If you haven’t heard, the grifter-in-chief of the United States and his broligarch homunculus Musk (you may call him Muskolini if you need a minor diversion from the madness) have decided to allow accused human trafficker and sex offenders Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to return to the US. While some politicians (including Ron Desantis of all people – see the article linked just above) have declared that the Tate(s) are not welcome, that has not stopped them from returning and it certainly will not stop them from (re)becoming prominent and in-person influences in the ever-growing and ever-more-powerful re-invigoration of hardcore and violent misogyny that is happening in the United States. Their presence was never going to go away so long as they were not in prison (and perhaps not then either), but being confined to their estate in Romania, combined with being banned from most mainstream social media spaces, provided a certain distance from public consumption that was helpful, if not simply a vail over their influence. That is all gone now.
The significance of this in the Canadian context has yet to be seen, but a speculative look can tell us that with increased presence on this side of the world, presumed appearances on shows like the Joe Rogan Podcast and others, and combined with massive coverage of his movement and actions, that he will re-assume his place as a driver of violent misogynist sentiment in this country as well.
As I have previously written in The Conversation, I find Tate a bit boring and tedious since the grift that he is selling isn’t new, original, or even all that clever. But as we know from the successive reboots of Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc., we don’t really need something to be original or even that interesting to spend our time and money on it. What Tate is very good at, and interestingly so, is leveraging the current social media landscape to gain and maintain market share and eyeballs, so regardless of whether we believe him to be interesting he has certainly made himself important.
Over the last year he has been the substantive focus of two of my research projects, including one in New Zealand and one on Reddit exploring how teachers are seeing his influence come to bare in their classrooms and in the social lives of students. This work is currently in-press, so I can’t link it here, but stay tuned for that. CIFRS is also working at this very moment on a project with White Ribbon on this same issue but focused on rural teachers in Alberta and Ontario. The findings are disturbing, but unsurprising. Without taking the wind out of the sails of any of these works-in-progress, teachers are seeing significant influence from masculinist influencers on their students and in their classrooms, with Tate at the forefront – and he had been on house arrest.
Take this post as both a lament and a call. The lament is that we have to talk about this in real time and real space again. As much as we want to believe that in the modern era our digital and fleshy lives are inseparable, things we experience in similar time and space to ourselves have more significant impacts. Representation matters, and knowing that the Tates can enact and promote their brand of male supremacist misogyny on North American soil renders their problematic anti-equity and hateful worldviews more acceptable. It facilitates a “if he can do it so can I” mentality which is going to get worse before it gets better.
The call is to be aware and prepared. Knowing that the ever-present misogyny of resurgent patriarchy is in an amplification phase is essential. This isn’t a blip on the social radar as we saw around Tate’s initial rise to international infamy, but rather a sustained backlash against equity and the ability of many to be and feel safe. Listen to those around you and call them out when they regurgitate the garbage spoken by these men. Especially for the young people in your life, but also for all people, ask them to explain themselves. Challenge their comments. Make them justify themselves to you. Yes, they should. What they are saying is ridiculous and has no place here.
Be strong. Be Aware. Stand Together.
Work with CIFRS as we enter into these uncertain times.
In solidarity,
Luc
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