02-08-2025
The left needs to learn how to talk to young men — or it will keep losing them to the right
By
Craig A. Johnson is the author of "How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism" (2025) and host of the podcast "Fifteen Minutes of Fascism." He teaches in the history department at the University of California, Berkeley.
It takes only a few minutes of listening to right-wing politicians and podcasters to understand why their message appeals to so many young men in Canada, who increasingly feel that society has abandoned them in favour of women, racial and sexual minorities and the moneyed classes. Conservatives have sold them on the idea that they represent the true counterculture, rising up against the excesses and iniquities of the left-wing establishment that have kept them from finding a job or partner or affordable home.
Meanwhile, there is a fundamental problem with the message progressives have for young men today, especially those who are cisgender, heterosexual, or white. The left has to convince young men, many of whom feel barely in control of their own lives, that they're members of a privileged class — and what's more, that the privileges they enjoy are unjust and should be dismantled.
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