Davids vs Goliath: Why the "Male State" became popular

Alexandra Arkhipova, anthropologist

How would I answer the question of journalists: "Why is the "Male state" so popular?"

Yes, this is a culture of misogyny (hatred of women), yes, a patriarchal public. Yes, such sentiments will be used (at least indirectly) by the state to protect "traditional values", but still - why is this channel so popular? When they started writing about it in connection with the raids on advertising of restaurants, in the evening of August 30 there were 87 thousand subscribers, now there are already more than 93 thousand.

So, I decided to do an express anthropological study. For this, breathing deeply, I subscribed to the channel of the "Male State" and read it for 24 hours.

So that's it. The "male state" is presented as a community of supporters of an aggressive patriarchy, and this is partly true, but at least in terms of language.

But there is not as much misogyny in it as everyone thinks. This channel is mainly engaged in what, with some stretch, could be called "David vs. Goliath." At least, the band members clearly imagine themselves as David, and Pozdnyakov as the main “David”. Pozdnyakov teaches his followers how to attack what we call "corporations" - campaigns, chain stores and restaurants, and finally Yandex. (Let me remind you that the Japanese restaurant chain Tanuki posted an advertisement with an African American, the Male State began to send threats, bring down the rating, refuse to pay for food delivery from Tanuki through Yandex.Food). To his followers Pozdnyakov describes in detail the instructions on what and how to "collapse" and "make them dance to their tune" and proposes simple algorithms consisting of several steps.

This fear of Goliath - large corporations - has been characteristic of man in the industrial and post-industrial world since the 1970s. "They are exploiting us, and we will defend ourselves." How to defend yourself? For example, rumors of sabotage. This is where the legends come from that McDonald's hamburgers contain sperm, and Coca-Cola contains rat tails, and that Bigpharm chips us from there too.

One little man will not be able to fight a corporation, but a legion of angry ones will be much easier. People, whom Pozdnyakov sends to attack “strangers and the strong”, begin to feel like a force that can overthrow what seems so invincible to them - and even thank their leader for this.

It is not surprising that Pozdnyakov's language in this group is the language of military operations: "get ready!", "Attack".

So the "Men's State" became popular (and everything is gaining popularity) not only (and not so much) due to hatred of women and love of patriarchal values, but due to the opportunity to "pull the nose of the more successful..."

Original is here.