Isolated American young men’s minds are getting poisoned in online swamps
Dale Partridge, a pastor in Arizona, went viral online for saying on Jan. 10 that mixed racial marriages are not ideal, even though he is in one.
He echoed Joel Webbon, a highly online “pastor” who has embraced white nationalism. Webbon has a podcast series with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and it is sponsored by Nutricel, which describes itself as “Christian, America First, Family Owned Alternative Wellness” company on Twitter (X, if you must). On Jan. 6, the Nutricel account posted on X, “I would like to see Hitler destigmatize so we can actually figure out what went on.”
What is going on?
Partridge, Webbon, Fuentes, Nutricel, and more like them are creatures of an online swamp. Prior to the rise of social media, they would have been in the same Usenet channels where deviates found pornography, child pornography and assorted other vices. Usenet was the original online swamp, predating the World Wide Web.
Alleged arsonist of Mississippi synagogue harbored antisemitic views
Social media has allowed a lot of weirdos, freaks and charlatans to connect easily. The loudest accounts online are often confused for the most popular accounts online.
These people presume they have large numbers, though they do not. But they get attention, often from left wing pundits attributing them to the right. Ironically, like Fuentes, many of these people reject individuals like Vice President JD Vance because he is in an interracial marriage.
The problem with them, however, becomes apparent because of Stephen Spencer Pittman, the 19-year-old Mississippi man who is accused of burning down that state’s largest synagogue because, in his mind, it was a “synagogue of Satan,” allegedly encouraged by antisemitic statements from Fuentes and right-wing influencer Candace Owens.
Writing in the Christian publication World, recently, book reviewer Mary Jackson covered the rise of antisemitism among young men and quoting Pastor Joel Ellis, wrote that most of the men Ellis meets with “are getting what they think they know about the Holocaust, about Israel’s involvement in U.S. foreign policy, from X or YouTube.”
In the 1990s, young men figured out how to get porn online. Now, they want subversiveness. As society has become more censorious, a large number of young men go online looking for subversiveness and they find it among fringe elements, many of whom are antisemitic.
Because it is a highly online phenomenon and so many pastors are not creatures of these online habitants, young men are getting discipled by the antisemites way more than they are their pastors.
Because so many pastors work through books of the Bible expositionally — that is working chapter by chapter — they are not diving into antisemitism from the pulpits, leaving plenty of time for the antisemitic views to fester in young men’s minds.
Young people are connecting less with each other and feeling lonely
Since the start of the year, I have been teaching a Sunday School class focusing on Genesis 1. We will spend six weeks on the first chapter of the Bible.
In Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth. He creates the plants and animals. He creates mankind and makes them male and female. It is why orthodox Christians do not embrace transgender identities or same-sex marriage. What God does not create is race or ethnicity. In the Garden of Eden, as it will be in eternity, there is just one race and one nation — the people of God. It is easy enough to write and easy enough to read, but not a topic most pastors preach on a Sunday.
Motivational speaker Jim Rohn is often credited with the statement, “You’re the average of the five people spend the most time with.” Theologian Tim Keller put it another way, noting we are catechized by those we surround ourselves with.
Isolated young men, driven out of schools in 2020 by COVID lockdowns and largely isolated since, are less likely to hang out and socialize with peers. They are less likely to drink, do drugs or even have sex, according to a Centers for Disease Control survey. But they are very, very likely to go online and find community there.
They are also at an age where they want to do their own research, as Stephen Spencer Pittman said he did. They are being led astray by isolation, boredom and often despair. They do not hear from pastors about the topics they engage with online from others who claim to be pastors.
To be sure, this is not a partisan problem. It gets a lot of partisan attention because of the rise of antisemitic voices on the right like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes and others. But the problem is happening across the ideological spectrum. The solution to the problem is multifaceted, but it begins with something hard for parents — getting their kids to turn off their devices and be in person with other people.
When God created mankind, he created us in His image and likeness and made Eve for Adam because, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Gen 2:18). As my Sunday School class will learn, being made in the image of the triune God means, in part, we were meant for in-person relationships with others.
The increasingly common pattern of young men who watch antisemitic pastors and of young men who have embraced violence in the past few years is their loneliness. It is not good for people to be alone and parents can start charting a better course away from the poison of antisemitism by getting their kids offline and in person with others.
Erick Erickson is host of the nationally syndicated “Erick Erickson Show,” heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on WSB radio. He is also now an opinion contributor to the AJC.
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