Today I am sharing a post by John Green, a fellow columnist at the America Free News Network. He examines America’s burgeoning “snowflake” population—mostly young men and boys who he says are “weak of body, mind, and spirit.”

The fact that 71 percent of America’s 17- to 24-year-olds were ineligible for military service due to lack of education, obesity, and other physical problems, according to a recent report issued by the Mission: Readiness group doesn’t bode well for America’s combat readiness.

A full 27 percent of young Americans are simply too overweight to join the military, says Mission: Readiness. “Many are turned away by recruiters and others never try to join. Of those who attempt to join, however, roughly 15,000 young potential recruits fail their entrance physicals every year because they are too heavy.”

Nearly 32 percent have other disqualifying health problems, including asthma, eyesight or hearing problems, mental health issues, or recent treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

“Imagine ten young people walking into a recruiter’s office and seven of them getting turned away,” said former Under Secretary of the Army Joe Reeder. “We cannot allow today’s dropout crisis to become a national security crisis.”

Who is to blame for this? Some of it has to do with the way in which boys are being reared and educated today. Terms like “toxic masculinity” and the feminization of young boys by teachers in elementary and middle schools is one factor.

Another responsibility resides with America’s “woke” military leadership which seems more concerned with things like transgender rights and gender fluidity than traditional military concerns as unit cohesion, combat readiness, and troop morale.

In his commentary below, John Green lays much of the blame at the feet of America’s snowflakes and those—mostly on the left—who are producing them.

Take a look.

Can America Survive Our Snowflake Population?

By John Green

I was at the park with my grandkids and was marveling at how the designers have improved the safety of playground equipment. The playground had a structure to climb on that didn’t much resemble the playgrounds of my youth. It was made of colorful padded plastic, mounted on a rubberized surface. When I was young, we had a structure to climb on too. It was called “monkey bars,” and was a collection of rusty iron bars, with hard surfaces and sharp corners – mounted on a concrete slab.

In today’s world, the slightest of abrasions are cause for a lawsuit. We’ve come to expect zero risk to our adorable screaming affronts to Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, when I was young, injuries were quite common. But the kids made the best of it. A good cast on one’s arm was a sign of toughness to be proudly displayed for at least a couple of months.

As I admired the playground, I began to think about the upbringing we’re providing our kids. Safety is all well and good, but have we taken too much adversity out of the lives of our children?

Leftists have dedicated themselves to the destruction of America. Could there possibly be a better way to accomplish that objective than to rob a generation of Americans of the skills necessary to live an adult, self-reliant life? All the left would need to do is convince our children that they have a right to never face adversity, and “voilà,” they’ll never be able to face adversity – especially not the kind brought on by the socialism that the America haters have in mind.

Naturally, most of the kids won’t resist. It’s a handy justification for laziness. Under this framework, they’ll never need to take responsibility for life’s disappointments. They’ll never be accountable for their failures, and they’ll never have a duty to adapt and overcome adversity. They can just keep working on their “Call of Duty” heroics and their TikTok follower base. Their blessed childhood will last forever.

The left has been so successful that we now have a growing population of Americans who are weak of body, mind, and spirit. We call them snowflakes – people whose substance and character melt away at the slightest heat of unpleasantness.

How unprepared for adult life has our snowflake population become?

The leftists have created a social structure in which one’s status is measured by the number of intersectionality victimhood boxes one can check. That’s why cultural appropriation has become such a grave sin. It’s not taken as a compliment to a snowflake’s ethnicity as it used to be. Now it’s the theft of their most prized asset – their victimhood. Keep a child blaming others for all of his problems, and he will never grow up. Acceptance of responsibility for our state in life is a uniquely adult characteristic.

Children in grade school are learning that unwelcome words are violence. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but harsh words will get us canceled – or something like that. Not complying with the approved narrative will quickly get one removed from school, employment, and any number of social circles. Hearing words they disagree with is simply more than any snowflake should be asked to endure.

At grade school in the 1960s we were much too concerned about avoiding the actual violence of the school bully to worry much about harsh words. Being on the losing end of such a confrontation didn’t result in anyone’s cancellation. It resulted in bruises and a friendly boxing lesson from dad – not because he endorsed violence, but because he understood that cowering from evil encourages the spread of evil.

Every woke school, employer, and government office now must provide “safe spaces” for the snowflakes. Those would be places of refuge where one can retreat to avoid the unpleasantries of life – like being assaulted by the correct but not preferred selection of pronouns.

I must admit, when I was in grade school, we also had a safe space. It was called a bomb shelter, and we did a drill every month to get from our classroom to the “safe space” quickly. When we practiced “duck and cover,” it wasn’t to survive an encounter with a person wearing a MAGA hat; it was to survive an atom bomb detonation – which was a very real possibility in the 1960s.

Where has all of this snowflakery taken us? It has spawned a new industry – professional cuddlers. If you’ve had a hard day of protesting a Supreme Court decision – that gives you the power to make your own decisions – you can hire a professional cuddler. For about a hundred bucks an hour, a “therapist” will cradle you in a warm blanket and soothe away all of the day’s unbearable traumas.

Up to the age of 12 I had one of those too. She was called my mother. When I turned 13, mom told me to cowboy up and use these things adults call coping skills. It turns out those coping skills were rather useful later in life too.

I know I sound like an old coot, complaining about my long walk, through a blizzard, to school every day. But tell me this: does our snowflake population have the skills to advance human progress? What is our future when

• We can’t talk candidly because avoiding offense is more important than honest debate.
• The daily trials of life drive us to cower in a corner rather than adapting and overcoming.
• Violence can’t be overcome because bravery and strength have become the hated characteristics of toxic masculinity.

Will our snowflake generation have the fortitude to face down evil when they’re grown and have ascended to leadership? When they’re confronted by the 21st-century version of Hitler, Pol Pot, or Stalin, will they step up, or will they step aside? One thing is certain – any inability to confront such evil will increase the likelihood that evil will confront them. Those who would take from others always look for the weakest to exploit – the most fragile snowflake to melt.

The left insists that God didn’t create men. They believe we are the result of Darwinian selection and its resulting evolution. When the next tyrant comes for their property and their life – and their only protection is the warm embrace of a professional cuddler – the snowflakes are going to get a harsh lesson in the realities of survival of the fittest.

 John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker, American Free News Network, and The Blue State Conservative. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

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