The "New" Man

The state of men in the modern age seems to be something that is mocked rather than respected. And for good reason: a lot of men are weak in spirit, succumb to their addictions and compulsions easily, have no willpower, no values, no spines, bad taste, dress like shit, cannot sit still, do not read literature, and perhaps most importantly (traditionally, to women lol), a lot of us are simply broke and do not have the careers our fathers did, and will most likely never reach those heights. This is the norm now: guys who are stuck living with their parents are way more common than guys who move out.

For the most part, men in the 2020s are just not as cool as previous generations were, if you look at it in financial terms alone. Unfortunately, it’s a lot easier to be a man when you have an income and you can convince people that you’re a success and played your cards right, etc. Even if money doesn’t necessarily make a guy someone worth respecting, that is simply the way we have evolved to respect people because of what money gets a person. There is no denying that Jeff Bezos, for example, is the alpha of the whole entire world right now. Not because of any actual alpha male characteristics, but solely due to his money. In our world, Bezos is more of an alpha than a guy with actual alpha qualities like Joe Rogan, because on paper Bezos has the bigger dick (metaphorically speaking here). Same as a guy like Bill Gates who, in any other time would be getting his ass beat by real alphas like myself (jk haha), he is seen as a man to respect simply because that is what this society reveres. Bill Gates could theoretically steal your bitch if he wanted to. All he’d have to do is offer your girl all the Louboutins she could dream of, or Manolo Blahnik shit, a mansion, a Mercedes-Benz, etc, and she’d leave you for him because that’s how the game works. A rich dude could probably just go to random small towns looking for cute girls and just straight up make an offer and take ‘em back to live with him. All he’d have to do is show her his bank account and she’d be like, “Bye mom and dad! I can’t get this type of life by working at Claire’s and living with you losers! See you later, I’m going to California!!” I know this sounds cynical, but this is true and it happens all the time. Saudi Arabian oil barons do shit like this all the time on Instagram: they find the hottest models on there that they like, fly them out, and get them to shit on their chests (because the more money one has, the crazier one’s sexual preferences tend to become). Side note: I wrote about this Saudi Arabian shitting phenomenon in my book The Great North American Novel, haha. It’s 100% a real thing.

Anyway, back to the topic, I should state: I don’t think men of the past were any better than men of modern times. They just had money. A lot of dudes in the past were just seen as alphas because they had money, and could afford to do things the average guy today cannot. Money means freedom and options, and that means respect from women in our society. Nowadays everyone is broke and no one seems that cool in comparison. As a result, “When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out of the window,” as the saying goes: today’s men are often shit on for many reasons, but the main one I think is because we have no money. If you ask a girl what kind of boyfriend she’d prefer, a guy who does nothing because he can’t afford to, or a guy who is constantly travelling, dining at restaurants, and doing unnecessary things, it is probably the latter.

Of course, we get a lot of other criticisms as well. A lot of men these days are viewed as little bitches because we’re so different than men of prior eras. A lot of dudes don’t lift, don’t drive, get offended easily, aren’t as alone as men of the past seemed to be, talk about their feelings too much or display other feminine traits, etc. A lot of dudes in modern times look like they pee sitting down, to be frank. There don’t seem to be many “cowboys” left, if that makes sense. Or as Tony Soprano would say, “What ever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn't in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do.” Although I don’t disagree with many of the criticisms, and I have always considered myself to be a cowboy of sorts, at odds with most of the people and values I see around me, I do think that what is happening now with covid and the world situation in general will lead to a “new” type of man.

It is something I cannot seem to stop thinking about lately. Because it’s both scary and funny: ironically, the end of the world will be the thing that makes men “become men” again. Because here’s the thing: being a man was never about money. Before the boomers had it easy and got soft and everyone fell hard for capitalism as a way of life and security, it was never about how well your finances were doing. I’m talking about super long ago here, in the before times. Women went for dudes who could beat up bears and shit like that. The average rich dude today has gone so soft he’s just a domesticated bitchboy: that isn’t a man, that is merely a consumer. To me, a guy who worries about his Tiktok account or some shit like that is not a man. A guy who follows trends or does things like dressing up in matching outfits for a family photo he would never wear if he had a say or some such shit to make his girlfriend happy is not a real man. A dude living downtown in a great big condo who uses Ubereats every day for a restaurant within walking distance is not a real man, and guys of his ilk will be the first to go extinct.

I think what being a real man is about, is surviving hard times. I’ll share another great quote related to this that you’re probably familiar with, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” I believe that to a certain extent, this statement is quite accurate, it is what is happening now, and we can expect it to be our future. Weak men and people (capitalists and consumers) have created our hard times, and it’s up to the cowboys left standing (the strong men) when this collapse shit really kicks off to create the “good times” for people again. That means being a reliable son, neighbour, husband, boyfriend, etc. Not monetarily, I mean in terms of your actions. It’ll all come full circle eventually, because that is how humanity is doomed to work, but right now we’re in the moment in history where we will have to become the “strong men.” This is what I can’t stop laughing about and why I’m so fearful: not everyone is gonna make it. Shit is gonna get so real that it will weed out all the people who are not used to a certain way of life, or not prepared to compromise, right off the bat. Anyone that doesn’t like the taste of sardines is gonna go. Anyone that can’t handle the idea of fasting for 12 hours straight is gonna go. And anyone that posts on Tiktok and can’t handle being alone with their own brain for 2 seconds is definitely gonna go. And by the way, this is not just limited to men of course. Those women you know who always seem to go from relationship to relationship without finding themselves will definitely not survive the new world. Unless they figure out a way of bartering their mouths and “skills” if you catch my drift, but that’s another essay for another day. I don’t wanna get too dark here, this is all for fun😂. (But btw: if you’re the type of person who is offended by language, you will definitely not survive the new world we’re all faced with).

The “new man” is gonna be the type of dude that knows how to grow his own food, has a bunch of survival gear, some weapons stashed away in case things get super awful, and knows how to liaison with people properly and make friends, etc. It’s not gonna be about how tall you are or how big your muscles are (although these traits will definitely help), the “new man” will have a lot more to do with inner strength and fortitude in general. Resourcefulness, and being of use to people, etc. I would recommend anyone reading this (man or woman, it doesn’t really matter) to familiarize themselves with a basic survival lifestyle for the future. Take some time to think about how shitty life can potentially get, how much you can personally handle, and what steps you need to take to get better. The other day I was listening to a podcast with some rich white guy who said even he, who has access to a king sized bed with silk sheets and Scandinavian prostitutes to accompany him, sleeps on hardwood floor from time to time to get used to a shittier life if need be. Stoicism as a philosophical concept gets thrown around a lot these days, and it’s overplayed for sure, but certainly worth paying attention to in these dark times. You never really know when the fuck shit might hit the fan more than it already has. Things have gotten so bad in the past little while that, if you were to learn tomorrow all power grids in your region went out, would it really be a surprise? I don’t think I would be. A lot of you won’t make it, but if you’re a cowboy like myself I’ll see you on the other side. Now is not the time to be chilling and drinking lattes and taking pictures of your food (even though I do this all the time, haha). Stop imitating bitches and start toughening up now. Godspeed.