Leave it to Amanda Marcotte at Salon to make the most outlandish of claims. Her latest? Clavicular is the picture-and real danger of MAGA manhood.

To be completely honest here, I did not know who the hell Clavicular (real name Braden Peters) was. Basically, Clavicular is the younger version of manosphere Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes. He gained fame by “looksmaxxing”. What is “looksmaxxing”, you ask? Basically, for guys, looksmaxxing is the “art” of improving one’s appearance to appear attractive to women.

By that definition, I have an almost 21 year-old who engages in this behavior. But he, even thinks Clavicular is, he quotes, a “toxic dumbass”. Young Braden (Clavicular) began dosing testosterone, fat dissolvers and steroids at 15. He took to smoking meth to curb his appetite, placed weights on specific areas to enlarge his penis and, yes, smashed his freaking face with a hammer to make his bones grow back sharper.

Amanda Marcotte has clumped Clavicular in with all MAGA men. More specifically, she has categorized him as a MAGA man because of his most recent rape allegations. The manosphere has come forward defending Clavicular. In Marcotte’s world, this is MAGA defending rapists and this is ALL MAGA MEN.

MAGA hysteria over “cancel culture” has long provided an excuse to recast bigots as free speech martyrs on the specious grounds that being criticized for saying ugly things is a violation of their First Amendment rights. This was always pretzel logic, but the halos granted to the canceled by right-wingers has expanded beyond those who are mad because people yelled at them on social media. Actual crimes, especially violence against women, are now being excused and justified by redefining perpetrators as victims of cancel culture. As long as what you do makes progressives and feminists angry, it appears, there is no limit to how some on the right will protect and even canonize you. “-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Marcotte drones one to discuss the manosphere, where she blurts out Ben Shapiro’s name. Shapiro, has always been a staunch critic of Clavicular, Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate, and all others of manosphere fame.

Again, the guy (Clavicular/Peters) is a toxic dumbass. And, I have no doubt in my mind that the young man is a bit delusional and, capable of rape. But, the picture of MAGA manhood? Come on now, Mandy.

Marcotte’s assumptions and type-casting are equally as delusional as Clavicular’s notion of placing weights in strategic areas giving him a 14-inch-long phallus. Yes, Clavicular brought a 17 year-old girl back to Mommy and Daddy’s Cape Cod mansion. They drank. Things went too far and now, here he is. Accused of rape. I am not disputing that he did it or excusing his actions. But if we want to talk MAGA men, Clavicular, once upon a time called JD Vance a “subhuman”.

Marcotte does not back down in her claims, however:

In fact, there is a direct line between misogynist rhetoric and violence against women. Men who listen to and repeat the idea that women exist to serve them — and should be punished if they reject that duty — are often likely to attempt to enforce that belief with violence. Degrading language aimed at women online often becomes the justification for vile behavior toward them in the real world. Creating social accountability for men who say misogynist things isn’t about feminists being overly sensitive; it’s about preventing those words from turning to action.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Misogynist rhetoric? Has Marcotte ever listened to rap and hip hop? (Many creators in this genre are well-known Democrats.) And, when women refer to their parts as a “WAP” and choose to make their “bits” a “Bootylicious” subject of song, is this self-inflicted misogyny or “empowerment”. Where is the woman’s social accountability for saying misogynistic things about themselves? Or putting themselves out there on social media for all to ogle. Where is the woman’s accountability for preventing those words from turning into action? Where are their mothers, their fathers warning them about the dangers of being online? Of going to an older boy’s home and drinking while his parents aren’t home?

Clavicular, as irrelevant as we want to make him, opens the door on our culture of young people. This is more nuanced than Marcotte’s “it’s all MAGA men’s fault”, because, Clavicular is not “all MAGA men”. Clavicular is, beyond a doubt, a douche. He is the extreme version of an insecure young man who has spiraled out of control. He is NOT the epitome of a conservative young man. Not all young men who work on themselves and their physiques in the gym are pill-popping, ‘roid-raging rapists. Some of them want to live in a world where they feel confident, healthy and have equally healthy relationships with women who are not so focused on the superficial. This concept, as simple as it is, is hard for young people. It was hard for us and, in the current landscape of social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, it is increasingly more difficult to separate truth from fiction.

Bigoted chatter online isn’t just trolling or trying to get a rise out of liberals. It’s dehumanizing actual people, and it makes violence against them easier to justify. By all accounts, Clavicular was enjoying his rising fame, engaging in laudatory interviews in popular venues like Barstool Sports and the ‘All In’ podcast, outlet that treated his misogyny as mere theatrics. The rape charges against him should be a reminder to us all: Sometimes people actually act on their beliefs.”-Amanda Marcotte, Salon

Yeah, Amanda. Now try replacing some of your words here. Bigoted chatter online isn’t just trolling or trying to get a rise out of liberals. It’s dehumanizing actual people, and it makes violence against them easier to justify. And, “sometimes people act on their beliefs.” Enter Tyler Robinson. You see, in Salon-land, he was not the “bigot”. He was claiming hate “could not be negotiated”.

Keep fanning that flame, Amanda.

Photo Credit: Fort Lauderdale Sheriff’s Office or Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons/Cropped