Yeah every time I ask people what non-D&D systems they play I get a rude wake-up call.

I bought the shirt! It’s so good!

I thought the Barbie movie did a pretty good job of showing negative and, in the end, positive masculinity.

Yeah I wouldn’t worry about it too honestly; it’s very tough to get into OSR style games without having watched a session, played a game, or read a few OSR-y Internet thought pieces. Much of how it’s done is cultural and not presented in the books. That is one of the things that later editions of D&D are better at.

Yes; or be an incredibly long boring slog because it needs to divorce the party from so many resources.

Keep balance for computer games. If I’m playing an RPG I want to be able to do crazy things if I plan and execute it properly. And rules for stumble attacks of opportunity for holy clerics of the sun just get in the way of the good stuff.

It’s true; 5E and most versions of D&D are just too heavy and get in the way of actually having fun.

Ask that of them and then get back to me.

Being a person does not necessarily make one worthy of being pandered to. If it did, why are they not dismissing all their political concerns to pander to mine? Why must I stop what I’m doing to cater to them instead of vice versa?

No; this is halfway. Let them come if they want. If not, politics and progress will continue without them.

They were always actively fighting against any sensible cause though. Ignoring them won’t change that at all.

Also we definitely don’t need these people. We won 2020 and 2022 without them.

If our collectively ignoring them results in bad outcomes, that is their responsibility, not ours. They are fully-functioning adults and if they want to be taken seriously they must start acting like it. Because I (and I think most Americans) are done being threatened or cajoled by brittle men who think their opinions matter when, both practically and ideologically, they actually don’t.

No more think pieces about why Americans in rural towns are being left behind. If they can’t figure out that they’re leaving themselves behind, at this point, that is entirely on them.

No, it’s definitely true no one really watched this before downvoting it. I think that’s the problem of posting context-less videos however; people will just assume from the title what it contains and not watch it. So maybe a description or something next time would be a good idea.

This is a good point with the additional wrinkle that traditional male identity has always been threatened and unstable. By women, by gays, by peace… a core component of the traditional male identity is being under attack (and thus being defensive).

Nothing modern has changed this. The problem is the traditional male identity itself.

Conversely de-radicalization may not be needed.

I think people sometimes over-invest in the concept of redeeming these people. But actually focusing on them and their problems is doubling down on the validity and importance of their positions.

I advocate ignoring them and focusing on creating political power that we can actually use to advance our causes. If they come along, great. If not, consign them to the dustbin of history.

This is complicated when the people involved are emotionally close to you. But in general this is my philosophy.

Jordan Peterson is to men’s liberation as Rush Limbaugh is to women’s liberation.

Urethral sounding??

It’s just so frustrating… they invite you in with preludes that really do help men:

• “Clean your room!”
• “Work out more!”
• “Stop eating garbage!”
• “Focus on yourself, not your video games!”

These are really basic self-help insights that have existed for decades and have aided lots of people (not just men).

But as it turns out the self-help stuff is just a Trojan horse for their bigotry: misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, anti-semitism, and racism.

It’s sad to see so many impressionable young men led down such a dark path.

Anyway, good article. This paragraph ran particularly true for me:

As long as there has been masculinity, it has been in crisis. During the agrarian to urban migration shift in the late 19th century, political and literary luminaries like Teddy Roosevelt and Walt Whitman expressed concern (bound up with racist panic) that city life would sap European men’s primal virility. In a 1958 essay in Esquire headlined “The Crisis of Masculinity,” Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote that American women had advanced to “a place in our society which American men have not been psychologically prepared to accept.” As a reaction to widespread social, economic, and technological change, the male collective subconscious roars: it used to be better, now it’s getting worse.

This kind of masculinity is inherently fragile and always needs to be defended. It’s always threatened… perpetually in crisis, as this says. So requires defensiveness, lashing out, and enemies.

I think we can do better in terms of masculinity.

“men’s liberation” (as a man I scoff at the very concept)

You’re the kind of man we need though!

I get it (and I appreciate you posting this) but I’m just not sure how this is “the Left’s” fault.

To me, this argument feels similar to all the people who unironically claim all political problems are due to Democrats – health care, student loan debt, queer rights… apparently never considering Republicans culpable or responsible. One side is the adults that can be blamed for faults and must be expected to do better, and the other side are children who are either ignored or, worse, applauded for doing the bare minimum.

Similarly, I think saying that “the Left has failed men” is a vast oversimplification. The Right is persuasive and doesn’t need things like “rightness,” “truth,” or “morality” on their side. Saying that your problems are due to, say, women or gays is a much easier sell than actually addressing your problems by trying to work on yourself and the masculinity you can interact with.

Also it will weed out people who can’t accept criticism of their gender. Needing to tip-toe around man-child egos sounds pretty exhausting.

Put a ring on that one hun!