Why White American Men Chose The Bear

In mid-2024, for a couple of weeks, the biggest question on social media was whether women were better off alone in the woods with a randomly selected man or a full-sized adult bear.

Most women chose the bear.

And immediately, predictably, several of those randomly selected men lost their minds.

After all, these were sensitive, decent, “high-value” men, they paid for dates and dutifully opened car doors, if they encountered a woman alone in the woods, they’d probably doff their cap or offer directions or maybe sniff and taste her hair.

So where did these irrational, hysterical man-haters get off choosing an animal famous for its teeth and claws and…uh, avoiding human contact whenever possible?

Thankfully, these very smart men didn’t waste their time listening to women’s stories about attempted abductions and stalking and abuse, they didn’t examine their behaviour or ask themselves if they were missing something, they didn’t try to understand why women were taking their chances with a bear.

After all, these guys already knew how women should have answered. It’s not their problem if women haven’t figured it out.

On November 5th, 2024, the biggest question in America was whether the country was better off with a candidate who couldn’t distance herself from a genocidal, egg-flationary status quo or a lying insurrectionist who turned America into a laughing stock on the world’s stage.

Most men chose the insurrectionist.

And immediately, understandably, most of the media lost their minds.

After all, these are educated, socially enlightened progressives with all the right emoji in their Twitter bios. Kamala is a qualified, experienced stateswoman who would have been the first female president of the United States.

So where did these racist, far-right morons get off choosing a tangerine-coloured, hamburglar over the people who have spent the last decade calling them racist, far-right morons?

Thankfully, the media didn’t waste their time asking these bigots why they voted for Trump (perhaps because the idea of empathising with men and their issues is so abhorrent that the compassionate Left might ruin your life if you try).

They didn’t point out that men are struggling disproportionately with homelessness and drug addiction and suicide, they weren’t concerned that men are over-represented in health-damaging, life-risking, outright disgusting jobs and underrepresented in university admissions and college degrees, they paid no mind to the fact that these issues would be front-page news if they applied to any other demographic.

After all, they already knew how these men should vote. It’s not their problem if these men couldn’t figure it out, right?

Only, in this case, it is their problem. It’s a problem for everybody who makes less than a million dollars a year. It’s a problem for anyone who might become pregnant in the next four years or who cares about the life of someone who might. It’s a problem for everyone who cares about the world they’re leaving behind for their kids.

Because every single fear about Trump’s upcoming presidency is rooted in the fact that he got elected. And he got elected, in large part, because he is the only person who doesn’t roll his eyes when a member of this significant chunk of the population has something to say. It doesn’t matter that he’s lying to them. It doesn’t matter that his economic plans will make them poorer and his billionaire buddies richer. It matters that he’s not telling them to shut up and check their privilege.

The only way a politician like Trump wins is by turning ordinary people against each other. Somewhere along the line, the Left started playing the same game. And meanwhile, the millionaires and billionaires laugh as we fight amongst ourselves.

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I’m not dumb enough to try to speak for women (men speaking for women is one of the reasons they chose the bear), but I strongly suspect that some of those “bear” votes weren’t 100% sincere.

If you asked me to choose between a bear and a P-Diddy party’s worth of Booty Warriors, I’m still not choosing the bear.

But for years, in op-eds and hashtags and one-woman shows, women have been telling men that they feel unsafe and uncomfortable. They aren’t flattered by the “compliments,” they don’t need advice on how often to smile, they’re tired of seeing rape and sexual abuse minimised and normalised. And if it takes a stupid meme about bears to irritate men into paying attention, so be it.

For years, men, especially young white men, have been telling the Democrats that they feel demonised and ignored. They’re tired of being blamed for things that happened before they were born. They resent being told that their problems don’t matter because different men are presidents and CEOs. They’re sick of being the only demographic it’s socially acceptable to dismiss because of their “race” and “gender.”

Men have been trying, to the deafening indifference of the political Left, to communicate this message. So if electing a narcissistic pumpkin at least gets their agenda on the table, what the hell do they have to lose?

The promise of a diverse society isn’t swapping around who gets ignored from time to time, it’s building a world where we see each other as more than our “identity groups.”

A world that isn’t dominated by divisiveness and spite and lies.

A world where everybody, even people we disagree with, gets a voice.

Or, at least, where no one feels marginalised enough to choose the bear.

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