memes

Dating apps are rigged to give men and women bad experiences so they (largely men) become desperate enough to pay $25 a month or whatever to have an unfair advantage.

It gets worse, as the engagement mechanic populates the apps with a particular kind of guy who is obnoxiously aggressive, persistent, and convinced that this is a game they can brute force with time/money. So women end up being introduced to a string of guys who believe they've "won" a date by "beating" the game while women are left fishing for profiles that don't look completely gross or insane.

And that's before you get into end-users who are straight up escorts or pimps or predators, fully internalizing the idea that site participants are just resources to extract.

It isn't merely about giving people a bad experience, but to give them a cheap thrill that keeps them coming back to the apps without ever finding a fulfilling relationship that would render the website superfluous.

The internet (and other players!) likes to hate the players, not the game, and the only “comfort” many young men have is Tate and Co.

Tate on one side and Estee Williams on the other. Men are told to treat women like a commodity - interchangeable, disposable, and ultimately hostile to your personal interests - that you rent out when you've accrued enough surplus wealth. Women are told to embrace submissiveness, obsess over superficial appearance, and pursue men based entirely on their socio-economic status in pursuit of the same kind of passive incomes that Tate is selling.

These conservative icons put men and women into an inherent contradictory position, with the idea of two people coming together as collaborators (much less romantic partners) is fully alien. You're purchasing a man's income with your looks. He's purchasing your looks with his hustle-money. You're both purchasing the other's status, with an eye towards a higher rung on the ladder. Neither one of sees the other as a life partner.