Inside the Manosphere: Why Young Men Are Turning to Right-Wing Podcasts.
Young American men have once again proved that they are no different from every generation of men that came before. There has been no break from the trend of voting patterns, as many young adult males have found themselves indoctrinated by racist, transphobic, and misogynist discourse. However, this comes from no traditional media form, instead emerging from something completely unexpected: the podcast.
Podcasts have become far more than self-indulgent ramblings in recent years. Indeed, the Spotify podcast charts in the US are dominated by right-wing influencers, who use podcasting to promote their harmful views and promote Trump’s campaign in the run-up to the election.
Scrolling through the podcast charts to research this article was a depressing task. The top ten are dominated by poisonous right-wing figures: Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Theo Von- the nightmarish list goes on.
Dominating the charts worldwide, however, is ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’. Comedian turned mega-podcaster, Rogan prides himself on his genuine curiosity, asking his accolade of suspiciously right-wing guests the ‘difficult’ questions, whilst never actually challenging their ideas. Recent guests have included Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and JD Vance, amongst other conservative influencers. One only has to scroll through the list before being confronted with a jump scare- whether they be a billionaire tech mogul or a right-wing politician.
Joe Rogan is only one amongst many influencers and podcasters who helped to influence Gen Z’s males in their voting habits. The Paul brothers are two key members of the influencer Manosphere, both endorsing Trump to their 56 million followers and helping to fuel the resurgence of toxic masculinity that is plaguing young men.
By tapping into this, influencers and podcasters can manipulate their young viewers into holding extremist and bigoted beliefs. Their extreme popularity can be attributed to the fact that men often feel left behind in modern-day politics. As society progresses and equality is achieved, young men can feel neglected, particularly as traditional roles are abandoned.
Thus, when someone really speaks to young men, through forms of media familiar to them, and tells them who to blame- women, immigrants, trans people- it allows them to feel understood and accepted. They are once more the center of the conversation.
Of course, the plight of young men across the globe is caused by capitalism and patriarchy. These things will never be criticised by the likes of the Paul brothers and Elon Musk, however, as they benefit from the very systems making their young audiences so resentful. As distrust of the centre-left traditional media grows, alternative right-wing podcasters and influencers are a safe-haven for those who feel abandoned by the likes of the coastal elites at the New York Times. And with billionaires continuing to fund right-wing content creators to make these alternative media formats, there seems to be no end to the popularity of the right-wing podcast.
Words by Daisy Morrow
Cover Image Credit: Credit www.quotecatalog.com
