You're an 18-year-old boy mindlessly watching TikTok videos. After scrolling through a few clips of incompetent sitcom dads and grown men in dresses proclaiming the virtues of girlhood, you stumble upon a bald guy in sunglasses.
“You're broke!” he shouts into the camera. “You have to resist the slave mind! If they can print unlimited money and you have to give up your life and time to get it, you are literally their slave.”
In another video, he's on a podcast, and a woman asks him if he would let his girlfriend be in a relationship with multiple men. He says, “Of course not. That's haram.” You crack up laughing. Your Muslim friends always seem to call things haram.
Enter Andrew Tate, a brash, confident, in-your-face former kickboxer whose mission is to help young men escape what he calls “The Matrix.” Throughout his videos, he describes “The Matrix” as governments and powerful corporations benefiting from weakening powerful, fighting-age males who would otherwise be the most formidable force against tyranny. Tate preaches against the dangers of laziness, drugs, and weakness in defending your family and loved ones. He's inseparable from his brother, Tristan, and demands all men find similar life-long friends and move in packs. He loves his women, cars, and guns and functions in a similar role to James Bond in generations past.
Social media naturally does its characteristic spin cycle on Tate's words, showing women inflammatory snippets that paint him as a misogynist. However, Tate often assigns the blame on men, who he feels are often ill-equipped to escape the pitfalls of the modern dating market. He demands that men take absolute accountability for all aspects of their life and that if they struggle with dating, they're at fault. To Tate, women have the right to select the men they want, and men who are losers should not be shocked when women pick the winners.
Young men are repulsed by the current ideals of masculinity forced on them by the corporate interests that run the media. There has never been a country in history that has survived without strong men, and boys intuitively know this. Boys want to play sports, wrestle with each other, and compete. As they age, they desire sports cars, money, girls, and private jets. They want to be men — they don't want to wear a flowy dress and put on makeup like Harry Styles. They don't want to give the devil a lap dance like Lil Nas X.
Powerful corporate interests, such as the food, medical, and tech industries, profit from men with poor self-discipline, a lack of direction in life, and an addiction to cheap dopamine. Tate becoming the most Googled person is a frightening prospect for these industries. These groups are the ones that sit above even our governments, running the consumer economy, pulling strings, and creating a world in which young men are too weak to rebel, serving as the perfect cogs in the consumption machine.
Men are under constant social pressure to be as feminine as possible. “Paint your nails!” “Wear a dress!” “Don't mansplain!” “Don't manspread!” They're told to be highly emotional rather than to control their feelings, and they're taught to take up as little space as possible to avoid offending anyone. Young men are weaker than ever, with suicide and depression rates accelerating annually, and today's advice is merely to work less.
As it turns out, men opening up and revealing all their emotions isn't a solution. Being vulnerable isn't working. Antidepressants aren't a long-term solution. Tate bursts onto the scene and preaches the values of being driven and committed to self-improvement, being as competitive as possible, and delaying gratification. These ideals transcend the temporary pleasure promised by modern culture and provide direction and purpose. He turns modernity's script for men on its head, commanding his followers to become physically strong, charismatic, successful, and effective so that they may use their God-given masculinity to create a better life for themselves and their loved ones.
Currently, Romanian police have placed Andrew Tate and his brother into extended custody over charges of human trafficking, and different sources give different accounts of the story. Tate maintains he is innocent and claims “The Matrix” has attacked him and fabricated charges to prevent the most popular figure in the world from speaking out. With that said, human trafficking is one of the greatest manifestations of evil in our world, and Romanian authorities must take these accusations seriously and apply due process.
Ultimately, young men have limited choices of men they can look up to, and a man who tells them to be strong, funny, successful, rich, and competent is a rarity today. Tate preaches to men to live a hard life full of struggle and competition and to live with strict personal accountability to become the most successful versions of themselves. He's a symbol for young men who yearn for a life beyond quiet desperation and mediocrity.
The views expressed in this article solely represent the author's views and not necessarily College Dissident's.
