• meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    If you want an honest answer, it’s that young boys are feeling left behind, and in many ways they are right. This is a longer video (~30min) but it seems in line with much of what I’ve been seeing, that the boys are not alright.

    Essentially, as any system begins to give equality to all, it will appear as a loss for those who used to solely benefit from it. That said this is still something to take seriously.

    The gender gap is reversed in several areas: in education girls do better than boys. There are more women in university than men. Real wealth of women has been rising while in many demographics (especially poor young men of color) wealth has been decreasing. This is not a 0 sum game, so these are real concerns. 75% of suicides are men, and in their notes it is common to see words like “useless” “unwanted” and “worthless”. They feel that the world is leaving them behind.

    This trend is not happening to those in the elite class- that is still very much male dominated, however for many poor men without college degrees, their lives are no longer looking like what they were raised to expect. That same demographic is who you are more likely to see at a trump rally.

    This is fertile ground for people like Tucker Carlson and Andrew Tate to bring these young men into their world view that women are taking away their futures.

    This is where I would say men who are in places of being role models (teachers, mentors, fathers, coaches, pastors, etc…) need to come in and show that there is a new reality for men and that it’s not only okay, it’s better. Being a stay at home dad can be freeing as you may be able to pursue other interests. Showing what leadership is is important, but also showing how to work as a team and under the leadership of a woman is important too and can be fulfilling.

    I’m an educator, and one thing I think about is that I want to teach the girls that men are not to be feared, and to teach the boys not to be men to be afraid of. There is a better future ahead, but only if we take action and support the next generation of boys as well as girls. Without this support, we are handing a large portion of disaffected youth to a toxic mindset that will have horrible consequences.

    Oddly enough, I could see one of these boys looking at this post and thinking “the left doesn’t care about me, so why would I care about them?”

    • TheFrirish@jlai.lu
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      9 months ago

      I really needed to read this this is the best comment I’ve read on this platform and it hits right home. I fell within those circles of alt-right the only thing that saved me was my willingness to accept being wrong and my pragmatism.

      • yarr@feddit.nl
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        9 months ago

        Being able to be convinced is a good character trait… there’s such a large amount of people today that have already made up their mind regarding various issues and will not listen to any contrary arguments.

    • tryptamine@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      Thank you for putting to words something that’s hard to explain. You’ve given me some talking points I can use towards a friend that tries not to act like he’s alt-right leaning but seems willing to listen.

    • yarr@feddit.nl
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      9 months ago

      I’m an educator, and one thing I think about is that I want to teach the girls that men are not to be feared, and to teach the boys not to be men to be afraid of.

      Thank you. I’m sick of seeing “white men need to step back”. “Oh god, another white man trying to force his opinions on us.” This stuff would be horribly racist if you replace white with black. (except for the black people can’t be racist meme…)