do you think that the collective young men of America are ready for the knowledge that their MCU-level obsession with WWII is just displacement activity for failing to perform masculinity in ways that actually matter in the 21st century geopolitical economy?

hmm....probably not https://twitter.com/eigenrobot/status/1285376006124040193

too spicy, huh?

you know, I'm 100% teasing here, but...

if we're on the subject of "the seriousness of war", it is quite chuckle-worthy how much masculine youth energy is wasted on tank knowledge / wargaming

(instead of stuff that really matters, like petty culture war drama)

why do I feel compelled to keep harping on this?

I honestly 100% have no real "issue" with fantasy / historical wargaming. boys knowing everything about tanks and aircraft and historical battles and playing a ton of War Thunder is honestly super cute -- boys being boys is great!

i want to draw a thick line between “it’s fine to have hobbies / enjoy things” and my thoughts about 21st century warfare. because I think there’s a fascinating disconnect in the pedagogy of play -> seriousness that actually matters for generational culture

but, I happen to notice that I have a TON of male friends — mostly in their late 20s / 30s — who spend a stupid amount of energy on military history, the technical aspects of weaponry / heavy vehicles, etc. and from a real 4GW / (5GW?) warfare standpoint, it is almost all garbage

observationally, many of these men (I’m being charitable; my instinct is to call them boys) have crappy careers, no families, are disconnected from modern geopolitics, and seem very easily duped by things like Russiagate or mainstream bluecheck narratives about what matters

dan carlin and jocko willink are hugely popular among young men disconnected from their masculinity (they are!).

in lieu of relevant masculinity, they return to their dad’s militaristic affects (which were actually relevant in the cold war), or vague “guns are cool” remnants

I’d even make a stronger argument; the traditional solider mindset itself is now slightly out of date. in 2050 you probably won’t need to become a Navy SEAL and do pushups every morning at 4am until your mind breaks; you just press the “drone them” button and go back to sleep lol

the reason contemporary warfare is truly hell is that the “soldier” script itself is transforming. 20th/21st century warfare is much less about being a noble Spartan than it is about just having enough raw psychological stability to watch your best friend get blown up by an IED

you still need basic fitness, strength, discipline, endurance, etc.

but what you’re mostly going to be doing “in the field” is like 2% firefights / tacticool battling, and about 98% basic carpentry skills, participating in hearts-and-minds nation- and infrastructure-building

regarding the military history stuff, I'll clarify that these things are actually important for *someone* to learn, and it's also culturally important for *everyone* have a rough appreciative understanding. just that we're about 1000x overindexed in terms of young mens' thoughts.

i'll also add that like, in terms of raw tactical / strategic understanding (which is evergreen valuable), i truly think that you can get as much or more benefit from playing fortnite, age of empires, and watching the third season of the Legend of Korra. we def need more of that

the primary relevant skill that young adults (men *and* women) *should* hone, as I hinted, is raw cultural warfare.

i'm not joking; your ability to survive in 2050 will depend way more on having encyclopedic knowledge of minute culture war drama than your ability to hit a target

the ability to cancel, avoid cancellation, counter-cancel, form a coalition of cancelling-cancelers to defeat enemy cancellationers; this the skill that truly matters :D.

if you're not familiar with incredibly minute detail of the great Gamergate battle, you're way behind.

the other primary relevant knowledgebase that matters is detailed knowledge of global supply chains and logistics.

a huge majority of people in America are super behind on this; they’re vaguely aware that “a bunch of stuff is made in china”, but have no idea what that means.

funny enough, it was WWII itself that made this common knowledge among military commanders, statesmen, and attentive citizens.

WWII was much less about “pivotal battles” than it was about boring analysis of oil flows, equipment distribution, and industrial production.

the essential argument of the Bannon movement is a military-level call-to-arms, raising awareness of this problem. the fact that China is holding our supply chain hostage (which we gave to them freely!) should carry the same level of concern as “Dunkirk is besieged and blockaded”

the 32-year-old childless man sits in his living room, playing with his Warhammer figurines, and is pressed with concern that Trump said something stupid on TV again.