A new study on Gen Z men revealed that Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson are among the most trusted influencers.
It also found that 52% of UK men believe a “strongman” leader is needed to improve the country. Meanwhile, this article highlights how the right has been incredibly successful at indoctrinating young men into their ideology.
Why the hell is right-wing content so much more effective at gaining support? And why do left-wing influencers consistently fail to do the same? I’ll tell you why: we decided that social issues should take precedence over everything else, and by so doing have thrown all nuance out the window in the process.
The left—and I don’t want to hear Marxists bitching about how progressives “aren’t really leftists” because this kind of in-fighting is part of the fucking problem—needs to radically rethink its approach. Right now, the priority isn’t pushing our agenda. It’s stopping the worldwide fascist takeover.
And yes, this might mean abandoning identity politics entirely, as it is largely responsible for driving people away from the left and toward right-wing populism.
We need left-wing influencers who can effectively use populist tactics. We need less extremism from the progressive left, because in our obsession with social issues, we’ve lost the plot. We need to refocus on the economic needs of the people and stop alienating those who would otherwise support us.
The clock is ticking. Germany’s elections are coming up, and Elon Musk has already shown support for the AfD—the most far-right party in Europe. If we don’t correct course now, we’ll soon be living in a world where fascism dominates and equality is a pipe-dream.
Yeah. Although I wouldn’t discount the significant of having wealthy backers, or not, in setting the landscape. The only leftist influencer I can think of that’s really talking about these issues is Jon Stewart, with this as a shining example of what the conversation should be looking like on the left:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeheoxWzf2o
Why is that relegated to an oddball Youtube channel, which is obviously nowhere in my recommendations because of course it isn’t, such that I almost would have missed it if not for seeing it on Lemmy? Because Apple told Jon Stewart to stop pissing off China, and he told them to go fuck themselves, and so he had to switch platforms.
Also it’s significant that for a lot of Democratic politicians, it’s a hell of a lot easier to talk about performative issues of social justice, in ways that are only ever pretty indirectly connected to specific policies, than it is to talk about issues of economic justice and get angry phone calls from the super-wealthy people who finance all their campaigns and operations.
Jon Stewart is one of the few left-wing figures actually making the right arguments (although i haven’t seen that specific video), and the fact that he got pushed to the margins for it proves that media conglomerates don’t want real leftist messaging getting mainstream traction. This is why we need independent platforms, community organizing, and alternative funding sources. The right didn’t build their media empire overnight, and neither will we, but we have to start.
This is exactly why corporate-backed liberals love identity politics. It lets them appear progressive without challenging the structures that keep the wealthy in power. A perfect example is how corporations slap rainbow flags on everything in June but continue union-busting, exploiting workers, and funding right-wing politicians behind the scenes. This shit is right in our faces but we’re blindsided to see that we’re only dancing to the tune of conservatives.