Foids, things are about to get much worse for you (but actually better)
After World War I, Germany was left humiliated by defeat, destabilized by economic collapse, and fractured by political violence. Millions of veterans returned from years of trench warfare psychologically armored against vulnerability and unable to adapt to civilian life. The Freikorps, paramilitary bands of ex-soldiers, channeled this alienation into a rigid, militarized masculinity obsessed with purity, boundaries, and control. In Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies, these "soldier-males" feared dissolution whether through women's autonomy, social change, or foreign influence, and they viewed violence as a cleansing act that preserved their identity. Women were split into "good" (supportive, domestic) and "dangerous" (sexually or politically independent), a binary that Nazi policy later codified through racial laws, reproductive controls, and militarized motherhood.
Theweleit outlined these patterns long before they began to visibly reappear in recent years. In modern America, the conditions are different but the psychological structure is similar. While the United States has not suffered a Versailles-style collapse, decades of economic dislocation, perceived cultural decline, shifting gender roles, and political polarization have left many men feeling displaced and threatened. Online communities such as incel forums/subreddits, /r9k/, and the broader manosphere echo the fears of the Freikorps: the belief that women and minorities undermine male identity, that the nation is under siege, and that only a return to rigid hierarchy can restore order. White nationalist groups build on this, adding racial grievance to gender resentment, much like Nazi ideology did. The result is a contemporary combination of anti-feminism, racial nationalism, and authoritarian longing that shows how a century-old psychological template can resurface in new contexts.
Theweleit outlined these patterns long before they began to visibly reappear in recent years. In modern America, the conditions are different but the psychological structure is similar. While the United States has not suffered a Versailles-style collapse, decades of economic dislocation, perceived cultural decline, shifting gender roles, and political polarization have left many men feeling displaced and threatened. Online communities such as incel forums/subreddits, /r9k/, and the broader manosphere echo the fears of the Freikorps: the belief that women and minorities undermine male identity, that the nation is under siege, and that only a return to rigid hierarchy can restore order. White nationalist groups build on this, adding racial grievance to gender resentment, much like Nazi ideology did. The result is a contemporary combination of anti-feminism, racial nationalism, and authoritarian longing that shows how a century-old psychological template can resurface in new contexts.
