The Weak Men of MAGA
How Weak Men create Hard Times
I’ve got another piece in The Dispatch today about how MAGA trolls are related to the ‘Gen Z Boss and a Mini’ video, and how the online right’s love of strong men is rooted in their own weakness:
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times.”
This pithy aphorism has captured a popular view of history for as long as we’ve had the concept of history. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus himself wrote, “soft lands breed soft men; wondrous fruits of the earth and valiant warriors do not grow from the same soil.”
Modern right-wing populists are enamored with this idea. They’ll bemoan the state of the world, seizing on cultural flashpoints to point out that we live in extraordinarily hard times caused by the weakness of our leaders and our cultural elites.
But in reality, they’ve got it backward. We’ve been living in the good times. And they are weak men leading us back into the hard times.
The piece is paywalled, but click below for a gift link to read for free!
Phenomenally written! Congratulations