Andrew Tate Versus Greta Thunberg
What the latest Internet kerfuffle reveals about the tragedy of our age
The current zeitgeist moment pits hyper-misogynist, musclebound Kickboxing champ and master scam-artist Andrew Tate against teenaged ecological-emergency-doomsayer Greta Thunberg. As many of you probably know by now, Tate brag-tweeted to Thunberg about his 33 cars, including two Ferraris and a Bugatti, and asked for her email address “so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.” Thunberg tweeted back her email as “smalldickenergy@getalife.com”. The Internet went berserk.
I haven’t followed the rise of Andrew Tate very closely, but find him a predictable archetype. He carries the banner of pick-up artist (PUA) culture plus Jordan Peterson’s politics of resentment mixed with Fight Club bravado, a surefire recipe for success. Tate runs Hustler University, where he teaches cryptocurrency trading and gives life advice, advocating men keep women in their place. He indoctrinates his followers to push his content and uses outrage to build his following: “What you ideally want is a mix of 60–70% fans and 40–30% haters. You want arguments, you want war.” Tate has found outrage easiest to stir up by advocating Far Right politics and anti-Feminism, seeking to “own the libs.”
