The Miseducation of the American Boy

[ThatBoi21]

I'd say while things are getting better in my experience with how boys are being raised, there's a large push on social media to become someone cruel, misogynistic, and only value money or status. Little Billy can be watching his Minecraft or Fortnite videos on youtube and a recommended video is going to be a compilation of Andrew Tate and dudes like that ranting about how women don't deserve respect or how they only care about money and looks and etc. He'll likely click on it, and this just opens up the floodgates of videos of that type that he'll likely watch more and more of and it'll slowly affect the way he thinks.

And it's not just Youtube, as Tiktok, Instagram, and pretty much any social media platform is filled with videos and content like that as well. I almost went down the rabbit hole myself years ago, mostly due to being an insecure teen boy who didn't understand that I needed to work on myself to become someone that people will like to talk to.

The best thing to do really is just talk to your kids and have conversations about any media they may be watching like that and explain to them why it's wrong to think like that and it's not an attitude to try to emulate.

Of course, I'm saying all this as someone who's written stories where the male lead is objectively awful and clearly views the female lead as a sex object or a prize, and the female lead enjoys this, but that doesn't really reflect what I really think, so just ignore them (please lol).

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'd say while things are getting better in my experience with how boys are being raised, there's a large push on social media to become someone cruel, misogynistic, and only value money or status. Little Billy can be watching his Minecraft or Fortnite videos on youtube and a recommended video is going to be a compilation of Andrew Tate and dudes like that ranting about how women don't deserve respect or how they only care about money and looks and etc. He'll likely click on it, and this just opens up the floodgates of videos of that type that he'll likely watch more and more of and it'll slowly affect the way he thinks.

And it's not just Youtube, as Tiktok, Instagram, and pretty much any social media platform is filled with videos and content like that as well. I almost went down the rabbit hole myself years ago, mostly due to being an insecure teen boy who didn't understand that I needed to work on myself to become someone that people will like to talk to.

The best thing to do really is just talk to your kids and have conversations about any media they may be watching like that and explain to them why it's wrong to think like that and it's not an attitude to try to emulate.

Of course, I'm saying all this as someone who's written stories where the male lead is objectively awful and clearly views the female lead as a sex object or a prize, and the female lead enjoys this, but that doesn't really reflect what I really think, so just ignore them (please lol).

I hope they lock up Tate and that he has a lovely time with his new prison friends.

Em

 

[ThatBoi21]

I hope they lock up Tate and that he has a lovely time with his new prison friends.

Em

His trial date can't come quick enough.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I hope they lock up Tate and that he has a lovely time with his new prison friends.

Em

I tend to put Tate in the same box as Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh. Maybe I'm being generous, but I have a hard time believing what they do isn't a scripted act designed to get clicks. That they don't seem to care that some people will take them seriously is extremely disturbing. I mean, is anybody really that out of the loop? That was rhetorical...

 

[MillieDynamite]

Rush Limbaugh wasn't necessarily a bigot, but he had an audience filled with bigots. He could be quite entertaining to listen to. And while he was a bear poker, he was mostly harmless. The issue wasn't that he was a Republican or a right-wing Republican; the problem existed in his pandering to the worst elements in people. Sometimes, when he actually had a useful point of view, he took over the top, jumped up and down on it until it was the top, and piled on more, and more. All that was applicable and pragmatic became obscured in the zealous, over-done rhetoric. Alex Jones, on the other hand, is not only a nut; he's a winged nut!

 

[EmilyMiller]

I tend to put Tate in the same box as Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh. Maybe I'm being generous, but I have a hard time believing what they do isn't a scripted act designed to get clicks. That they don't seem to care that some people will take them seriously is extremely disturbing. I mean, is anybody really that out of the loop? That was rhetorical...

His vids are performative. But he seems to be a slimeball IRL. He’s being investigated for rape and trafficking.

Em

 

[Btq97]

His vids are performative. But he seems to be a slimeball IRL. He’s being investigated for rape and trafficking.

Em

Fingers crossed he will do some hard time in dark hole

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Rush Limbaugh wasn't necessarily a bigot, but he had an audience filled with bigots. He could be quite entertaining to listen to. And while he was a bear poker, he was mostly harmless. The issue wasn't that he was a Republican or a right-wing Republican; the problem existed in his pandering to the worst elements in people. Sometimes, when he actually had a useful point of view, he took over the top, jumped up and down on it until it was the top, and piled on more, and more. All that was applicable and pragmatic became obscured in the zealous, over-done rhetoric. Alex Jones, on the other hand, is not only a nut; he's a winged nut!

I give Limbaugh credit for being a little more transparent about what he was doing. Sure he had a 97% accuracy rating, but he obfuscated the context just enough to name whatever point he wanted to make. For example, I play a round of golf with Tiger Woods. The next day at work, I tell my buddies it was a match play event( which technically it was) and that I came in second. WooHoo me, right. Poor Tiger, though, he came in next to last. What the hell is up with that? The missing context is that he and I were the only two playing.

Alex and Tate, well, pretty sure they drank too much of their own Kool-Aid. It's still my nature to think it's an act, but I'm not sure either can tell the difference any longer.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Rush Limbaugh could pontificate so long a tortoise might die of old age while listening to him.

I give Limbaugh credit for being a little more transparent about what he was doing. Sure he had a 97% accuracy rating, but he obfuscated the context just enough to name whatever point he wanted to make. For example, I play a round of golf with Tiger Woods. The next day at work, I tell my buddies it was a match play event( which technically it was) and that I came in second. WooHoo me, right. Poor Tiger, though, he came in next to last. What the hell is up with that? The missing context is that he and I were the only two playing.

Alex and Tate, well, pretty sure they drank too much of their own Kool-Aid. It's still my nature to think it's an act, but I'm not sure either can tell the difference any longer.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I thought we weren't going to get political in this thread?

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I tend to put Tate in the same box as Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh. Maybe I'm being generous, but I have a hard time believing what they do isn't a scripted act designed to get clicks. That they don't seem to care that some people will take them seriously is extremely disturbing. I mean, is anybody really that out of the loop? That was rhetorical...

You could make the exact same argument about Rachel Maddow or John Stewart.
How often did Stewart say something dishonest and inflammatory and when he got called out on it instantly becomes "golly I'm just a comedian". Meanwhile his audience took what he said at face value.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I'm not being political, I'm talking about controversial public entertainers' wild and unpredictable personal presentation of facts. I haven't talked about those facts or the other public figures.

I thought we weren't going to get political in this thread?

 

[MillieDynamite]

I certainly could say those things. But we were talking about the education of youths, not the political climate. Rush Limbaugh was, and Alex Jones appears to be part of the old-boy way of being a man. Men don't cry. Women should stay home and raise the youngins. And that was all I intended to point out. I also didn't start the conversation.

You could make the exact same argument about Rachel Maddow or John Stewart.
How often did Stewart say something dishonest and inflammatory and when he got called out on it instantly becomes "golly I'm just a comedian". Meanwhile his audience took what he said at face value.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I'm not being political, I'm talking about controversial public entertainers' wild and unpredictable personal presentation of facts. I haven't talked about those facts or the other public figures.

When you are labeling swaths of a political party you have identified as bigots, it's an inherently political post, even if you don't intend it to be.

 

[EmilyMiller]

For the record: Tate and Jones are both beyond the pale. I would hope we could agree on that.

I have no view I feel relevant to share here on Limbaugh. What @MillieDynamite said was pretty apolitical IMO.

Em

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

You could make the exact same argument about Rachel Maddow or John Stewart.
How often did Stewart say something dishonest and inflammatory and when he got called out on it instantly becomes "golly I'm just a comedian". Meanwhile his audience took what he said at face value.

Where it concerns this thread, Stewart and Maddow are kittens compared to jones and Tate. Depending on who you ask, and without venturing into party based politics(I think we all can agree that Tate and Jones fall outside that purview, especially Tate who is the primary target of this thread) they may be misleading or outright lying, but they don't elicit the fanatical following Tate and Jones do.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

For the record: Tate and Jones are both beyond the pale. I would hope we could agree on that.

I have no view I feel relevant to share here on Limbaugh. What @MillieDynamite said was pretty apolitical IMO.

Em

But modern feminists CREATED Andrew Tate. The guy has a fan base because you had people telling boys that they are terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, and everything wrong with the world is there fault.
You can't be surprised that when someone comes along and says, "hey, it's okay to be you" kids aren't going to flock to that.
It's the inherent problem with the need to demonize the people we don't agree with. You shout down the moderate voices and you push people into the arms of the extreme.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Where it concerns this thread, Stewart and Maddow are kittens compared to jones and Tate. Depending on who you ask, and without venturing into party based politics(I think we all can agree that Tate and Jones fall outside that purview, especially Tate who is the primary target of this thread) they may be misleading or outright lying, but they don't elicit the fanatical following Tate and Jones do.

John Stewart was making $25 million a year, let's not pretend he doesn't have a fanatical following.
And Maddow is MORE damaging precisely because she gets a free pass for her extremism. "Not as bad as X" is not the same as good.

 

[Zootonius]

Rush Limbaugh wasn't necessarily a bigot, but he had an audience filled with bigots. He could be quite entertaining to listen to. And while he was a bear poker, he was mostly harmless. The issue wasn't that he was a Republican or a right-wing Republican; the problem existed in his pandering to the worst elements in people. Sometimes, when he actually had a useful point of view, he took over the top, jumped up and down on it until it was the top, and piled on more, and more. All that was applicable and pragmatic became obscured in the zealous, over-done rhetoric. Alex Jones, on the other hand, is not only a nut; he's a winged nut!

The epitome of Limbaugh was when he called a single woman seeking access to birth control a slut. He was a class A asshole.

 

[EmilyMiller]

But modern feminists CREATED Andrew Tate. The guy has a fan base because you had people telling boys that they are terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, and everything wrong with the world is there fault.

Sorry, we just have to disagree on this. Women are not responsible for that POS.

You can't be surprised that when someone comes along and says, "hey, it's okay to be you" kids aren't going to flock to that.
It's the inherent problem with the need to demonize the people we don't agree with. You shout down the moderate voices and you push people into the arms of the extreme.

Again, we disagree. Sorry.

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

I'm a card-carrying libertarian and haven't ever pushed my political views here. If I painted a wing of either or both parties at the extremes as being extreme, so be it. Both mainstream parties have extremists. In my group, we had a post-smoking hippy running for president one time, and Jo Jorgensen, a woman no one outside the party, had ever heard of. We are always listed as, also ran. I'm not painting anyone. They paint themselves.

For the record: Tate and Jones are both beyond the pale. I would hope we could agree on that.

I have no view I feel relevant to share here on Limbaugh. What @MillieDynamite said was pretty apolitical IMO.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

I think I’m going to ask for this thread to be locked. It seems impossible to have a reasonable conversation.

Em

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

But modern feminists CREATED Andrew Tate.

Sorry. Say what you will about modern feminism, it didn't create Tate. He's an opportunist that caught a niche market and through radical extremist comments and behavior, turned it into a wild fire. The end result is very f'd up ideology that a lot of young men are taking to heart. And that is not a good thing. I have two college age sons. I got lucky that they both see Tate and his platform as a joke. But Modern Feminism creating him. Nope. he's completely self made.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Given we seem incapable of playing nicely and respectfully. I’ve requested this thread be locked for future posts.

I’ve had enough of trying to keep the peace.

Em

 

[Devinter]

The guy has a fan base because you had people telling boys that they are terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, and everything wrong with the world is there fault.

I certainly agree with you on this part. I haven't done much research into the matter but his primary followers and target audience seems to be very young confused men that struggle with finding their place in the world due to being made to feel like a villain just for being born a man. I'm not blaming feminists or women or any other group for it, though - but society's constantly shifting window of what a person is allowed to do, feel, think, and be. Many people that are made to feel like they're outsiders will flock to other ostracized people.

Still, the responsibility for acting poorly has to ultimately rest on the shoulders of the person who is misbehaving. Think of it this way; if someone is bullied, and eventually snap, and then does something horrible, is it the bullies fault? Partly, yes - but they're not the ones who commit the ultimate sin.