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Notes -
White Dudes for Harris
It should be remembered that it was the Democrat party that broke the ice on invoking White Identity Politics directly to muster political support. The Republican party has only ever used proxy rhetoric like "they have to come legally" or "tough on crime", but looking at the recent Convention it's clear the Republican strategy is to go for the Big Tent rather than directly appeal to white voters. It's the Harris campaign that makes the direct appeal to white men, and you would not see an event like this hosted within the Republican party.
This is another indication that we're probably over the hill of Peak Woke that a white identity is acknowledged in a non-critical context:
That's a huge shift in messaging from just a few years ago in the midst of the Floyd riots.
The "masculinity crisis" is probably down mostly to the traditional foundations of masculine identity, what distinguished it fundamentally from femininity going back several thousand years at least, e.g being physically powerful and being good at killing people/animals are less and less relevant than ever in industrial and post-industrial society and are only going to become more so.
Probably not actually "fixable" short of a Kaczsynskian collapse of civilization and why all proposed solutions whether they be left-wing "build a positive masculinity" stuff or right-wing "retvrn" will fail.
Satiate this with combat sports? A young man might feel generally better if he goes to a martial arts gym twice a week. I sure did.
Nothing has been hit as hard with the istphobe hammer than groups of men trying to compete with each other in physical activity. The horse's mouth will plainly tell you that such things are rooted in white supremacy and that anyone who lifts weights is inherently suspect of being far right.
There is even some truth in this, in that such groups of competitive men would eventually tend to build enough rapport to collectively seek their own group interest. And fix society in the process I might add. But there is no world where intersectionals can tolerate such organization if they want to keep power. And so they can't solve this problem.
I am not aware of this being a significant factor at all. Who is saying this and how many people are listening to them?
MSNBC, for one.
The Guardian, for another. Does that count? I understand they're very well left-leaning, but it's atleast a glimpse into what left-leaning individuals are telling each other.
Here's an older opinion article that shows it's not a new trend. A single data point, sure, but a data point is a data point.
Funny enough, this seems to be a theme for her. Here's a much more recent article from the same individual. Money quote: 'The more self-actualised you become, the higher you are on self-righteousness, blaming other people’s problems on their failure to be as healthy as you.' Interesting take, I'll admit.
Was the MSNBC article mocked? Yes. But it's telling it was voiced at all; liberals tend to be more insular with little understanding of how conservatives think. The concerning part isn't wether it's true or not(color me skeptical), the concerning part is that liberals are telling one another that this is a thing.
And the political divide widens.
In the MSNBC article, maybe some dog-whistling there (e.g. "Physical fitness has always been central to the far right.") but that's not the same as saying that "such things are rooted in white supremacy and that anyone who lifts weights is inherently suspect of being far right".
The Zoe Williams articles are closer, though it's "more right wing" rather than "white supremacist". (She confesses to having recommended "every activity and pursuit, every wellness wheeze and rejuvenation exercise the modern world has dreamed up.") And I doubt that she is a sufficient influence to stop "A young man [feeling] generally better if he goes to a martial arts gym twice a week." (The original controversial claim by @TIRM.)
My general model of happiness is that it directly or indirectly comes from hard work to pursue goals that are subjectively meaningful. Exercise slows ageing, helps protect against horrific fates like dementia, aids one's sex life (even if partnered) and many other benefits. A major problem, though, is that it's tempting and popular to think that happiness comes from ease and choice, rather than from striving. Happiness from ease and choice is largely an effect of relaxing from mental and/or physical striving...
Huh, that does sound a bit fascist, I admit, but I am happy to agree with fascists on that much.
The MSNBC article has a photoshop of a German youth rally throwing Nazi salutes with the subtitle 'Physical fitness and violent hypermasculinity have always been central to the far right' as a header to said article.
That's less a 'dog whistle' and more an airhorn going off behind you.
You won't hear me argue against the benefits of exercise, though.
It's association, but association is not always dog whistling. "Punk rock is an important part of skinhead culture" doesn't imply "Punk rock is a skinhead thing."
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