Men in the city are awakening to a traumatized world. The financial-economic order led by a corrupt Western elite is spiraling out-of-control, legacy structures from banks to universities are in steep decline, intergender relationships are breaking down, the 9:5 paradigm is unstable, and old value-systems are fading. Fear of impending social quakes is spreading through the corridors of power as generations of frustrated, voiceless, and disillusioned young men are beginning to mutiny against a corrosive system grinding them down to dust. Amidst such upheaval, a Neo-Masculinity is rising from the ashes of a society teetering on the edge of chaos.
An age of prosperity is ending, and an age of scarcity is about to begin. Prosperous cycles end in irrational exuberance, hedonism, and nihilism, when it is believed that the good times never end, and all the world’s problems can be solved, easily. Overtime, prosperity distorts reality – one gender becomes another, one belief as good as the next – and links to the past are forgotten while self-discipline, the spirit of adventure, and building for the long-term are mocked in favor of the quick buck and naked pursuit of solipsistic pleasure. As the old ways disappear, a slow rot seeps in until the stench of scarcity overwhelms even the most addled and apathetic.
Prosperous cycles end in irrational exuberance, hedonism, and nihilism, when it is believed that the good times never end, and all the world’s problems can be solved, easily.
Scarcity is the mirror image of prosperity. Scarcity means resources are few, financing is inaccessible, winters are harsh, and strenuous projects span years and decades. Building requires thinking long-term because anything short-term won’t survive. Like a Ponzi scheme or Shitcoin, any human endeavor looking for the greater fool, lacking real utility, anything not antifragile perishes in a flash. Truth-telling, hard work, and risk-taking flower in times of scarcity, just as they serve as impediments, even liabilities in prosperous times.
Prosperity and Scarcity, Masculine and Feminine
Like masculine and feminine forces, scarcity and prosperity are polarities that cannot exist without each other. Both are necessary, both form a continuum, and both enable and complement the other. The feminine shines brightest in times of prosperity, when the sun is warm, and skies are clear. Conversely, men are strongest when forced to endure hardship and suffering, when the skies are gray, and food is in short supply. Feminine energy produces a greenhouse effect, masculine that of a bulldozer blasting into the side of a mountain (see here). After 50 years of females in the workplace, over 90% of workplace fatalities are still men.
Feminine energy produces a greenhouse effect, masculine that of a bulldozer blasting into the side of a mountain.
Since 1945, the 20th century has been an age of prosperity, an age of feminine power. The values of entitlement, equity, and tolerance have become the dominant ethos in government, the military, Fortune 500 companies, and Hollywood. Sexuality has become a weapon used often and indiscriminately. Promiscuity, open-relationships, and high body-counts are the new joie de vivre. Conformity, consensus, and Groupthink are the guiding principles of this era, an attitude of openness to all things regardless of viability, sustainability, or consequences. That age is barreling towards an epic denouement.
Inversion of Values
The age of scarcity champions an inversion of values. You might not believe the end of prosperity is near given the glut of Tik Tokers brandishing plastic props from knock off Rolexes to vainglorious selfies at gawdy yacht parties. Indeed, the Halo Effect of e-celebrity is so intoxicating it makes even the most secure among us second guess our value and lulls us into the mania of self-destructive comparison. Still, evidence suggests these effects are tapering off. The greed fest is blowing itself out and material acquisition – the big house, the nice car, the private jet – is losing its luster. The Boomer Curriculum Vitae: living in the city in your 20s, married by 30, house and kids in the 'burbs all while climbing the corporate ladder is no longer compelling.
An inversion of values is palpable among Millennials. Millennials value experiences over things, they prefer to travel, to hike El Camino or a weekend in Vegas to buying stuff; in many ways because they cannot afford it (more on this here). They no longer trust banks or brokers and favor Crypto (and Gen Z) and use WeBull or Robinhood instead. No one trusts the legacy media, including Boomers, but Millennials ignore it entirely. Rather, they get news from social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and YouTube through short-form videos or posts. Damn the attention span.
A global sexual marketplace courtesy of Bumble, Hinge and Tinder has shattered intergender relationships. Dating has become a recreational sport and marriage a financial trap many men fear and increasingly avoid. As history teaches, when sex becomes devalued like currency, social breakdown follows. Families are the anchors of community, and without them people – especially men – disappear into the abyss of indolence, drug abuse, and eventually suicide. Male suicide has become an epidemic.
The workplace has also been turned upside down. Remote work may be in vogue and ChatGPT is stoking paranoia, but the real canary in the coal mine is labor participation. Fewer and fewer Americans are working. Some of this is demographic; Western populations are disjointed, the old and dependent outnumber the young and productive. Still, the fact of the matter is there are fewer and fewer jobs and fewer people want them, and for good reason. As the German Sociologist Max Weber warned a century ago, corporate life becomes an iron cage, "the polar night of icy darkness,” a barren wilderness where humanity drowns in mindless bureaucracy. Who the hell really wants to slave away for a corporate goliath anymore?
Preparing for a Global Reset
The magnitude of these changes is seismic. Young men across the globe intuitively sense that the age of prosperity has come to an end. They know that the world economy is dysfunctional, that a financial crash is coming, that society is on edge, and a global reset is imminent. What is less appreciated is that scarcity will bring forth a new masculine age, a return of kings. Scarcity is the germ of strength and hardship is the rock-solid foundation of purpose. Gone are the days of nihilistic bliss, hereafter are the days of resilience, of renewal, of mastery.
Scarcity is the germ of strength and hardship is the rock-solid foundation of purpose.
The raison d'etre of Neo-Masculinity is to reform, rebuild and reorganize a crippled society so that balance is restored, and stronger foundations are put back into place. In this age of scarcity, Neo-Masculinity will empower a new cadre of awakened men, red pilled men, frustrated men, of forgotten men begging for a cause and eager to act. The new masculine age will demand artisans and craftsman, handymen and volunteers, captains and foot soldiers, Senpais and Kōhais, radicals and rebels. The age of Ronin, of masterless men listlessly spending their neutered energies in unworthy causes is over. The age of scarcity has begun.
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