Why The Surge Of Random Violence?
Matrism Explained by P Atkinson (5/3/2003)

An explanation of the random violence that has erupted in the community at the end of the twentieth century, which was predicted by G.R Taylor's theory of Matrism/Patrism.

Australian Thrill Killing
On Sunday 28th April 1996 Martin Bryant won the attention of the Western world by having the time of his life. Shooting everyone he met as he wandered through Port Arthur, Tasmania, he enjoyed a wonderful thrill of exultation and power, and gained a level of satisfaction that he had never experienced before, and is unlikely to experience again.

Predicted By Taylor
Such inane acts of violence are predicted by the book "Sex In History", as an inevitable part of a 'Matrist' community. The author's 1950s prophecy has come true, however Taylor's explanation that the killer behaved in this fashion because — "he identified with his mother sexually, and failed to develop a super-ego" — raises more questions than it answers. A more lucid explanation is that the murderer was just indulging his whims, which were totally unfettered by any sense of moral restraint. Indeed, he was doing no more than most of his fellow citizens already do — give free reign to their immediate desires regardless of the results. The fact that wanton behaviour does not generally result in the violent deaths of 35 people is incidental; the motives and considerations employed by Bryant were no different in principle from those of the over-whelming majority of our 1996 community.

Public Reaction Reveals Public Character
The general and hysterical reaction to this massacre, a demand to ban all guns, revealed a widespread lack of faith in the self-discipline of gun owners; a tacit confession by the populace to an inability to resist temptation. Their reaction to thrill killing was not one of disbelief, despite the rhetoric, but the opposite. They knew all too well that should they feel the desire to kill, should they lust after the thrill of murder, then they would jump at the chance; and the only way they could see of protecting themselves from people like themselves, was to make such weapons unavailable. A stance that ignored the fact that such legislation could only disarm the law-abiding and so empower the criminal.

Road Rage
While some violence, like Bryant's crime, is deliberate, much more is the accidental emotional explosion caused by colliding egos no longer restrained by morality. People carrying on their ordinary business, with no deliberate malice planned, can instantly become victims or killers as some act, deliberate or thoughtless, ignites poorly controlled emotions. Road rage is the 1996 term given to those examples of violence resulting from trivial driving incidents, and on 27th November 1998 a Brisbane District Court judge said:

"Road rage is a modern phenomenon and is a very worrying feature of modern day life. It is causing concern to the courts" — The Courier-Mail 28/11/98

The court was told that Adrian Paul Pumfrey, 19, pleaded guilty to driving his car at another driver at the Capalaba Shopping centre on 3rd March. This followed an argument and resulted in Jang Lim being thrown on the car bonnet and suffering broken teeth. So Judge Fred McGuire sentenced the teenager to a suspended six-month jail term and ordered he pay $3,000 compensation for dental work.

Any Excuse
Naturally such eruptions are not just restricted to driving. On 25th November 1998, in the Brisbane Supreme court, a jury found Nigel Gorden Cumberworth, 22, and Shukura Juma, 33, guilty of the murder of Gordon Charles Mott, 46. On 1st February 1997, the victim was stabbed 47 times after complaining about loud music being played in a boarding house at Browning Street, West End. Justice Ken MacKenzie sentenced both men to life in jail, and advised any future parole board to make absolutely certain neither was a danger to the community before they were released. A warning inspired by the trivial reason that was sufficient for these contemporary citizens to hack someone to death. In an atmosphere where politeness has been abandoned along with traditional guides to behaviour, people will inevitably discover that the character of modern citizens is easily excited to violence.

No Excuse — Drive By
Nevertheless, the random violence prophesied by Sex In History does not even require an excuse. While 'Drive By' attacks have not yet appeared in Australia (October, 1998), it can only be a matter of time. The term refers to the inane crime of shooting a stranger as you drive past them, as this news report from Lauren Dodge of The Associated Press reveals:

SALEM, Oregon, U.S.A. — Just before she got shot, Adrienne Mann remembers thinking how nice it was that a car was driving so slowly down her residential street.

Even after, with a .22-calibre bullet lodged in her gut, she struggled to comprehend it: Gang members, a stranger's gun. The loud crack of a gunshot that knocked her flat, just missing a vital artery.

"You just would never expect someone to drive by and shoot you," said Mann, 33, who was walking her dog early 17th August 1998, before going to work. "It was inconceivable to me that this was not a game."

But the violence has gotten all too real in this once-sleepy capital city, which has logged 59 gang-related shootings this year, on a pace to more than double last year's numbers. Police have no hard leads on Mann's attack, which was followed 10 minutes later by another random drive-by that critically wounded a bicyclist less than a mile from state buildings.

Nothing To Do With Gender
The increase in selfishness with its inevitable disregard for restraint is the reason a community moves from the controlled mode of patrism to the anarchy of matrism; it has little, or nothing, to do with gender identification.

Matrism/Patrism Simplified
Taylor was mistaken in believing the two separate states were controlled by gender identification, because if this concern is removed from his table a much clearer picture emerges:

Taylor does not tabulate the next rule even though he accepts that the Matrist mode is invariably accompanied by random violence (the influence of Thanatos).

A rule G.R. Taylor missed but which is also inevitable from the two attitudes.

Taylor's rules are easily explained without resorting to sexual identity — they are an inevitable expression of the character of the community. Either most citizens pursue duty (patrism) or they pursue self-indulgence (matrism).

Significant Short Comings Of Taylor's Book
Taylor's book Sex In History with its successful prophecy is impressive, and his list of attributes contains a great deal of truth, however his theory does have some significant shortcomings. While it is true to claim some of the impact of matrism could be regarded as liberating females by releasing women from a subordinate role, it misses the point that such emancipation is implicit in the collapse of any system of order. Anyone who is sick of the discipline of working for a living can regain their freedom by resigning from their job, but this unfettered state invariably brings significant problems such as a lack of purpose, loss of identity and rapidly shrinking wealth.

True Nature Of The Two States Hidden
Whatever the strengths of Sex In History it dissembles the real nature of the two states by:

• Failing to emphasise the random violence associated with the female dominated type.
• Failing to mention that Patrism was the pursuit of achievement, choosing to describe it as the fear of pleasure — asceticism.
• Omitting the different attitudes of the two modes to truth
• Omitting the very different results of the two modes; that patrism leads to communal wealth and matrism to communal poverty (see "Two Modes Of Community.").