Berserkers
The rage the berserker experienced was referred to as berserkergang ("going berserk"). This condition has been described as follows:
This fury, which was called berserkergang, occurred not only in the heat of battle, but also during laborious work. Men who were thus seized performed things which otherwise seemed impossible for human power. This condition is said to have begun with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and chill in the body, and then the face swelled and changed its colour. With this was connected a great hot-headedness, which at last gave over into a great rage, under which they howled as wild animals, bit the edge of their shields, and cut down everything they met without discriminating between friend or foe. When this condition ceased, a great dulling of the mind and feebleness followed, which could last for one or several days.Some scholars propose that certain examples of berserker rage had been induced voluntarily by the consumption of drugs such as the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria or massive amounts of alcohol. While such practices would fit in with ritual usages, other explanations for the berserker's madness have been put forward, including self-induced hysteria, epilepsy, mental illness, or genetics.
Jonathan Shay makes an explicit connection between the berserker rage of soldiers and the hyperarousal of post-traumatic stress disorder. In Achilles in Vietnam, he writes:
If a soldier survives the berserk state, it imparts emotional deadness and vulnerability to explosive rage to his psychology and permanent hyperarousal to his physiology — hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. My clinical experience with Vietnam combat veterans prompts me to place the berserk state at the heart of their most severe psychological and psychophysiological injuries.
Proud Boys
How do you become a Proud Boy?
According to Sommer, who has sifted through Proud Boys social media pages, there are four steps, or "degrees," to becoming a Proud Boy.
They also take something of a vow of self-celibacy.
- Declare yourself a Proud Boy.
- Take a beating from other Proud Boys while naming five breakfast cereals. "This seems bizarre, but the theory behind it sort of prepares you to think on your feet and think when your adrenalin is pumping," Sommer said.
- Get a Proud Boys tattoo.
- Get into a physical fight with a left-wing protester.
"You have to subscribe to McInnis's philosophy of #NoWanks, which means you can only masturbate once a month," Sommer said.
"He belives that too-frequent masturbation or pornography has sort of sapped the will of the modern man."
Actually, sexual activity helps clear lymph nodes, so celibacy adversely affects the immune system too.
As I was saying, diet and sleep deprivation and self injury.
Everything Old is New Again.
