Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Andrew Tate, and dozens of others with smaller but still large audiences. Why are these alternative influencers attracting huge audiences of young men while traditional institutions and authorities like churches and schools struggle to get a hearing?
There is another reason why French would stress self-sacrifice as the only acceptable form of self-actualisation and that is because the very institutions which give him his high status - such as the New York Times - would remove it if he started advocating for men's rights or arguing that men, collectively or individually, should push to increase their power for their own sake. They hold a core value that men - especially White men - are already too powerful, and that reducing their status is THE key social priority. Men like French are allowed on the team only to the extent that they endorse that agenda.
"Public respect is another matter. The major culture shaping institutions of society provide affirmation and status to people who perform favored actions, and ignore or even condemn actions they don’t like. This sort of public affirmation plays a huge role in shaping how people behave. If men, husbands, fathers are not shown public regard by society, it’s not realistic to expect that they will overcome that and collectively step up and do the things that French wants. If society wants men to behave honorably, then it must provide public honor to those who do so. At the individual level, men have to rise above bad incentives. But if we want to change behavior at scale, providing public honor is critical. Individual purpose is not a substitute for public respect."
It doesn't matter what people think and you can't make that your barometer in choice-making, as you note elsewhere. Do what you think is correct and you can rest in that choice.
The point Aaron is making is that it makes a huge difference in a society if honorable choices are honored by society vs. not honored by society. Asking all men to ignore that difference is futile. Different incentives will produce different behavior. Men are not angels from some utopia.
What if Matt Walsh made a video on what it means to be a man? How cringe would it be?
There is another reason why French would stress self-sacrifice as the only acceptable form of self-actualisation and that is because the very institutions which give him his high status - such as the New York Times - would remove it if he started advocating for men's rights or arguing that men, collectively or individually, should push to increase their power for their own sake. They hold a core value that men - especially White men - are already too powerful, and that reducing their status is THE key social priority. Men like French are allowed on the team only to the extent that they endorse that agenda.
"Public respect is another matter. The major culture shaping institutions of society provide affirmation and status to people who perform favored actions, and ignore or even condemn actions they don’t like. This sort of public affirmation plays a huge role in shaping how people behave. If men, husbands, fathers are not shown public regard by society, it’s not realistic to expect that they will overcome that and collectively step up and do the things that French wants. If society wants men to behave honorably, then it must provide public honor to those who do so. At the individual level, men have to rise above bad incentives. But if we want to change behavior at scale, providing public honor is critical. Individual purpose is not a substitute for public respect."
It doesn't matter what people think and you can't make that your barometer in choice-making, as you note elsewhere. Do what you think is correct and you can rest in that choice.
The point Aaron is making is that it makes a huge difference in a society if honorable choices are honored by society vs. not honored by society. Asking all men to ignore that difference is futile. Different incentives will produce different behavior. Men are not angels from some utopia.
I don't think he has any influence among men. He is a bit of a standing joke actually.