Matt Haig

Hey! Okay! I am bringing THE MIDNIGHT TOUR to the US this summer because I promised. I’m very happy to share the details of the US events with @vikingbooks in celebration of The Midnight Train, which arrives this May. I’ll be partnering with some lovely special guests, wonderful venues with brilliant bookstores, including @porter_square_books, @musichallnh, @booksamillion, @barnesandnoble, @freelibraryfdn, @unclebobbies, @dallasmuseumart, @warwicksbooks, @vromansbookstore, @jccsf and @chihumanities. You can find more details, and tickets, via the USA link in my bio. Hope to see you there.

The manosphere is a deadly joke. It’s a pastiche. It’s hollow. It’s led by Ponzi scheme scammers as it is a lie on top of a lie. A postmodern vacuum. A signifier detached from its signified. Andrew Tate and Myron Gaines and HSTickyTocky are no more ‘masculine’ than a canal in a Las Vegas shopping centre is Venice. It’s pantomime. It’s pastiche. It’s - to use a word they hate almost as much as they embody - camp. The truth is the masculinity they yearn for is over. Men are not what they were. So this last fascist carnival of the grotesque is not a roar of true manhood but, like all fascism, a death cry. Testosterone levels since the 1980s have been falling decade by decade so statistically Louis Theroux is likely to have had more testosterone than any of his T-obsessed subjects. Sperm count too is waning. Even before we look at the myriad social stuff, male physiology is - let’s say it - transitioning. They aren’t just leaning into the space left by their absent or abusive fathers they also exploit an actual social space and generational identity crisis. In an age of growing female empowerment the traditional patriarchal shape of the economy is changing. Women no longer need men to earn money. They can earn their own money. This is good, obvs. And not a threat to men who understand human value has to be more than that dictated by hypercapitalism. Men who seek value in art, communication, kindness, love, books, community - will be okay. Ironically, for a group of men who talk about the ‘survival of the fittest’ a lot, the manosphere men are - in evolutionary terms - the ones struggling to adapt to a changing environment. They are, simply, apes that won’t make it. Which is why I felt the Theroux documentary resembled a David Attenborough one. I tried to kill myself when I didn’t feel I had the room to release my emotions. So I can see the bullshit of pretence and know it is worse than cocaine. So. The big delts and cigars, the TRT and steroids, the desperate need for a look is what you have when the substance has gone. It’s not just the lambos and apartments they rent. It’s an entire identity. And the lease is up.

Important to remember that a hell of a lot of Gen Z also think Jake Paul and Andrew Tate and Sneako and all those manosphere types are absolute douchebags. Also I think there is a risk that us olds are beginning to imagine 18 year old males are only ever watching misogynist far right clickbaiting cheap marketing dickheads. And that gives them more power to shape culture. The truth is there are tons of online male influencers who are NOTHING like these guys. For instance gaming influencers like Markiplier and Brighton’s own JackSepticEye have bazillions of followers and do great things for mental health and charity and encourage men to talk about stuff while also being funny and charismatic. Then you have your political types like Dean Withers who are openly opposed to the manosphere. Or your bookish Hank Green types or your music loving Anthony Fantano types. Anyway point is - Gen Z is not a monolith and many Gen Z boys still know a dickhead when they see one and that some young men are out there with millions of followers and far less media spotlight, simply because it is less interesting to talk about the forces of good.

Business rates. Not tastes. The government needs to stop thinking that the arts isn’t a vocation. It is our fifth biggest export and can be higher. Our number one and two biggest exports are mechanical power generators and cars to America, which have to keep us tied to Donald Trump. Our books and music though, go everywhere and - as in so many ways - keep us free. Invest in them.