The New York Times recently reported on a man named Hiroyuki Nishimura who has become a “famous voice for disenchanted Japanese youth.” Nishimura has “accumulated millions of followers on social media” and was voted the first choice for prime minister among Japanese high school students. Nishimura owns 4chan, one of the nastiest sites on the internet, a toxic place that feeds the delusions of mass shooters. In Japan, the Times tells us, Nishimura doesn’t talk much about his ownership of 4chan. Instead, he is known for publicly encouraging people to be more sociopathic:
In some two dozen books and hundreds of magazine columns, he has encouraged his fans to be more selfish, to stop caring what other people think, to work less, and to game the system by obeying the letter of the law while they mock his spirit. Initially famous for his role in building two of Japan’s most popular websites, he has since become a national anti-hero raising a giant finger to society at large, expressing his many contrary views in the most public way. and no apologies possible… His near-total invulnerability to shame is something of a superpower in Japan, where acute fear of social reproach is often used as a control tool, and has been a major factor in his success. “I think about my current and future choices without reference to morality, then I act,” he said in a 2007 interview in Spa, a Japanese magazine. “Normal people have morals, so they’d probably say thinking like mine is weird.”
Yeah, they’d probably say it’s “weird.” Actually, they could go further and say that the more people think “without reference to morals”, the worse off we all are, since we all have to live in a society of traitors, exploiters and liars instead of a community. where people show compassion and decency. As much as you may agree with certain aspects of Nishimura’s philosophy (work less, circumvent the law) and think that the expectations of social conformity can be stifling, being proudly independent is entirely different from rejecting morality itself. Nishimura’s apparent popularity among Japanese teenagers is not an encouraging sign.
Just as troubling is the popularity of a man named Andrew Tate, an influencer who brags about his misogyny (and who has been accused of rape, abuse and even human trafficking). In the words of a Guardian profile from last year, “in the style of a self-help guru, offering his mostly male fans a recipe for making money, attracting girls and ‘escape the Matrix’ , Tate has gone in a matter of months from near obscurity to one of the most talked about people in the world.” He truly seems like one of the most disgusting men out there and promotes a bizarre conspiratorial worldview by telling his followers that they are living in “The Matrix.” (Greta Thunberg recently humiliated Tate online by telling him, correctly, that he could reach her at her email address “[email protected]”)
One interesting thing about sociopathic influencers is that while they develop large fan bases, because they are sociopaths they often steal from their followers, and the goodwill of followers makes it easier to take advantage of them. Tate runs a get-rich-quick scheme called “Hubs University,” which charges $49.99 a month and combines false promises of wealth with messages that canceling your monthly payment is shameful and losing money. In excellent exposure, YouTube scam detective Coffeezilla showed how happy Tate is to squeeze as much money as possible out of his legions of fans, without giving them anything in return. (Coffeezilla also recently exposed a similar attempt to take advantage of fans by YouTuber and professional wrestler Logan Paul, another influencer whose appeal apparently is that he allows young men to feel great about living vicariously through him.)
We live in the age of bullshit, and we are surrounded by shameless hucksters trying to pass off nonsense as ideas or obvious scams as world-changing innovations. But just as worrisome, there are those who try to present not caring about other people as cool or subversive. This is part of the Donald Trump brand: he’s not a loser and he doesn’t care if his climate policies burn the planet. Trump bragged that when he wanted to touch a woman, he would just grab her, whether he liked it or not. Instead of being horrified by this, tens of millions of people voted for Trump for office.
Figures like Trump, Tate and Nishimura achieve success in part by being deliberately loud. Part of the appeal of “anti-wake” politics is that it is portrayed as subversive and anti-establishment. “Taking ownership of freedoms” by deliberately doing things that upset people has become a central part of right-wing messaging. They take great joy in producing an angry response. Therefore, Thunberg’s approach to Tate’s provocations was the correct one. When she bragged about the carbon emissions produced by her many cars, she didn’t get angry, but did point out that it seemed like he was desperate to assert her masculinity. Thunberg did something important, which is to make those who try to look cool and subversive look foolish and obnoxious.
It is very important to find ways to mock and undermine those who present bullying and narcissism as funny. There will always be a market for the message: “You don’t have to worry about other people, just think about yourself and your interests.” This is why Ayn Rand’s books have developed such a cult following. The message on the left is not so obviously attractive: “Sorry, caring about other people is not optional.” I think what we can do is give inspiring examples of people whose lives were meaningful precisely because they dedicated themselves to serving the needs of others. There is no shortage of heroic historical leftists to admire. (I have written appreciations in the last year of Barbara Ehrenreich and Martin Luther King Jr., for example.) And when I see Thunberg being dragged off by the police as she tries to save the world, I think: that’s the person I aspire to be, not some influential jerk who has nothing to offer the world except photos of her fancy cars.
Environmentalism has never been particularly cool, but I think if we’re going to counter the influence of those who present selfishness as fun, we need to offer heroic alternative narratives about the path to the good life. Part of the reason horrible men like Trump and Tate gain a following is that they offer some opportunity for fulfillment and success. It’s a hollow illusion, because these men are con artists who are only in it for themselves. But we need to combine debunking their nonsense with presenting an alternative way to live your life that is more meaningful and fun.
Leftists are also the ones who care about the real problems that make people’s lives worse and the ones who offer viable solutions. As average Americans struggle with inflation and a cost-of-living crisis, no universal paid sick leave, mass death from a pandemic that we’re told is “over” but clearly isn’t over, lack of universal health coverage , impending student debt payments, police killings, and endless war, we have to remember that all of those things we face on a daily basis don’t have to exist at all. In the leftist worldview, you don’t have to worry about health care, housing, education, or missing work when you’re sick. Everyone enjoys these benefits and will have time to spend their lives doing other more enjoyable things like spending time with loved ones, creative activities, etc.
On the left, we need to be careful not to come across as depressing scolds who just want to take things away and deliver only bad news. We need to emphasize the exciting and joyful aspects of our program. I’m not saying that socialism should be sold as some kind of lifestyle brand. But we need to expose sociopaths as depressing lives of emptiness and insecurity, and show the satisfaction and pleasure that can come from engaging in collective action. We want to make sure that young people look up to Thunberg, Chris Smalls, Bernie and Kshama Sawant, not Nishimura, Tate and Trump.
Source: news.google.com