Simon, beginning on September 11, 2001, Americans have been fed a steady diet of fear. Constant fear mongering went on for so long, people started making major life decisions based on fear.

Unfortunately, fear is the most damaging of human emotions, more than anger, more than any other emotion. Fear shuts down compassion and stops people from being kind to each other. Fear overwhelms reasoning and critical thinking and makes people act against their own best interests.

Is it possible that 25 years of fear mongering explains young men’s struggles with their masculinity? Night and day ‘fear’ is coming straight at them from television screens and cell phones. Young men, have never known life without constant fear mongering, warning them and telling them to be afraid. Every day there is a new enemy, a new threat, a new danger. Young men’s sense of helplessness must be overwhelming.

Fear mongering is nothing more than a fairy tale, or a scary movie – its like being afraid of ghosts. Today, people are terrified of people, things, places, experiences, challenges and ideas that no one thought twice about facing before 911.

People can be paralyzed by fear, rendering them incapable of coping with normal problems, normal challenges and normal relationships. Frightened people shut down, withdraw, and go into hiding. Frightened people over-react, turn molehills into mountains, and see danger around every corner. Frightened people do not act normally, think normal thoughts, or feel normal emotions.

I can’t help but wonder if men, especially young men, are mistaking fear for anger? Is it possible that young men are mistaking fear, for anger – and responding accordingly? Heck they might not even know the difference, how could they, when they’ve never known life without fear being driven into them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – for 25 years in a row?

Instead of assuming young men are angry, maybe it’s time to ask them what they are so afraid of?