I low long does it take a firmly embedded male killer mentality to change? The Vikings (the head-through-groin choppers) are coasidered as ruthless as any. But after the Vikings conquered England, Englishwomen found the men who killed with axes attractive, soon wedding bells were ringing. Within two generations, instead of razing villages, they were raising children; instead of destroying the property of foreigners, they were planting •Even in Israel, the combat role for women is optional, but obligatory for males; and the woman who volunteers for combat is, in practice, rare. See chapter 5, War Hero or War Slave?
on their own property. Within two generations, the Vikings had turned swords into plowshares.
More recently, Japan has taken less than two generations to turn swords into stock shares. The males are still performers, but not via violence. Why not? Both cultures reinterpreted what it would take to survive — and the males adapted accordingly. What is consistent among men is not violence but men’s willingness to protea. When they can protea by killing enemies, they kill enemies; when men can protea by making a killing on Wall Street, they do that. Men’s underlying motivator is neither swords nor plowshares. . . it’s adapting to love and adapting to approval.