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Why So Many Men Are Unraveling

The Atlantic

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Jon Ronson had never really thought about the term “masculinity” until a strange series of events led him down a rabbit hole involving castles, cage fights and an actor playing a horse. Host Charlie Warzel talks to Ronson about the disinhibited men who are looking for purpose in all the wrong places.

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20 Comments

@megkovalik7561 3 weeks ago

For anyone watching this who is looking for a sense of purpose in their life: pick up an instrument and go jam with other people. In person. Even if it’s just a ukulele group where you only play 3 chords.

That sense of connection and shared purpose mixed with the joy of creating music is just the best antidote to anomie. 💕

@kevinjenner9502 3 weeks ago

“My Life as a Drunk Alpha Male Wannabe”. By Pete Hegseth, with foreward by Kash Patel

@alexandrafuller9443 3 weeks ago

Jon Ronson is such a thoughtful reporter: so grateful for his work. And he's a wonderful writer/story-teller.

@MindfulMasculinityVideo 3 weeks ago

Charlie acts like there is something new about what he and the media are calling a "masculinity crisis." What they fail to realize is that the concept of the world changing, and men struggling to manage that change, has been going on in modern society for at least 70 years. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote an essay in 1958 for Esquire, that the editors of the magazine entitled: “The Crisis of American Masculinity.”

So please. Let's not blame "the manosphere," or women's rights, or the host of other recent cultural and economic developments so often cited by pundits and people who haven't studied American males. This goes much deeper than that.

@superclaymaster 3 weeks ago

I listened to over a thousand Rogan podcasts. Best thing I got out of them….an introduction to Ronson. I’m so glad to hear from him.

@nightowl20212 3 weeks ago

People are being punished for doing the right thing and rewarded for doing the wrong thing. The facade of institutional importance has dropped and conditions are such that there is an inability to stay focussed long enough to fill that gap. We have stopped living, and started reacting. There is no unifying meaning, we are just reacting to our environment.

@WalterBurton 3 weeks ago

Institutions are essential for scaling prosperity. "Prosperity" is a subjective and dynamic term. So, put another way, institutions are essential for minimizing suffering. And put another way, institutions are essential for maximizing suffering.

Institutions are essential. Institutional reform is essential.

None of this is complicated, but it all fades into the deep background, like the proverbial water in which the goldfish swims.

@ScootinUrCoot1738 3 weeks ago

You can't be in YouTube for monetary reasons...that's when the algorithm has you...be on here because you have something to say. Youtube shouldn't pay anybody for anything...but since they do, make sure have money before you sell your soul for it

@rhimaginemua 3 weeks ago

Ronson is a fantastic choice for this topic! I love his book, “The Psychopathy Test” and really gave me some crucial insight into how these minds view society, themselves, & others. And is very helpful book for many to read right now to better understand reality tv to modern politics.

@zizzler.z 3 weeks ago

What a great guest. I’m so glad Charlie has his own show on YouTube. I’ve been a reader for a long time.

@SaltyMermaidClub 3 weeks ago

Love the new book, audio version was a fun listen

@WARLOCK1669 3 weeks ago

This society is ruled by narcissists under laws and illusions that propel people to become and celebrate narcissism. You can make money being narcissistic, but not for doing the right thing.

@REDTAPESTUDIOLDN 3 weeks ago

Two privileged men discuss how a terrible economy is making men want to disengage ... as if doing maths that two jobs will still make them broke is enticing. Progressives on the left get close but their inexperience of poverty creates a barrier of understanding that meritocracy and economic stability are broken for most people unless you come from priviledge/networks.

@can2man322 3 weeks ago

Be yourself

@ARiversEdge 3 weeks ago

I don’t know why the host is bothering to do this interview given how much contempt he has for the central idea.

@jeffwheeldon1645 3 weeks ago

I think that shame as an internal force, as the personal recognition of a shortcoming, is a powerful thing. It loses its power when it is something that one person lays onto another. The positive uses of shame come from personal virtue, not public backlash. When a person who believes that they're good and right has someone else shame them, it makes them question and devalue virtue more than strive for it.

@neilcarver8409 2 weeks ago

Why is no one questioning his focus on a need to produce, to have purpose? That is the delusion behind every era of this "masculinity crisis" bull. A bit more Zen, more acceptance, less of the illusion of self might actually be in order here. That desire to "find your place in the world" is exactly what is keeping you from realizing it. The more one lets go of the desire for meaning and place, the more likely you are to find it.

All humans struggle with this, but men, and certainly men who perceive they are losing their assumed privilege, are the most likely to become aggressive, coercive, manipulative and violent in their struggle. There's the concern.