29 Comments
User's avatar
✧ brooklyn 𓆏's avatar

super good read! i think it’s insane how quick and easy it is to get onto red pill social media

Expand full comment
✧ brooklyn 𓆏's avatar

damn it clicked too soon. anYWAYS. super easy to get there esp for young boys going through puberty and already so depressed w social media like :( so super interesting read!

Expand full comment
Nolen Borne's avatar

So refreshing to hear. I went to a small conservative school district, and if you were a man who chose the salad bar at lunch time you were slandered an β€œf-word”. This whole mockery of progressive men is giving me intense flashbacks to that. Like you said, there will always be performers and manipulators. But is THIS the group, the genuinely sensitive and progressive straight men, that we want to alienate right now?

Expand full comment
carys's avatar

Im ngl i do find the trend pretty funny but at the same time i agree- creating the ideas that having these interests are inherently "performative" reaffirms the idea that in reality men can only ever be traditionally masculine, and enjoy the things associated with that- anything else is just a ploy to get women. and that doesn't help anyone!

Expand full comment
Addy Davies's avatar

This is the take I’ve been waiting for. Also, god forbid a man read a little bell hooks to impress a girl, maybe they will learn a thing or two!!

Expand full comment
James's avatar

Completely with you in recognising how easy it is to fall down these alt-right rabbitholes β€” great read.

Expand full comment
Smoke Break's avatar

bruh i still order matcha cuz i love it, been on it since 2019 when my older sister first put me on. same sister actually gave me her wired earbuds back when my airpods broke and i never went back 😭. i’ve been on clairo since i was a junior in hs and now im 22 πŸ˜­πŸ™. i’m really not tryna sound corny or have some ego of β€œi liked it first,” but it’s facts, anyone that knows me fr can back me up. just makes me a lil sad mfs wanna be me so bad 🀣🀞. what i notice tho is you can always tell who’s performative and who’s real, i guess it’s a little bit of jealousy or selfishness cuz i wish no one liked what i liked but idc cuz im a D1 gatekeeper and im proud of it just sad people can’t be themselves anymore its always about the validation

Expand full comment
Jubilee Rayne's avatar

hang on I've got to put on clairo while I read this

Expand full comment
Jane's avatar

Insightful as always :) beyond the harm trends like this so very likely do to young boys absorbing it online, it’s also just sort of silly to me that someone would put in all this effort to *pretend* to like Clairo or Sally Rooney or whatever.In reality, if I met a man who had these similar interests to me, I would not be skeptical at all - I would welcome him with open arms!

Expand full comment
momnah⭐️'s avatar

I LOVE YOUR OPINIONS. so so so interesting to read and I so agree. younger boys are so impressionable and like you mentioned social media is so flooded with right wing red pill stuff atm. and nobody benefits from younger boys being pushed towards that!!! I hate that society feels a need to box everything and everyone up. HEAVY AGREE on when you write that there’s no set definition on how a man should or shouldn’t be. so beautifully articulated timmy 🫢🫢

Expand full comment
Tim Strong's avatar

thank youuuu Mo I love youπŸ₯Ή

Expand full comment
momnah⭐️'s avatar

I love you more πŸ₯°πŸ«Ά

Expand full comment
Tim Strong's avatar

we will have to settle for a draw again because that is simply not possibleπŸ₯ΉπŸ«ΆπŸ»

Expand full comment
momnah⭐️'s avatar

I’ll settle for a draw (but mentally I’m arguing with you) πŸ₯°πŸ’‹πŸ«Ά

Expand full comment
sabina's avatar

thank you for not falling down the red pill rabbit hole and choosing to be a good human πŸ’—

Expand full comment
sav's avatar

jokes on you i’ve been on the booktok craze since the song of achilles by madeline miller hit international audiences

this is a great piece tim and interesting exploration. when things A becomes popular, thing B develops a niche but strong community in response, and unfortunately sometimes it can all go full circle and we start hating on A again and it pushes people into awful thing Z. the game minecraft comes to mind when I say this, which since its release in 2010 has gone through ups and downs where it’s considered cool/cringe/fun/boring/mature/childish by mass media.

i sometimes count myself lucky to be old enough to rub two brain cells together prior to being exposed to the mr. tates of the world but conscious that this radicalisation can happen to anyone under the right circumstances. it helps to be cautious, it helps to be aware, it helps to point odd occurrences out too. appreciate your thoughts :))

Expand full comment
noah's avatar
Aug 24Edited

exactly this!! it saddens me to watch so many of my peers try to edit themselves in real time to avoid the constantly growing list of things people are put down for enjoying

Expand full comment
Noah Tibben-Lembke's avatar

Very well put! Glad to hear these thoughts flushed out in a way that’s conscious of where they fall around other arguably larger issues.

Expand full comment
Aleesha's avatar

Love this so much!!

Expand full comment
alex.c ❆'s avatar

!!!!! this !!!

Expand full comment
Harsh Tripathi's avatar

an amazing read!! thank you for sharing <3

Expand full comment