dad’s buddy, Gamble, John D., didn’t make it back to US soil. You can see his name engraved in stone, along with Dad’s, on the Bataan Memorial in Santa Fe, New Mexico.Once aboard the Oryoku Maru and at anchor in Manila Bay, (see Dad’s explanation of the ship), Dad positioned himself close to the hold in an attempt to get air. This was a precarious place to be as the Japanese soldiers would remove the cover and fire their weapons down into the hold of the ship to quiet the men screaming for water and air. Once quieted down and at anchor, he looked down in the hold and saw the bamboo container, two decks down where the water was kept. He removed shoe strings from dead comrades and fashioned a fishing line. At the end of the line, he tied the empty little vitamin bottle and sat by the hold all night dipping water out of the tub and fished it back to his lap where he had a canteen cup. In 8 hours he dipped enough water to fill the canteen cup ½ full of the brackish water and this he shared with this buddy, Gamble, from New Mexico. That night was a rather rough night in Manila bay. As both men attempted to sleep on the hot, horse manure covered steel floor of the deck, his buddy kept rolling with the waves onto Dad and Dad would gently roll him off. The next morning, when the Japanese opened the cover of the hold and Dad’s eyes adjusted to the light, he realized his buddy (Gamble) was dead. Each morning aboard the ship, before the day’s rations were sent down via the ship’s crane, they would lower a flat platform at the end of the crane’s cable. It went to the bottom hold cargo way then would come up to the next stopping at each deck for a few minutes so the living prisoners could fill the platform with the dead so they could be removed from the hold. When the platform was full or it made its way to the top deck, the platform was raised above the ship’s side rail, swung out over board and dumped into the sea. A Japanese style ‘burial at sea’ for the deceased Americans. At first light, when the platform came to the deck where Dad had sat dipping water the previous night, Dad loaded John D. Gamble, onto the platform and said goodbye to his friend of over 20 years and then watched as the platform was lifted up and out of the ships hold. Once the ship was moved to Subic Bay and while on the voyage to Japan, the Japanese no longer allowed the removal of the dead Americans. Simply, they had no means of disposal other than dumping them in the sea. And, they thought this dangerous as an astute allied submarine captain could merely follow the trail of dead bodies to the ship. (see Dad’s explanation of this.) So, during the entire voyage, they had to pile the bodies up in the hold while they decomposed. Also, please note the day’s rations for the men in the hold was a handful of uncooked rice and a handful of brown sugar. No water was rationed.As you will read in the letter, Dad was wounded when the US airplanes sunk the Oryoku Maru. He and about 2,000 US prisoners were aboard. In his letter he will tell you how many of them actually completed the trip to Japan. During this attack he had bomb and deck fragments go through his left hand and lodge in his left cheek just under his left eye. He died with American bullet shrapnel in his face. Thus wounded he had to swim in the sea back to the beach while dodging rifle rounds being shot at them from the Japanese soldiers on the beach. The Japanese thought the men were trying to escape capture instead of trying to escape a sinking ship. I can remember years later while Dad would drive his 4 offspring to sporting events or church, he would grip the car’s steering wheel with his left hand. And, you could clearly see the outline of the three knuckles remaining as the forth knuckle had been blown away by American war planes. These injuries almost cost him his life. Once in Japan, with the arm fully infected and full of puss, he could not bend his elbow or move his fingers. The arm merely stuck out as ‘stiff branch’ at a 30 degree angle form his body. Still, being in this condition, everyday he would volunteer for tree cutting duty outside the camp’s walls. He did so as the tree cutting detail would get back to camp and report for head counts later than any other prison work detail. This was very important. This meant that the soup that was prepared from ‘food items’ (see above) as gathered by the men in the camp would be almost gone and the soup portions saved for the tree cutters was ‘the bottom of the pot’ and this contained more of the ‘solids’ from the soup. Also, the tree cutters brought back more snakes, bugs, leaves and grass to put in the pot. To be ‘approved’ for the detail, the soldiers had to march in front of a Japanese Lieutenant and the American doctor. Either men could force a volunteer to fall out of line and not be allowed to go outside the wire. The Japanese Captain could care less who went. The American doctor was a bit more selective and one day seeing Dad walk with his arm stuck out, told Dad to fall out. Undeterred, Dad simply went to the end of the line and started out again. Again, as he passed in front of the American doctor, the Doctor once again told Dad to fall out and report to the “dispensary”. Dad did so.The dispensary was a grass enclosure where what medical equipment the men made was kept. Scalpels were sharp bamboo shards that were dipped in hot sea water prior to use. Upon reporting, the doctor asked three corps men to hold Dad. He objected and told the doctor he would not fight or pull back from treatment. The doctor told Dad that it was not to restrain him from flinching from pain but to hold him up so when he fainted so he would not fall and injure himself even more. Now agreeing, the three men held Dad by the underarms. The physician took the bamboo scalpel, ‘sterilized’ it in hot sea water and took Dad’s hand in his. He told him that he should remove the middle finger but would leave the final decision on the finger for later. He incised Dad’s wrist and made a cut that went down the back of his hand, around the missing knuckle, up through and around the middle of the palm on the other side of the hand and back up to the wrist. Being thus opened, the doctor clasped Dad’s arm with both his hands under his armpit and squeezed it tightly, then he ‘milked’ the poison out of Dad’s arm down and out through the incision. The doctor did this several times. Yes, Dad fainted and was taken to the infirmary and laid down on one of the grass mats. When he came to, he could move his arm and hand. This saved Dad’s arm, hand, middle finger and assuredly, his life. This physician saved many men’s life’s and limbs over his three and one half year term as a Prison Camp Doctor. He died of malaria 4 months before the 90 year old Japanese Commandant of the camp turned over his sword and surrendered the camp to the ranking allied officer after Japan’s surrender. The Japanese Commandant, as ordered, told the ranking allied officer where he could find the white paint needed to paint the letters “POW” on the roofs of the buildings of the camp, then retired to his office and committed hari-kari. The white letters were to assist allied pilots in locating the POW camps so as to accelerate the relief efforts to the ex-prisoners. The pilots would air drop food stuffs to the men as really, there were none to be obtained outside the confines of the camp, save that one old caribou.I forget how I learned of this incident from Dad. I really can’t remember. But, after the surrender the men started to receive radio messages and then ‘fly by’s’ from US airplanes. Basically they were told to stay put and make do until relief forces could make it to them. Shortly after painting the white “POW” letters on the roofs of their huts, they began to see US planes do low fly bys and ‘wiggle’ their wings at the men in acknowledgement of their being located by allied forces. Dad remembered the glee in seeing the first us airplane in 4 years. The prisoners were amazed at their designs and speed. The final camp he was in was in North Korea by the sea. They were mining coal for the Japanese plants in Japan and they would dig and load the coal onto rail road carts and then push them down to the beach where the coal ships would pick up the coal and take it to Japan. Upon liberation, and seeing US relief planes, the men made larger POW letters on the beach. This was to enhance the fly bys and the dropping of food to the men. Their first drop of food was almost fatal. The men were on the beach fishing when a large US plane flew over and banked. It turned and made a lower pass over the beach and wagged its wings, banked again and made another pass over the men on the beach. They looked up and saw relief packages floating down to them. Chaos erupted on the beach as each man began to trail a package down through the sky in an attempt to be the first to catch one and enjoy its contents. The little dots in the sky became larger and larger as they descended. Finally, upon seeing what was going on, Dad yelled for the men to take cover immediately. They all dove under the coal rail cars just in time to have the “packages’ hit the beach. The ‘packages’ were 55 gallon drums full of peaches. Twenty of them. It would have been a sad testament to live through 42 months of Japanese captivity only to be killed by 55 gallon drum of fruit dropped from the sky. The men ate until they could not walk, literally. That night, they slept on the beach to guard the drums from being stolen as they were too weak to move them. All the men had to sleep standing up as when they laid down, they could not breathe.Today, as I pen this note to you all, we have thirteen new, male and female, heroic soldiers that have given their lives for our freedom at Fort Hood, Texas. Thirteen new heroes resting deep in the loving soil of our Mother State of Texas.Please remember these fallen heroes, and when you can, assist and support those who remain alive in service to us and to our freedom as we know it in American today.May God bless and protect each of them.

This answer may contain sensitive images. Click on an image to unblur it.Based on how the war on terror in Pakistan has evolved during the nearly 20 years it’s been fought (and the decades before in which it evolved to it’s present form), i can give you the Pakistani perspective on which directions terrorism will evolve in the future:Anti-Tech (Neo-Luddite) terrorApocalyptic terrorIdentity based terror (Manifesting as a trinity of 1) Seperatist terror 2) Inequality and populism based terror 3)Ethnic and racial terror)Scarcity terror (terror to control increasingly scarce resources like Water and protein based food)Anti-Tech (Neo-Luddist) terrorWhile countries with stronger political institutions and good governance have largely controlled the disruptive effect of technology on traditional society and economics, in less politically intelligent countries, technology is fast becoming a precursor for citizen resentment and disenfranchisement that could ignite into terrorism.The UK recently phased out Uber from London in order to return employment to the traditional Taxi Cab business. China recently started phasing out Coal to ease the pressure of pollution on citizens suffering from smog.But countries like Pakistan (and to some extent the US) have largely allowed technological advancements to run amok upon the populace which has, in some cases, caused an extreme amount of anger and resentment that could be channeled into aggressive terrorism.Anti-Coal power plant protests in Pakistan:Protests against coal-based power plant in HubSource: China’s energy investments may have political costs in Pakistan2. Anti Uber and other car sharing App protests in Pakistan:Taxi drivers protest against private cab companies in IslamabadSource: Instead of opposing Uber and Careem, taxi and rickshaw services need to shift up a gearWhether governments like it or not, they will have to come up with some form of legislation or economic engineering to ensure that such tech disruptions dont lead to violence.As i pointed out, the UK has managed to control the ride sharing anger by limiting that tech so it doesn't disrupt the traditional modes of cab transport. China is scaling down its coal power plants.Both of these states have nipped the problem in the bud. But countries like Pakistan have no plan in place for when the waves of automation and tech advancement disrupt society and traditional wage earning methods for millions of people. Or when they have an environmental and social impact that citizens deem unbearable (constant smog from coal plants etc).We already have Neo-Luddist terrorism in Mexico, which has targetted Nano technology scientists:In statements posted on the Internet, the ITS expresses particular hostility towards nano­technology and computer scientists. It claims that nanotechnology will lead to the downfall of mankind, and predicts that the world will become dominated by self-aware artificial-intelligence technology. Scientists who work to advance such technology, it says, are seeking to advance control over people by 'the system'. The group praises Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, whose anti-technology crusade in the United States in 1978–95 killed three people and injured many others.The group's rhetoric is absurd, but I urge colleagues around the world to take the threat that it poses to researchers seriously. Information gathered by Mexican federal authorities and Interpol link it to actions in countries including Spain, France and Chile. In April this year, the ITS sent a bomb — similar to the one posted to my brother — to the head of the Nanotechnology Engineering Division at the Polytechnic University of Mexico Valley in Tultitlan, although that device did not explode. In May, the university received a second parcel bomb, with a message reading: "This is not a joke: last month we targeted Oscar Camacho, today the institution, tomorrow who knows? Open fire on nanotechnology and those who support it!"Stand up against the anti-technology terroristsOne could argue that abortion clinic bombings, opposition to stem cell researchers etc also comprise similar forms of anti-tech terror. The rise of religious fundamentalism may add more virulence to this form of terror as the 21st century continues with it’s break neck technological advancement with all of it’s inherent implications.Apocalyptic TerrorTerror groups or forms of terror that wish to bring about a world-ending apocalypse are perhaps some of the most overlooked yet most dangerous of terror groups that currently exist on the planet.Some groups have apocalyptic goals; their primary aim is to cause cataclysmic destruction to people, property, and the environment with the hope of fomenting the end of time and ushering in religious promises of a new world. This pursuit is uniquely religious and is perhaps the most common stereotype of religiously motivated terrorism. Apocalyptic terrorism exists both within traditional religions and “cults” or New Religious Movements (NRM). For example, Rapoport argues that apocalyptic terrorist groups—what he calls millennialist groups—are inspired by longings for the coming of the messiah, which will coincide with the end of the world.[26] Mayer argues that apocalyptic imagining is a cause of terrorism in cults and NRM but, by itself, does not usually result in violence. Rather, groups that turn to terrorism are responding to a mix of millennialism, real world threats, and internal disputes.[27]An example of an apocalyptic group within an existing religious tradition is the Gush Emunim in Israel. In 1984 members hatched a plot to blow up the Muslim Dome of the Rock Shrine in Jerusalem, the third most holy site in Islam, in order to spark a nuclear and chemical confrontation between Israel and Muslim countries. The goal was to create “catastrophic messianism,” disastrous circumstances that would hasten the coming of the messiah.[28] The most common example of a NRM group that used terrorism with apocalyptic aims is the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo, which deployed Sarin gas in a Tokyo subway in 1995. Its overarching goals was instigating World War III and ultimately “destroying the world to save it.”[29] The attacks killed 13 and injured more than 700 people.Of the three religious goals outlined here, apocalyptic terrorism is the most dangerous for two reasons. First, the paradox of ‘destroying the world’—causing catastrophic death and destruction—to create a new and better world seems the furthest removed from rational thought and negotiation. This makes counterterrorism measures especially difficult; it appears that there is little the U.S. government, or anyone else, can give these groups to alter their aims.Second, the goal of destroying the world is particularly ripe for the use of WMD as a means of achieving such ends, which makes apocalyptic groups particularly dangerous. However, it is also important to note that many apocalyptic terrorists have turned their violence inward in order to foment the apocalypse, as opposed to attacking those outside the group. Some examples of inwardly violent groups include the apocalyptic cult The People’s Temple, headed by Jim Jones, in which over 900 members committed suicide en masse in anticipation of an apocalyptic standoff with the U.S. government. Another example is Heaven’s Gate, which believed that suicide would free the members’ souls.[30] The standoff between U.S. Federal agents and the Branch Davidians at the Mount Carmel compound in Waco, Texas, also fulfilled apocalyptic expectations of the cult group, and resulted in the death of 76 men, women and children.[31] Mayer notes that examples like these, while apocalyptic and violent, may not fall under the definition of terrorism per se, because their goals do not extend beyond the confines of their immediate group.[32] Nevertheless, they offer important clues about the conditions under which apocalyptic thinking emerges and results in mass violence.Defining and Distinguishing Secular and Religious TerrorismISIS itself is perhaps the most well known and recent example of an apocalyptic terror group. Many make the mistake of believing that the core doctrine of ISIS involved establishing a Caliphate that would recapture the orthodox, puritanical form of government that existed in Islam’s early years during the reign of the 4 Caliphs.But the true ideology of ISIS has always been to spark a world war between Christianity and Islam that brings about death and destruction on such a colossal scale that it triggers the series of events bringing about a return of the Messiah, the death of humanity, the ending of the world and the Day of Judgement (as promised in the Abrahamic Eschatology).In this regard, they were perhaps most similar to the “Gush Emunim” in Israel as mentioned in the quote above.The willingness of these groups to embrace mass casualty tactics and WMDs is truly frightening and it bears mentioning that because they lack any coherent and rational set of political objectives, it’s impossible to negotiate or even tackle them from a counter terrorism point of view. If their message is packaged correctly and reaches a large enough audience, it gives a truly frightening level of reach and control to such groups. We have only to look a the significant level of success ISIS had in recruiting everyone from white converts in prison, Muslim youth in ghettos and even trained, educated professional from well to do families in Pakistan to see how their rejection of materialistic consumption and embrace of an apocalyptic showdown that ends the world has mass appeal.Wall chalking in Pakistan, depicting support for the Apocalyptic terror group, ISISSource: ISIS wall-chalking sets off alarm bells in IslamabadThis was fueled in no small part by the Prophetic signs of the day of Judgement which are present in Islamic eschatology and pinpoint certain events (Arabs building tall towers, oil fires in Iraq etc) as harbingers of the apocalypse. Since these signs are deemed as either close to fulfillment or already fulfilled, it creates fertile ground within Pakistan for such apocalyptic groups to recruit and develop movements.What ISIS Really WantsInside The Islamic State's Apocalyptic BeliefsThe rest of the world should also be vary in this regard as the quote in this section also highlights that this is in no way, a phenomena restricted to Pakistan or the Islamic world alone.As the world plunges forward into more uncertain waters with an ever changing national and international environment due to changing alliances, changing politics, mass media disinformation, the trashing of fact based decision making, populism unleashed, tech disruptions, global climate changes and state collapse…it’s not far fetched to assume that more groups with an apocalyptic world view will emerge that will prey upon the fears of an uncertain future to gain recruits and promise salvation to a nervous populace.People have always gotten jittery around times of uncertainty, great change and disruption of the traditional, comfortable way of life. But it’s not always that they tend to embrace the Left or the Right or whatever neat category of political ideology we want to assign to them. Abnormal trajectories can emerge. Which is where apocalyptic forms of terror groups come in. Sometimes committing violence against others. Other times, committing it against themselves as the mass cult poisonings Heavens gate show. Groups that believed that the world is on the path towards destruction and the end of human life and embrace it as part of their ideological or religious motivation need to be on the radar of counter-terror agencies.It’s difficult to discuss what governments can do besides keeping Counter terror apparatus alert. Public reassurances and all are fine but to be honest, some of these groups seem immune to that. Having a strong under cover program with moles in different cult or shadowy religious organizations across the country seems to be the best way to get tip offs and prevent tragedies.Identity based terrorManifesting as a trinity of : 1) Separatist terror 2) Wealth inequality and populism based terror 3)Ethnic and racial terrorThere isn’t anything new about Identity based terrorism.Groups attempting to fight it out over perceived differences in national identity, class warfare and ethnic/racial lines are a tale as old as time.The problem for us in 2017 is that several old and dormant fissures are beginning to re-emerge amidst the turbulence of 21st century.But in 2017, As old political dynasties and institutions are swept away by new challengers, seismic political and economic changes are taking place, mass human migration is on the rise and globalism is bringing vastly different cultures and forms of thought into close contact, there is a growing struggle among different people to decide what their shared and common identity is.Some of the triggers for such identity based conflicts are artificial: The US invasion of Iraq opened up the Pandora's box of sectarian violence in regions where Sunni-Shia tensions had never escalated to such a level. Sect became a defining element of our identities and Pakistan too was soon awash with sectarian violence, although the Iranian revolution and the Afghan War may have been the genesis of this identity fissure.Other triggers are tied into the growing scarcity of resources (discussed in the next section), mass state failure across the planet in some Arab, Latin American, South Asian and African nations, globalization, automation and growing inequalities in wealth.It’s also possible that identity-based politics have taken an upswing in our country because of the failure of our government to deliver consistent economic growth and improvement in the lives of our citizens.Populism and identity based conflicts emerge strongly during economic downturns. They can even emerge during economic upswings if the wealth isn’t evenly distributed.Ethnic and racial based terrorism could be ignited due to changing economic realities causing human migration either within nations or between nations that cause people of different cultures and societies into close quarters with each other. When they have to share the same airwaves, resources and living space with each other, it can cause fissures to emerge as the new entrants ask for their share of representation in political and social spaces that have traditionally belonged to the native populace.An example of Ethno-nationalism in Pakistan are the hard line Sindhi nationalist factions that are gaining increasing weight in the face of traditional Sindhi parties fracturing, civil-military tussles in the center and failure of traditional power centers to alleviate the issues of localized and regional populationsSource: Slogans of Sindhudesh reverberate on G.M. Syed’s death anniversary — Indus TribuneChanges in media representation in the 21st century can also fuel this. We’ve already seen how the rise of social media as an alternative form of media has ironically increased racial and ethnic tensions by providing an alternative and unrestricted form of media for people to access. Its a form of media where there is no censoring, no restrictions on false and hate speech. And this medium has been massively exploited by hate groups and ethno nationalist groups to radicalize, recruit and organize. This has been a major issue on Pakistani social media where Facebook, twitter and other little known social media platforms have become nests of hate preaching and organizing links between ideological leaders and their foot soldiers in cells across the urban landscape.And lastly ofcourse, war and political dysfunction. The Iraq war, Syrian civil war, civil-military tussle in Egypt and Pakistan, the Afghan War and so on are testament to how political dysfunction and conflict can rip apart the social fabric of a nation and give rise to identity based conflicts that prevent the functioning of a nation as a unified entity.We also talked about how globalization has shipped wealth abroad, how de-regulation and free trade agreements are concentrating wealth at the top. We’ve seen how far-left groups and political movements are emerging that are explicitly targeting unrestrained capitalism’s creation of a massive wealth divide. Hard Left factions that rediscover the old bones of terror groups like Red Army Faction will emerge that reignite class warfare and socialist urban warfare. Their objectives will be to force some form of redistribution of wealth and advancement of lower-middle class rights.Separatist terror, a sub faction of identity based terrorism, bears mentioning in separate (excuse the pun). We already see the growing separatist tendencies in Europe, Iraq and other regions that have bought the hot topic of separatism back into the fold. Regional based identity politics are making a strong resurgence in the re-ordering of global realities. Whether it’s the EU’s migration policy, the sectarian chasm in the Arab world, political dysfunction in Egypt and Pakistan and what not: The immediate concern about growing separatist cliques across the planet is one that must be scrutinized in depth.Even more so because of the weaponization of separatist sentiment using electronic media and internet media by hostile foreign powers to destabilize their competitors: If there’s one key note that needs to be addressed here, its an observation of the political scenarios in Xinjiang, Balochistan, Syria, Kurdistan, Europe, the US elections and North Africa and gain an understanding of how cyberspace and media are being used as weapons by competing nations to influence the populations of their target nations.Seperatism and seperatist violence will see an upsurge as nations begin to deepen their expertise and grow their realization of using various forms of media to influence certain disaffected segments of their enemy nation’s population in order to trigger destablization and seperatist violence.There are several methods a government can undertake to reduce identity based tensions:Providing political autonomy and devolution to political units in order to give them some semblance of self rule can dramatically reduce separatist and ethnic tensionsDelivering consistent economic growth and ensuring programs exist to redistribute wealth (free college education, health care etc) can reduce identity politics spurred by income inequalityTackling racial bias is tricky but involves governments recruiting from disenfranchised races into their government offices and putting out media, educational, policing policies etc that reduce racial tensionsEnsuring strong border and counter intelligence apparatus to shut down foreign attempts to destabilize tense areas to break up the countryControlling human migration or restricting itRestricting and monitoring mediaScarcity TerrorThis is the type of Terrorism that will arise as Climate change continues to dry up water sources in South Asia, Arable land continues to decrease due to water shortages, urban sprawl and soil erosion.Also as economic disruptions due to technology, globalization and free trade continue to persist, populations will turn to nationalist, populist rhetoric which at best can increase political representations of conservative view points in government and at worst can lead to extreme, Far Right governments.Countries that have not managed to maintain sustainable development amidst burgeoning populations will also face infrastructure and job scarcities.The growing scarcity in rural areas due to economic or climate changes also puts pressure on Urban centers to house increasingly large numbers of internal migrants (moving from city to city or rural to city). The urban landscape must provide the requisite infrastructure and opportunities to such migrants, failing which we will see the rise of sprawls and ghettos where the state’s writ begins to fade and violence can erupt.These are but a few examples. The 21st century does not promise a relentless march of progress for all of us. It’s a dark future for governments that fail to deliver and fail to maintain sustainable growth or adaption to the changing climate, physical, economic and political realities of the 21st century.This failure of governments to deliver some measure of relief in the 21st century to citizens is what will lead to terrorism arising from scarcity.Load shedding protests in PakistanTraders protest against load sheddingWater shortage protests Karachi, PakistanEnraged residents protest over water shortage in Karachi | Pakistan | Dunya NewsAgricultural land disputes in PakistanOkara Military Farms: 'Ownership or Death' - Fair ObserverViolence erupts in the strained, urban sprawl of Karachi which is mired in gang violence and urban crime.Karachi: What’s in a picture? - Part IV - The NationIt starts with protests and riots, but in recent times, we’ve seen dedicated attacks on Power regulator offices and their officials as well by frustrated citizens demanding access to uninterrupted electricity supply. We have “Water Mafia” in Karachi providing black market access to water in the water-stressed city.All of these are indicators of state failures in combating scarcity or managing limited resources effectively. This is leading to increased anger among the populace and a growing willingness to use force to gain access to scarce resources.Most of the terrorist violence expected in this area will be channeled through already existing terror groups. For e.g. Taliban factions will simply start promising water rations and electricity access to their supporters along side their previous ideological and religious agenda. Alternatively, lower riparian regions of Sindh and Balochistan could channel nationalist and ethnic sentiment into the issue of water shortages by claiming the upper provinces are taking more than their fair share. The scarcity issue will tie into the Identity based terror discussed in the previous section and will be used as a rallying cry to rile up support for terror factions engaged in combat with the state.This isn’t something that HAS to come to pass. Countries that have under taken strong population control policies, invested heavily in job growth and infrastructure opportunities, planned for urban migration, made smart water and land conservation strategies etc will fare far better in the coming years than others.Other countries dont even need to do that: The ones sitting close to the polar ice caps will be fine even with minimal required investments.We are still only a few years into this changing economic-natural landscape. We are seeing only the signs of bad times for now. This has lulled some of us into a sense of comfort that such scarcity will just be handled by technology, that scientists will come up with a solution in time and save us all or that such scarcity claims are exaggerated.For our collective sake, i hope they are correct. But i doubt it. What is symbolized by violent protests and citizen unrest today will be the stepping stones for terrorist violence in the future.Personal anecdote: I recently read an article by a Pakistani author in the news paper about Gwadar. The author pointed out that Gwadar’s water shortage problems were so extreme that robbers in the area were breaking into people’s homes not to steal cash or valuables but to steal their water.A grim look into the future that might await us.ConclusionAs mentioned at the start of the answer, the answer is heavily based on my perspective which was shaped by observing the terror war in Pakistan.The conflict has mutated far from it’s origins in Al Qaeda based political violence and Taliban based ethnic tribal insurgency. New entrants like ISIS and neo-Taliban factions that emerged as the Afghan war dragged on, bought with them their own ideological motivations. Some of them apocalyptic, some built around inequality and scarcity as a political hot topic and others based around identity politics.Some of them have nothing to do with religion at all: Ethno nationalist and seperatist groups are pretty secular (although they do have links with sectarian and religous outfits for logistical purposes and some commonalities).It’s quite possible that instead of new terror groups emerging, we’ll see existing terror outfits simply expand their manifestos and recruiting by-lines in order to incorporate the new political hot topics into their agenda. Whereas previously the Taliban might have been content attacking military and political targets, they might now attack Electricity and water supply offices, wealthy capitalists and so on. Terror groups are nothing if not adaptable so this would hardly be surprising.But in the gaps left by existing terror platforms, new ones will emerge to service them. New factions based on new identity based platforms could emerge that fight out ethnic and racial turf wars of the 21st century. Terror groups could emerge with the sole purpose of rolling back job killing or environment killing economic projects .There are already some semi-violent opponents of some of the CPEC projects and automation tech. And not just in Baluchistan but in Sindh and KPK as well. In fact Sindh and KPK could host factions that target power projects affiliated with CPEC because of their opposition to environmental impacts and so on. The Uber and Careem situation is already before you.Panamagate, corruption cases and slowing economic growth plus uneven dividends of economic growth will almost assuredly cause new and existing factions to take advantage of citizen discontent. Violent attacks that are based around the concept of inequality and class warfare will soon ensue from a nexus of tradtional religous-ideological factions and new Neo-Socialist and Hard Left factions with probably tie-ins with local nationalist political parties.The political dysfunction at the center and the growing fragmentation of our traditional political parties will give rise to further identity based terror.Needless to say, this dysfunction exacerbates tense separatist fervor and give birth to new separatist sentiments where none existed before as well.The growing scarcity of water, electricity, agricultural land and other key resources which just a decade ago were abundant will mean new flash points for terrorists to exploit.And of course, at the end of it all will be the worshipers of the doomsday scenario, the apocalyptic terror factions who will prove perhaps our most frightening opponent: For they dont even offer an alternative or a different set of beliefs and political organizations to replace us. Just the cold emptiness of their envisioned void.

No.For one, the kind of implicit ranking of problems presumed in this question is inherently bankrupt. Problems can be of different kinds, at different timescales and for different stakeholders, and all of them should be dealt with if it’s efficient to do so (that is, if the problem can be dealt with for less cost than benefit). If a problem that could affect all men and women if it is remotely real (and it is), that certainly should be up there with, say, fighting a war against Christmas (that war that actually doesn’t exist and is a distraction?) Most of us can recognize that it makes sense to deal with human trafficking even though less than a million people will be smuggled across borders each year. We push for curing diabetes even though 9.4% of the US population has diabetes. We get concerned about violent crime even though there are only 1.28 million cases per year. We get concerned about terrorism even though Americans are less likely to die from terrorism than from choking.In particular, saying that toxic masculinity isn’t a real problem is at the very least telling some guys who are struggling with real anger and want some help as well as some women victimized by jerks that their problems don’t matter. People perceive problems from a particular lens, and sometimes telling someone that a problem isn’t that big a deal is just saying “Shut up for the sake of everyone else”.For another, people sincerely think toxic masculinity is a major issue. It’s not some cabal of activists and scholars who decided to… distract from student debt or something? Even if toxic masculinity isn’t a real problem, the folks discussing it aren’t doing it as a distraction. It doesn’t even work that effectively. Reframing welfare into a racial lens, for example, objectively works. Trying to discuss toxic masculinity is only a distraction insofar as some people who (often deliberately) misunderstand the concept get mad and rush some comments sections.Most centrally: Toxic masculinity is a cause of many problems. The fact that men are disproportionately represented in many kinds of crime? Very good research shows that it’s because many men are socialized to solve problems with competitive or violent solutions rather than collaborative or social ones. The fact that we consistently find that women are reporting that about one in six of them will be assaulted in their lifetimes? Over and over again, we see that men suggest certain ideas of masculinity to rationalize this behavior. That’s not good for them and it’s not good for everyone else, hence “toxic”. Similarly, a lot of homophobia is rooted in the idea that gay men aren’t real men and that dudes should be with chicks and all sorts of nonsense. That’s not good for gay men, or for straight men, or for women period. Male abuse of other men is hidden twice by toxic masculinity: abusers can act as if their outward behavior isn’t that different from men who aren’t abusers; and the abused feel that they should shut up.There’s a reasonable argument to be made that Americans might be just a little less willing to tolerate torture, or illegal drone strikes, or stupid and insane invasions, or a destructive gun culture, if we didn’t have a masculinized obsession with honor and crushing enemies.Similarly, the expressive, performative form of masculinity that loves big ol’ trucks isn’t really helping us deal with the planet.Men are frequently pressured to “put their man face on”, to act as if some of their actual interests or personality traits aren’t real. I’ve seen male friends of mine hide their nerdy or artistic interests in public areas, and a lot of the time it was expressly because they didn’t want potential female onlookers to think of them poorly and reject them as a potential partner and also because they didn’t want other men judging them and viewing them as lesser. There are guys who responded to folks pointing out how silly some guys can get about things like pink yogurt who honestly thought it would be a strong argument to say “I challenge any female tweeting unironically with #MasculinitySoFragile to last three rounds against me in a fight. We’ll see who’s fragile”. Oh irony, Twitter is thy name.You can identify toxic masculinity in part of our issues with single parent homes, with men who won’t pay child support deliberately in order to punish their exes and their children, in countless social problems.What’s particularly funny is that I say this as a dude who has been described as ultramasculine, “all boy”. The first time that I laughed as a child was when I watched Society for Creative Anachronism dudes beating the crap out of each other. I love action movies and violent video games. I think Quake and Doom are classics. I watched The Foreigner with a bunch of dads because the idea of Jackie Chan avenging his daughter was rad to me. I just also happen to know that we shouldn’t be idiots. Really, “toxic masculinity” can be called “douchebag masculinity”.I mean, really, even conservatives can get on board with this. I can’t count the number of Walker, Texas Ranger episodes I’ve watched where we see someone who was previously convinced that being a real man means preoccupation with honor, violence and vengeance is instead convinced that a real man should take care of his children, forgive others and follow the law.I’ll just quote from an excellent American Conservative article, with two salient points:While it doesn’t hurt to negotiate and navigate the meaning of masculinity, contemptuous generalizations about men are unhealthy and dangerous, because they flirt with prejudice.Agreed. Which is why that’s not what toxic masculinity is. Rather, we’re discussing a cultural trend, an outcome of certain formal and informal institutions, that affects some portion of people. People of good faith can disagree as to how deeply entrenched toxic masculinity is or if any individual man really shows the symptoms and to what degree, but that’s not the discussion that we really want to have. What we want to do is address the underlying causes that produce it, which are systemic and not about bad individuals or even men writ large per se.And:Rich literary, historical, and cultural traditions depict masculine heroism as protection of the vulnerable and powerless. Stories of military valor, the selfless acts of bravery from firefighters and rescue workers, even the New Testament allegory of Jesus Christ rescuing a prostitute from the mob preparing to stone her, demonstrate that masculinity at its apex is the employment of power, force, and authority for assistance and guardianship of those who, at least temporarily, are unable to save themselves.Agreed! I’ve said precisely the same thing. And so did the APA in their guidelines. No one is denying that there aren’t plenty of healthy, prosocial masculine antecedents, even ones that our culture lionized. It’s just that there’s another meme of masculinity that has tended to accompany it, a bad version, an alpha version that we later worked on, and it’s really bad. And some people get the bad patch and not the good one.Of course, there are some important points to note. Like the fact that we should be teaching everyone these values of valor, self-sacrifice, courage in the face of evil, etc. That we should be including Dr. King in our stories and recognize that force isn’t always the proper way even of being heroic. That we should also be teaching everyone corresponding values traditionally coded as feminine such as nurturing, cooperation, tolerance, accommodation, and emotional expression.Yet more importantly, toxic masculinity dovetails off of male privilege and power, and as long as there’s a norm that men should be in charge, even some really good dudes will, when pressed, suddenly have a monster inside of them. Louis CK, the darling of progressives, showed that pretty recently: his bad behavior got put into the light, and then instead of changing, he decided to throw a temper tantrum.Heck, even the title of the article is wrong. It’s not the amount of masculinity that’s the problem in either case, it’s the type. It’s like someone insisting that the problem with drinking isn’t that it’s too much liquor but too little, because you could drink healthy water instead. But water isn’t alcohol, and toxic masculinity isn’t the same as prosocial masculine constructions.Still, both conservatives and many leftists will agree that prosocial values should be promoted and that a good way of packaging that is to appeal to traditional values. We’ll also agree that fatherhood can be a very good thing.Notice, too, that even if there are biological roots to some behaviors that we can view as toxic, that’s still no reason to not create cultural solutions to the problem, installing a software patch into our flawed human brains like we do all the time with everything else. It’s not a social construct that some people can’t walk due to spinal injuries, amputation or other issues, but it is a social construct that we design these things called “wheelchairs” and “ramps”. Similarly, maybe there’s a natural male tendency to be violent, competitive, etc., but just like we teach people to work around natural tendencies all the time from driving to learning science and logic and math, so too can we teach people to be more prosocial and better able to live in a diverse, cooperative, post-industrial society.So, no, it’s just absolutely false to think that toxic masculinity isn’t an issue worth addressing. People of good faith can disagree as to the nature of the problem, its causes, and what to do about it, but to pretend that no one out there has a messed up idea of what it means to be male is just silly.