About this episode

The episode discusses the crisis of masculinity in America with guest Jacob Siegel.

My guest on the show today, our special Fourth of July sesquicentennial episode, is Jacob Siegel . He's a writer and editor at Tablet Magazine , an Iraq and Afghanistan vet, co-host of the Manifesto! podcast , and author of the new book, The Information State , which we don’t discuss on the episode. Our topic, instead, is the “ The Disappearing American Man ,” the first installment of a column that Jacob is now writing for Tablet . To give you a sense of the essay, which is slightly to the left or maybe to the right or just below or above the typical crisis of masculinity polemic, here’s a particularly pungent passage from it: What I see in many prominent and representative American men today is a dribbling sludge of bitterness. A peacocking display of impotence, debility, worminess, insincerity, lack of competence, lack of confidence, lack of élan, pettiness, selfishness, scheming, and self-pity. Not all men, as the saying goes, but enough to pass a civilizational tipping point. The young men standing up at town hall meetings are almost pompous in their bitterness. The anonymous posters online have turned cattiness and petty sadism into a group erotic ritual. The politicians are…

People in this episode

Host: Daniel Oppenheimer

Guest: Jacob Siegel

Topics covered

• masculinity
• American culture
• bitterness
• politics
• society

Keywords

• American man
• crisis of masculinity
• bitterness
• politics
• society

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tablet Magazine

Books & works: The Information State, The Disappearing American Man

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