The Rise of Vitalism and the Failure of ConInc Masculinity

"The bull does not suffer the fly on his horns."

– Latin Maxim

Over the last few years, I’ve watched Conservative Inc. attempt — and fail — to combat the growing appeal of vitalism. Large numbers of young men continue to gravitate toward figures like Andrew Tate and Bronze Age Pervert (BAP). The reasons for this trend are straightforward: these young men have grown up in a world devoid of strong, masculine influence. A starving man will eat anything.

Their teachers are women, their bosses are women, and increasingly, their political leaders are women. From the moment they step inside a school, masculine tendencies are suppressed, if not outright condemned. Depending on their home environment, this emasculation may begin even earlier. It’s no wonder that lacking genuine masculine guidance, they seek refuge in figures who promise to restore the very essence of manhood that society stifles.

Andrew Tate and Bronze Age Pervert appeal to this hunger. They tell young men to embrace their masculinity, to rise above the feminized world they’ve inherited, and to fight back. They speak directly to the core frustrations of these young men in a language of confidence, aggression, and defiance.

Conservative Inc.’s response, by contrast, has been limp-wristed at best. Early attempts to compete with the vitalist aesthetic resulted in superficial displays — podcast studios decked out in mahogany, cigars clamped between bearded jaws, all wrapped in faux-masculine posturing. While this illusion of ruggedness had some impact, it was never enough.

There are many expressions of masculinity. Not every man is destined to be Rambo. Some are builders, some are thinkers, and some are spiritual guides. While I believe all men should cultivate physical strength, it’s not every man’s calling to be a warrior. However, a certain subset of young men is drawn to raw, aggressive, hyper-masculine ideals.

For these young men, vitalism — with its unapologetically brash and take-no-prisoners ethos — is extremely seductive. They admire the loud, aggressive energy that refuses to bend. Conservative Inc. fails to understand these men. Their tone-deaf attempts to reach them either fall on deaf ears or provoke ridicule.

Figures like Matt Walsh and Joel Berry respond by wagging fingers and issuing stern admonishments. They scold these men as hedonistic, sinful, or degenerate. And to what end? The vitalist young man, already conditioned to resent moralistic lecturing, sees Walsh and Berry as no different from the schoolmarms and authority figures who’ve belittled his masculinity since childhood.

This is what Walsh and Berry fail to grasp: they are perceived as weak by the vitalist young man. At best, they resemble the sitcom dad — docile, domesticated, and content to live a quiet life in the suburbs. The truth of their character doesn’t matter. What matters is perception. The vitalist young man seeks adventure, risk, and conquest. He craves strength and boldness, and as a result, he is unwilling — even unable — to take advice from anyone he views as weak.

Again, this isn’t to say Walsh and Berry are weak. Perhaps they aren’t. But to this specific type of young man, they will always be seen that way.

Not every young man looks to Andrew Tate as a role model, but those who do are drawn to him because he projects strength. To reach these men, you must appear strong. You cannot turn their gaze from a Bugatti by offering them a minivan.

Instead of dismissing these men, we should recognize the underlying desires driving them. A generation of young men yearns for strength, risk, and purpose. They want mentors who can teach them to harness their masculine energy, not suppress it. Conservative Inc. is staffed by company men, and company men are not vitalist men. What we need are men who, like Teddy Roosevelt, combined moral discipline with rugged action.

If you want to turn men away from Tate or BAP, offer them a vision of manhood that is unapologetically strong and rightly ordered — one that inspires men to channel their raw power toward building, defending, and leading with purpose. Only then can we turn the tide and win back the allegiance of these disillusioned men.

Without this shift, the next generation will be left to learn from those who exploit their frustrations, rather than guide them toward fulfillment.

Again, you cannot sell a minivan to a man looking for a Bugatti.

-TJS