long rant but there's always this impression that youngsters are the woke ones, the progressive ones, but that simply is an illusion, because there are more conservatives (especially men) hiding amongst us than we think. the ring-wing wave may just seem like some foreign western bullshit, as seen most recently in the british protests, but it is increasingly clear that the right-wing wave has been affecting Singaporean men too.
the internet has always been a pipeline for far right extremism, but i think only in recent times have i realised just how much this has permeated into real life and men i actually know. after the death of charlie kirk (which may be wrong but he himself supported his death soooo), the past week has shown clearly that more conservative men are hiding amongst us than we know. they repost stories of charlie kirk saying that "we shouldn't die just because of a differing opinion (on human rights???????)" while having never posted about any other social cause (and please, we all know that while you may claim to "disagree" with his opinions, you clearly do support his rhetoric). the selective empathy these men have towards exclusively male facist influencers is clear as day. these men may not outright support trump, however this doesn't mean they do not buy into the exact same dangerous rhetoric against marginalised groups -- ironically so, as the very male influencers they follow are white supremacists. and to all the chinese supporters of charlie kirk, he literally said chink like?????
and they know it's wrong, that's the problem, they know how to act. the performative male stereotype isn't just annoyingly funny, it's inherently dangerous for women. men will put a face of appearing to agree with your "opinions" on basic human rights just to turn around and expect you to be a submissive housewife. men will go around being a matcha drinking addict reading feminist literature just to go support the same facist rhetoric. conservative men love to go after liberal women because they seek to "change" her, seek to mould her into the perfect little housewife.
so, why do these men buy into right-wing rhetoric? because the internet simply has so many right wing pipelines, one of them being fitness. to extend some sympathy and to put less blame on these impressionable boys, let's just say that most fitness influencers inherently target young, especially insecure impressionable teens because they simply use social media more. these influencers sprinkle seemingly innocent and innocuous messaging on their content, but quickly spiral into far right rhetoric, that a man has to be strong and anything other than that, like being a liberal or gay, is not just wrong, but a threat to their own masculinity. once they fall into this pipeline, these young men just fall further and further down the rabbit hole and start learning to be racist, sexist, homophobic. young men are constantly targetted and influenced to become right-wing, and honestly it is sad to see those you once grew up in fall into this alt-right pipeline. (but also like men face the tiniest taste of the exclusion and rejection that the rest of us have experienced for generations and suddenly they can't tolerate it like give me a break bro)
then comes the problem, how do we get these young impressionable men out of this right wing sphere? you can try to debate with them and make them change their opinion, but this just reinforces the idea that they are being targeted and repressed by society and they fall further into the alt-right pipeline. how can we change their mindset when they're so far down the pipeline they can't even see their own hypocrisy?
