When far right Canadian extremist David DePape smashed his hammer into a patio glass door to gain entrance into the San Francisco home Paul Pelosi shares with his wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it’s doubtful he had the famous protest song in mind. Rather than “hammering out love between my brothers and my sisters,” he hammered on Mr. Pelosi’s skull, sending him to a hospital ICU. His act was one of the most sinister examples of the epidemic of meanness and hate infecting the body politic not just in the US, but around the world.
Sadly, acts of violence have not slowed since DePape assaulted Mr. Pelosi (in lieu of his intended target, Pelosi’s wife), so there’s scant reason to believe that this virulent epidemic will be slowed anytime soon.
One segment of the population consistently tests positive with the meanness and hate virus: men. Not all men of course, but among the disaffected, primarily men between their 20s and 50s, the infection rate is disturbingly high. Yes, women have their shadow side but there’s no real contest: men capture the gold, silver, and bronze.
While at first blush it might seem contraindicated, researchers like Brette Steele, senior director at the McCain Institute’s program on Preventing Targeted Violence, have pointed to men’s unhappiness, loneliness, and lack of connection as predicates for spreading hate. Of course loneliness can never excuse extremist rage, and isolation is never justification for terrorizing women.
Steele says in this lethal environment it’s not surprising some men are lured to the manosphere–the websites, blogs, and online forums that promote dangerous ideas about masculinity and champion misogyny. In league with angry like-minded men, they realize a sense of belonging. Caught up in this landfill of hate–with their inner lives contaminated by hazardous emotional waste–they are easily preyed upon. Think Proud Boys and Oath Keepers recruits.