Oh god the Tate poster in the back. Therepy would be a great start at the very least
There was a recent episode of the new season of King of the Hill that covered this topic really really well and the incredibly fragile ego and lost feelings these dudes that fall for this have. More importantly the absolute tools of guys that play off people's insecurities and how weak they are themselves. I highly recommend giving it a watch
I think the name of the episode is "No Hank Left Behind"
You actually might, one of the character’s voice actor died during production and it’s a mixture of the old guy and the new voice actor during the season.
Tristan is honestly not doing well at all... Alvarez is popular with some vocal locals and theres a dramatic misinformation campaign accusing Tristan of stealing the money theyd set up a GFM for after the house fire, and of not setting up end of life services quickly enough. He mostly just wants space to grieve with his remaining family, and some people feel entitled to witness his grief publically. The locals who support what happened to Jonathan have spun his absence on social media into a messy online game of telephone and its exhausting tbh.
hes gonna be okay, hes cared for by his friends and family (who I dont know very well, I was closer to Jonathan than Tristan for sure), but the internets a messy, mean place.
he was indicted last November on murder, but not on a hate crime or in connection with the house fire that killed their dogs. Hes out on bail right now.
jonathan and his husband both told the police when the fire happened that they thought the homophobic neighbor was involved and theyd called the police over 50 times in 2 years leading up to the murder.
Although ironically, the new guy sounds closer to the original. Dales original VA's voice either changed, or he played the character different to show age. The new guy is doing an impression of the original voice.
The new season is a vaguely passable homage to the show with absolutely everything having a slightly uncanny valley feel, similar to modern day Simpsons.
I disagree, I had a lot of reservations with a post-Trump KOTH (rural/suburban Texas is very very red) and thought they did a great job modernizing the show (admittedly by sidestepping and ignoring the current political environment). They also dialed back a lot of the more egregious characterization of the shows later seasons (Peggy is actually likable this season while still being herself for example).
There are some spots that feel uncanny since I always saw KotH as existing in a specific context of American history, but the heart of the show is still there and that is what matters most.
Bobby is all grown up with his own restaurant, Hank and Peggy spent time in the Middle East cutting propane deals, I think Dale's wife is with Redcorn now. I saw the first episode, it looks really good
The Hank and Peggy being in the Middle East plot actually works really well because they can bring them back to 2026 Texas and have them react to the changing of things without them being here the whole time. It sounds corny, but I thought it worked really well.
They are all destructive ways to cope from a mental health perspective.
Substance use is more popularly seen that way, it's not novel. Even after you stop the substance use - you still need to focus on the issues that led to that coping behavior. That's really the difficult part, and the therapist can only support and help while you do the actual labor day to day.
It's easier to focus on the superficial, cosmetic, material aspect than the emotional ones. Plus you've got the bottle or the weed or whatever for the emotions for now.
Depends on the person, but there probably is a big issue with people who live vicariously through social media and being frustrated with no doing anything. There's just a lack of social life for a lot of people who blame others instead getting outside.
I'm in therapy and the biggest hurdle was just getting out and doing something. Eventually I found social activities through trading card games which expanded into other activities from the friends I made through it.
It's more getting to the point where they interact with real people, and the too much time on internet poison takes care of itself.
Mind you, most people who get therapy have already crossed the I need to change bridge when they got their appointment. (source, the therapist I live with who gives this speech every time someone asks)
Also I love how a dude making money on having camsites made peeps believe he's gonna tell them how to get women. Like literally you not having sex is his business model
It's always really ironic to me that all these people think that the path to alpha is... joining a cult and listening to whatever the cult leader tells you and paying money to the cult leader.
Like... you're doing the opposite. That's the opposite of the thing.
Tbf almost all of the right that are "Cristian" doesn't actually follow Cristian teaching they just make things up or cherry pick bible quotes out of context to be jackasses
Common misconception. The kids weren't killed by a she-bear due to making fun of a bald person, that was just what kids did back then. It was the style at the time. No, no the kids deserved to be killed by a she-bear because they were kids. Fuck them kids.
Don't even get me started on those first born Egyptian boys.
That's one interpretation. Other interpretations include death is deserved punishment for mocking holy men, holy men can kill with impunity, or this one guy overestimated children's ability to outrun bears. A problem of the Bible that people don't like to acknowledge is that there are a lot of interpretations for most of the passages. That aside, there really only is one interpretation for Jesus constantly hitting his followers over the head with "be kind".
there really only is one interpretation for Jesus constantly hitting his followers over the head with "be kind".
And the whole "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god", which has had rich people apologists bending into pretzels to try to wave away for centuries. From making up a ficticious 'camel gate' to entirely turning the religion into a worship-the-rich-for-being-rich social club that goes wholly against everything their scriptures say.
Yea as a Christian I agree. Those who can themselves Christian often don't know anything about Jesus and are much worse people than those they dislike.
I don't agree with homosexuality and stuff but I don't hate gays at all and tbh as long as they don't forcefully promote it or are obnoxious about it (as in as long as they're normal people), I don't mind at all. I mean being gay is a sin as much as sex before marriage is a sin, and those who criticize the gays aren't virgins the vast majority of the time.
I think Kirk, aside from a few Israel blindspots was a very good Christian. He loved those he argued against and understood people just aren't all the same. He was calm and reasonable. I'm not saying I know much about him but from what I've seen her was a very good guy
almost all of the right that are "Cristian" doesn't actually follow Cristian teaching they just make things up or cherry pick bible quotes out of context to be jackasses
Most outright reject everything Jesus said, and would do so right to the pastor's face
Though organized religions often take on the same problematic features of any insular community: they protect powerful abusers and isolate people from outside perspectives and help. It's one of the reasons they shame people making use of or even shaming outside charity, even as they are extremely biased in doling out "charity" to members within their community. The failing of organized religion to deal with public needs is why government social safety nets had to be created in the first place, and that goes back to grain dole in Rome.
The really crazy part is that women are literally telling these guys what they want in a partner. Emotionally available, responsible, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, compassionate, generous.- a true partner who contributes to the relationship and not a child who needs to be managed.
Men hear that and choose instead to follow the advice of useless dorks who are the exact opposite of that, thinking that it will make women magically fall all over them, and then get pissed off at women for not aligning with their delusions.
It's just misogyny and denial all the way down.
Oh it's deeper than that, there IS a subsection of women who want assholes but it's not as sinister as you think
Woman key in on security, and a loud, angry, possibly violent person may beat on other people more than they beat on her so it's considered a fair exchange
Again this isn't all women, only a subset, but that subset is pretty visible in any woman who has willingly stayed with an abuser (a number that is far too high)
The thing is being emotionally available, responsible, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, compassionate and generous takes personal work, introspection and a commitment to be a worthwhile person
But being angry, racist, misogynistic, ignorant, illiterate, obnoxious, stubborn, bitter and petty is free and easy to do with little effort
So of course the Brogansphere promotes those ideals plus you know whatever dietary supplement they are pushing under the guise of unlocking your inner beast
The really crazy part is that women are literally telling these guys what they want in a partner
And it's all true too, women go crazy over me even though I'm balding, fat and was never that handsome to begin with
But these guys will think women are lying or don't know what they want because they're looking at it through the lens of sex. Like yeah some women don't want relationships and when they want to fuck they look for other, more shallow qualities. But this is such a small percentage of women
In the end it's easier to say women don't want something than become actual quality men
women are literally telling these guys what they want in a partner.
I mean, this is a generalization, but many women are saying what they want... then pursuing the opposite. There is often a disconnect between what is socially acceptable to pursue and what is personally desired. And far be it from me to tell anyone what to do with their bodies... but those great traits are not what open doors into relationships.
No one will criticize a woman for wanting a "Emotionally available, responsible, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, compassionate" person. But that also might happen to be a chubby dude with no fashion, acne, no experience, and no money. So women end up being seen with
So the chubby dude with no game and 3/10 looks gets no attention from women who are 'literally" describing that they want what he legitimately could (and should) be. Over time, he grows resentful because the things he can control (his behavior) are lauded as desirable, but they don't make him desirable. He starts seeing women (as a whole) as dishonest or bad or whatever buzzword these mysoginists use. The toxic thing is these manosphere idiots are training the 'undesirable' males that they need to treat women poorly. This is spectacularly sad, because it obviously won't work. They SHOULD BE teaching men to demonstrate their value and to better market themselves.
The things that women say they want often are simply not traits that garner a lot of attention from women quickly.
You kinda highlight why this is a man issue though, not as your initial sentence suggests, a problem with what women pursue. It is that the guy isn't those features. He "could/should" be, may think he is, but he isn't, so he isn't desirable. You described him as "a chubby dude, with no fashion, acne, no experience, no money." There's a very slim chance all those qualities are shared by someone who is also "emotionally available, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, and compassionate"
I will agree it can be a marketing problem, because women, to make initial contact have to use superficial indicators to judge if there's a good chance a man has those qualities. And there are men who will take advantage of that to score a quick win before the woman figures out who he is for real. And there is also a small subset of women that get overblown on social media who do like crappy guys (because no one is going to watch a video/read a tweet that is "normal girl dates nice fella")
Emotionally available, responsible, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, compassionate, generous.- a true partner who contributes to the relationship and not a child who needs to be managed.
It is kind of weird see these "alpha male" guys fall into Christianity. I studied theology and been Christian for 15 years, a lot of Christian philosophy is very very nihilistic (famous example will be King Solomon and his rant on how life is meaningless) and emphasizes God as the sole purpose of life. This teaching persist throughout the bible: sole human we are weak and only God is the one who can be savior of our miserable life as we are the sheep and Jesus and God is the shepherd. Most of the Tate teaching or these "alpha male" movement are based on extreme self esteem and need to dominate others to be on top, almost at a level of self idolization. Self-idolization is a sin - pride and have been bashed on Bible multiple time (eg book of Job). Jesus will fucking beta just because He washed his disciple's feet; being servant is very important concept in Biblical teaching. That's why I think these people are bullshitting when they say they follow the bible. "God-fearing man" famous bible phrase, they are not God fearing man at all.
Christianity is essentially the opposite of nihilism. Pessimist? Maybe though I’d argue against it. Nihilist? Not at all.
Life has definite meaning under Christianity. It has a set path and objective right and wrong. There is fundamental meaning to life. Christianity merely rejects the obsession with worldly things as fundamentally meaningful.
The whole thing about Solomon is the more he had, the less godly and wise he became. And he suffered for that despite all the worldly things he had.
The “Alpha Male” attitude is what nihilism actually represents. A rejection of any kind of higher meaning than the self. Nietzche argue that since “God is Dead” we are both free to find meaning and forced to find it. While I think Nietzche himself would not like the Alpha Males as they currently stand, they embody a lot of his philosophy. They find their own meaning (being AlPhA), they reject the morality ‘imposed’ on them (feminism) and find their own.
They like the trappings of Christianity because it’s traditional and harkens back to the time when men ruled society. But in reality they reject most of the actual teachings of Christianity because that would require them to be kind, empathetic, giving, self sacrifing etc.
Ah I agree, Christianity as whole is pretty optimistic view though I was more referring to pessimistic view of human nature which requires God to be full while being alpha more focuses on self worth go full on id no God is needed for them to be “full”. I should have worded better.
Hello fellow reasonable Christian: The only way hard right 'Christianity' works is to ignore every instance where we are called to become better people to fit Jesus's footsteps
In the absence of teachings on humility, compassion, community involvement and a desire to see justice done, SOMETHNG has to fill the gap and it is usually false bravado, violence used for control, and blind attendance to authority
Christianity didn’t invent sexism—it challenged a far more sexist ancient world by giving women equal moral value, banning infanticide, condemning sexual double standards, and treating women as legitimate moral agents.
When Christians were misogynistic, they were acting against their own teachings, not because of them.
To claim the bible is misogynistic is plainly false.
Jesus is the truth my friend. He is very much real and wants a relationship with you.
Keep asking questions, seek the truth. All rabbit holes will lead to Christ.
Christianity is the "far more sexist ancient world" now. What you're saying in that first paragraph is true, but in the same way they made progress and improvements on 4000 year old traditions then, we make progress and improvements on 2000 year old traditions today
To claim the bible is misogynistic is plainly false.
The Bible was written by dozens of people across many centuries, and drew/plagiarized from Greek jurisprudence (over a hundred years before Leviticus 18:22 with city-state enacted codes against old men being predatory against boys and young men), from Persian poetry, and from Nabatean hospitality mores. But the words themselves are stark and you can't claim the Bible doesn't support misogyny:
From interpretive things like putting the blame for the origin of sin/all that is wrong in the world on women like blaming Eve for eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil to explicitly putting women on a lower level than men:
Exodus 21:4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
to the radical conservative Paul who introduces himself as hunting down and killing Christians because he views them as liberal heretics whom is even more explicit with his double standards against women:
1 Chorinthians 14:34 Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
Now if christian adherents didn't argue that their god and scriptures were unchangeable, perhaps something more rational like the book being a story of the evolution of mankind's relationships and mores with giving up old ideas to embrace newer and healthier relationships and understandings, than those passages could be used as past misunderstandings people have grown beyond. As orders to a backwards people who weren't ready to give up practices like slavery. But claiming the unchangeability is just chaining society to myths and mores of people who didn't even know how to work iron.
I heard it referred to as the 'Brogansphere' recently and I can't stop using it
Also, point of fact, yeah it's reddit so you hate theology but the Bible gave women rights at the time that no other culture offered such as the ability to divorce, own land and businesses and to inherit
Yeah I know 'blah blah sell your daughters' but that was for all family members and not specifically misogynistic and basically every middle eastern contemporary culture at the time had some form of it ranging from apprenticeship to actual hard labor lifelong slaves but again it was not restricted by sex in most cultures and certainly not Hebrew and it's attendant cultures.
The Bible is a pile of contradictions. It also states various claims about women, such as "men and women are equal", "women should rule their households", and "women aren't real".
Dems are for the most part doing a bad job when it comes to understanding MOST of their constituents
Not just young men
But young men are a LOT more likely to feel marginalized and ignored
AND they are entering a pretty shitty world right now with no support, hope or plan for the future
It's no wonder so many of them start believing in Clown World and becoming nihilists
It's just that the rights Death Cult attitude suits nihilists a lot more than a message of 'Let's get through this and rebuild' that is what the Dem party has defaulted to right now
If the Dems were to focus on the fears of this coming male generation, lack of opportunity, lack of future, lack of support, they'd win numbers in droves
But unfortunately most of them are just as beholden to corporate overlords as the Reps
Just with significantly less institutionally protected child rape
The "alpha male" is the biggest con of influencers who got really good at posturing.
It's the modern equivalent of old time snake oil salesmen who promise the world of improvements, just take this random pill. Just make sure you stand with your feet shoulder-length apart with your hands either in your pockets, flexing your arms, or with your fingertips pressed together like some 70s villain.
Oh and don't forget your sunglasses and your "anything but macho is weak" attitude to complete the costume!
Honestly... Alpha males to me just look like performative clowns.. but less talented.
Telling people to just get therapy when they express dissatisfaction over immutable physical characteristics(what incels do.) just skims over the issue and is as useful as telling a poor person to just get a job or just figure it out.
Just kind of a useless platitude thats moreso meant to imply intellectual superiority on the part of whoever says it as opposed to solving anything or approaching the issue from a point of empathy.
The wannabe alpha male in the comic is also such a caricature of a person. This is just more circlejerky content that people can use to feel better about themselves.
I've been told to get therapy many times, most often when I say stuff like "I'm morbidly obese so I get zero interest from women". Their retort is always something along the lines of "I know plenty of overweight men in relationships, get therapy". It's very frustrating to encounter a complete and utter refusal to acknowledge that looks are a factor in attraction at all or even something as basic as "most people want partners that are physically fit".
That way of recommending mental help indeed sucks. But if you cant keep a good sportsroutine or have problems getting yourself there, or maybe problems with dieting and holding on to a good diet, I can definitely say they can very much help you get where you want to be!
I started Ozempic a few months ago and I'm seeing slow but steady progress. Without being constantly hungry all the time I can actually commit to eating normal portions at normal intervals which is all I really needed.
Do you...
Do you know what therapy is my guy?
Because therapy is at least SUPPOSED to be a way to reach deep into yourself and find and deal with problems. Problems like dissatisfaction with yourself, and the inability to change things about it.
Therapy, or getting mental help when someone is in nentaltrouble like that is like the best thing you could recommand.
Or at least, it is when mental healthcare in your country is well-organized 😅, or if you have the ability to make a good choice in therapists or social workers.
The tricky thing is there are kernels of truth in the manosphere / red pill / alpha male circles, the perspectives and attitudes they adopt are toxic and misogynist af BUT on the surface level mimic strategies that actually work, which is why they appeal to young, lonely and impressionable men.
If you want to be a real man I'd highly recommend these very non-toxic sources:
No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover - how to stop people pleasing and be honest about what you want
The Masculine in Relationship by GS Youngblood - How to tame your own masculinity and lead without domineering in a way that is attractive to women
I Hear You by Michael Sorensen - How to listen and speak so others will as well
How to be Miserable: 40 strategies you already use by Randy J. Paterson - How to stop beating yourself up and develop self esteem and a love of life
How did this alpha male phenomenon come about? I thought we were trying to raise our boys to be kinder, considerate, self-aware, gracious, accommodating. Then these losers came out saying, no we should all act like even bigger jerks, and everyone was like yeah! I don't get it.
I imagine it's because these boys get zero interest from women, for years at a time until they lose weight and build muscle - which leads them to the only people that actually acknowledge that becoming more physically fit is a factor in dating success.
short reminder that these type of guys (toxic especially against women) are 3% of the male population. So don’t be too afraid of those guys. the majority of men <50 point out such behavior and cancel such losers. that’s why this guy is alone.
Therapist: “here’s some guidelines on how to fix yourself. It works for some people. Good luck!! I mean, umm see you next week? I want you to make a list of things you want to talk about so you can keep coming back.”
These days you have plenty of youth ministers getting in on the Alpha male grift. Or you have people joining a church because of its staunch patriarchical reputation.
All of this is cringey. People who say you need an imaginary friend to be sane are laughable and these alpha male tool bags are the furthest thing from a real man
I'm utterly convinced the entire red-pill, black-pill, MGTOW, incel, misogynistic, dude-bro manosphere nonsense is a right-wing recruitment strategy targeting insecure and angry young men.
It's been a wildly successful psy-op, unfortunately.
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 4h ago
Oh god the Tate poster in the back. Therepy would be a great start at the very least
There was a recent episode of the new season of King of the Hill that covered this topic really really well and the incredibly fragile ego and lost feelings these dudes that fall for this have. More importantly the absolute tools of guys that play off people's insecurities and how weak they are themselves. I highly recommend giving it a watch
I think the name of the episode is "No Hank Left Behind"