Andrew Tate in the video he posted in answer to Greta Thunberg’s Twitter put-down
The story is of a coal wagon that had uncoupled itself and was barrelling down an underground track, headed towards a small group of miners working deep below the surface of South Yorkshire. Surrounded by the noise of the pit there was little chance of raising the alarm, so the man in the photo threw himself in front of the runaway wagon. He was killed but saved his friends.
It is the gap created by that lost purpose and sense of shared responsibility, once so central to our communities, that continues to be eagerly – and lucratively – exploited byThe industries we have lost were not without their faults, but the transition in places like South Yorkshire to more insecure, lower-paid and lower-skilled work in warehouses and call centres has left a space. A space that grew during Covid lockdowns and continued to widen through the cost of living crisis.
The Andrew Tate playbook is not a new one. He did not invent misogyny or toxic masculinity, and as ever it is women and girls who ultimately pay the price for the fragility and failings of men. He follows in the shallow footsteps of the far right, incels and; a litany of soothsayers offering violence and sexism in response to the quickening pace of social change, and easy answers to the complex questions of identity, social hierarchy and gender that those changes continue to create.
olivercoppard ipaperviews Thankyou for lovely, intelligent piece olivercoppard; a moment of calm for this single mum trying to raise young men without significant, male role-model, in the middle of this hideous maelstrom.