While at a Nationals baseball game, I said hello to a congressman. He asked if I’d seen the Netflix show “Adolescence.” A few days earlier, a woman at church asked me about the show.
So, I watched it. It is hard to watch.
“Adolescence” tells the story of a nice-looking, middle-school English boy accused of murdering his classmate, a girl, after he and his friends swallow toxic, women-hating content available to them on the internet.
This is far from a vampire movie. This is the story about real crime taking place in our homes. And our children are the victims.
And America is watching. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “’Adolescence’ debuted less than a month ago and already has more than 114 million views, Netflix says.”
And if the people bringing the show to my attention are a fair representation, the series is triggering an important political conversation.
But, again, I had a hard time watching it. And I am not alone.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently confessed that he couldn’t get through the series, produced by Brad Pitt, because it was so disturbing.
Scott Galloway, a New York University professor and podcaster, said he needed a drink to get through how the show reveals young men are rushing behind their mobile phones and computer screens to be fed porn, anger and fear about the world as a dark, hostile place.
The boys are targeted for content designed to stir anxieties about their ability to attract a woman. And white males are specifically swamped with defeatist attitudes about their chances of getting into college while competing with increasing numbers of educated women, minorities and immigrants.
The result is alienated and frustrated adolescent white teens, as well as lots of young males of color.
The reality behind the show is evident for young Americans, according to a recent essay in the Wall Street Journal. A student at a Chicago Catholic high school wrote that his male classmates celebrated when social media titans accused of sex crimes and human trafficking – the brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were recently allowed into the U.S.
“As online influencers with millions of followers, the Tate brothers are notoriously misogynistic and extravagantly wealthy,” wrote Eli Thompson, the high school senior. “Alpha dogs who are buff, rich and domineering, they promote a model of manhood that feels both backward and reassuring. If we follow their sexist, racist lead, they promise, we’ll be alphas too.”
Andrew Tate is even mentioned in “Adolescence.”
The police inspector investigating a teen girl’s murder is told by his own son about a school subculture of boys who are drawn to the Tates’ bullying online content. He explains to the cop, his dad, that “incels,” short for “involuntarily celibate,” identify with and find common cause with the Tates’ disregard for women.
The teen informs his father that the only way to solve the murder is by going online. The answer to who killed the girl is right there in the constant chatter among young men about girls being cruel critics, ready to dismiss them as failing to qualify for the supposed 20 percent of attractive men.
That crazy message fits with right-wing U.S. politics, as described in the high school student’s essay. Thompson writes that “figures like the Tates, Elon Musk, and President Trump step in with bold answers: Don’t worry, just dominate. Trump’s brashness mirrors what many of the teenage boys I know crave — unapologetic power.”
That points to Trump’s strong base of support among young men in the 2024 election.
Trump’s macho man persona is a feature of his celebrity. “It’s A Man’s World” was the walk-up music when Trump took the stage for campaign rallies. He made his attendance at Ultimate Fighting Championships into rallies. His home-stretch campaign sweep of “manosphere” podcasts included interviews with Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Logan Paul.
Professor Galloway argues that young males “don’t feel seen by the Democratic Party … If you go onto the DNC website, it explicitly says: ‘who we serve’ … [listing] 16 demographic groups from Asian Pacific Islanders to veterans to the disabled … but it doesn’t mention anywhere young men … Young men are four times as likely to kill themselves as women, three times as likely to be addicted as women, and 12 times more likely to be incarcerated.”
His point is that toxic internet content is not regulated. Yes, Congress acted against TikTok. But that was only due to the high risk that it is a front for Chinese snooping on Americans. Instagram, Meta, Apple, Google and other platforms are allowed to use their algorithms on children without any intervention by Congress.
The urgent political message from “Adolescence” really is for Democrats. If they are to win elections going forward, they have to learn how to reach young men who feel overlooked, disempowered and angry.
As a grandfather, this fight is not about liberal or conservative politics. It is time for every parent, every Republican and Democrat, to demand that Congress reckon with toxic internet content directed at adolescents. That is the only way to get us out of this horror show.
Juan Williams is senior political analyst for Fox News Channel and a prize-winning civil rights historian. He is the author of the new book “New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement.”
