Imo there’s nobody at the wheel and this is just the organic development of alienation under capitalism. The media focus on the “gender war” is just a scapegoat so that people don’t point out that the capitalists are chiefly responsible.

there’s something to sanding off the sensitive edges of a group of people as a strategy for grooming them into a dehumanized form of work, especially if you can convince them that they are sacrificing themselves for a noble cause.

it creates this narrative that makes the self-mutilation and destructive impulse have some larger meaning.

i went through wild land fire fighter training, but ultimately decided it wasn’t for me. that job is dangerous as hell, by the way. anyway, i knew this guy in his 30s who, after a breakup with a long term partner, just dove into it. put all his shit into long term storage and went all the way in. and like, when i heard he’d done that, i understood why even though it is hard to articulate. when a dream dies, sometimes its easier to throw oneself into something big and let it use you up for a “cause” than it is to build another personal dream.

i think the military has some similar principles at work in their active recruiting and the passive, broader social forces that stifle our self-understanding to make us receptive to the pitch, but it’s clumsier and more clearly malevolent. i mean, they are recruiting in high schools and going after people at their most impressionable and vulnerable to run them through a trauma machine designed to maximize bonding and compliance.

a deeply predatory institution.

I’m not sure, but I don’t think that’s why, I think it’s just a bunch of bullshit capitalism allows because it wildly benefits itself. The same is happening here in Brasil, so called “manosphere” and “red pill” content have been on the rise for years, specially the last year or so, co-opting men and boys into far right, misogynist discourse.

There’s even a nazi congresswoman here that uses a fucking crown of flowers to congress where she keeps talking about how women should be at home taking care of their husbands and shit, the stereotypical token anti-feminist white woman for the far right. And obviously she’s not married, is a single mother and is not a “tradwife” herself, but she sure loves promoting that at every single opportunity she has.

Hell, the other day the head of Missão, a party of nazis posing as ancaps posted a fucking photo online about being censored and I kid you not, that piece of shit looked like Hitler in the picture, had the messy short hair and a mustache just wide enough to deny it.

I usually think this type of content online is due to the rise of fascism and imperialism worldwide, not necessarily an effort thought out since the beginning to groom men into WW3 or whatever else. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be co-opted into these types of efforts. And kind of becomes our responsibility to push against this discourse whenever it appears.

Not really. A lot of it is grifting, a circlejerk of mediocre men telling each other that they’re superior to women. People like Andrew Tate and so many other red pill chuds are just there to make money off of the millions of dudes who blame women and feminism for their inability to get laid. It’s also the natural consequence of feminism threatening their place in the hierarchy, which they feel entitled to. This stuff really doesn’t need astroturfing.

the whole endgame here is to groom men into the sort of ideology that would justify fighting in a future war

Amerikkkans and their gender ideology, sheesh

ⓘ Remember to enable JPEG-XL support in your browser, even on your phone!

An absolute ton of it is projecting and lashing out from fear and trauma.

The weakest men, the most fearful and self-doubting, tend to dive into it the hardest. For the men in the ‘gender war’ the mantra says, “Actually, you’re strong if you act a certain way and believe certain things about the other gender no matter how you feel inside. If you feel doubtful or fearful, act that way harder. Believe those things stronger. That will make you more of a man and more legitimate as a person.” In a time where everyone is feeling less and less powerful and more alienated from the fruits of their labor and a hopeful future, this becomes an “opiate of the masses.” Of course, all this is toxic and fuels this social conflict from the male side.

For women it’s a little different. I see a lot of pain there that is entirely legit. Then, I see some women misdirecting that pain. I think due to this there is a lot of misandry out there masquerading as feminism. Hating men isn’t feminism and it fuels the ‘gender war’ stuff from the feminine side by deliberately trying to be inflammatory because the woman saying the inflammatory thing was hurt and she wants you to know that and feel some of that hurt, too. Of course, attacking weak men like I mentioned only feeds into their mantra, so they double back and go harder. The cycle continues.

When people refer to things as a “gender war” theyre usually trying to equate the patriarchy, that oppresses everyone that isnt a cis man, to posts some women make online and act like they cause the same amount of harm

men have always been disposable

Interesting question, thanks for posting. I don’t have much more to add that hasn’t already been said, but what I would add is that I don’t think this is limited to, or maybe not even intentionally focused on, getting men into the military.

I’d say that’s one of the reasons. There’s been a convenient blend of exploitation for, well, basically as long as civilisation, I guess.

Ensuring that trad roles are obeyed by ‘both’ genders is necessary to continue that exploitation.

Men “wimping out” of joining the military or women “Woking out” of having children is just scratching the surface.

I think you’re right. I also think it’s part of the conservative narrative. They aim to divide us as much as possible. “Men are men, women are women, nothing in between and no changing what you are. Men are biologically better suited for leading, working, and fighting, and women are biologically suited for having as many babies as possible so we have more bodies to churn into profit.”

Biblical bullshit.