Opinion

KEVIN SORBO: Why Can’t I Speak Up For Marginalized Young Men?

OPINION
2014 Summer TCA Tour - Day 2
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Dr. Jordan Peterson, a popular role model to today’s struggling young men, emotionally choked up on an episode of “Piers Morgan Uncensored” last September, prompting widespread ridicule from the left: Peterson’s tears, the media mockingly asserted, were a result of being called a name by feminist director Olivia Wilde.

But the full story was a bit more nuanced.

In truth, when Dr. Peterson learned that the filmmaker had drawn inspiration from him for the antagonist in her movie “Don’t Worry Darling,” he smiled, unaffected. “It didn’t really bother me,” he said.

But when her snide insult turned toward the disaffected men with whom Peterson enjoys a large following — the so-called “incel community,” “weirdo, loner men who are despicable in many ways” — his demeanor quickly changed.

“I thought the marginalized were supposed to have a voice,” he expressed with tears in his eyes. “All these men who are alienated … they’re lonesome, and they don’t know what to do, and everyone piles abuse on them.”

The media, of course, glossed over these details, opting instead to insinuate that poor, poor Dr. Peterson cried because his feelings were hurt. Sadly, this unfortunate “oversight” highlights a troubling trend: disaffected men really are underrepresented in the media today, and those who dare to speak up for them, offering timely lessons of how to succeed as men, are slandered and mocked by the likes of Olivia Wilde and her ilk.

Indeed, something strange, but not entirely unpredictable, happens every time someone like me opens his mouth and asserts the vitality of basic masculinity — the left becomes hysterical; they make movies depicting men like Dr. Peterson as “terrifying” and “insane” villains; they accuse us of colluding to “indoctrinate the next generation” to build “cults of misogynistic men.” They go above and beyond to ensure that our advice to men is relegated to the fringe.

To hear my detractors on Twitter or in the left-wing media talk about me, you’d think I was expositing dangerous and extremist views about manhood. On the contrary, my latest article, which generated a furious maelstrom of internet hate, warned not only against impotent men but also against brutish “he-men” who abuse their strength. I called for Hollywood to “reintroduce good men: men who love their wives and children, protect them, fight for what’s right, and speak up for the powerless. Men who, above all, have overcome their own selfish desires and are free to put others first.”

But apparently, that was all too much for my online critics.

This past year, between my kids’ book, “The Test of Lionhood,” latest film, “Miracle in East Texas,” and pro-man commentary, I have been ruthlessly slammed for allegedly cultish, narcissistic, and toxic “propaganda.” (Someone’s still going to have to explain to me why my belief that men should conduct themselves with chivalry and courage is problematic.)

Ironically, my strongest critics quite effectively prove my point: only a weak, emasculated society would ever feel threatened — genuinely threatened — by a simple conversation about why men should rise above the low and demeaning expectations of the feminist culture and assert themselves with dignity and strength. More than that, only an anti-man society would have a vested interest in shutting that conversation down. Basic, fundamental truths — truths that once shaped our entire culture — are now deemed radical and unspeakable.

And how’s that going for us? Virtually everyone in the media agrees that men in America are in crisis. Well over half the country’s young men are now single, a shocking statistic. Boys are struggling in the classrooms. And according to scholar Richard V. Reeves, “Being male is the biggest risk factor for suicide,” with men committing nearly 30,000 more suicides than their female counterparts in 2022. But when I and others like me suggest that maybe, just maybe, we should, in some small way, return to how things were before men fell into such deep anguish, we’re castigated as the bad guys.

I’m simply pointing out the utter disillusionment that plagues the woke ideology and its pimps: they readily disparage a potential solution to the masculinity crisis as its supposed root cause. Perhaps they don’t see the destitution of young men as a problem at all.

Most men, by nature, are programmed to want to lead, provide, and defend. That’s not a bad thing. It’s certainly not the “root cause” of toxic masculinity. When mastered and channeled for good, those qualities can propel men into greatness and deep, abiding fulfillment. The solution, therefore, is not to mock masculinity but to teach men how to master and channel their masculine instincts.

Unfortunately, the “progressives” in America are bound and determined to silence those teachers because weakened men allow tyranny to take hold — which is exactly the leftists’ agenda. 

And that’s why I refuse to shut up. If men are in crisis, a cry must be raised, an alarm must be sounded. Dr. Peterson was right — marginalized men need a voice, direction, and purpose. We should be raising boys to understand their intrinsic, masculine value and teach them to ignore the harpies who seek their destruction. And if speaking up for them lands me in the crosshairs of irritable feminist movie directors and the social media canceling mob, so be it.

Kevin Sorbo is an actor, producer, and director, as well as the author of the children’s book “The Test of Lionhood.” With a strong Christian background and a humble upbringing, his breakthrough role as Hercules in TV films paved the way for the iconic series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.“ Kevin’s diverse career spans television, film, video games, and literature. He and his wife, Sam Sorbo, founded Sorbo Studios and continue to produce and act in family-friendly films alongside each other and their children.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.