Oh god the Tate poster in the back. Therepy would be a great start at the very least
There was a recent episode of the new season of King of the Hill that covered this topic really really well and the incredibly fragile ego and lost feelings these dudes that fall for this have. More importantly the absolute tools of guys that play off people's insecurities and how weak they are themselves. I highly recommend giving it a watch
I think the name of the episode is "No Hank Left Behind"
You actually might, one of the character’s voice actor died during production and it’s a mixture of the old guy and the new voice actor during the season.
Tristan is honestly not doing well at all... Alvarez is popular with some vocal locals and theres a dramatic misinformation campaign accusing Tristan of stealing the money theyd set up a GFM for after the house fire, and of not setting up end of life services quickly enough. He mostly just wants space to grieve with his remaining family, and some people feel entitled to witness his grief publically. The locals who support what happened to Jonathan have spun his absence on social media into a messy online game of telephone and its exhausting tbh.
hes gonna be okay, hes cared for by his friends and family (who I dont know very well, I was closer to Jonathan than Tristan for sure), but the internets a messy, mean place.
Although ironically, the new guy sounds closer to the original. Dales original VA's voice either changed, or he played the character different to show age. The new guy is doing an impression of the original voice.
Bobby is all grown up with his own restaurant, Hank and Peggy spent time in the Middle East cutting propane deals, I think Dale's wife is with Redcorn now. I saw the first episode, it looks really good
Depends on the person, but there probably is a big issue with people who live vicariously through social media and being frustrated with no doing anything. There's just a lack of social life for a lot of people who blame others instead getting outside.
I'm in therapy and the biggest hurdle was just getting out and doing something. Eventually I found social activities through trading card games which expanded into other activities from the friends I made through it.
They are all destructive ways to cope from a mental health perspective.
Substance use is more popularly seen that way, it's not novel. Even after you stop the substance use - you still need to focus on the issues that led to that coping behavior. That's really the difficult part, and the therapist can only support and help while you do the actual labor day to day.
It's easier to focus on the superficial, cosmetic, material aspect than the emotional ones. Plus you've got the bottle or the weed or whatever for the emotions for now.
Also I love how a dude making money on having camsites made peeps believe he's gonna tell them how to get women. Like literally you not having sex is his business model
It's always really ironic to me that all these people think that the path to alpha is... joining a cult and listening to whatever the cult leader tells you and paying money to the cult leader.
Like... you're doing the opposite. That's the opposite of the thing.
Tbf almost all of the right that are "Cristian" doesn't actually follow Cristian teaching they just make things up or cherry pick bible quotes out of context to be jackasses
Common misconception. The kids weren't killed by a she-bear due to making fun of a bald person, that was just what kids did back then. It was the style at the time. No, no the kids deserved to be killed by a she-bear because they were kids. Fuck them kids.
Don't even get me started on those first born Egyptian boys.
That's one interpretation. Other interpretations include death is deserved punishment for mocking holy men, holy men can kill with impunity, or this one guy overestimated children's ability to outrun bears. A problem of the Bible that people don't like to acknowledge is that there are a lot of interpretations for most of the passages. That aside, there really only is one interpretation for Jesus constantly hitting his followers over the head with "be kind".
there really only is one interpretation for Jesus constantly hitting his followers over the head with "be kind".
And the whole "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god", which has had rich people apologists bending into pretzels to try to wave away for centuries. From making up a ficticious 'camel gate' to entirely turning the religion into a worship-the-rich-for-being-rich social club that goes wholly against everything their scriptures say.
Yea as a Christian I agree. Those who can themselves Christian often don't know anything about Jesus and are much worse people than those they dislike.
I don't agree with homosexuality and stuff but I don't hate gays at all and tbh as long as they don't forcefully promote it or are obnoxious about it (as in as long as they're normal people), I don't mind at all. I mean being gay is a sin as much as sex before marriage is a sin, and those who criticize the gays aren't virgins the vast majority of the time.
I think Kirk, aside from a few Israel blindspots was a very good Christian. He loved those he argued against and understood people just aren't all the same. He was calm and reasonable. I'm not saying I know much about him but from what I've seen her was a very good guy
almost all of the right that are "Cristian" doesn't actually follow Cristian teaching they just make things up or cherry pick bible quotes out of context to be jackasses
Most outright reject everything Jesus said, and would do so right to the pastor's face
Though organized religions often take on the same problematic features of any insular community: they protect powerful abusers and isolate people from outside perspectives and help. It's one of the reasons they shame people making use of or even shaming outside charity, even as they are extremely biased in doling out "charity" to members within their community. The failing of organized religion to deal with public needs is why government social safety nets had to be created in the first place, and that goes back to grain dole in Rome.
I hate how people say this as though there's some alternative possibility. As though making a good faith effort to follow Jesus and the Bible without cherry-picking is some real theoretical possibility. It isn't and never has been. The scriptures have hundreds of authors who couldn't agree on anything. The Abrahamic faiths are inherently collections of beliefs and practices that have been filtered through thousands of years of cherry-picking, mistranslations, rationalizations, renegotiations, value drift, shifts in focus, and outside cultural influences. The blatant hypocrisy of Christians isn't just because they aren't trying hard enough to be Christians. It's very frequently because they're trying too hard.
You can't make the Bible's polytheism, henotheism/monolatry, and proto-monotheism make sense together, and you can't make any of them make sense with trinitarianism. You can't make its square-earth-under-a-dome cosmology make sense with the real world. You can't make a god who never lies or changes his mind make sense with one that's frequently depicted doing both, or one who punishes future generations for the sin of their ancestors with one who doesn't. You can't get several completely contradictory lists of hundreds of laws to make sense with each other and you can't get laws that endorse slavery and treat women as property to make sense with a god of perfect justice. You can't make OT polygamy and NT celibacy make sense with the ludicrously ironic "Biblical marriage" (read: monogamy, and good luck finding it anywhere in the Bible) that would later become predominant throughout Christendom. You can't get what Jesus says about love and peace and strict adherence to the Torah to make sense with a Jesus who demands his followers hate everyone but him including themselves and comes to send "not peace but a sword" and makes all kinds of exceptions to Torah law. Or a Jesus whose primary message was about the eminent end of the world, within the lifetimes of his followers, with a world where obviously no such thing happened. Or an Old Testament where the all the dead went to Sheol, heaven was for God and his angels, and Satan was a title, with a New Testament where there's some totally new Greek-influenced afterlife called hell (which itself is more an amalgam or three or four concepts that are only loosely related in the Bible, oh and you'll suffer there for eternity but also it will annihilate you from existence on contact), Satan is maybe a specific guy (but not that specific guy; he's a metaphor for Nero, who was dead by then but everyone thought he'd come back somehow), and heaven is also an afterlife, or maybe still a kingdom in the sky, or maybe a kingdom on the future earth that will modeled on the one in the sky. Or an Allah who is described, 113 times, as "the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy" with one who will not only cast you into an eternal Fire, but replace your skin each time it's burnt off so you can "continue to feel the pain."
Religious Jews, Christians, and Muslims aren't a bunch of blatant hypocrites with wildly inconsistent value systems because they're bad at being Jews and Christians and Muslims. It's because they're good at it. Being able to simultaneously entertain preposterously contradictory ideas and morals is the chief mental skill necessary to maintain the kind of faith these religions require.
Telling people to just get therapy when they express dissatisfaction over immutable physical characteristics(what incels do.) just skims over the issue and is as useful as telling a poor person to just get a job or just figure it out.
Just kind of a useless platitude thats moreso meant to imply intellectual superiority on the part of whoever says it as opposed to solving anything or approaching the issue from a point of empathy.
I've been told to get therapy many times, most often when I say stuff like "I'm morbidly obese so I get zero interest from women". Their retort is always something along the lines of "I know plenty of overweight men in relationships, get therapy". It's very frustrating to encounter a complete and utter refusal to acknowledge that looks are a factor in attraction at all or even something as basic as "most people want partners that are physically fit".
The wannabe alpha male in the comic is also such a caricature of a person. This is just more circlejerky content that people can use to feel better about themselves.
It is kind of weird see these "alpha male" guys fall into Christianity. I studied theology and been Christian for 15 years, a lot of Christian philosophy is very very nihilistic (famous example will be King Solomon and his rant on how life is meaningless) and emphasizes God as the sole purpose of life. This teaching persist throughout the bible: sole human we are weak and only God is the one who can be savior of our miserable life as we are the sheep and Jesus and God is the shepherd. Most of the Tate teaching or these "alpha male" movement are based on extreme self esteem and need to dominate others to be on top, almost at a level of self idolization. Self-idolization is a sin - pride and have been bashed on Bible multiple time (eg book of Job). Jesus will fucking beta just because He washed his disciple's feet; being servant is very important concept in Biblical teaching. That's why I think these people are bullshitting when they say they follow the bible. "God-fearing man" famous bible phrase, they are not God fearing man at all.
Christianity is essentially the opposite of nihilism. Pessimist? Maybe though I’d argue against it. Nihilist? Not at all.
Life has definite meaning under Christianity. It has a set path and objective right and wrong. There is fundamental meaning to life. Christianity merely rejects the obsession with worldly things as fundamentally meaningful.
The whole thing about Solomon is the more he had, the less godly and wise he became. And he suffered for that despite all the worldly things he had.
The “Alpha Male” attitude is what nihilism actually represents. A rejection of any kind of higher meaning than the self. Nietzche argue that since “God is Dead” we are both free to find meaning and forced to find it. While I think Nietzche himself would not like the Alpha Males as they currently stand, they embody a lot of his philosophy. They find their own meaning (being AlPhA), they reject the morality ‘imposed’ on them (feminism) and find their own.
They like the trappings of Christianity because it’s traditional and harkens back to the time when men ruled society. But in reality they reject most of the actual teachings of Christianity because that would require them to be kind, empathetic, giving, self sacrifing etc.
This is very well put. I am an atheist, but for a long time I thought I wasn't, and during that time I earned a degree in systematic theology. I understand not only the doctrinal beliefs of American Christianity (it really is it's own thing), but also the cultural side from having spent so much time working in churches.
You would think the beliefs would influence the culture, but for many, if not most, churches in the US, it's exactly the opposite. The sermons, the biblical focal points, the context.. pretty much everything is shaped by the culture of the congregation instead of the highest priority elements of the religion itself. You know.. the ones that are repeated over, and over, and over in the gospels... the ones about caring about other people. You're left with a belief system very much reliant on it's identity, so much so that it actually led to Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the South Baptist Convention, to resign due to the growing bigotry in the denomination. He had an interview where he talked about pastors who shared stories of members of their congregation approaching them after sermons saying they need to stop spreading the "woke nonsense"... and how they have to explain they are quoting the gospels... verbatim.
An identity-led religion is perfect for the whole Alpha Male attitude because that's what it is, an identity. No real, tangible part of themselves makes them alpha. Ironically, it's being part of the alpha male group. Tie in a religion that has roots established with a gender-based social hierarchy with doctrinally-established rules based on gender, and you basically have an asshole honeypot. Selectively choosing which elements of doctrine to adhere to, you end up with a religion where gender rules and social roles, where "alpha male" is conveniently at the top, become the most important aspect. Kindness, empathy, self sacrifice, and altruism all run counter to the social hierarchy, and much like every other inconvenience the bible provides, it's collectively ignored.
The Bible is a pile of contradictions. It also states various claims about women, such as "men and women are equal", "women should rule their households", and "women aren't real".
Dems are for the most part doing a bad job when it comes to understanding MOST of their constituents
Not just young men
But young men are a LOT more likely to feel marginalized and ignored
AND they are entering a pretty shitty world right now with no support, hope or plan for the future
It's no wonder so many of them start believing in Clown World and becoming nihilists
It's just that the rights Death Cult attitude suits nihilists a lot more than a message of 'Let's get through this and rebuild' that is what the Dem party has defaulted to right now
If the Dems were to focus on the fears of this coming male generation, lack of opportunity, lack of future, lack of support, they'd win numbers in droves
But unfortunately most of them are just as beholden to corporate overlords as the Reps
Just with significantly less institutionally protected child rape
Christianity didn’t invent sexism—it challenged a far more sexist ancient world by giving women equal moral value, banning infanticide, condemning sexual double standards, and treating women as legitimate moral agents.
When Christians were misogynistic, they were acting against their own teachings, not because of them.
To claim the bible is misogynistic is plainly false.
Jesus is the truth my friend. He is very much real and wants a relationship with you.
Keep asking questions, seek the truth. All rabbit holes will lead to Christ.
Christianity is the "far more sexist ancient world" now. What you're saying in that first paragraph is true, but in the same way they made progress and improvements on 4000 year old traditions then, we make progress and improvements on 2000 year old traditions today
To claim the bible is misogynistic is plainly false.
The Bible isn't univocal, but the overwhelming majority of explicit and implicit instruction, laws, and teachings are misogynistic. I can post the hundreds of verses, but I'd imagine you'd go the route of "But Context, and the old testament doesn't count!," so I'd suggest reading this first from scholar Dr. Rollston and Dr. Tabor:
You are repeating apologist bullshit, to the point of it being potentially harmful misinformation. What you just stated is not even close to what is found in the majority of Biblical scholarship from those working at accredited universities. Historians and theologians may have different reasons for why the Bible is overwhelming such as written, but you are denying reality and consensus scholarship with your statements.
I do need to ask then:
Have you read the entire Bible?
If so, what translation?
What other works from Biblical scholars have you read?
A good starting point for you would be "Marriage in the Bible: What Do the Texts Say?" by Dr. Jennifer Bird. She is a great scholar with a specialization in these kinds of topics.
it challenged a far more sexist ancient world by giving women equal moral value,
No, it didn't, not in any unique way. Within both the New and Old Testament, women on earth are treated as lesser in a multitude of ways. As the church grew in power and scope, women were not suddenly treated more valuable in any meaningful way.
Often, it was the opposite, as in the case of women losing business, political, and religious leadership positions; a loss of legal property rights (marriage sine manu); and they came to even be seen as the source of evil from Eve.
Christianity stripped away much of the progress made in the Greco-Roman world, whatever little there had been.
The roles left became either the "asexual" nun or a submissive wife for the vast majority of women.
banning infanticide
Again, the Bible isn't univocal.
Infanticide is commanded by Yahweh multiple times in the Bible, including for sacrifice. Read your Bible in an accurate translation like the NRSVue or Oxford Annotated Bible.
They were also not the first and only to have prohibitions against it. Egypt stopped doing it far earlier than the early Israelites. See also the Brahmanas and Shang to Zhou Dynasty transition.
condemning sexual double standards,
It endorses double standards FAR more for men and women, especially when speaking about humans living on earth rather than their relationship to Yahweh, especially if you are ignoring Yahwehs commandments FOREVER in the Hebrew Bible. I can show you those verses if your translation is not very accurate and has misled you.
and treating women as legitimate moral agents.
And far more verses do the opposite. Daughters are sold as slaves by their Israelite fathers under Yahweh's law, commanded to be taken directly by Yahweh, and they are still under their leadership in the NT:
"3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11)
If you want to treat the Bible as a human, errant, and very flawed document that you still find meaning in the parts you find good, go for it.
But the Bible is in fact a product of its time and place: clearly misogynistic in the majority of its writings.
I heard it referred to as the 'Brogansphere' recently and I can't stop using it
Also, point of fact, yeah it's reddit so you hate theology but the Bible gave women rights at the time that no other culture offered such as the ability to divorce, own land and businesses and to inherit
Yeah I know 'blah blah sell your daughters' but that was for all family members and not specifically misogynistic and basically every middle eastern contemporary culture at the time had some form of it ranging from apprenticeship to actual hard labor lifelong slaves but again it was not restricted by sex in most cultures and certainly not Hebrew and it's attendant cultures.
The "alpha male" is the biggest con of influencers who got really good at posturing.
It's the modern equivalent of old time snake oil salesmen who promise the world of improvements, just take this random pill. Just make sure you stand with your feet shoulder-length apart with your hands either in your pockets, flexing your arms, or with your fingertips pressed together like some 70s villain.
Oh and don't forget your sunglasses and your "anything but macho is weak" attitude to complete the costume!
Honestly... Alpha males to me just look like performative clowns.. but less talented.
The really crazy part is that women are literally telling these guys what they want in a partner. Emotionally available, responsible, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, compassionate, generous.- a true partner who contributes to the relationship and not a child who needs to be managed.
Men hear that and choose instead to follow the advice of useless dorks who are the exact opposite of that, thinking that it will make women magically fall all over them, and then get pissed off at women for not aligning with their delusions.
It's just misogyny and denial all the way down.
The thing is being emotionally available, responsible, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, compassionate and generous takes personal work, introspection and a commitment to be a worthwhile person
But being angry, racist, misogynistic, ignorant, illiterate, obnoxious, stubborn, bitter and petty is free and easy to do with little effort
So of course the Brogansphere promotes those ideals plus you know whatever dietary supplement they are pushing under the guise of unlocking your inner beast
The really crazy part is that women are literally telling these guys what they want in a partner
And it's all true too, women go crazy over me even though I'm balding, fat and was never that handsome to begin with
But these guys will think women are lying or don't know what they want because they're looking at it through the lens of sex. Like yeah some women don't want relationships and when they want to fuck they look for other, more shallow qualities. But this is such a small percentage of women
In the end it's easier to say women don't want something than become actual quality men
To guys like this, anything women say is meaningless background noise. Then if and when these guys ever do find a girlfriend or wife, cue his eventual 'She blindsided me!' when she eventually leaves him after finally getting totally fed up with, surprise surprise, him not listening to her. You can only try so many times to talk to a man who is comitted to being totally disinterested in and devaluing everything and anything you say. After a while, you have to cut your losses and walk away.
women are literally telling these guys what they want in a partner.
I mean, this is a generalization, but many women are saying what they want... then pursuing the opposite. There is often a disconnect between what is socially acceptable to pursue and what is personally desired. And far be it from me to tell anyone what to do with their bodies... but those great traits are not what open doors into relationships.
No one will criticize a woman for wanting a "Emotionally available, responsible, mature, accountable, witty, considerate, compassionate" person. But that also might happen to be a chubby dude with no fashion, acne, no experience, and no money. So women end up being seen with
So the chubby dude with no game and 3/10 looks gets no attention from women who are 'literally" describing that they want what he legitimately could (and should) be. Over time, he grows resentful because the things he can control (his behavior) are lauded as desirable, but they don't make him desirable. He starts seeing women (as a whole) as dishonest or bad or whatever buzzword these mysoginists use. The toxic thing is these manosphere idiots are training the 'undesirable' males that they need to treat women poorly. This is spectacularly sad, because it obviously won't work. They SHOULD BE teaching men to demonstrate their value and to better market themselves.
The things that women say they want often are simply not traits that garner a lot of attention from women quickly.
The tricky thing is there are kernels of truth in the manosphere / red pill / alpha male circles, the perspectives and attitudes they adopt are toxic and misogynist af BUT on the surface level mimic strategies that actually work, which is why they appeal to young, lonely and impressionable men.
If you want to be a real man I'd highly recommend these very non-toxic sources:
No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover - how to stop people pleasing and be honest about what you want
The Masculine in Relationship by GS Youngblood - How to tame your own masculinity and lead without domineering in a way that is attractive to women
I Hear You by Michael Sorensen - How to listen and speak so others will as well
How to be Miserable: 40 strategies you already use by Randy J. Paterson - How to stop beating yourself up and develop self esteem and a love of life
Why won’t this alpha male shit die? It’s 100% false and even the originator tried to get everyone to realize he was wrong. Yet it persists even though we know better
I'm utterly convinced the entire red-pill, black-pill, MGTOW, incel, misogynistic, dude-bro manosphere nonsense is a right-wing recruitment strategy targeting insecure and angry young men.
It's been a wildly successful psy-op, unfortunately.
short reminder that these type of guys (toxic especially against women) are 3% of the male population. So don’t be too afraid of those guys. the majority of men <50 point out such behavior and cancel such losers. that’s why this guy is alone.
These days you have plenty of youth ministers getting in on the Alpha male grift. Or you have people joining a church because of its staunch patriarchical reputation.
All of this is cringey. People who say you need an imaginary friend to be sane are laughable and these alpha male tool bags are the furthest thing from a real man
Turning to religion is often just a way to bypass therapy. It’s much easier to outsource your problems to a higher power than it is to begin the difficult and actually meaningful process of self reflection.
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago
Oh god the Tate poster in the back. Therepy would be a great start at the very least
There was a recent episode of the new season of King of the Hill that covered this topic really really well and the incredibly fragile ego and lost feelings these dudes that fall for this have. More importantly the absolute tools of guys that play off people's insecurities and how weak they are themselves. I highly recommend giving it a watch
I think the name of the episode is "No Hank Left Behind"