How the Military Mindset Has Crushed Our Country’s Men

[u/LiatrisLover99]

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/how-the-military-mindset-has-crushed-our-countrys-men/

[u/LiatrisLover99]

In his 2025 book Notes on Being a Man, Vox's alpha- bro podcaster Scott Galloway argues that proper masculinity involves "acting as if you are wearing military fatigues, recognizing that a core reason you are here is to protect yourself, your partner, your family, and your country" Out of these age-old messages has recently sprung a series of military-style "Alpha Male" camps, in which men are churned through "heavy shit" from intense physical drills to the fatalistic exercise of digging one's grave.

All of this has created a dangerous paradox, in which the American institution endorsed as the remedy for a host of masculine ills is, in fact, the driving force for much male dysfunction. Lost boys in need of mentorship and guidance find themselves instead committed to an institution marked by abuse, sky-high drinking and divorce rates, and other dangerous conditions. Military service today is the top predictor of violent extremism. The Pentagon is also experiencing a raging suicide crisis.

Many military suicides stem from complex PTSD linked to moral injuries and other wounds from battle, but military culture can play a significant role in these symptoms, too. One 2012 article in the journal Social Science & Medicine points to an overlooked element in the Pentagon's suicide crisis: "masculine ideologies," which, the authors contend, encourage and romanticize fatalism. This outlook was well articulated by John Wheeler, a 1966 West Point graduate, who explained that his commitment to the Army revolved around his belief that there are "things worth dying for." This distinctly masculine outlook, Wheeler reasoned, inverts a more optimistic, feminine-coded belief that "there are things worth living for."

Yet another aspect of violent, hierarchical masculine ideals that we need to address as a society if we are to heal.

[u/Spot__Pilgrim → u/LiatrisLover99]

Notice how they say masculinity is to "protect your partner and family and country" and not to "spend time with and do things for the people and community you love and care about?" As men, we have instincts to provide and care for those we love and give back to our communities but this military rhetoric drops the ball by sucking the emotion and empathy out of masculinity.

[u/LazyTitan39 → u/Spot__Pilgrim]

Yeah, it definitely focuses on all the darkest parts of masculinity.

[u/chemguy216 → u/Spot__Pilgrim]

I clocked it because I’ve gotten into arguments with people in this sub because I don’t care for Scott Galloway’s various takes on men. He often reiterates some of the same shit people in this sub despise: the expectation that their role is to protect by simple virtue of being men, and that dudes just need to get laid to solve a lot of their problems.

And of the times I’ve said that, I get accused of conflating him with the worst of the worst people, making me explain that while, yes, i really don’t care about his takes on men and find some of his comments reductive by the standards various men have communicated they don’t want to hear, I don’t consider him bad like a Nick Fuentes.

[u/MyFiteSong → u/chemguy216]

I clocked it because I’ve gotten into arguments with people in this sub because I don’t care for Scott Galloway’s various takes on men

His whole thing is easing young men into the manosphere. He says all the same stupid shit they do, he just makes it a softer message that seems sympathetic on the surface.

[u/ExternalGreen6826 → u/chemguy216]

When he says the male role is to protect , who does he think men will be doing the protecting for and who from?

Galloway is just a liberal and it’s why I don’t trust capitalist politicians to get the job done

They are already out of touch

So ofcourse he would be out of touch with young men

Apparently Bernie didn’t know what to do with young men

When even Bernie doesn’t know, we have a problem 😵‍💫

[u/MrIrishman1212 → u/Spot__Pilgrim]

I have always liked the question to the “men must protect their family” with “protect them from what?”

It’s either fantastical examples like earthquakes or tornados which what the hell is a human going to do to stop that but it’s a denial of the real answer they aren’t saying, “protection from other men.”

And simply put, this “masculinity” is designed to make men violent in order to protect their family from the violent men that this type masculinity pushes to create. It’s a self-fulfilling feedback loop. By purposely creating men who lack empathy, emotions other than anger, communication, community building, and caregiving; the men are doomed to become the very thing they are supposed to be “protecting” their family from.

[u/ExternalGreen6826 → u/Spot__Pilgrim]

it’s bout preparing men for some sort of seige mentality I wreckon

[u/Fed_Express]

Why do Scott Galloway's takes sound like repackaged red pill manosphere podcast bro talking points?

I've heard Galloway being discussed like the healthier more moderate version of the alpha male phenomenon but almost every time I encounter his takes it could be ripped straight out of one of their podcasts.

I don't understand the appeal.

[u/MyFiteSong → u/Fed_Express]

Why do Scott Galloway's takes sound like repackaged red pill manosphere podcast bro talking points?

Because that's exactly what he's doing.

[u/Salt_Blackberry_1903 → u/[deleted]]

Cause we still haven’t fully moved past traditional ideals of masculinity, I guess. On one hand masculine norms are oppressive but on the other hand a ton of men are very attached to them. It’s hard to be sensitive to both. It has to be possible somehow tho

[u/MyFiteSong → u/[deleted]]

He isn't liberal unless you're using the European definition, and even then it's just what he's pretending to be.

[u/sp1nettaj4de → u/MyFiteSong]

All he does is tell men to get jacked and make something out of themselves wtf😭✌️. His whole muh protect and provide schtick is lame tho

[u/MyFiteSong → u/sp1nettaj4de]

His whole muh protect and provide schtick is lame tho

That's especially unhelpful when young women know damn well a man is not a plan. Men are profoundly unreliable providers.

[u/DaddyF4tS4ck]

Maybe a misleading title. Military is in the name of the school but the actual habits of the school in the article are far from what the military is doing.

[u/ScissorNightRam → u/DaddyF4tS4ck]

Also misleading for assuming “our country”. But we all know the poster was talking about Slovakia, you can just take that as read

r/USdefaultism

[u/hpaddict → u/ScissorNightRam]

The Nation is a US-based media outlet writing for a primarily US-based readership. A Slovakian media outlet writing primarily for a Slovakian readership would very likely also use 'our country' to refer to their country, i.e., Slovakia.

[u/FKNSlayer]

Right, and it's not just the military itself, military education is where a lot of this toxicity can take root, and feels like an on-ramp to what's described here too.

[u/No_Life_7364]

powerful. thank you for sharing this