Men in the city live in a world of imbalance. The last two decades have demolished faith in the old order and left men disillusioned, isolated and spiritually broken. 911 terminated Pax Americana and shattered the security enjoyed by generations of Americans, 2008’s Global Financial Crisis (GFC) rocked the global economy and irreparably disrupted income-earning capacity for two generations, the election of Donald Trump unearthed a seething frustration against corrupt elites curdling beneath the surface, and the onset of Covid followed by Orwellian lockdowns and unvetted vaccinations dealt a death blow to public trust. The ripple effects of these inflection points have sparked waves of furious mass movements (Occupy Wall Street, Tea Party, MAGA, #Metoo, BlackLivesMatter) desperate to reform a tyrannical system spiraling-out-of-control.
Such a harrowing crucible has birthed a new awakening in the psyches of young men, a Neo-Masculinity. In essence, humans are spiritual beings but we are also animals nakedly beholden to primitive impulses operating in the background (sometimes the foreground). As modern societies have become more complex, competitive, and nihilistic, traditional constraints (religion, community, father-figures) on carnal forces have been lifted and, in some cases, spurned altogether (Does body count matter?). Young women have flocked to the top 20% of males while the de-selected masses of men benumb themselves in self-destructive distractions – consumerism, popcorn brain, pornography and psychotropic stimulants. Generational numbness is giving way to a mass awakening and what a hangover it is.
Generational numbness is giving way to a mass awakening and what a hangover it is.
Masculinity is a journey that demands constant adaption, struggle, and doggedness. As fate throttles the fortunes of men, households, nations and empires rise or fall. In both ancient and modern times great instability is routinely the product of imbalance in various forms: cultural, economic, political, or sexual. Today’s men in the city suffer the pangs of imbalance across the spectrum, perhaps most acutely in the Sexual Marketplace (SMP). Disequilibrium in the SMP might be the most explosive social development since the Sixties Sexual Revolution. In many respects, the Sexual Revolution and today’s disjointed SMP are interlinked, a Point Counter Point destined to square the circle.
Primal Horde
A Primal Horde is coming. In the distant past when humans first experimented with mystery and symbol to maintain social order it was Alpha Kings who ruled with indiscriminate power. Overtime, primordial monopoly on resources and reproduction descended into dictatorship and a revolt – what Freud (referencing Darwin) called a Primal Horde – of disempowered young males triggered a brutal tyrannicide. The Alpha King was slaughtered, his ill-gotten gains were stripped from his kingdom, and all that remained was a totem, a figurine symbolizing paternal power passed on to posterity as a warning and memorial. A gerontocracy of gluttonous grifters ("You will own nothing and be happy"), corporate shills, and Wall Street fat cats only outdone by a smug virtue signaling has unleashed a biological fury of a similar nature.
Disequilibrium in the SMP might be the most explosive social development since the Sixties Sexual Revolution.
Men in the city – like caged primates – are increasingly marginalized and sexless under this oppressive regime. Atlantic Monthly called it the Sex Recession and recent surveys suggest nearly a third of “young straight men” (likely more) have not had sex in a year far higher than in recent decades. There is an epidemic of Incels and a perilous concentration of females cycling through a few men at the top of a nihilistic pyramid. The right to reproduce, to perpetuate your seed and pass on genes has always been precarious for men. Throughout human history, men were far less likely than women to have children or marry. However, societies that slope into egregiously uneven pairings of men and women tend to become unstable and eventually crumble.
In the 2000s, the spread of online dating globalized the SMP, granting women access to high-value-men from previously unreachable zip codes and commenced a new era of digital harems. Match.com was the first, then came Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge, multibillion dollar enterprises that changed the mating game beyond recognition. Gone in a flash were the days of local coupling at neighborhood block parties, family gatherings, and church mixers. In its place stood raw Preselection blasted out in gaudy Instagram feeds, filtered muscle shots and TikTok shorts. Lacking guidance from alpha fathers or strong male hero-archetypes championed by a well-balanced society, females swarmed like bees to honey to Dark-Triad Personas: e-celebrities, Sugardaddys, and Chads. Character, intelligence, and substance vaporized as qualifiers for future husbands the way DVD players disappeared with the arrival of Netflix.
Three Fathers
Every healthy young man needs the guidance and nourishment of three fathers. Joseph Campbell said that men have two fathers, a biological and an adopted father. Campbell implied but never specified the third – the hero. Hero-stories, what Campbell described as the The Hero with a Thousand Faces serve as the navigation system for man’s libidinous energies to serve and sacrifice for society, to further "the trans-egoic goal.” (see video below) The biological father raises the boy-child, teaches him the basics of life, and prepares him for the harshness of the world outside the protected home. The adopted father is the mentor who introduces adolescent men to hierarchy and instructs them on mastery of craft and excellence in their chosen profession.
The third father offers men a purpose bigger than himself. The “hero’s journey” is a cycle that begins in playful apathy (adolescence) and ends in kingship (the masculine apotheosis) represented in different forms: head-of-household, CEO, master craftsman, or community leader. Campbell says, “It is only by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life,” and so the hero must descend into the depths of his psyche – alone, afraid, and amateurish – where he discovers his true self. Luke Skywalker does this in Empire Strikes Back and so does Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins (see below). What if society no longer offers such a path and discourages the masculine-psycho-spiritual quest altogether? What if mainstream heroes are redefined as anti-masculine villains, and rather than lead, men are told to surrender?
Such a hypothetical is now reality. The hero’s journey is under assault in the West. Open spaces where men were once free to roam, flirt with danger, and test their courage and strength are pussified or forbidden. Helicopter parents, HR reps, and the woke mob are the rapid reaction force eager to deploy and destroy testosterone wherever it may sprout. Gone are the rites of initiation – trial by fire to test the mental, physical, and emotional fortitude of young men. After decades of reeducation, military service, dorm life, and even sports are watered down, aggressively stamping out the vestiges of masculine sustenance.
The pot is boiling over. Without the unmarked path of self-discovery men shrivel up or feminize. Eventually, the source of libidinous power – testosterone – withers away like a malnourished animal (testosterone has fallen precipitously for decades). Betatized men don't question authority; they are inauthentic and bury their true thoughts and feelings. Eventually, these sterile men refuse to fight for anything, not for family or fortune, nor queen or country. (US military has a recruiting crisis) Their physical form softens like jelly, and the inner masculine disappears into the abyss of betatized emasculation. They have ceased to be men and when that happens civilizations crumble – witness 21st century America.
Beta-Tyrants and Neo-Alphas
The architects of society's disequilibrium are beta-tyrants – weak men in positions of power. Beta-tyrants skirt the responsibility to protect family and community. They lie and cheat to win elections or occupy the corner office, and promote poisonous ideas (censorship, groupthink, wokism) to eliminate the competition. Rather than assume the mantle as leaders of society, they curry favor with corrupt institutions and endorse Ponzi schemes, anything that works to the detriment of non-conforming men of strength and character, men they could never be. Fortunately, tyrants slowly seed the conditions for their overthrow.
The revolt of sexless men, of the frustrated and desperate masses has begun.
A convergence of crises is overwhelming beta-tyrants across the West. Mass riots have erupted in the streets of Paris and French President Emmanuel Macron is being shouted down during speeches. In March, Dutch farmers blockaded the highways of Holland, and German labor strikes shut down services nationwide as social unrest swells in the streets like an abscess on an infected wound. Across the Atlantic a stumbling and senile American President is confronting a national emergency at the border, a homeless crisis, a cost of living crisis, and a banking crisis just beginning to spread. The beta-tyrant in Canada fairs no better.
The revolt of sexless men, of the frustrated and desperate masses has begun. A new cadre of Neo-Alphas is taking shape to lead them out of despair. The new cadre are hardened in resistance to the gerontocracy and its hydras: globalism, modern monetary theory, wokism etc. They turn to God, tradition, and spiritualism for guidance, and reject the false deity of materialism. Neo-Alphas sense the end of beta-tyranny is near and the Age of Scarcity is here. They are gathering like-minded men to the ranks of the Neo-Masculine movement, and evangelizing a new ethos, a new monetary system, and a new way of life.
Who are these Neo-Alphas? Stay tuned to find out. For more on Men and the City like and subscribe below.