Appropriation Risks and Political Drift

Discussion of how mythopoetic aesthetics get co-opted, becoming apolitical or drifting rightward as movements scale.

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Episode notes

New Yorker writer Charles Bethea recently decided to attend men’s retreats—well, at least those who would admit him. His expose on the modern men’s movement got us thinking about what’s happening over those very expensive three-day weekends, as well as the inspiration behind these groups dating back to the seventies. And even how a movement tracing back to the work of Robert Bly was co-opted by the right-wing “alpha male” crowd.

Today we discuss Bethea’s article in the context of modern men’s groups: where they come from, what function they serve, and what they might get wrong…and horribly wrong.

Show Notes

The Camps Promising to Turn You—or Your Son—Into an Alpha Male

The ‘alpha male’ myth, debunked

Inside the high-priced retreats promising to help men reclaim their masculinity

Brief: Galloway and the Mooch — The Lost Boys of Capitalism (Pt 1)

Scott Galloway and Anthony Scaramucci, Lost Boys podcast

Of Boys and Men

A Statistical Book Review for 'Of Boys and Men'

How a White Nationalist Club Thought It Found Safe Haven in a Montreal Gym

The Fallout from Reporting on White Nationalism in Canada

Active Clubs Are White Supremacy's New, Dangerous Frontier

White Nationalist 'Active Clubs' Are Who 'Proud Boys Wanted to Be'