Intro
I wanted to take an opportunity to approach a topic I’ve been meaning to for several months now, but couldn’t really find the words to express it. A prolific trait among any RWer is appreciation for the order of both sexes’ relevant spiritual energies and for such energies to be fulfilled in a healthy way. On the face of it, this is admirable, but just like any issue that comes with our collective confrontation with authenticity, the approach to gender roles seems immature. It lacks a lot, simply because the modern world is not manufactured in a way that suits a masculine or feminine mind, but an androgynous one. That is the whole point to being a specialized economic unit, and that is what separates the boys from the men in our movement: those who actually want to not be economic units, and those who want to “ride the decline.” Like most answers, though, there is a little bit of truth in both sides, and that is what I want to expand upon.
That is what brings me to the exhibit of this morning’s article. A couple mutuals on twitter commented on a couple lib journos reaction to the new Tucker Carlson special, The End of Man. I haven’t watched it, and don’t really plan on it, but based on this short snippet, he displays at least one twitter DR guy that everyone likes to rally around @GraduatedBen. I don’t particularly care for his takes or his attitude, but that’s besides the point. This little movie is about EMBRACING YOUR MASCULINITY FOR THE COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION, BRO, MAN, SOCIETY, MAN.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Bronze Age Pervert (BAP) makes a cameo, or is at least mentioned. A few of the central figures behind the DR - a conception of political and social esotericism that we haven’t quite yet figured out - are manosphere types. Most people, except The Distributist and Praise of Folly, will not comment on how toxic and vain the manosphere is, because everyone almost has this kneejerk support for not only anything provocative of the left and perceptibly right wing, but anything that is in favor of homoerotic male fantasies. Why? I don’t know, because it’s fashy? I can explain why, if you really want me to…
Let’s start with why the manosphere exists, why it is poisonous to anything productive and holy for the movement of authenticity (that’s what we’re trying to be, right?), and how this bizarre conception of manliness arises, then we can understand why this documentary and the popularity of becoming a big BADASS, BALL-TANNING, SPERM COUNT-INCREASING, BODY COUNT IN THE HUNDREDS, SIX PACK-FLAUNTING SEXY GUY WHO JUST LIKE WANTS TO HANG WITH HIS BROS, BRO is not really an aesthetic, a movement, or authentic in any capacity.
The Manosphere and Why It Is Poisonous
Not gonna give a background here because this movement could have its own college course analyzing its history. The manosphere has been around since I was a preteen (at least), and I never had any interest in it. Am I a betacuck soyboy? I don’t know, probably to the guys who consider themselves apart of this laughable excuse for a “movement.” The Distributist summed it up best, but I’ll give my own paraphrase with some addons of my own:
The manosphere and PUA (pick-up artist) guys are just dudes who never want to embrace a genuine spirituality or place in society that is serious. They consider themselves against modern society insofar as they think society is full of low testosterone men and slutty women, and in order to make it you just have to ride the decline and adapt. There is an entire genre of books dedicated to how to dominate people like an alpha in conversation or business or dating. It’s extremely tragically ironic how this movement of guys who get noided and learn to talk to girls end up doing it for such vain reasons. They are not serious insofar as they are not interested in the main pillars that create a lovely society - Christianity, a genuine sense of culture, and more than a conceited sense of self-worth. They are revolting against a society built on ephemerality, and yet live the most ephemerally.
One of the main guys behind the PUA movement - a group of guys who figured out how to get laid and have turned it into a religion - RooshV, has become a devout Orthodox Christian and advises against all kinds of degeneracy. Now, so that I do not get accused of strawmanning, I would just like to point out, all of what I have said is a quick summary of what these guys actually say they believe. They will admit to living hedonistically and without purpose, but frame it in a way that is pro-masculine and anti-modernity. They aren’t pro-masculine. They are pro-degeneracy, but funneled through a system of social techniques to gain power over people. They’re literally just as bad as the world from which we are trying to disconnect and escape due to its sinfulness and evanescent state.
These are not people to take seriously in any capacity. I repeat. These are not people to take seriously in any capacity.
The Manosphere is Mind Poison
“Well come on, man! These guys just care about the spiritual and mental wellbeing of men! Who cares if they got some kooky ideas about the legality of prostitution, drugs, and their own lifestyles reflect that of a boomer who frequents Bangkok? The ends justify the means!”
I forget if BAP was gay or not. He’s gay right? I forgot. It doesn’t matter.
It’s all fun and games until you realize you have a spiritual purpose, and roleplaying what you think is reality isn’t going to be any more genuine than checking out and spending your entire free time in VR world. As Baudrillard noted about the four stages of simulacrum:
The first stage is a genuine reflection of reality.
The second is perversion of reality.
The third is complete absence of the reality, where the mimicry pretends to be a copy.
The fourth is simulacrum where reality is utterly gone and the experience of this hyperreality has inconspicuously invaded every aspect of life.
Don’t worry, I will have a lot more to say about Baudrillard in the future, but for now, we just need those basic ideas to understand how inauthentic this movement of manosphere meninist pick-up artists are simply trying to capture a counterfeit reality. They don’t know they’re doing it, but they’re brain sure does.
The simulated reality of internet movements be damned, the manosphere is likely the worst. At least on whatever you wanna refer to as the right. The simulation starts early in our lives, at school, and is especially made worse if you live in the suburbs - the birthplaces of inauthenticity and imitation. Young boys and men are put through a wringer of mental oppression that impedes their ability to socially, physically, mentally, and spiritually mature, then are thrown into a world that absolutely despises them and blames them for all perceived societal ails (ails that could be blamed on the simulacrum itself). This, obviously, will lead to some nasty consequences. A lot of these men, intelligent and well-intentioned enough, start trying to improve themselves - socially, physically, mentally, and sometimes spiritually (though that last one is generally avoided). What does this end up looking like? Well, millions upon millions of men with either no dad or weak dad syndrome, reading self-help books, and watching whatever new PUA videos there are to discover techniques that will advance them in social situations (particularly to achieve coitus with the ladies), how to mimic a benign level of stoicism, and how to bulk themselves into big sexy Schwarzeneggers.
I could go off in several directions with what is wrong with this worldview.
Why have sex with a lady if you don’t love her, are married to her, and want to spend your life with her? Is love just an intoxicating dose of oxytocin that you’re trying to max out?
Why get noided when all of your muscles are just going to be lackadaisically drooped over an keyboard while you sit at an office chair, or engage in surrogate activities that bring no sense of spiritual fulfillment? Shouldn’t those muscles be formed organically and for or because of something?
Why poison your mind with techniques that inhibit your ability to engage the world naturally without every single social, physical, and mental object you are approached with having to be fed through a mental filter of several different techniques you learned from overpriced self-help books?
If you are so perturbed by the modern world, then why have you made your (hyper)reality into a perpetual inebriation of its tempting libations?
And before any of you go off and do what I know you’re gonna do: “Bro Trad Caths and Orthos are inauthentic!” I guess? Maybe some on the internet? But I know actual ones irl who are engaging in the spiritual fulfillment I just mentioned. This becomes a game of “he said, she said” and doesn’t approach the issue of you guys being the ultimate form of degeneracy.
Seriously, it’s like if you gave some autistic guy every technique possible to become a degenerate with a high body count and no sense of purpose. What about him is better than your typical low IQ raver who pops molly every weekend? One thing’s for sure, they probably all drive cars they can’t afford. Unless the autist read a self-help book on financial management.
Real (Hu)man Bean
I think a lot of us feel out of place in this world, and I don’t want to discount the sentiment. However, the intentions of the manosphere movement, and the allying groups of esoteric fascists or whatever, are exemplative of not just good intentions and their consequences but why the simulated hyperreality is a totalizing invisible empire of evil. A few pagans and manosphere guys can be quite lovely man-to-man. Generally, people are just looking to be loved and hang with the homies. That’s why the good intentions of Tucker Carlson’s documentary and the likes of which he seems to associate with are not all bad - at least, maybe in character. It’s simply their perpetuation of the simulation, not just reprobation and degeneracy, that is going to leave a dangerous, negative impact on men who want to do something useful with their lives.
I am a fan of Sam Hyde, and I know he is spiritually affiliated with this sphere in some regards, but one of his pieces of semi-advice/semi-comedy that he’s said rings true in, at least in its visibility in reality and exponential replication: “Ya gotta do something!” As in, it’s better to try something new, move onto a new project, engage in some activity or job that occupies your time than to be sitting around playing video games and procrastinating. Obviously, his remark is mostly humor, but it seems a lot of young men are taking this mindset to heart (not from him, obviously) and becoming actual psychopaths.
If men are to regain that sense of identity, it has to be genuine, and not a prepackaged, consumable item that is sold to them by Andrew Tates and Rollo Tomassis. I think we are really beginning to see the effects not of a nascent movement, but one that has been growing for a decade or more. A lot of these men started in this movement when they were 15. The pithiness and digestible techniques that mimic genuineness are attractive at first, but yield diminishing returns and never give the sense of meaning that God and community do. The manosphere seems to be the development of something that is much more deeply destructive about our culture - that even attempts at revolting against forced androgyny and the technical enslavement of our totalizing society can be just as vain and one-dimensional as the destructive society itself. This is why it bears mentioning that, going forward, there must not be a sense of vengeance against hyperreality and modernity. It isn’t something to be angry at, or to wish to be destroyed, but simply to be analyzed, critiqued, and we must bring about ways to remedy our places within it that don’t simply mimic what is real, but engaging what is real. It is a dance, not a battle.
In my own life, though I have done this my entire life, the engagement I have with everyone is genuine. I guess everyone could say that, but what I mean is - I don’t have a technique in confronting people. I guess unless I’m dealing with a taxman or insurance company, but that’s not what I’m getting at. In everyday life, treating people as your friend doesn’t require a technique. It requires you being you. You might not jive with everyone, and you might not get poon for the sake of poon - that’s what life is about, and we don’t live in a normal one. The less transactional you treat your interactions, the better.
Optional Prescription
I actually think I might watch that documentary. I’m sure there will be some things I like about it. There is no such thing as “our guy” or “our guys” and this becomes quite plain to see as specifically Christian dissenting thinkers realize there is no special union that can be formed between a bunch of stubborn armchair philosophers. The point remains that we must build a Christian future for ourselves as locally and as decentralized as possible.
This is why coming across anything that seems based for the sake of being based probably isn’t going to further any dialectic along that we care about. Broadly speaking, most conversation about “noticing things” isn’t doing anyone justice. What word are you getting out that’s changing hearts and minds for the better if to just further the issue of the simulacrum’s stranglehold of people via social technique? This is not something to be proud of. You are facing a spiritual crisis, not a political or social one.
So as the point I have made in the past, and what I will continue to build on in the future, there is no situation that can be solved through becoming further ingratiated to the world, to technical processes, to sin, to hyperreality. It’s obvious that the dysfunctionality of most people’s family lives, and our troubled connection to a world of inauthenticity is what causes our interface with all social interactions and systems. This is why as we break out, finding others who sort of get it might not actually be friend. Doesn’t mean they’re foe. Just means they don’t want what you want in any way shape or form. They just know, like you, that everything sucks. Learn to keep certain people at arm’s length, just like certain characters on the right are doing to Christians.
The massified dialectic will never shift towards genuine, traditionally Christian morals. This can only happen when one “church” (mythological, religious institution. “Cathedral” if you wanna call it that) dominates the narrative-constructing apparatus, and that will never be dominated by a single church. Likewise, the way most churches are these days, the invasion of the narrative consensus destroys many avenues for our ingratiation and dominion over political power. This power, though, only becomes overwhelmed by its own incoherence, and the heat death gets worse everyday. People need to be led, and good churches will grow, but to believe that our place is in massifying the Word to fit everyone is just not going to work. Likewise, even just “allying” with the world is not going to benefit the Church. Just as Ivan Illich said to not proselytize in third world countries for the sake of being perceived as a do-gooder, we shouldn’t be hopping on a bandwagon that clearly doesn’t want anything to do with Christianity, and equally as important - removing ourselves from simulated reality.
If you do not care about that, then don’t worry, this isn’t for you. I’m not proselytizing to anyone who is firm in their religious stance as a based alpha. Just please, don’t get in the way of some of us who want to lead Christians back to what matters.
“In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.”
Father Ivan Illich
Quality piece brother! I think, regardless of the opinions on the 'Manosphere', that the content and information found within it can be viewed in a more objective, mechanistic lens and applied in a conscious, deliberate manner. I think it is beneficial to take a macro view of the manosphere project as a collection of means that are open to both men and women in society and to understand the means that are presented in that community can be implemented in select scenarios one encounters in the day to day.
To resolve the age-old 'tfw no wife' (I'm completely foregoing the gf aspect in favor of the much more important wife), I think the means presented in the manosphere could certainly go a ways to assist many of the men in our spheres work their way towards finding a wife. But that requires that the boys reading said content don't become attached to the communities and circles that comprise the manosphere corner of the internet. They should merely understand the tools that are presented in the toolbox of the manosphere and move on with their lives and to quote you quoting Hyde, "[go] do something!"
And this point, on doing something, I think warrants more attention as it ties in intimately with the manosphere. Going out pulling women yadda yadda yadda is certainly doing something, objectively more so than playing video games and wackin' it but it lacks a wider narrative arc for men. As you've highlighted, the manosphere provides an easy heuristic for min-maxing hedonism and, maybe by design, lacks the men there to properly guide the boys entering into the manosphere in hopes of finding a meaning, and connecting the information they acquire in the sphere back with to a good life.
Hedonism is the most common answer for people falling into the manosphere where it could be a venue where men are able to speak frankly with each other about the things they've encountered on their own travels and how they're working on improving themselves on as they seek to fulfill their own narrative arcs and fulfill what they believe God has sent out for them to accomplish.
This response has been long winded and disjoint (and I apologize) but if anything the manosphere, as it currently stands, is a missed opportunity for Christian men and young men to interface with each other and learn how to become better men for themselves, families and communities and more importantly in Christ (small groups on the internet how revolutionary!).
I suppose that's what happens in a world lacking depth, shallowness pervades and men being raised in this milieu are left wanting on all levels.