It seems as though Mandy Marcotte, in general, hates men. Her latest, courtesy of Salon, states that women are blameless for men’s loneliness. Their loneliness is all the fault of stinking Capitalism.

Why? Well, AI sexbots. Online gambling. The manosphere in general. Pile this on with the fact that an increased percentage of young men 18-29 years old, voted for Trump this time around.

OpenAI continues to burn money without much promise that they’ll find legitimate pathways to profitability any time soon. But there is one way to get people, especially men, to pay for expensive subscriptions to ChatGPT: Get them so addicted to their imaginary girlfriends that they’re willing to dish out thousands to keep the experience going.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

This is how low of an opinion this delusional woman has of young men. They are so addicted to their AI “girlfriends” that they are incapable of human interaction with a real woman. Or, is she just paranoid?

That may sound paranoid, but the grim truth is that this scenario reflects an alarming trend online: An increasing number of influencers, crypto grifters, ‘pick-up artists’ and gambling websites have come to realize that male isolation creates incredible profit opportunities. It’s not just that they are making money off male loneliness. In many cases, capitalist predators are incentivizing young men to abandon the flesh-and-blood world in favor of staying online.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Let’s put a pin in the above for a second. Moving on, Marcotte says men, themselves are responsible for this:

Acknowledging we have a male loneliness crisis is treacherous business. Many dispute there is such an epidemic. Others scoff at the idea that this is a problem worth caring about, especially when women still suffer from more serious problems due to persistent inequality. Others may acknowledge male loneliness as a serious issue, but then insist it’s self-inflicted — a failure of men to take personal responsibility.

All these responses may seem cold or shortsighted. After all, even if one doesn’t care about men’s loneliness in itself, there can be little doubt that it’s driving them into destructive behaviors — such as embracing fascism — that have negative impacts on everyone.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

See, guys? All YOUR fault. YOU voted for Donald Trump. YOU embraced fascism. It’s YOUR fault that you are now lonely. No woman in their right mind would want to date a guy who cast their vote red on a ticket. After all, they’ve been mindlessly listening to the news, their high school teachers, their college professors and scrolling TikTok and Instagram who spoon-feed them their political opinions along with the latest fashion advice. But yeah, it’s all the guys’ fault. I mean, it has nothing to do with this…like, at all:

Last week, Ross Douthat of the New York Times hosted a pair of conservative female writers to argue that allowing women into the workplace drove men out and deprived them of meaning and connection. The #MeToo movement is blamed for allegedly making men too scared to date and inducing self-loathing. And, of course, women are endlessly scolded for refusing to marry men for reasons their critics deem unacceptable, such as expecting a baseline level of respect.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

A baseline level of respect comes from having a baseline level of respect for the smallest, most defenseless of human lives, Amanda. Some of these young women don’t even have this. As a parent to an almost 20 year-old male who is on a college campus, I would beg to differ with Mandy’s “baseline level of respect” theory. In fact, it did not take my son long to realize that hookup culture among young women is a very real thing. Respect is earned. Respect is a two-way street. This is also something that young women do not realize and it is tragically sad. Pile onto this their expectations of “Prince Charming”. They want chivalry and a “gentleman”. They go through the motions with formals and date parties with the frat brothers, but still want to go to a football game, sloppy drunk, with half of their asses hanging out. They want loyalty but want to string guys along, leaving a well-meaning young man’s message “On Delivered“, which, I learned, is worse than being “Read”.

The explosion of podcasters and social media influencers dubbed the ‘manosphere’ has received a lot of attention in recent years, in no small part because it helped push young men toward voting for Donald Trump in 2024. It’s a diffuse category, to be certain, encompassing everyone from comedians like Joe Rogan and Theo Von to overtly nasty misogynists like the ‘Fresh & Fit’ podcast. Across the board, however, these manosphere guys promote an anti-social view of masculinity that just so happens to make them a lot of money. Some sell supplements. Some sell online ‘courses.’ Some simply sell their viewers to advertisers. All market themselves with the implicit promise that they’re helping men improve their lives. But instead they sell a view of masculinity that is cut off from emotions, valorizes ‘hustle’ over having a well-balanced social life and encourages staying at home instead of taking the risk of getting out in the world to meet more people.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Remember when I promised to circle back to male isolation? Well, here’s is where I lift the pin. My son was a COVID kid. As on only child, he was left to manage his studies while at home and my husband and I worked. He was in 8th and 9th grades at the time. That isolation, that loneliness, was brought on by the true FASCISTS. The ones who said if you didn’t wear a mask and cover your damn face, that you were going to kill someone. The ones who kept schools, sports and social activities locked down. The ones who suggested to children-young men and women alike-to question their identities. No wonder these kids are relationally challenged! As mentioned before, my kid weathered that storm and for that, I am grateful. He locked in, he studied, he became fascinated with medicine and anatomy and took the extra time to work out and get his driver’s license. He made lemonade out of lemons.

Now, my son is a smart and (I may be a bit biased) good-looking guy. He wants to, and needs to get into a graduate program for his chosen profession. He works out regularly and, admittedly, looks like a “bro”. He talks candidly to me and admits college life can sometimes get a bit lonely but after going to his second, consecutive party on “Halloweekend”, he walked out of the house after 10 minutes. Why? Because there was no real connection. Because it was a bunch of young people, like himself, standing around, pumping themselves full of alcohol and looking to hook up by the end of the night. He mentioned to me that he hates the way one of the guys he knows treats and regards women. HE wants more than this. Sadly, it’s not there. His outlook right now? He’d rather be focused on himself and his future than waste his time trying to win the heart and approval of a female who “wants someone a little bit taller”, who will wait hours to reply to his messages or will dump him for the next best thing. He’d rather sit in his apartment and get ahead on classwork than be some girl’s revenge conquest (true story).

Amanda Marcotte wants to blame this phenomenon on Trump and Capitalism. I would say, for some men, this is self-preservation at this point in the game. This is their response to ultra-liberal idealism that made way for one hell of a confused group of kids. These poor, young woman are lonely, too, but manifesting that loneliness in other destructive ways.

So, forgive me when I say Ms. Marcotte, once again, gets this DEAD WRONG. And, because I’m a bit of a Yenta Mom-for any readers out there who have a smart, beautiful young woman who is tired of the lies being fed to her generation and the games being played, I know of just the guy for you. They’re out there.

Photo Credit: Original Arttwork by VG, Darleen Click