Today I Learned

Young boys are exposed to near constant right wing internet programming and are increasingly attacking girls in school, verbally and physically, starting as early as elementary school.

Combine that with largely apathetic and inattentive parents + very few male teachers and school is becoming an absolute nightmare for everybody

This essentially reflects the rise in incel school shooters except these young men just grow up to become bitter right wing misogynistic bigots instead. They have nowhere to go but right

The good news, I guess, is that people can get better. I was one of those people who moved further right in young adulthood. I'm glad the social media and such didn't exist then as I was not equipped to handle that by my upbringing and would have fallen right into that trap. We just had Limbaugh and Beck and the like. At some point, I pulled a 180 and, now in my mid-40s, find myself probably somewhere around center-left to left as most western European countries might define that.

I think toxic podcasts have a big influence on young men, especially those who grew up without strong father figures. My own dad wasn’t perfect (I joke a bit about it on my profile), and many of us went through that risky “2015 phase” of consuming unhealthy online content.

What many politicians and advocates on the left often overlook is that toxic masculinity isn’t solved by telling men to be “less masculine.” You can actually counter unhealthy masculinity with healthy masculinity. Instead of shaming men, we should be teaching a better version of manhood one that includes therapy, emotional intelligence, and being able to talk honestly about what’s going on inside.

As corny as it sounds there's a reason when there's a bad take by a misinformed feminist calling all men evil on twitter ganders a response like "This is why men turn right" and sure while that stuff doesn't work on me anymore, It's not 2015-2016 there's still some vulnerable people that unfortunately fall for it, does that mean though that the feminist is wrong in her views? Not really, but I'm not talking about myself I'm talking about a lot of men that do fall for it.

Most working-class men who grind through 9–5 jobs, going from shift to shift, are worried about affordability and stability. If someone comes along and says “I’m going to make your life easier,” that’s who they’ll vote for even if it’s Trump. You can call them naïve or say the leopards ate their face or whatever , but the reality is that many of these men are desperate for change. And they’ll keep voting for whoever promises that change. When society pushes these men aside or dismisses them, some end up looking for someone to blame. That’s when you get people saying, “Women are the reason my life is hard,” or “Jews control everything.”

Of course, some people are genuinely racist or sexist, and there will always be trolls who just want attention. But why do those trolls exist in the first place? Often it’s because they feel insignificant, and attaching themselves to extreme movements gives them a sense of identity and purpose they don’t have otherwise.

A few incels snuck into this comment section

If "the left" called you "a bigot" or "sexist" or "isn't letting you find a wife" you're probably a sexist bigot no one would touch with a 10-foot pole.

Every damn time "men's issues" come up there's like 100 dudes saying one of the issues is "can't find a wife". We all know what that means. Go jerk off. Politics is above you.

My teen observed ….. guys are more likely to appreciate edgy, crude or offensive humor. Guys are more likely to be entertained by those assholes, even if they don’t agree with their message

Things are looking up for this 59 year old left winger.