The Manosphere: History Repeating

For those who, like me, were entirely ignorant of this title and “cult” and its application to the male youth of today, you might want to take a look at a good summary here ‘Inside the Manosphere’ with Louis Theroux – The Quinnipiac Chronicle or choose to view the Netflix documentary on the Manosphere phenomenon at Watch Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere | Netflix Official Site. Whichever you choose, I recommend that you become familiar with the facts and implications of this latest voyage into the depravity of some members of humanity.

As my friend and colleague has superbly summarized on this site, this is a movement among younger men launched and joined by others either to further their own racist, misogynous, and greedy agendas, or for profit, entertainment, or financial gain (perhaps all of the above). I will not reiterate the above summaries of the movement here. Suffice it to say that I will accept that there are those among this community that may be “true believers” just as there have been, throughout history, those who sincerely believe in their own superiority to those they perceive as lesser beings, or because they sincerely believe they are victims of some sort of unwarranted bias, prejudice, or deliberate acts of discrimination by others.

While I share the alarm at this “cult”, I am surprised that its rise causes amazement among some of us. Do we not recognize the obvious parallels to these motivations manifested in the past and in other facets today? In the United States we have had the blatant discrimination against blacks through the Jim Crow laws (Jim Crow laws – Wikipedia), school segregation, armed forces segregation, and others in the 20th century. Before that, we had slavery and yellow peril (Yellow Peril – Wikipedia), to name a few. Then again, throughout history, the examples of religious discrimination and hatred are as frequent as there are various religious beliefs. Lest we forget, there is the entire history of mistreatment of women in all societies since the beginning of time.

I could go on throughout history with other examples of “man’s inhumanity toward man” (Robert Burns), but I am confident you get my point that this “Manosphere” cult is but the latest example of how some are vulnerable and others will take advantage of that vulnerability.

While this is a repeated pattern of behaviour, I am of the opinion that in this case, this pattern is exacerbated by the ubiquitous presence of social media outlets and the ability to easily access deviant opinions and behaviours on the internet. (How Social Media Negatively Affects Mental Health and Well-being – Socio.Health) (Social Media as a Cause of Mental Health Problems | Psychology Today).

Social Scientists and Medical Doctors tell us that to battle this growing problem we should limit the time our children and adults have in front of their monitors perusing social media and the internet. Easily said, but extremely difficult to enforce. Aside from that course of action, there is also, I will maintain, a system-wide failure of parents to take responsibility for their children’s choices.

As a child psychologist, I see parents abrogating their responsibilities to instruct, model, and discipline their children. For instance, should a child act out in school, it is only the teacher’s responsibility to discipline the student. And should the teacher or administration attempt to enforce standards on a misbehaving child, somehow that child is “misunderstood” and should be exempt from discipline and the teacher be found at fault.

Should a child be caught committing a crime or even minor infraction, too often the parents’ response is something along the lines of “boys will be boys” and should be let off this time. In the home itself, how often do the children get to spend quality time with a parent? What behaviours are modelled for that child? Are the children encouraged to think through reasoning behind the actions they see on the news or in their day? Are they taught empathy? This list could go on and on, but again you get my drift.

Manosphere is yet another cult that seeks to take advantage of those who are adrift in society and unable to adapt to their own unpleasant circumstance, real or imagined. We see a growing number of society’s members feel they are entitled to a safety net that exempts them from experiencing the consequences of their bad choices. Manosphere or some other cult will tell them that they are correct and that they are a victim of something, someone, or a system that is rigged against them. At that point the “victim” will feel a liberating sensation of not being alone in their “victimization” and realize that they were correct in all of their feelings of being, somehow, wronged and they need to fight back.

In this particular case, it is to fight with racial slurs and stereotypes, misogyny, and rebellion against any and all authority. Those perpetrating this Manosphere laugh all the way to the bank.