The Cultural Power of the Anti-Woke Tech Bro⁠↗

They are, however, united by their self-mythologizing as “free thinkers” and a sense of alienation from mainstream liberal discourse. This brand of tech bro is proud of his heterodoxy, despite the fact that the worldview he articulates seems to have been passed top-down from a cadre of influential Silicon Valley executives.

They love tough-guy sports like MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu but are worried about vaccines, seed oils, and the mainstreaming of trans rights. Their worldview is often a paradox, full of irony and sometimes hypocrisy.

Anyone who prevented entrepreneurs and other “big thinkers” from doing exactly as they pleased became the enemy: unions, the media, academia, government institutions, anyone with a liberal arts degree, as well as women and people of color in positions of power (although this part usually goes unsaid).

The Cybertruck appeals to someone who imagines danger is all around them. If they can’t protect themselves against a culture that is moving on without them, perhaps they can do it with stainless steel.

The pandemic was a convergence of several grievances harbored by the free-thinker set: government overreach, America’s troubled health care system, and left-wing virtue signaling. The CDC’s response to Covid-19, says Hussein Kesvani, a journalist and podcaster who covers internet culture and politics, clashed with the tech bros’ sensibilities: Public health required individuals to alter their behavior for the sake of the collective good and sacrifice certain personal freedoms.

That’s created an enormous industry for heterodoxy entrepreneurs on every level of scamminess to hawk ideas about “seed oils” supposedly turning everyone ugly and sick, why masturbation is making men weak, and how raw beef liver is the one true alpha diet: If the pandemic convinced you that everything you’ve been told about health is a lie, it’s far easier to sell you some random influencer’s vitamin.

While in itself not a bad thing, Zitron points out that most of these retreats are “men reaching out for community, but the community they find is one built on selfishness and exclusion.” “I think it’s really important to know how much of this comes down to the breakdown of male friendships,” he adds. “Women seem to have some degree of sisterhood, a gender-based solidarity. Guys don’t seem to have this unless it’s just being sexist.”

There are ways in which their self-mythologizing is absolutely true: They are an alternative to mainstream news media, and they do say things that might land you in a meeting with HR or a suddenly very empty room at a party. By building their followings online, they’re tapping into an audience thirsty for someone to tell them that their grievances — against women, against culture, against the media — are valid.