For many years now, a dark question has haunted parents, teachers, the internet, and media institutions: What’s wrong with young men?
Why, people ask, are boys so politically extreme, spouting misogynist rhetoric, and increasingly drawn into risky crypto schemes and online gambling? How did they become so lonely, with their depression symptoms often overlooked? The male youth vote broke for Trump in the 2024 election following a GOP campaign built on naked appeals to meathead machismo. Yet there are signs that his second term in office has done little to stem the anger of Gen Z men, whose support for the president is now plummeting.
The most common explanation of these interrelated phenomena is that younger men have banded together online under the umbrella of something known as the “manosphere,” usually conceived as an organic right-wing rebellion driving the culture wars. A new study, however, suggests that this is entirely backward: The digital ecosystem that produces red-pilled men is less of a movement than it is a pyramid scheme.
It means exactly what it means: people with access to diverse opinions tend to not uncritically accept whatever bullshit comes with someone offering an answer.
In other words, if young men were easily able to find social support outside the manosphere, maybe they would be more critical about the information they come across in the manosphere.
I guess the question comes down to where to find that social support outside the manosphere? The article concludes that young men need to help mobilize their peers to leave these manosphere echo chambers and help point out how they’re being scammed. Men need to help young men by creating these more positive spaces for them.
A while back I saw a video by…I wanna say hbomberman, but its been like 5 years, so maybe it was someone else. Their main point was that the left is generally bad at messaging with specific, actionable advice. In comparison, the manosphere is extremely good at providing actionable advice, mixed with right wing propaganda.
Edit: there was an interesting study I came across in a zoebee video recently, where they had an actor dress up like a professor and give a nonsense lecture in an academic setting. Much of the (academic) audience came away thinking they learned something, when there was no content to learn. Point is, charismatic presentation is extremely important. That’s why people like Jordan peterson have huge followings.
I think in this case you can split men into three categories: the guys that get it and don’t really think about guys that don’t, the guys that get it and realize there’s potential for grifting the guys that don’t, and the guys that don’t get it.
The recommendation provided by the article is a little bit of a the blind leading the blind situation. If I knew what to do I’d do it.
How do we get the guys that get it to care about the guys that don’t? There’s the actionable part that’s needed right there.
Well, you need people who are well adjusted and happy in their lives to choose to wade into the garbage dump of inceldom and deal with the toxicity. That’s a pretty big ask.
It’s an ask that is demanded of women pretty often when this problem is brought up as a discussion point.
You’re right though. It’s a big ask.
I know, and I’m explicitly trying to avoid that. That’s kinda why I point at socialization. The implication is that some base level of social skills development should probably happen at a young age, and our schooling system is very much under equipped for the task.
Personally, I went to school elsewhere, and my schooling was very much focused on science and math. This was good from a career perspective, not so much everything else.
I wasn’t accusing you of doing so, just to be clear!
It’s something I ponder and read about a lot as a mom to a boy. I see so many positives in how he interacts with the world along with his peers. So it’s a question that I come back to time and again. Where are we losing these boys?
Around age 14-15, in my case. Probably a bit earlier, now. That’s when I started picking up on my relative lack of friendships and social skills, and started looking for answers to improve both. Then again, I also moved around a lot in my life, so that was almost certainly a factor.
“It means what it means,” followed by your specific interpretation. Don’t be a dick, I was asking in earnest.
They meant what they said. They said it’d be nice if there were good opinions outside of the BS pipeline. Why does that opinion offend you so much?
It didn’t? Why did you get so upset you needed to jump in?
lol I jump in often… Just look at my comment history… Most of the time I’m bored or procrastinating, so it’s interesting that you view it as anger…, Is that why you engage with topics, angry boi?
What.