Why The Manosphere’s Fear Of “TradCons” Is Misguided And Cowardly Know who your true enemies are

Among blogs in this part of the Internet, you’ll often see men complaining about “traditional conservatives” or “TradCons,” citing them as a threat to men that is equal or greater than feminism. “TradCons” are castigated because they purportedly want to force men back into rigid gender roles and because they enforce “male disposability,” whatever that means.

In the views of MRAs and others who bash “TradCons,” their number one enemy isn’t Jessica Valenti, Amanda Marcotte, Gloria Steinem or any of the numerous feminists who’ve had an active role in shaping public thought and anti-male government policies, but Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly, the kindly old lady who opposed the Equal Rights Amendment back in the 1970’s—and who has almost no influence outside of conservative circles—is a favorite target of these intellectual pygmies.

Manospherians who treat “TradCons” as a greater threat to men than feminists—or even a threat at all—are not only disastrously wrong, they’re total chickenshits as well. “TradCons” are a popular whipping boy for “men” who want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that the left hasn’t consistently been the sole, primary enemy of men. Indeed, a good many of the talking heads who attack “TradCons” are likely Marxist infiltrators themselves.

The Fallacy Of Moderation

The “conservatives are just as bad as leftists” argument falls apart merely by observing the power differential between the two groups. People who argue that neomasculinists are just as bad as feminists or that Return of Kings is the male equivalent of Jezebel also fall prey to this fallacy. It’s a popular argument from moderates who are too cowardly to take a side in the culture wars.

Leftists and feminists have won every significant cultural battle of the past century. Just in the past six years alone, since Obama became president, the Overton window has shifted so far to the left that America is barely recognizable anymore. We’ve seen gay marriage rammed down the throats of every American, Christian business owners persecuted by the government itself for not wanting to act contrary to their beliefs, and the concept of rape redefined to “anything that makes a woman uncomfortable.”

Does this sound like a world where “TradCons” have any power? It might have been plausible to regard “SoCons” or “TradCons” as a threat ten years ago, when President Bush and the GOP were actively courting evangelical Christian support in their successful national campaigns, but those days are long gone. The “TradCons” that manospherians castigate are a powerless minority; indeed, the impotence of mainstream conservatives is why the “cuckservative” epithet has become so popular.

Manospherians who whine about traditionalist conservatives being a threat on par with feminists are tilting at windmills. They’re adopting the pose of feigned powerlessness that leftists use, the pose of those who control every important institution in the West yet still have nightmares about right-wing Republican fascists coming to murder them in their sleep. Moderates who insist that they’re “above” the conflicts between feminists and anti-feminists are just weaklings who are unwilling to commit to a political stance.

The Enemy Of Your Enemy

Yet even if conservatives and leftists were equally matched in power and influence, the “anti-TradCon” manospherians would still be wrong.

MGTOW cultists and politically confused MRAs like to pretend that the right is just as misandric as the left, a claim that falls apart at the slightest examination. Almost all of the attacks on MRAs and anti-feminists come from the left, whether it’s the Southern Poverty Law Center declaring manosphere sites to be “hate” groups to feminists organizing lynch mobs to hunt down and harass men who advocate masculine virtues in their writing.

While conservatives may ignore or dismiss the concerns of anti-feminists from time to time, there is no individual or group on the right that attacks the manosphere with the vitriol and hate that leftists do. There’s no right-wing equivalent of the SPLC attempting to proscribe Return of Kings, and no conservative news site habitually refers to men’s rights’ activists as the “abusers’ lobby.” Indeed, in the past year, we’ve seen major right-wing sites like Breitbart warm up to our views.

While it’s true that many so-called “TradCons” take issue with what they perceive as the licentious lifestyles we promote, most conservatives are content to let others live their lives as they please. They only want to keep unwanted influences out of their communities. It’s the left—and only the left—that is intolerant of dissent and insists on forcing everyone to conform to their ideology.

Ultimately, the agita against “TradCons” in the manosphere is borne out of ignorance and malice. There are a lot of men in this part of the Internet who’ve learned the truth about women and masculinity yet are unwilling to abandon their “blue pill” beliefs in other areas. That’s assuming that these men aren’t cultural Marxist entryists who are seeking to lead us astray.

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