The Fight Club Option

The first time I watched Fight Club I was sixteen. I enjoyed the film so much that I purchased the book and burned through it in a week. Many of its themes spoke to me even at such a young age. The target demographic was men ages 25-40 working corporate jobs in urban centers; the anger, apathy, and disappointment were explicitly Gen-X. Despite my age, it spoke to me, in an increasingly industrialized and gynocentric society overt expressions of masculinity were dying or being actively suppressed Fight Club repudiated those ideas.

As a sixteen-year-old Fight Club was just cool, at thirty-four Fight Club seems to be the canary in the coal mine; a cry for help from a generation starved of genuine masculine pursuits, men reduced to bare knuckle fighting in basements, trying to feel alive in an increasingly inorganic world.

Despite the fact that both the film and the book inspired many real life fight clubs to form, they failed to stop the erosion of contemporary masculinity. Instead of facilitating a masculine revival, it became commercialized (a fate worse than death for a film that mocked such a thing) and in doing so its core message was lost.

In the years following its release the situation for young males has only grown progressively worse. In Fight Club the lack of purpose, meaning, and fraternity manifested as anger which was channeled into mutual combat and later domestic terrorism aimed at the financial sector. All the anger and resentment toward the system was released with violent consequences. Those negative feelings toward society have not gone away, instead they have been placated and redirected. For the current generation of young men, the world has grown increasingly inorganic, debit slavery has only increased, masculinity is openly seen as toxic and now videogames and pornography are new variables that are ruining young men. They have supplemented the basic evolutionary incentives that would drive young men toward action and demoralized them to a degree that I would suggest is catastrophic.

Young men no longer need to actualize their potential in the real world. Men are driven at a base level by goal accomplishment. Its why when George Mallory was asked “Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?” he said, “Because it’s there”. Video games satisfy this desire by offering the same psychological reward, the brain does not know the difference between digital trophies and real-world accolades. Games are designed specifically to be addicting, the use of micro transactions and digital rewards draws boys in like a moth to a flame. Boys become accustomed to receiving the psychological rewarded with minimal effort from a young age; the result is men who will quit at the first sign of difficulty, men who will avoid effort because it is alien to them. In the end they will be weak and effeminate, and should they be dissatisfied by who they are they can retreat into a digital space where they can hide from the truth.

There is one reason goal accomplishment is such a strong driving force, and that is sex. Plain and simple men are driven by sex and the desire to pass on their genes. Women are attracted to high status men and for men accomplishing goals results in higher status ergo goal accomplishment equals sex. You don’t have to be a psychologist to see this just watch a group of ten-year-old boys in the presence of a female they find attractive. They are too young to understand why but they will still attempt to impress her and signal their superiority to over the other boys.

Pornography like video games artificially satisfies the male drive for sex. Again, the brain does not recognize the difference between sex with a woman and porn, it simply records a physiological response as satiated. Men no longer need to go out “earn” a wife they simply need access to the internet. In addition, no woman can compete with porn on a base level, porn can simulate any woman, any act, and desire with minimal effort. J.D. Unwin highlights the role of sex in the collapse of societies in Sex and Culture. He points out that across history there is a correlation between access to sex and cultural achievement. Cultures with enforced monogamy that place a value on virginity prior to marriage see that energy channeled into cultural achievement. Once “sexual liberation” occurs the culture stagnates, and achievement slows down dramatically. Just like video games, porn conditions men to satisfy their desires digitally and to avoid the difficulty of the real world. Why risk the shame of rejection when asking a girl out when the computer never says no?

As a side note I won’t touch on the psychological damage caused by porn (increased violence toward women, transgenderism, homosexuality etc.) for the sake of brevity; just know that it has far reaching consequences and many of the social issues of our time are exasperated by access to porn.

So, as we can see two of the major issues hurting men today are porn and video games. These have detrimental effects on the development of men. These problems will only grow with popularity virtual reality and the metaverse. We will soon see the line between reality and fantasy dissolve. We are well on our way toward what Jean Baudrillard called “hyper reality” in his 1983 book Simulacra and Simulation where he warns that soon it won’t matter what is real and what is not. Shortly the power of these tools over young men will increase exponentially.

I have no issue with video games insofar as they are used in moderation, and they are understood as potentially harmful. A strict limit to video game usage should be implemented, Video games are analogous to dessert treat we should treat as such. They ought to be monitored and evaluated on a case-by-case basis, given the recent increase in political ideology being injected into them and the subject matter they entail. That being said video games are not in and of themselves negative or evil they are simply neutral it is their potential for abuse that you should be cautious of.

Porn on the other hand is an intrinsic evil and should be eradicated. It damages the psyche of young men and women, it is a prime driver in human trafficking, it abuses young women, and it poisons the soul of all involved. Why our politicians have not tried to stop it raises many questions. From pragmatic angle we should consider that history is often driven by young men who are fed up with the system. Many empires have fallen to the hands of idle young men who feel spit upon by their rulers. Any tool that prevents young men from acting on their dissatisfaction would be welcomed and even promoted by those in charge. E. Michael Jones has written at length about sex as a tool for control in Libido dominandi: sexual liberation and political control. Where he argues that sexual liberation is a tool for controlling and pacifying a populace. I don’t believe it is a stretch to assume that our leaders may see porn in the same light.

So, what is the solution?

Well…Fight Club was on to something, men need fraternal comradery they need to actualize their potential, they need an outlet for their aggression. It would be far better for men to meet in a basement and fight then to spend their days living in a digital world. We cannot begin to move toward action if our young men are wasting their lives watching porn and play digital hero. We must cast those things aside. The drive toward greatness exists in every young man and can be actualized given the proper incentive. No amount of digital dopamine will ever erase this potential. It will be reignited! Start a fight club, a book club, hit the gym, learn garden, make something with your own two hands. Stop watching football and drinking beer, stop buying prepackaged manhood and be something. Do not let the bread and circus distract you from what you could be. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself “would my ancestors be proud of me?”, your forefathers didn’t cross oceans, fight hostile forces, or brave the great unknown so you could stare at naked girls on the internet. If one man with a typewriter can change the world, then you and a couple of friends can at least change your community.

-TJS

Books mentioned

1)      Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard

2)      Sex and Culture by JD Unwin

3)    Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control by E Michael Jones