Why are so many young men so angry online?
This article isn’t likely to suggest anything that will actually help men.
Men are trailing women in college and in the workplace, fewer of their relationships are leading to marriage and many men feel masculinity is under attack.
Men are trailing women everywhere, and if a man complains, then the typical response is something along the line of “Fuck you, you built the patriarchy, so if you aren’t happy with, go die.”
Yes, that is a harsh response, and possibly not typical, but certainly not rare. Boys are more likely to drop out of school, have a learning disability, be medicated or expelled. Men are more likely to commit suicide, die on the job and don’t live as long. The term “toxic masculinity” is everywhere. If pressed, a reasonable person may suggest that masculinity isn’t the problem, but toxic masculinity is. Most of the people using the term aren’t reasonable, and do believe that masculinity is the problem.
“It may look like we have an epidemic of male anger, but under the anger is loneliness and sadness,” says Justin Baldoni, a filmmaker and actor behind Man Enough, a podcast about masculinity.
Being told that you are shit all the time can’t be helpful to anyone’s emotional development.
Approximately 65% of men in the U.S. say they’re hesitant to seek professional help for stress, anxiety or depression, according to a study this month from Cleveland Clinic.
We live in a therapeutic culture that values feelings over objectivity. The website Had Enough Therapy is authored by a mental health professional and explains it pretty well.
For men, therapy that focuses on empathy does not produce similarly good feelings. Why would any man find comfort and solace in a therapeutic process that is treating him like a woman?
When therapy does not work for men, therapists tend to think it means that men need a lot more therapy. This explanation is so self-serving that it becomes laughable.
Still, therapists have been promoting the idea that if men do not respond to therapy they are not in touch with their feminine side; they are not strong enough to accept their true feelings; they are afraid of feeling vulnerable.
Several friends of mine know that their outlook is not healthy and they could use professional help, but have no confidence that therapy would be beneficial. Back to the WSJ article.
Men’s community-building and mental-health organizations—together with a government-funded anti-hate group—are using social-media ads to get through to men by speaking plainly to their frustration. It’s a small early effort to tackle a huge issue: The groups want to reach millions of men who have gone down online rabbit holes.
No reasonable man thinks the government wants or knows how to, help men. Many men are frustrated with a bloated and incompetent government. Back in the day, I attended several Tea Party rallies against the bloated federal government. The corporate media broadly characterized us a racist. At one rally, an independent journalist was attempting to get evidence of racist conduct. He talked to a black guy right behind me.
“Sir, the Tea Party has had some racist associations. Why are you at this protest?”
“My ancestors were slaves, owned by masters. I don’t want to be a slave to the government, with all my effort getting pissed away.”
“Are women giving up on men?” asks one YouTube ad. It directed viewers to a Man Enough podcast about women choosing not to date and having less sex. The group hopes that by listening to the podcast, men will understand the reasons women feel disenchanted with dating and that it isn’t because women hate men.
You see how that is going to help a man who can’t find a place in the world, lives in a therapeutic world built for women and gets blamed for the patriarchy? I haven’t watched the Man Enough podcast, but from this passage, it’s obvious that it isn’t about women having unrealistic expectations. It’s about men working to improve themselves to be more worthy of women.
Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan understand men and women, and appreciate both. Men are drawn to a message that is clear, concise and productive. The corporate media attacks both of these men and pushes for tech companies to demonitize and deplatform them.
While it’s been easy to get its message in front of young men online, Tierney says the real challenge will be getting men to join the support groups or to seek therapy. It’s still too early to track that.
Men need heroes and want to solve problems. Men like to build things, destroy things, learn things and do things. Any efforts to get men in support groups and therapy are bound to make the problem worse.