Bloomberg offers a valuable, well-documented discussion of the key role that a number of YouTube "influencers" played in pushing young males towards Donald Trump in the last election:

William Lindsey :toad:

Men, and particularly white men, have long made up Trump’s core support base. But in November’s election, young men swung especially hard to the right.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/1

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

(www.bloomberg.com)

William Lindsey :toad:

"More than half of men under 30 supported Trump, according to the AP VoteCast survey of more than 120,000 voters, though outgoing President Joe Biden won the group in 2020. Exit polls have shown that Trump received more support from young men than any Republican candidate in more than two decades."

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/2

William Lindsey :toad:

"Bloomberg’s investigation into the content being published by big YouTubers reveals a pattern of pro-Trump messaging sandwiched between entertainment-focused content consisting of 'free-wheeling discussions of sports, masculinity, internet culture, gambling and pranks,' making it more digestible for apolitical audiences."

~ Taylor Lorenz

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/3

How YouTubers pushed young male voters to Trump (with receipts)

+ Gamergate 2.0, pocket cheese, NYT on The Rizzler, MrBeast is hiring, and a Twitter exec reveals why Vine *really* failed

(www.usermag.co)

William Lindsey :toad:

"The strategy worked. Young men, who overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020, swung hard to the right in 2024, with over 50% backing Trump. Guests like Andrew Tate, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk boosted messaging promoting hardline masculinity, distrust in institutions, and criticism of gender politics and vaccines."

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
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[empty]

@wdlindsy

The number of women who are registered to vote has been a consistently quiet majority, and gender-related issues are at the center of the Trump/MAGA problem.

Gender Differences in 2024 Vote Choice Are Similar to Most Recent Presidential Elections

(cawp.rutgers.edu)

Paco Hope #resist

@wdlindsy I Think about how dumb the average male under 30 is. Then I remember that 50% of them are dumber than that.

Matthew Loxton

@wdlindsy
That is very sad, and speaks to how badly society is doing at the socialization of boys, and how much we are allowing right-wing influencers to radicalize and inflame them.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mloxton I very much agree. I would want, too, to acknowledge that the problem is not simply society's problem, but that young men have agency, too, and need to be held accountable for the decisions they make as free agents and adults. I plan to add a note to this thread discussing that point.

William Lindsey :toad:

@paco It concerns me that a shocking portion of younger men today are turning their backs on education, while women in the same age cohort are not doing so.

William Lindsey :toad:

@allanb Absolutely. Very well-stated. Thank you for the link.

Matthew Loxton

@wdlindsy
Very much so. People have agency, and are not just mindless automatons,. People have a duty to curate their own information diet, their own thoughts, and their own actions. Young men don't fall for the bullshit of a right-wing talk show host or internet influencer because they are under a spell, they will do it because they like it.

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy

Fascinating, and this "manosphere" is much much more than just a political phenomenon. The manoshere is reshaping society in ways that are extremely destructive and harken back to the worst cult movements in history.

To better understand the manosphere here is Laura Bates, author of "Men Who Hate Women":

And for a really deep dive here is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED four part podcast on the subject by Jamie Loftus:

we’re talking about the manosphere the wrong way - Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) | iHeart

The manosphere isn't just one of the election's biggest trending topics, it's also one of the biggest outputters of internet main characters -- so why have most of the conversations around it been so unproductive? In our first part of our series on the manosphere, Jamie interrogates the flawed ways in which media is talking about this space, and traces its origins from the 1970s all the way to Gamergate and the Isla Vista shootings. Then, she speaks with researcher Becca Lewis about where we go from here.

Follow Becca Lewis's work here: https://bsky.app/profile/beccalew.bsky.social

Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates: https://bookshop.org/p/books/men-who-hate-women-from-incels-to-pickup-artists-the-truth-about-extreme-misogyny-and-how-it-affects-us-all-laura-bates/19662669

Backlash by Susan Faludi: https://bookshop.org/p/books/backlash-the-undeclared-war-against-american-women-susan-faludi/8728966?ean=9780307345424

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

iHeart (www.iheart.com)

#manosphere

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy

How to respond to the manosphere phenomenon? Most experts think that, like all cults, it has to be caught early before young men become truly radicalized. It is much more difficult to de-radicalize people than to instill strong ethics and ideals before they get sucked in. The family is most important to successful intervention. Positive male role models also play an important role. Check out F.D Signifier:

#manosphere

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration I like your point that the family is most important to successful intervention, and positive male role models play an important role. I think there also has to be a shift somewhere along the line in our fundamental presuppositions about gender and gender roles. But for the last century, at least, as that shift has threatened to take place by fits and starts, resistance has been fierce, notably by men, and also by religious bodies, almost all male-dominated.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration Absolutely. This is excellent, and I appreciate the links and further information.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mloxton Yes, absolutely.

FallsMom 🟦 🌻

@wdlindsy

I don't understand either. What do they want to do w/ their lives?

Mastodon Migration

@wdlindsy @paco

One of the interesting things is that these manosphere influencers discourage education in favor of 'life hacks' like crypto, podcasting and gambling. Young men who fall into this are actively ridiculed for traditional work values.

William Lindsey :toad:

I do want to offer a few words of criticism re: something Taylor Lorenz says in the article linked in /3 and /4. The quote I share in /4 is followed by this statement:

"These messages resonated heavily with a generation of young people who have felt overlooked and disenfranchised."

These messages did not resonate with young PEOPLE. They resonated with young MEN.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/5

William Lindsey :toad:

Young WOMEN did not vote for Trump Young men did so.

That's the very point of what the Bloomberg study finds.

To speak of "young people" is to disguise the reality of what we're dealing with here, and to ignore the fact that gender is central to the political shift that took place in this election, as young men voted for Trump while young women did not do so.

#Trump #males #men #YoungMen #masculinity #YouTube
/6