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The so-called manosphere – an online hangout for men and boys seeking everything from workout tips and life hacks to mentorship and aspirational affirmation, is an often-misunderstood phenomenon. Feminists and Leftists (but I repeat myself) perceive it – not entirely unjustly – to be “coded” Right-wing, so they demonize those who populate it as misogynistic losers. There is that element to it, frankly, but the manosphere is much broader than that, encompasses all kinds of male interests, and is, I believe, a net positive for men and society; more to the point, it is a direct result of, and refuge from, our feminized, misandrist culture which constantly hammers home the perverse lie that men are toxic and unnecessary.
Documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux recently released a new Netflix film, Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere, in which he explores a corner of the manosphere that actually is toxic by interviewing and observing a handful of its most controversial influencers: Harrison Sullivan, a young man who goes by the juvenile and unmanly moniker HSTikkyTokky; posturing Alpha male Justin Waller; Jew-hating Muslims Myron Gaines and “Sneako”; and predatory young boxer and TikToker Ed Matthews.
Why should FrontPage readers care about the manosphere and a documentary on the Left-wing propaganda network Netflix? We live in very gender-confused times, and that is by design. We are witnessing the culmination of more than a half-century (or a full century, depending upon when you date it) of radical feminism and its successor, gender ideology, whose end game is to subvert the culture so effectively that we are eradicating the very definitions of male and female.
More than 175 years ago Karl Marx called explicitly for the abolition of the family as part of a broader war on the capitalist West. The assault on masculinity is the most critical front of that campaign because once the enemies of manhood sell the idea that male and female are false social constructions rather than biological truths, and that masculinity is an inherently misogynist, violent, oppressive, and toxic construction that must be deconstructed to pave the way for a collectivist utopia, then the nuclear family will disintegrate for good, the State will become our father, and the last line of defense against the West’s enemies, both internal and external, will have collapsed.
Masculinity is the vital warrior spirit that strengthens and protects families, that fortifies and leads communities, and that creates and powers a great civilization. An emasculated civilization is a doomed one. A civilization whose men are confused and insecure about their own nature, and who will not or cannot protect and defend their families, their homeland, and their culture is signaling that it is weak and ripe for conquering. That is the harsh truth about the state of the West today.
The key to reversing our civilizational decline is to reclaim a reinvigorated moral masculinity to lift boys and men out of this crisis. If we want a better world, it begins with better men. If we rescue our men and set them on the right path, everything else will begin to fall into place: our broken families, our divided communities, our decadent culture, our waning civilization. The internet now teems with masculinity “gurus” offering millions of overwhelmingly male followers competing visions of manhood, and whichever vision wins will determine the future of the West.
That’s why the manosphere – and a Netflix documentary about it – are important.
Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere hardly does the manosphere justice, and Theroux is mostly a passive presence who lets his subjects hoist themselves on their own petards. But he and the film do a great job of exposing these arrogant influencers as highly sensitive despite their breast-beating insistence that they “don’t give a f**k” what anybody thinks. It is clear that these men are obsessed with how they are publicly perceived, and care a great deal that everyone buys into their posturing as icons of masculinity. Any crack in the façade that Theroux exposes sends them into a media-controlling panic; indeed, a few, like Sullivan and Gaines, deflect by getting their online followers to turn the tables and smear Theroux.
The first thing one notices about Theroux’s subjects is that they know well how to exploit the basest instincts of their internet audience, doing whatever it takes to get clicks and views to boost their own profile and monetization. Matthews, 20, for example, posts content in which he lures gay men into meeting with him and then humiliates them on camera. Sullivan profits from owning a company that manages OnlyFans sites, yet declares that he would disown his own daughter if she had an OnlyFans account. He admits that he does not approve of it, but is happy to profit from it. “I’m a businessman,” he states, as if that justifies his hypocrisy.
Justin Waller, 40, by contrast to his younger TikTok counterparts, actually earned a few million running a steel construction company but now sells himself online as a financial and lifestyle mentor to young men. He is close friends with, and a business associate of, the reprehensible Tate brothers, who recently converted to Islam from Orthodox Christianity because they consider the latter to be a “weak” religion. Waller is the least volcanic and most congenial of the bunch but seems to be the most concerned about maintaining an image as a paternal role model and sex symbol, complete with obligatory affectations such as expensive watches and cigars. He has two daughters but is not married to their mother, citing financial objections to marriage. He speaks proudly about her faithfulness to him while making no apologies for dating other women.
The influencers in the film like Waller who are in “monogamous” relationships are desperately controlling of the women in their lives. I write “monogamous” because fidelity is a one-way street for these men, who demand it of their women but who boast of their own promiscuity, even though their partners are obviously uncomfortable with it. These men are in complete denial of the fact that insecurity, arrogance, and infidelity are not the qualities of admirable men or leaders of men; they are the qualities of overgrown children, who think that the only thing that matters in life is dying with the most toys.
This is not to say that these influencers are entirely wrong about their descriptions of the culture in which boys and young men find themselves. “I believe that the world really took a swing in the wrong direction when it comes to it being acceptable for a man to have a masculine energy about him, to be strong,” Waller tells Theroux. No disagreement there. But their prescriptions are shallow, materialistic, and amoral. Waller is seen in the documentary encouraging young men to “pull” the hottest women and get everything they want through material success. His followers are hungry to have their personal aspirations respected and encouraged – and they should – but Waller and his ilk are steering these impressionable young men toward a materialistic worldview that is a spiritual and even civilizational dead end.
When filmmaker Theroux calls out his subjects for their hypocrisy and amorality, these men retreat reflexively into the defense that they are living for themselves, not fulfilling the expectations of others; that worldly success, not right living, is their only priority; and that they’re not responsible for the choices their millions of manipulated fans make.
Let’s be clear: these influencers have massive followings but their reputations are easily punctured and their material wealth is meaningless. They are weak, debased examples of manhood – not heroes or role models, but exploiters, liars, and cheats. They’re not the men we need to rescue Western civilization from its freefall into decadence and its accelerating submission to Islam.
Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior.