Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, recently appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast to lament the absence of “masculine energy” in the corporate world….He wore an oversize T-shirt and a gold chain. He is nearly a year past 40, but he dresses like a bro. …
It’s unclear what, exactly, Zuckerberg meant by this. Men dominate most high-paying and high-status fields. A large majority of high-level corporate executives, from vice presidents and senior vice presidents to C.E.O.s and C.F.O.s, are men. In the world of Silicon Valley — that is to say, Zuckerberg’s world — women remain a minority.
When Zuckerberg speaks of “masculine energy” and “aggression,” he seems to be imagining the “masculinity” of an older teenager or a younger adult. The masculinity of someone unburdened by duty, obligation or real responsibility….
We have a clique of powerful middle-aged men who want nothing more than to be boys.
But then this is exactly what you would expect in a country where the standard-bearer for the “return” of masculinity to the political and cultural world is Donald Trump, a selfish, petulant and narcissistic man-child who celebrates his rejection of the traditional masculine virtues of duty and restraint and who has done so for his entire career on the public stage. Trump stands for masculinity as misogyny, dominance, exploitation and — as per Zuckerberg — aggression.
Zuckerberg and like-minded tech moguls have direct material interests in cultivating Trump’s good favor by performing his brand of manhood. Meta, for instance, wants to undermine its competitors, suppress regulation and free itself from the threat of antitrust enforcement. Other tech billionaires want to leverage state power to secure their investments in artificial intelligence, ahead of a potential collapse in the value of A.I. stocks. If the bubble pops, they want Uncle Sam — and thus the American taxpayer — to be the one holding the bag.
Connect the Dots 101 
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