Will Knowland, who was sacked by Eton for showing pupils a non-woke video he’d made on masculinity, has some interesting thoughts on Andrew Tate and related topics in the Times. Here’s an excerpt:
“I think Tate is a symptom of what’s currently going wrong regarding the teaching of boys in schools,” Knowland said from his home in Stowmarket, Suffolk.
“In a properly functioning education system, that’s giving them really robust messaging about what it means to be a man, they would have antibodies to fight off the sick messaging that Tate is giving. All they see is the guy who’s got a Bugatti and joking about telling women to make him a sandwich.
“When teachers try to explain why Tate isn’t someone to look up to, the teenage boys ask them, ‘Well, what colour is your Bugatti?’
“The premise needs to be attacked directly, which is that ‘no, money isn’t the main index of masculinity’. Otherwise, we would all just be looking up to gangsters and criminals.”
This is presumably in response to the bizarre reports that teachers have been spending time in lessons trying to ‘re-educate’ boys about Tate. As I said in this very publication at the time:
Whether one loves or hates Tate, or believes he is guilty or innocent, it is obvious he is a symptom of a culture that demonises men and boys and allows them to fall behind. Instead of listening to these young men, their out-of-touch guardians act aghast and tell them they are wrong.
According to Knowland, the flaw in the Tate mindset is the absence of chivalric duty:
“I think the most interesting part about the lecture and what resonated with my supporters was my stress on chivalry and the idea that a man’s strength should be put to the service of the weak and his family.
“Chivalry is the thing that we’re missing today and it’s become deformed and turned into machismo, which is masculinity without any sense of humility or meekness. I think this is what we need to return to. Some of the problems that Tate is addressing, things like men should be assertive, men should be competitive, men should be strong, etcetera, chivalry agrees with.
“But chivalry says, why do they need to be those things? Because it’s to serve the weak, not themselves.”
Tate’s defenders might point to his charitable works and homeless dog shelters, but it’s fair to say that’s not the part teenage boys are focused on.
Worth reading in full.
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