This is not my personal opinion, I know Gen Z men who voted for Harris. But the voter demographics really speak for themselves, and maybe now people will look at the radicalization of young men as a serious (but solvable) issue.

  • Intergalactic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    194
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    3 months ago

    I’m a gen z male, raised in a far right Republican household. I’m a social democrat. I am progressive.

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      73
      ·
      3 months ago

      Unironically, congrats on breaking free of the brainwashing. I grew up in an insanely red rural area and a very conservative religious family, unlearning all that shit has been a decades long process (and still continues).

    • atocci@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      40
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Same man. It was wild when middle school rolled around and I finally gained awareness of the world beyond myself and learned what the Republicans actually were and wanted. A friend who knew more about politics than me explained some stuff, and suddenly I had to question why my family was against progressive beliefs.

    • Xanthrax@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      36
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Same. I live on a ranch in a deeply red area. Voted Kamala. I’m also happy to say my conservative parents are ex-republicans.

    • hoch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      3 months ago

      Same here. I’ve cut my entire family out of my life over this shit.

    • shani66@ani.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      Mostly the same, i was raised to be a worthless red neck. I’m not. The issue with using our experiences is that we are people, we have an inner world and are capable of free thought. Trump’s followers aren’t.

    • sudoer777@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      3 months ago

      I’m also a Gen Z male, raised in an evangelical household at a Christian school that supported Christian nationalism, and was supposed to be a strong conservative Christian but ended up turning into an atheist socialist instead. It’s kind of funny to read that Gen Z is going radical right when for me it was the opposite.

    • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Can you please tell your entire generation to get it together worldwide? That’d be great, thanks.

      Leaving this here just in case: /s

  • pizza_the_hutt@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    186
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    3 months ago

    There is a lot to be said here. I’ll use my own experience as an example.

    I’m a millennial male who had a terrible time as a young adult through my mid 30s. I grew up in a fairly religious/conservative area of the US, and I didn’t have the ability to even start questioning that before my college years because literally everyone I knew was either a vocal supporter of or tacitly accepted that cultural status quo. Mental health issues were either not discussed or not recognized in any serious fashion. It wasn’t until my late 20s that I finally understood that I had severe depression and anxiety and sought help, despite suffering from it since my early teenage years.

    Socially, I never felt like I was cool enough or good enough. I didn’t understand women, and the endless series of rejections and confusing encounters only served to erode my low self confidence further. I had no idea what a healthy relationship looked like because my parents were just going through the motions at that point, and the relationships I saw in TV shows and movies were incredibly shallow. The few people I considered friends did not support me in any positive way. I eventually kicked them to the curb, preferring solitude to being the butt of their jokes.

    I was a prime target for recruitment for the alt-right: depressed, alone, disaffected, and ready to lash out. The only thing that kept me from going in that direction was a keen sense that the rhetoric was bullshit and its leaders only cared to take advantage of the rank-and-file to accumulate money and power. Many people I knew were not so perceptive and became victims of that movement.

    My only saving grace was that I had a decent job with healthcare benefits, which allowed me to get the therapy I needed to overcome these challenges. Again, most people I knew did not have such resources. Nearly a decade later, I am now a family man with a wife and child. I am far happier than I have been at any other point in my life. Despite that, there is still plenty I don’t understand. I don’t have a good grasp of what positive masculinity looks like. I cannot point to anyone who has served as a good, male role-model in my life. I still don’t have any close male friends with whom I can share my feelings and challenges.

    However, I do understand how easily young men can be swayed to far-right crusades. Social media warped my view of reality, and it’s far worse now than it was 10-15 years ago. Moreover, there is no alternative to far-right echo chambers for young men to commiserate and get help. Those spaces simply do not exist on the left. If you dare to complain or vent, you will immediately be told your problems don’t matter and called a misogynist. I can readily call multiple conversations I had with liberals and feminists who rejected my problems, even being told that I was “living life on easy mode” because I was a man.

    For all the women who are reading this, I get it. As a man, I don’t have to worry about the government meddling in my bodily autonomy. For the most part, I don’t have to worry about walking alone at night or being accosted or raped. I don’t have to worry about being taking seriously at my job or being passed over for promotions because of my gender. However, none of that negates the challenges that young men are facing. Their gender does not save them from broken homes, abuse, mental health issues, a bad job market, degrading standards of living, student debt, double-standards, confusing and contradictory narratives surrounding dating and relationships, etc. Yes, privileged men with no right to complain do exist, but they are an extreme minority. The vast majority of young men are in a bad place, and the only people reaching out to help have ulterior motives. If you want things to change, try having some empathy. Maybe you will get empathy for your problems in return.

    • bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      76
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      This. Men are more often victims of violent crime, homelessness, mental illness, suicides, do worse in school, incarceration, die in wars, work dangerous jobs. Classic male institutions, structures, and spaces don’t exist anymore like they used to.

      Add to that that men showing emotions is still seen as weakness.

      These issues aren’t addressed or even mentioned.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        33
        arrow-down
        52
        ·
        3 months ago

        Men are more often victims of violent crime, homelessness, mental illness, suicides, do worse in school, incarceration, die in wars, work dangerous jobs.

        The victims of other men. That’s the joke of it all. And the folks screaming loudest about being victimized are inevitably the ones quickest and most eager to take their own pound of flesh at the first opportunity.

        Add to that that men showing emotions is still seen as weakness.

        Primarily among other men. This isn’t a gendered issue nearly so much as it is a socio-economic hierarchy. The “excess males” problem is what’s driving the violence, the poverty, and the declining health. Young men are pressed into the social hierarchy by their elders, often from an extremely young age, through physical, emotional, and sexual violence. They climb the social ladder by proving their tolerance for abuse by those above, while exhibiting a sufficient capacity for sadism on those below. Anyone who cannot endure the abuse and find their own cohort to abuse in turn becomes the social excrement that the system exudes.

        This is literally “The Patriarchy” that feminists rant about and seek to abolish. But efforts to abolish the system invoke its most violent tendencies. The result is a youth population that is selected for the most sniveling and cruel to lead it into the next generation.

        • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          59
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          3 months ago

          This entire comment is exactly the kind of lack of empathy that the gentleman was talking about.

          Primarily among other men.

          The worst I ever got for showing emotions in front of other men was being called sensitive. Women on the other hand dismissed me with fury, insulting my manhood and even hitting me.

          They climb the social ladder by proving their tolerance for abuse by those above, while exhibiting a sufficient capacity for sadism on those below.

          Where did you learn this fucking nonsense, gender studies?

          The Patriarchy

          Interesting name for it given how many men will tell you it is women upholding men’s gender roles. Men are still expected to pay for dates, to be able to support families, to have a home and a car before they’re even worth attempting to date…

        • lobut@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          26
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          When Terry Crews came out about his sexual assault. So many men publicly derided him. I felt so bad for Terry.

          For the record, fifty cent, Vlad from VladTV, DL Hughley were those that made fun of Terry and some even insinuated he was possibly gay.

        • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          17
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          3 months ago

          And if Feminists could differentiate between a homeless man down on his luck and a bigoted billionaire asshole, “The Patriarchy” would actually get fought, but they both have dicks and are therefore identical.