Essay: A senior at an all boys high school on the appeal of the Tate brothers: In a confusing time for young men, they offer “answers that are appealingly simple.”
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Nothing like providing an immature mind with role models who promote an ideology of irresponsibility, cruelty, entitlement, vengeance and total rejection of the rights of other human beings.
PLS can we have a gift link, @wsj.com ? We all deserve a glimpse into this pathology if we’ll ever redirect it toward becoming healthy men, in every sense of the word. A lot of us really are trying to understand how we go forward. 🚫 paywall!
An all boys school, run by Catholics just now starting to timidly acknowledge a lot of their leaders/members routinely actively or passively hurt children & women, are raising boys who gravitate to people who routinely hurt & degrade women & children?
Because men are intellectually and emotionally lazy. They have become so dependent on women to think for them that when they have to think on their own, they reject empathetic complexity and rigor in favor of base idiocy and hatred.
Seriously? They offer nothing but egotistical opinions. Narcissists that love the sound of their own voices. Anyone that takes them seriously is a moron.
What on earth is appealingly simple about being a repulsive, violent misogynist?
Where are such boys’ mothers, as well as their fathers… do they support the abuse of women? 🤔
It was this same way before "screens"
America embraces and encourages a Rape Culture that Slut Shames women.
All participate, even too many Moms/women.
You know, being a good person is often quite simple as well. It boils down to things like "don't rape people" or "don't traffic women into sex slavery"
Do you wonder why the US has the highest rates of Domestic Violence, Rape, child marriage, genital mutilation, No equal rights + Pedophilia.
The US encourages a Rape Culture.
How evil is it to raise a son to think these women abuser/rapists are heros?
Who fucking raised these ANIMALS. Fucking poor, whiny, spineless little white boys glomming onto misogynistic, rapist low life scum bags! The parents are fucking subhuman to raise these little pigs.
A single mom raised the Tates. Dad was abusive so she left him to raise her kids alone and worked 2 jobs to keep food on the table. The brothers idolized their absent father and blamed the mom for leaving and are still pining for dad’s approval. The mom did what she could, she’s not “subhuman”
This is exactly what the Netflix miniseries "Adolescence" was all about. Vile human scum like the Tates are poisoning the minds of young men everywhere.
We need another war. Maybe after these tools see their friends blown up in front of them with piss running down their leg they’ll think differently about how glorious all this is
I disagree with the entire framing of this premise. What the fuck is so complicated about what it means to “be a man?” Hint: it’s just like being a human being.
Yeah I guarantee you it's not really a "confusing time" for an 18-year-old at a private major-city catholic school whose parents are connected enough to place an op-ed in the WSJ: he's just gotta do the moral calculus on "will I still be liked enough if I embrace rape & human trafficking?"
And that is where adults are theoretically useful: to teach kids how to deal with "if i do this immoral thing i lose my integrity but am temporarily liked" situations. Where the fuck are the grown ups?!
Those "appealingly simple" answers are exactly what Trump and others of his ilk offer. They're not valid answers, but they are simple. And being a decent human being is actually quite simple. But they never suggest that, do they?
There's no "confusing time". You're an idiot if you succumb to a propaganda of these assholes. I was 13 once, I was stupid, but I was never sexist piece of shit.
“That’s where figures like the Tates, Elon Musk and President Trump step in with bold answers: Don’t worry, just dominate. Trump’s brashness mirrors what many of the teenage boys I know crave—unapologetic power.”
The craving of unapologetic power is the problem here.
The significant part missing is these boys learning about themselves as whole emotional human beings, as opposed to brute ogres. Our society has done much to show girls they can wield power, but we have not done enough to show boys that they their value is more than the power they hold over others.
It makes the ones who actually are decent in HS feel like failures 🙃
So many grown ass men carry shame and self hate about not meeting false high school standards. And then they have little capacity / awareness / accountability for what they're actually messing up as an adult partner / parent 🤯
💯 Why learn to control themselves, interact with women as human beings, learn how to read consent (particularly body language), and learn emotional management when some rich dudes are telling them that they can just force women to do what you want with zero consequences?
The significant part is they were raised by fucking morons and losers that somehow equate Tate, Trump and Musk as the definition of masculinity when they are the farthest thing from it.
My teenage nephew is an astute young fellow and he boiled the whole problem down to the 80/20 myth that dominates the manosphere: dating is a female buyers market and most men miss out. It turns boys into angry, vengeful, victims who hate women before they’ve even reached puberty. It’s shocking.
It's only a "buyer's market" because these boys all think they're entitled to "hot" girlfriends & they ignore the girls who don't fit their warped definition of "hot". These are the same dudes who call a girl/woman "unfuckable" if she's not a size 0 with double D tits.
More of self entitlement of never facing rejection, coddled by their parents who keep telling them their special and desrve respect and attention for simply being white and male and having no actual redeeming qualities. Used to be that was part of growing up in facing girls turning you down, but
That paragraph is striking. He trying to argue he feels forced into this by the world around him. Truth is he’s just mimicking adults —who also love these guys—who also crave permission to be assholes.
The Tate brothers are current under house arrest in Romania for serious sex crimes and are wanted by the British authorities for the same. Do these boys learn that actions have consequences, or is this all glossed over?
Yawn. They "love" these 2 sex trafficking rapist clowns because their parents are cunts who raised them broken and are likely MAGAt KKKultists who worship Mango Messiah and the rest of the KKKristofascists.
You know...the people you market your fascist collaborator trash to in the first place.
On the off chance that the kid who wrote this reads the replies to this, I have some advice for him (his parents will hate me): When you graduate, GO TO A STATE SCHOOL.
I was you 20 years ago and, until I did this, I was under the impression that 90% of people my age were just straight-up assholes.
I made a lot of friends, started dating, (importantly!) started learning from the experiences of people who weren't like me and, not only did it make me a better person but I became a lot happier as well.
Environments filled with rich people are incredibly bad environments (esp. if you aren't rich).
Perhaps you must be a man to understand the appeal. I avoid going after people’s appearance, but these dudes are ugly. The one posted a picture of himself in a Speedo and it appeared that he was missing some parts down there.
It’s not just that although treating people like shit is part of it. It’s permission to reject norms and structures wholesale without feeling like a schmuck.
And not even fucking writing a punk rock or rock and roll or metal album worth hearing in the process. It's not art, it's not rebellion, it's not a heightened evolution of the Ubermensch. It's a bunch of socially retarded trust fund yuppies who care too much about boats and silicone titties
And a bunch of apparently confused young boys who also wish to be trust fund yuppies who care too much about boats and silicone titties? I mean. Yeah. Makes sense. Babies like playing in the tub and sucking on a tit.
It’s about going backwards, where people can treat others horribly and it’s ok. Americans voted for a felon, who has been found to have raped (at least) one woman, it’s about making that kind of mentality ok.
Decent people (and there is more of us than them) need to stand up and stop it.
Reading this I can’t help but think of the confusion & mixed messages women have experienced for THOUSANDS of years. “U can be whoever you want.” “Don’t be loud or aggressive, though.” “Be a nice girl.” It’s ALWAYS been a man’s world, many still don’t take us seriously. If we disagree, WE are wrong.
Domineer women and act like a jerk, get rejected, become angry, and start hating women.
Congratulations. You’re now on the path of becoming a misogynistic incel.
Sometimes you do have to think for yourself and stop listening to the idiots out there.
Another example of a supposedly reputable news source barely doing their due diligence in research and writing ethical headlines. I’ve actually looked into the clips of what these assholes are saying. They do not offer simple solutions. They give violent and manipulative solutions.
Some of those happen to be as simple as abusing or beating a woman, but the bulk of the crap they sell is long term things that they make sound simple. THOSE happen to be long term manipulation and ‘with one simple trick’ bs. Do better WST.
So, in their "confusion" they chose the most rancid role models they could find??
They're angry at society's assumption they're bad people, and their response is not to improve themselves, but to double down by worshipping the tates??
And 4 year olds like "appealingly simple" answers like 'yes, you can eat all the candy, never have to share, and can stay up as long as you like'. Also, no one is telling white boys to feel guilty. They're just telling what happened and what's still happening. It's up to them to decide what to do.
There are times when dichotomies work; self identity isn’t one of them. Being a “good man” equates the pressures women get in being a “good mother.” ‘Men are men, women are mothers.’ It’s Neolithic. 1/2
In the Social media age, all-boys (religious) schools incubate these kinds of men. The sooner (and younger) boys & girls learn to interact with and accept each other in healthy ways (sans religion & extreme adults), the better society will be. 2/2.
The whole macho Trump, Tate, Farage, MAGA thing is about avoiding the complexity of reality. Life is always confusing for those who won't educate themselves.
So basic right vs wrong does not apply anymore? There have always been scum like these guys but what and where are these children learning morals? Anyone with sense can see these guys are disgusting 🤮
“Appealingly simple” because it teaches them to target minority demographics and be misogynists. It’s the same exact recruitment techniques used by literal terrorist organizations.
Yes, I have the choice not to send them there. I’ve seen private schools that actually teach and discipline kids regardless of their parents money and I’ve seen the opposite.
Yea me too. Tate is popular with the teenage chuds cuz it likely mirrors what they hear at home and in church about men and women. Their parents know how they choose in the "integrity vs popularity" calculus and know its the wrong answer but teach their kids their terrible values anyway.
If people are confused about whether or not it is cool to be a sex trafficker, it isn't because of their age or gender. This is a basic right/wrong situation. The President's endorsement of this criminal behavior is more of a factor and something media should be addressing.
Don't
It's the same as it ever was. Men will never overcome their craving for dominance + control Rape fulfills that
The U.S. embraces/encourages a Rape Culture that Slut Shames women.
ALL participate
Lol, yeah the answer for them is to hate women and treat them like objects. Its simple because its meant to appeal to the dumbest among us. Life doesnt have simple answers.
I know we can’t read the article but it’s a private Catholic school. People I knew growing up who went to private Catholic schools did not have good experiences. Maybe parents shouldn’t send them there.😔 I better not say anything else about that church’s view of women.
Nah its no different. Boys - especially rich privileged boys - have always Been Like This. And sure we should do something about the nihilism. But its far from new, and anyway its the adults job to help the boys navigate it whether they like it or not. Trouble is adults dont wanna.
And yes, Clinton's personal record is terrible. But compared to the vile traitor now infesting the White House, he's an altar boy. The WSJ's smug elitists will never acknowledge that.
Some of us remember the WSJ excoriating anyone who defended Bill Clinton, especially in 1998, as an enabler of America's moral downfall. Now, apparently in the minds of the conservative elite, being a degenerate is OK.
Of course, being thoughtful, kind, polite young men with integrity is incredibly complicated and hard work. So much more appealing to be misogynistic narcissistic shits like the Tate brothers.
Thank God we have The Wall Street Journal to give a platform to a high schooler who wrote an essay explaining that boys are misogynistic. We are all in a different place now.
When you're given "permission" to treat everyone around you like shit, and act like you're superior, you're probably going to like it, when you're young and stupid. Sometimes even when you're old and stupid.
US capitalism has created a non-society where parents no matter how devoted have almost no power to instruct their own children.
I assure you, this is FAR less severe anywhere else in the world. Irish lads are still hobbledehoys at 16 but they're not dangerous, rudderless psychopaths.
I went to an all boys catholic school in the 90s and they were nice boys by and large but they were weird as fuck about women and that was long before the internet or alpha influencers got at them.
Our kids are getting dumber thanks to shitty ass parents who use the phone as a distraction and a babysitter because they're unqualified to raise kids. Parents are the reason that the younger generations are failing down the alt right pipeline faster than in recent years
Observing that white male private school that is "on the radar" with the Wall Street Journal is more sexist than the population as a whole... shocking.
Every time is confusing. Pretty sure growing up during the Great Depression was pretty freaking confusing. The problem is evil people are being given a platform and their message is being amplified.
Went to high school during what I'm sure the WSJ also would've described as "a confusing time for young men"; at no point did I think "Gee I should idolize a guy who is both a giant sex trafficker and the dumbest motherfucker alive". Did high school football helmets get outlawed and I missed it or?
If you think "gee this fella is sure a good role model" then I do not care which Breakfast-Club-caste of nerd/jock/theater kid/etc. you best belong to, you needed to get called names and insulted MORE in school, not less. Idolizing objectively stupid evil bastards should have social consequences.
He’s not out of touch. He’s living it. Read the article please. It’s important to acknowledge and understand what’s happening among teenage boys. He describes his peers as “teenage men.” 😳
It's a shitty article by a kid too young to understand that what he's describing is the bog standard nature of growing up and deciding who you're going to be, while he excuses guys supporting literal rapists and sex traffickers.
uh, where's this kid's father? where are all their fathers? are they just absent completely from their lives? if you have to look to a freaking sexual offender as your role model, what does that say about what's going on in your own home? WHERE'S THE FATHER!?!?!?!
When it comes down to it, the existential divide is that some people have empathy for others, while others have none. We are now in the "have none" era.
The Tates are losers…. Empty, evil, soulless, criminal rapists. There should be no debate. WTF are the teachers and administrators teaching at this school that this is even a discussion?
I have had two of my children attend single sex schools and I guarantee it’s a failure of culture of the school if the boys are “confused” as to whether the Tate’s are people to be emulated.
What do we expect?
They all aspire to become Supreme Court justices because they see it’s clear you can be a sexual assaulter and “win” in this fucking ridiculous country.
Sorry but if high schoolers are confused by "keep your hands to yourself" then the adults around them need some serious consequences for letting those kids down so badly.
Do you want to look like a dick? Sound like a dick? Be a (very tiny) dick? Be like the t*at brothers! Such a simple offering! Almost like voting for a vaguely human shaped bag of skin filled with stinking turds!
It is a confusing time for young men and women because being young is confusing. But you’re right that it’s an especially good time for grifters to use this.
When they say simple, hey mean assigning the blame for their loneliness and lack of a gf on women vs actually being introspective and seeing how they could be better. Alpha bros give them the easy way out.
Appealingly simple but at what cost? There's going to be an entire generation of young men whose pursuit of this toxic masculinity that will lead to ruin.
It's the same as it has ever been in the US
Men will never overcome their craving for dominance + control. Rape fulfills that illness plus
the U.S. embraces/encourages a Rape Culture that Slut Shames women.
ALL participate, including Moms + all women. Call a woman a slut or w hore, you're complicit
my parents would have been very clear where they stood w/r/t Tate. They believed people had innate dignity and that everyone, regardless of gender, deserved basic respect.
I think my kids have gotten similar inoculation from Tate's virulent message.
Its not. Its also not new. Dad described exactly this mental state from the white wealthy boys he went to all boys school with. 55 years ago. And it is concerning. However the answer is definitely not to let boys be boys nor is it to gove up and let Andrew Tate raise them.
This kid goes to a private, all boys Catholic School in Chicago and his schoolmates are looking up to the Tate brothers? What's that say about the Priests, male teachers, male coaches and male administrators at that high school? As the conservatives say - "Fatherless behavior"
I'm for sex segregated schools. Too many boys are getting labeled as ADHD or whatever in elementary because they can't sit still. Boys have a different learning style and an all boys school can cater to that. Too many girls in junior high and
Being able to interact with girls all day allows kids who are consuming Tate content to have constant reminders that girls are actual people. Removing that social interaction can lead to a blunting of empathy and to dehumanization of women and girls.
Yeah see I would be more inclined to agree with you if there hadn't been that whole wave of boys in middle and high school saying "your body my choice" to girl classmates. Boys getting socialized at the expense of girls seems like a rational FOR sex segregated schools. I am not at all AGAINST
I agree. Super anecdotal but I remember reading an interview with an ex incel who was quite deep into anti feminism and so on, but then he found a gf, and his worldview did a full 180. More integration is a positive IMO.
this would work better if more boys were OPEN. Most public schools are co-ed and mainly because of conditioning, boys interact more with boys and girls more with girls. It isn't the default state that going to an co-ed school will make a boy NOT an incel.
high school shrink back from being assertive and showing leadership. I like all girls schools because they allow girls to develop fully in a safe environment. Plus, just for adolescents, the opposite sex can be a huge distraction to paying attention in class.
This generation would be demanding a record contract within 3 weeks. And they don't even want the contract, they just want to brag and show off on social media
Comments
Nothing like providing an immature mind with role models who promote an ideology of irresponsibility, cruelty, entitlement, vengeance and total rejection of the rights of other human beings.
Nope Can’t be right
they follow the REAL GOD
Nothing.
Where are such boys’ mothers, as well as their fathers… do they support the abuse of women? 🤔
America embraces and encourages a Rape Culture that Slut Shames women.
All participate, even too many Moms/women.
The US encourages a Rape Culture.
How evil is it to raise a son to think these women abuser/rapists are heros?
https://msmagazine.com/2023/11/09/united-nations-usa-women-violence-equal-rights-amendment-sexual-reproductive-health-rights/
May all his fanboys drink the bubble soda and float up into a ceiling fan
Do they have any understanding of what their kids think or have they ever been molded to understand right and wrong?
Geez. Depravity at a young age
Trump's America role models:
sex traffickers
mafiaoso enforcers
mass murderers
conmen
...
The craving of unapologetic power is the problem here.
So many grown ass men carry shame and self hate about not meeting false high school standards. And then they have little capacity / awareness / accountability for what they're actually messing up as an adult partner / parent 🤯
Rest assured — it wasn’t about principle. It wasn’t about government efficiency. It was never about making America a better country.
Rather — it was about Musk’s wallet.
It always was.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/us/politics/elon-musk-spacex-trump-budget.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EE8.NgH5.MOKHlh3xf_1t&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
You know...the people you market your fascist collaborator trash to in the first place.
I mean, honestly you should've just ended the article there.
I was you 20 years ago and, until I did this, I was under the impression that 90% of people my age were just straight-up assholes.
Environments filled with rich people are incredibly bad environments (esp. if you aren't rich).
Decent people (and there is more of us than them) need to stand up and stop it.
Maybe someone should report those boys to cops, they might be doing those things themselves.
Congratulations. You’re now on the path of becoming a misogynistic incel.
Sometimes you do have to think for yourself and stop listening to the idiots out there.
They're angry at society's assumption they're bad people, and their response is not to improve themselves, but to double down by worshipping the tates??
Unwilling to expend the effort to think, wanting someone to make it easy for them.
I mean, if that is what this senior really thinks they offer?
Yes. I blame the parents for not fucking parenting this kid....
If you follow an alpha's "lead," you're a beta. That's what a beta IS.
wait……..
Very simple.
Or simple minded.
It's the same as it ever was. Men will never overcome their craving for dominance + control Rape fulfills that
The U.S. embraces/encourages a Rape Culture that Slut Shames women.
ALL participate
https://msmagazine.com/2023/11/09/united-nations-usa-women-violence-equal-rights-amendment-sexual-reproductive-health-rights/
We are like a 3rd world country in our treatment of females
Everyone wants simple answers, but part of growing up is realizing how naive that is. And it's got nothing to do with being a man.
https://bsky.app/profile/splatterthought.bsky.social/post/3lhhkc4onrk2p
"a confusing time for young men"
oh boo-fuckety-hoo
We learn the golden rule in kindergarten.
These are boys that have daddy issues and are taking it out on women and people they deem “weak.”
I assure you, this is FAR less severe anywhere else in the world. Irish lads are still hobbledehoys at 16 but they're not dangerous, rudderless psychopaths.
Is it 12% or more African American?
Is it 15% or more Hispanic?
Is it 5% or more AAPI?
Is it 1% or more Native American?
Seems like a great environment for learning to interact with women normally.
If that child attends an all-boy, private cult school, he is OBJECTIVELY sheltered and ignorant. OBJECTIVELY.
Seriously?
Get with the fucking times.
https://nerdschalk.com/metas-celebrity-ai-chatbots-caught-having-sexual-conversations-with-users-as-young-as-13/
They all aspire to become Supreme Court justices because they see it’s clear you can be a sexual assaulter and “win” in this fucking ridiculous country.
Are you fucking high?
Go out and get your 15 minutes of vitamin D from full spectrum rays, EVERYDAY!
#HiddenHand
#HiddenHistory
Men will never overcome their craving for dominance + control. Rape fulfills that illness plus
the U.S. embraces/encourages a Rape Culture that Slut Shames women.
ALL participate, including Moms + all women. Call a woman a slut or w hore, you're complicit
I think my kids have gotten similar inoculation from Tate's virulent message.
Yeah sometimes they were toxic but none of them were sex traffickers
What new shift in culture presented these boys such a novel cultural framework of hate?
Because I always remember boys and wider culture just absolutely adoring and respecting girls, especially their interests 🙃
The subhead "we take role models where we can find them".
Lolololol
What pure dumb trash.
Or are you talking about someone else?
Not to mention the students' parents.