If I am understanding this video correctly it proceeds under the premise that "male hierarchy" is nothing more than a "social construct" which is a false premise to begin with, it is literally human nature and as with all things it has it's good and necessary, essential qualities which can become negative when abused and perverted. It's that simple. The views being pontificated on here are a perfect example of leftism especially as exemplified by critical theory which always seeks to focus on the worst negative aspects of what has come before (conservative traditionalism) in order to reduce it down to complete supposed failure and ruin completely ignoring any of it's positive aspects , in fact using this focus on the negative to cast aspersions on the positive therefore rejecting it all in it's entirety. All this while in turn failing miserably to offer anything practical or beneficial in it's place beyond vague empty platitudes that ironically have consistently proven historically to lead to failure and ruin by denying human nature as a "social construct". This form of leftist thinking always throws out the baby with the bathwater as a rule in order to cope with and justify resentments and bitterness with it's failure to negotiate successfully through manifest proven reality (traditionalism) always arriving at and adopting the very same forms of so called "toxic/negative" behaviors being " it supposedly opposes justified' under new supposed parameters of "morality" that thrives on hypocrisy. In the end it always turns out to be a case of "Such and such is o.k. when WE do it because We are doing it for the "right" reasons", etc... it all sounds very "smart" and intellectual but in the end proves to be just a con job load of rubbish worse than the things it seeks to tear down. The real tragedy on display in the Sopranos is that just about all the main characters exhibit a desire to fulfill positive admirable traits such as bravery, loyalty, love etc.. but fail through their petty lack of character and misguided perverted intentions to fulfill any of these qualities . The reasoning in this video would have you believe that these qualities are in and of themselves inevitably bad because they were being exhibited by bad people dedicated to doing bad things in this instance . It is no different than when lefties hear a phrase like "Make America Great Again" and automatically (and often disingenuously) will have you think that the phrase is by necessity only referring to a time that can only be defined by nothing but negativity and bad intentions as if all things can only be defined by their worst aspects and nothing more. Leftism ,especially this extreme variety is poison for the soul.
@@juanramirez-wk8ty the biggest problem with your idea here is saying that the qualities are subjectivly good or bad. It makes your ideas redundant, if this character of being a man is good but only when uses for "good" just mean the character of being a man is just take fake because it's not about how "men" act but how man (individual) being good or bad. Or in the show follow the morales and philosophy or the depressed brutal mobsters, or literally anyone not connected to the life.
Your finally sentence of politics fails to consider how political parties change (at times drastically) over time and political climate of the time. Like yeah you can say leftist are jumpy at "make America great again" and could have even added how during the age of reconstruction lost slavery it was the republicans advocating for equal rights with the blacks community. But then you'd have to address the fact over time that change to what modern republicans are. But then you'd also have add in an explanation of how time changes politics making that final point useless.
The male side of my family tree can be summed up by a quote from Cleveland from Family Guy. "You don't ever win. You just do a little better each time.
@Ali Nisah I burst out laughing, and when I saw this comment, I had to say something to express how much I loved the Who Framed Roger Rabbit version of The Sopranos that your deadpanning put in my head.
Young Man, I'm some middle aged old dude. Your insight was so pronounced that I mailed it to all my meaningful old dude friends. You'll do well. Cheers. Edit: we're still gonna work hard until it's done. Literally done. Good Luck. #patriarchyMarsORbust
Great video and insights Ali! The Sopranos is a really good deep dive into the morals of people and its complexity. Us men in our current society really need to know about these ideas, and to also be aware of them to be able to brake the mold and not get caught up in this hierarchy. I was a quite insightful as a kid and spotted a lot of these patterns around me and chose to not participate (on the cost of a "normal" social lifestyle), and these hierarchys is around in a lot of different ways (not just these criminal ways like we see in the show). Sadly not eveyone is comfortable in being left alone to fend for themselves in our world, but hopefully there's enough awareness nowadays for people to learn about this, and these kind of videos are great to show these kinds of problems.
Contrary to the people yelling at clouds in the comments, I feel this was really well put together. (Came here from Thoughtslime, definitely looking at the rest of your uploads)
22:46 hits home. It's fucking hard man. I'm a pretty stoic guy, hardworking, very physical labor, and in charge of team. I let a lot build up and its crushing not being able to let it out or talk to someone. So it turns into drinking a lot, and self loathing. Again, great video, obviously that hit home for me.
Is it just me or does this cat sound like the love child of Barry White & Madame Currie. That is one smooooth, articulate gentleman right there. Homie gettin the panties off with dialectic theory and Love Deluxe 🙂
Do that beginning part with the male hierarchy is spot on I was sitting and thinking about it Tony always says this is a business it really is Tony is the general manager the capos are the supervisors Silvio is the main manager Christopher is getting nepotist in the business it really is like a corporate structure!
Yeah Christopher and Chris Griffin have sooo many parallels it was peak comedy when you "accidentally" mixed the two up that was hilarious bro good one
Thank god finally a real Sopranos analysis and not that episode recap bullshit everyone does, or those damn videos focusing on tiny little details (PureKino, Soprano Theories...)
I always loved that the show hit on themes of toxic masculinity bc it's so prevelant in our lives and makes the show that much more relatable. anyways, video is amazing my man it's a crime there's not more views
Falling into the disease of Nostalgia is nothing new. “The theatre is not what it once was. And it never “was” what it once was.” -From the play ”I, Claudius “ (4th Emperor of Rome.)
It's always interesting when people talk about some mythical "Golden Age," when it comes to anything. You have Zoomers with this belief that the 50s were some magical golden age, where everyone owned a house, and nobody had any financial difficulties. Sure, it was a house, a small house, with no air conditioning, maybe one television, and a single car, and they maybe had a decent lawnmower or more likely it was a push lawnmower. Plus, the man of the house usually worked a job he hated, and came home exhausted.
They also stopped AJ from going into the military, which was pretty commendable seeing as to how he even had a roadmapnfor what to do after the military. The so-called lazy kid had found something to motivate him to get out and run, learn a new language and they stifled it
Loved the video .... Personally I disagree is some aspects ...Your applying the moral part of Humanity but excluding the Violent Reality of Survival of the fittest .... its not all the time ... but when it hits the victor is obvious
2 things I feel like even a lotta hardcore Sopranos fans miss about the show are that A. Tony wasn't always the way he ends up, and B. He's a miserable person and as his misery gets worse and more hopeless his actions follow. We see em change over time for sure, everybody sees it. But, especially lookin back at his childhood and teen years, he shows no signs of the antisocial personality traits he developed later on and got worse as the show goes on. So it's pretty safe to say that he's in the camp of people who develop antisocial personality traits as a coping mechanism in order to survive the reality of the actions they engage in and consequences that follow. They also become masters of compartmentalization where they can be cold as ice in a murder then say they love their friend, go home and kiss the wife, hug the kids, call the mom, and mean it all deeply. It's actually pretty common in situations where they're following a father, or other influential figure, into a life that basically requires sociopathic tendencies to get by or it'd be impossible to operate. They've done studies. I've lived and seen it myself. I came up in the streets and stayed in the mix til about 30 and I was cruel to opps, cold to the slingers we stuck up, aloof to the fact that the dope we put on the streets was wrecking families and killing folks, yet we loved eachother to the point of being willing to spend the rest of our lives in a cage or die, loved our parents, kids, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, etc. It really wasn't til I got older that it started to wear on me and after I got the space after gettin outta the life for a while that I realized just how much I had compartmentalized and cold I was to certain people. It was straight traumatic to have that reckoning and it's something I'm still working through. And the idea that "hurt people hurt people" is extremely true in Tony's case. We see how he takes stuff out on everyone else, often those that deserve it least. It's beyond that though, he's depressed and his depression causes em to lash out at others and as it gets worse so does his behavior. In a way he's not of sound mind and arguably wouldn't be as bad (especially to his family and friends) if he wasn't so miserable all that time. He has no joy so neither should they, he can't feel anything good so rage, violence, adrenaline rushes and random sex take it's place, it's textbook asl. So ya take a guy, fill em up on the worst kinda toxic masculinity and bigotry, walk em into the mafia life where he'll need to be ruthless and diplomatic (often in dishonest and misleading ways) to succeed, and pour on depression and potentially other mental health issues, then give em increasing levels of power and stress and ya get the Tony we see on the show. Otherwise there's no way the kid and teen we see in the show and movie or hear about from others turns into the Tony we know, despite his mother. If he was born to Paolo Carconno, a warehouse worker, instead of Johnny Boy Soprano it's extremely likely that he ends up a VERY different person in the end. Some people are born with antisocial personality disorders, some develop em over time to survive, some monsters are born, some are made, I'm pretty convinced that Tony was made. Edit: I disagree strongly with your analysis of hierarchy and it's coercive nature ever being right. The relationship between parent and child, teacher and student, apprentice and master, etc, are a different story entirely. But particularly when it comes to governance and management, there's absolutely no good that comes from it when it's not fully accountable, directly participatory and bound to the will of constituents, and immediately revocable. We don't need authoritarian solutions when better ones exist. And when a "hierarchy" is participatory it functionally ceases to be a hierarchy of any meaning and becomes something more like efficiency 🏴
The frat guy around the 10:00 mark....... Yeah, NOT the usual consensus from people who join Fraternities or other "Brotherly" organizations. "Hazing" has become a bastardized version of Boys "Earning" there place in the community. Usually there are trials, some suck thrown in and the goal was to earn the right of "Brotherhood" through proving how far you would go for it. Which made it something special that one just doesn't toss aside. Some groups, like the MC i was in, wanna know how much you can take because they wanna know if you'll stand up to the enemy or police. I was in a Fraternity in school and an Outlaw Motorcycle club as an adult, And never once did i lean on new guys because of what the older guys did to me when i was coming in. Those kinda guys are far and few between.
Fascinating video, thank you. The version of masculinity these men have to perform in order to move through the world is not just a common-variety hegemonic masculinity, but an ultra-heightened mafioso version, an even tighter and more corrosive straightjacket. This gender performance is strictly-enforced to maintain the mob's miserable mini-patriarchy. All the power and money is concentrated among the handful of top guys. The rest are profoundly powerless (basically serfs with no agency who submit to absolute 24/7 authority of their bosses), stressed and precarious (kick up an envelope every week without fail), routinely facing danger and death and prison, alienated from their true sources of love and connection ("this family comes before your own family even..."), and typically not even well-paid for their misery. The system only holds if the masculine ideal that everyone must emulate comprises deadened emotions, violence and cruelty, fierce loyalty, reverence for traditional structures and the established patriarchs. Their gender ideals are even more sacred to them because they're also relied on to psychologically process and morally justify all of their evil deeds. Murder, extortion, betrayal, hypocrisy, corruption: all are permissible because they are soldiers, masculine men defending and providing for their women and children. It's striking how often they parrot this BS "providing for family/women" excuse for their petty criminality: it's just something that men do. Even though Tony scaled the pyramid, the therapy/Kevin Finnerty thread showed us how this entire performance trapped him in misery, living an entire life and persona at odds with his underlying nature. He had chances to reform or redeem, but the lifetime spent becoming a man in the Johnny Boy/Junior mould ultimately claimed his soul.
I dont think you get the point of hazing at all. It's not about just waiting your turn to inflict it upon someone else. It's about instilling a sense of belonging. Being able to endure the hazing means that you've EARNED a place in the group. The fact that it has to be earned is what gives it it's value.
But any social practice in existence can be rationalized with the argument that it’s just part of the process of “earning” your status. Gangs that beat their newest man into a bloody pulp through an 8 on 1 assault, justify their busted eardrums as part of earning their way into the gang. Members of the Jonestown cult that fed their own children poison, justified it as earning their way into true membership with the People's Temple. The reason I mention these extreme examples, is to show you that if you assume the one thing that gives a group practice its value is that it has to be earned, then you can further justify 100% of any heinous act that exists, so long as said act was also done to others in the group as an initiation right. It's not a good basis to justify anything. The argument that hazing is good or necessary, should be founded on the actual substance of what hazing is, being good or necessary. Which it isn't. Earning your way up the ranks of any organization, should consist of work. Constructive, tangible work. Those willing to be team players, who don’t start petty drama, who are driven & dedicated to the job, and who have a unique skillset that others can’t replicate or do better. A frat at a university near me, had pledges squirm on their stomachs on the floor shirtless over a bed of nails to get in. Come on now. That’s not earning a damn thing. That’s making yourself the other guys’ punching bag for their sadistic joy and their approval. Absolutely, not all hazing is that intense. But even when it comes to lighter hazing; the process itself is still, at its core, about humiliating and degrading its participants. Work allows one to earn. Abuse is never earned. A sense of belonging, of unity, can be instilled by any common experience within the group, and should be instilled by experiences that bring the other members up instead of tearing them down. Telling oneself that they needed to suffer to belong, that they had it coming, is simply how the cycle of abuse maintains over generations. It's what Tony told himself to convince himself that his mother wasn't actually wickedly manipulative with none of his interests at heart, and that he was just an ungrateful son.
@MichelangeloVA I'm confused. You go on for quite some time about how worthless hazing is, only to seemingly reverse yourself at the end when you talk about the marines. As if it's not really the hazing itself that you have a problem with, but with the reasons FOR it. You like the Marine Corp, so hazing is worthwhile, but you don't like other groups so it's stupid. It sounds to me like you're just making a value judgment about the group, rather than the hazing itself we are here to discuss. Actually, the military is what I had in mind when I wrote my comment. We used to haze each other pretty brutally in the Army. When I earned my Expert Infantry Badge, for example, it was pinned to my chest without the backers on and 20 or so soldiers took turns punching it into my skin. My chest was a bloody mess by the end. It was fuckin awesome. Why? Because I earned it. By being good at my job and by being able to absorb physical punishment. That's why it has value to us. So why can't that same idea apply outside the military?
You must be extremely fragile in your masculinity to not be able to discuss gender 😂 Look back through history, weve been allowed to have these conversations. Its not all black and white like you people see it
Regardless of gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ideology, etc, if you take a group of people, put them at the top of a hierarchy and give them a high concentration of power, they will all become monsters and they'll create a system were everybody is making everybody miserable through a tiresome power struggle. Of course, historicaly, men have had way more experience perpetraiting and subjugating themselves and others to these power dynamics and now it has become a staple of our society to the point that even if you put a woman in charge, she will end up reproducing the same toxic dynamics of power that men have perfected (the girl boss). I think the only way of fixing this issue is to reject strict hierarchies altogether and to opt for the most horizontal mode of organizing possible, one in which power is not concentrated in one group but it's as spread out as it can be.
If I am understanding this video correctly it proceeds under the premise that "male hierarchy" is nothing more than a "social construct" which is a false premise to begin with, it is literally human nature and as with all things it has it's good and necessary, essential qualities which can become negative when abused and perverted. It's that simple. The views being pontificated on here are a perfect example of leftism especially as exemplified by critical theory which always seeks to focus on the worst negative aspects of what has come before (conservative traditionalism) in order to reduce it down to complete supposed failure and ruin completely ignoring any of it's positive aspects , in fact using this focus on the negative to cast aspersions on the positive therefore rejecting it all in it's entirety. All this while in turn failing miserably to offer anything practical or beneficial in it's place beyond vague empty platitudes that ironically have consistently proven historically to lead to failure and ruin by denying human nature as a "social construct". This form of leftist thinking always throws out the baby with the bathwater as a rule in order to cope with and justify resentments and bitterness with it's failure to negotiate successfully through manifest proven reality (traditionalism) always arriving at and adopting the very same forms of so called "toxic/negative" behaviors being " it supposedly opposes justified' under new supposed parameters of "morality" that thrives on hypocrisy. In the end it always turns out to be a case of "Such and such is o.k. when WE do it because We are doing it for the "right" reasons", etc... it all sounds very "smart" and intellectual but in the end proves to be just a con job load of rubbish worse than the things it seeks to tear down. The real tragedy on display in the Sopranos is that just about all the main characters exhibit a desire to fulfill positive admirable traits such as bravery, loyalty, love etc.. but fail through their petty lack of character and misguided perverted intentions to fulfill any of these qualities . The reasoning in this video would have you believe that these qualities are in and of themselves inevitably bad because they were being exhibited by bad people dedicated to doing bad things in this instance . It is no different than when lefties hear a phrase like "Make America Great Again" and automatically (and often disingenuously) will have you think that the phrase is by necessity only referring to a time that can only be defined by nothing but negativity and bad intentions as if all things can only be defined by their worst aspects and nothing more. Leftism ,especially this extreme variety is poison for the soul.
@@diamondbrook I'm sure you do, I have heard it all before.
@@juanramirez-wk8ty the biggest problem with your idea here is saying that the qualities are subjectivly good or bad. It makes your ideas redundant, if this character of being a man is good but only when uses for "good" just mean the character of being a man is just take fake because it's not about how "men" act but how man (individual) being good or bad. Or in the show follow the morales and philosophy or the depressed brutal mobsters, or literally anyone not connected to the life.
Your finally sentence of politics fails to consider how political parties change (at times drastically) over time and political climate of the time. Like yeah you can say leftist are jumpy at "make America great again" and could have even added how during the age of reconstruction lost slavery it was the republicans advocating for equal rights with the blacks community. But then you'd have to address the fact over time that change to what modern republicans are. But then you'd also have add in an explanation of how time changes politics making that final point useless.
This comment has given more insight of you as a person than it has given insight of your analysis of this video's thesis. That's not a good thing.
@@edgarguzman8028 It's obvious your understanding of "modern Republicans" is ignorant at best and openly dishonest at worst.
up in da club jumpscare
Was necessary
@@diamondbrookI got kids that live here. I don’t want them walking around or goin’ ta school with… jumpscares.
The male side of my family tree can be summed up by a quote from Cleveland from Family Guy.
"You don't ever win. You just do a little better each time.
Yeah, but tungsten has the highest melting point, Petuh.
Chris Griffin is definitely one of the characters for sure
I'd rewatch Sopranos for that casting change.
@Ashley Johnson fk haha 😂. Don't forget Meg.... she'd be fist wicked for no reason.
Man I got three comments bringing that up. I hope my deadpan voice didn't make it seem like I said it by accident.
@Ali Nisah I realised it was done on purpose and I think it was gold the way it seamlessly flows 😭
@Ali Nisah I burst out laughing, and when I saw this comment, I had to say something to express how much I loved the Who Framed Roger Rabbit version of The Sopranos that your deadpanning put in my head.
excellent video. the core themes of the Sopranos more directly tackled than in most other analysis videos.
Superb video both in terms of the style and substance, thank You! Also You have an amazing voice, great to listen to. Cheers!
Young Man,
I'm some middle aged old dude.
Your insight was so pronounced that I mailed it to all my meaningful old dude friends. You'll do well. Cheers.
Edit: we're still gonna work hard until it's done. Literally done.
Good Luck. #patriarchyMarsORbust
This comment warms my heart to read. You’re a rockstar, thank you 🤝
Great video and insights Ali! The Sopranos is a really good deep dive into the morals of people and its complexity. Us men in our current society really need to know about these ideas, and to also be aware of them to be able to brake the mold and not get caught up in this hierarchy. I was a quite insightful as a kid and spotted a lot of these patterns around me and chose to not participate (on the cost of a "normal" social lifestyle), and these hierarchys is around in a lot of different ways (not just these criminal ways like we see in the show). Sadly not eveyone is comfortable in being left alone to fend for themselves in our world, but hopefully there's enough awareness nowadays for people to learn about this, and these kind of videos are great to show these kinds of problems.
19:23 Chris Griffen... The tragedy of family guy 🤣
Thank you for dissecting this theme in the Sopranos
this was an insanely good watch, will be recommending it ♥
Contrary to the people yelling at clouds in the comments, I feel this was really well put together. (Came here from Thoughtslime, definitely looking at the rest of your uploads)
I appreciate the support 🤗 my biggest video yet is coming soon. I hope you’ll stick around.
@@diamondbrook Good stuff, I look forward to it. :)
Great video, in my opinion, one of your best.
I appreciate a fellow ali saying this. But really, thank you. that means a lot!
How have I missed this channel?? Great stuff!
22:46 hits home. It's fucking hard man. I'm a pretty stoic guy, hardworking, very physical labor, and in charge of team. I let a lot build up and its crushing not being able to let it out or talk to someone. So it turns into drinking a lot, and self loathing. Again, great video, obviously that hit home for me.
Wow where’d this channel come from this is awesome great stuff sir
13:30
"Morally sound"
I too am an Eagle Scout
🦅
19:23 Chris Griffin? I thought this was The Sopranos not Family Guy
Didn’t you watch the video? I thought I made it very clear that this is famimy guy
Very well articulated and insightful
Great video, I truly enjoyed it.
Thanks for creating this. very detailed and deep. Spot on..
The Sopranos has been my comfort show for years and counting
That was insanely good! Very good job! Your message is very good
Is it just me or does this cat sound like the love child of Barry White & Madame Currie. That is one smooooth, articulate gentleman right there. Homie gettin the panties off with dialectic theory and Love Deluxe 🙂
Do that beginning part with the male hierarchy is spot on I was sitting and thinking about it Tony always says this is a business it really is Tony is the general manager the capos are the supervisors Silvio is the main manager Christopher is getting nepotist in the business it really is like a corporate structure!
Yeah Christopher and Chris Griffin have sooo many parallels it was peak comedy when you "accidentally" mixed the two up that was hilarious bro good one
dropping this comment to feed the algorithm, fantastic work as always!
Thank you very much! disaster-jpg can’t hold a candle to you.
Excellent video, I haven't seen The Sopranos yet but it seemed like it was light on plot spoilers
Amazing video! This is Sopranos content I love to see
Don’t know if you realized but at the start of the Chris section you referred to him as “Chris Griffin”.
Thank god finally a real Sopranos analysis and not that episode recap bullshit everyone does, or those damn videos focusing on tiny little details (PureKino, Soprano Theories...)
Another homerun kid! Well worth the wait
I hate I only find this an entire year later
19:23 .. Am I trippin' or did he call him "Chris Griffin" lmao
I always loved that the show hit on themes of toxic masculinity bc it's so prevelant in our lives and makes the show that much more relatable. anyways, video is amazing my man it's a crime there's not more views
Christopher is a great character no doubt. Sympathy tho? Never. He ratted on Ade…
Really liked the video. I watch a lot of content like this and this was full of great stuff. Subscribed
Superb analysis, I think it points out what Sopranos is all about
this video rocks, thanks for making it!
Falling into the disease of Nostalgia is nothing new.
“The theatre is not what it once was. And it never “was” what it once was.”
-From the play ”I, Claudius “ (4th Emperor of Rome.)
It's always interesting when people talk about some mythical "Golden Age," when it comes to anything.
You have Zoomers with this belief that the 50s were some magical golden age, where everyone owned a house, and nobody had any financial difficulties. Sure, it was a house, a small house, with no air conditioning, maybe one television, and a single car, and they maybe had a decent lawnmower or more likely it was a push lawnmower.
Plus, the man of the house usually worked a job he hated, and came home exhausted.
another hit from video mastermind Ali Nisah
Ayo I saw this in my recommended and just now realized it was by the dude who made the last great bb analysis vid!
great insight, thanks for making this video! you definitely gained a subscriber out of me
I don't fuck with video essays, but this was good, thanks for making it
Today I learned Roy Kent had a UA-cam channel. I approve!
19:24 Chris Griffin?
cant watch this show cuz im watching the show rn but so excited to 🙏
Banger vid. I wasn’t MORE!
hey you should watch welcome to the dollhouse and do an analysis of it. seems in line with the themes u like to talk about
19:22 Chris *Griffin?*
I didn't know Sopranos had Family Guy characters in it
Did it also have Peter Griffin, Bryan and Stewie?
Great perspective
They also stopped AJ from going into the military, which was pretty commendable seeing as to how he even had a roadmapnfor what to do after the military. The so-called lazy kid had found something to motivate him to get out and run, learn a new language and they stifled it
Yeah. We have a lot of growing still, but my sentiments are that the younger generations and our own kids are better.
Great vid
Amazing content and taste
Thank you 🫶🏽
You should cover the show Billions
Loved the video .... Personally I disagree is some aspects ...Your applying the moral part of Humanity but excluding the Violent Reality of Survival of the fittest .... its not all the time ... but when it hits the victor is obvious
2 things I feel like even a lotta hardcore Sopranos fans miss about the show are that A. Tony wasn't always the way he ends up, and B. He's a miserable person and as his misery gets worse and more hopeless his actions follow.
We see em change over time for sure, everybody sees it. But, especially lookin back at his childhood and teen years, he shows no signs of the antisocial personality traits he developed later on and got worse as the show goes on.
So it's pretty safe to say that he's in the camp of people who develop antisocial personality traits as a coping mechanism in order to survive the reality of the actions they engage in and consequences that follow. They also become masters of compartmentalization where they can be cold as ice in a murder then say they love their friend, go home and kiss the wife, hug the kids, call the mom, and mean it all deeply.
It's actually pretty common in situations where they're following a father, or other influential figure, into a life that basically requires sociopathic tendencies to get by or it'd be impossible to operate. They've done studies. I've lived and seen it myself. I came up in the streets and stayed in the mix til about 30 and I was cruel to opps, cold to the slingers we stuck up, aloof to the fact that the dope we put on the streets was wrecking families and killing folks, yet we loved eachother to the point of being willing to spend the rest of our lives in a cage or die, loved our parents, kids, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, etc. It really wasn't til I got older that it started to wear on me and after I got the space after gettin outta the life for a while that I realized just how much I had compartmentalized and cold I was to certain people. It was straight traumatic to have that reckoning and it's something I'm still working through.
And the idea that "hurt people hurt people" is extremely true in Tony's case. We see how he takes stuff out on everyone else, often those that deserve it least. It's beyond that though, he's depressed and his depression causes em to lash out at others and as it gets worse so does his behavior. In a way he's not of sound mind and arguably wouldn't be as bad (especially to his family and friends) if he wasn't so miserable all that time. He has no joy so neither should they, he can't feel anything good so rage, violence, adrenaline rushes and random sex take it's place, it's textbook asl.
So ya take a guy, fill em up on the worst kinda toxic masculinity and bigotry, walk em into the mafia life where he'll need to be ruthless and diplomatic (often in dishonest and misleading ways) to succeed, and pour on depression and potentially other mental health issues, then give em increasing levels of power and stress and ya get the Tony we see on the show. Otherwise there's no way the kid and teen we see in the show and movie or hear about from others turns into the Tony we know, despite his mother. If he was born to Paolo Carconno, a warehouse worker, instead of Johnny Boy Soprano it's extremely likely that he ends up a VERY different person in the end. Some people are born with antisocial personality disorders, some develop em over time to survive, some monsters are born, some are made, I'm pretty convinced that Tony was made.
Edit: I disagree strongly with your analysis of hierarchy and it's coercive nature ever being right. The relationship between parent and child, teacher and student, apprentice and master, etc, are a different story entirely. But particularly when it comes to governance and management, there's absolutely no good that comes from it when it's not fully accountable, directly participatory and bound to the will of constituents, and immediately revocable. We don't need authoritarian solutions when better ones exist. And when a "hierarchy" is participatory it functionally ceases to be a hierarchy of any meaning and becomes something more like efficiency 🏴
U must be a woman
The frat guy around the 10:00 mark.......
Yeah, NOT the usual consensus from people
who join Fraternities or other "Brotherly" organizations.
"Hazing" has become a bastardized version of Boys
"Earning" there place in the community. Usually there are trials,
some suck thrown in and the goal was to earn the right of "Brotherhood"
through proving how far you would go for it. Which made it something
special that one just doesn't toss aside.
Some groups, like the MC i was in, wanna know how much you can
take because they wanna know if you'll stand up to the enemy or police.
I was in a Fraternity in school and an Outlaw Motorcycle club as an adult, And
never once did i lean on new guys because of what the older guys
did to me when i was coming in. Those kinda guys are far and few between.
Really well done. Thank you.
The 90s still seemed like a period of decline today
Damn, this video was amazing!!!!
Great analysis.
Alv chris griffen
Who tf is Chris Griffin?
very well edited and scripted, leaving this comment for the algorithm!
Fascinating video, thank you. The version of masculinity these men have to perform in order to move through the world is not just a common-variety hegemonic masculinity, but an ultra-heightened mafioso version, an even tighter and more corrosive straightjacket.
This gender performance is strictly-enforced to maintain the mob's miserable mini-patriarchy. All the power and money is concentrated among the handful of top guys. The rest are profoundly powerless (basically serfs with no agency who submit to absolute 24/7 authority of their bosses), stressed and precarious (kick up an envelope every week without fail), routinely facing danger and death and prison, alienated from their true sources of love and connection ("this family comes before your own family even..."), and typically not even well-paid for their misery. The system only holds if the masculine ideal that everyone must emulate comprises deadened emotions, violence and cruelty, fierce loyalty, reverence for traditional structures and the established patriarchs.
Their gender ideals are even more sacred to them because they're also relied on to psychologically process and morally justify all of their evil deeds. Murder, extortion, betrayal, hypocrisy, corruption: all are permissible because they are soldiers, masculine men defending and providing for their women and children. It's striking how often they parrot this BS "providing for family/women" excuse for their petty criminality: it's just something that men do.
Even though Tony scaled the pyramid, the therapy/Kevin Finnerty thread showed us how this entire performance trapped him in misery, living an entire life and persona at odds with his underlying nature. He had chances to reform or redeem, but the lifetime spent becoming a man in the Johnny Boy/Junior mould ultimately claimed his soul.
i love your channel
Always appreciate comments like these, thank you!
Good video
Damn good vid
I dont think you get the point of hazing at all. It's not about just waiting your turn to inflict it upon someone else. It's about instilling a sense of belonging. Being able to endure the hazing means that you've EARNED a place in the group. The fact that it has to be earned is what gives it it's value.
But any social practice in existence can be rationalized with the argument that it’s just part of the process of “earning” your status. Gangs that beat their newest man into a bloody pulp through an 8 on 1 assault, justify their busted eardrums as part of earning their way into the gang. Members of the Jonestown cult that fed their own children poison, justified it as earning their way into true membership with the People's Temple. The reason I mention these extreme examples, is to show you that if you assume the one thing that gives a group practice its value is that it has to be earned, then you can further justify 100% of any heinous act that exists, so long as said act was also done to others in the group as an initiation right. It's not a good basis to justify anything. The argument that hazing is good or necessary, should be founded on the actual substance of what hazing is, being good or necessary. Which it isn't.
Earning your way up the ranks of any organization, should consist of work. Constructive, tangible work. Those willing to be team players, who don’t start petty drama, who are driven & dedicated to the job, and who have a unique skillset that others can’t replicate or do better. A frat at a university near me, had pledges squirm on their stomachs on the floor shirtless over a bed of nails to get in. Come on now. That’s not earning a damn thing. That’s making yourself the other guys’ punching bag for their sadistic joy and their approval.
Absolutely, not all hazing is that intense. But even when it comes to lighter hazing; the process itself is still, at its core, about humiliating and degrading its participants. Work allows one to earn. Abuse is never earned. A sense of belonging, of unity, can be instilled by any common experience within the group, and should be instilled by experiences that bring the other members up instead of tearing them down. Telling oneself that they needed to suffer to belong, that they had it coming, is simply how the cycle of abuse maintains over generations. It's what Tony told himself to convince himself that his mother wasn't actually wickedly manipulative with none of his interests at heart, and that he was just an ungrateful son.
@MichelangeloVA I'm confused. You go on for quite some time about how worthless hazing is, only to seemingly reverse yourself at the end when you talk about the marines. As if it's not really the hazing itself that you have a problem with, but with the reasons FOR it. You like the Marine Corp, so hazing is worthwhile, but you don't like other groups so it's stupid. It sounds to me like you're just making a value judgment about the group, rather than the hazing itself we are here to discuss.
Actually, the military is what I had in mind when I wrote my comment. We used to haze each other pretty brutally in the Army. When I earned my Expert Infantry Badge, for example, it was pinned to my chest without the backers on and 20 or so soldiers took turns punching it into my skin. My chest was a bloody mess by the end. It was fuckin awesome. Why? Because I earned it. By being good at my job and by being able to absorb physical punishment. That's why it has value to us.
So why can't that same idea apply outside the military?
You oughtta know sweetie.
All this over a slice of gabagool?
Damn good video
Fight the propaganda with propaganda ✊️
"you can be a MAN!!!" -Vito Coreleone
Wow, man
Great vid, but need to realize that Noah was his own masculine monstrosity, just a higher class one
I find the voice your putting on distracting. switched off at 5 mins
No one cares.
Based
Get it "bed 🛏️ rock 🪨"
Nature is hierarchical. This video is silly.
2:33 and I'm out
You must be extremely fragile in your masculinity to not be able to discuss gender 😂 Look back through history, weve been allowed to have these conversations. Its not all black and white like you people see it
Everybody shouldnt have power or leadership positions
So then women entering the workplace is a good thing? Little sociopaths everywhere.
Regardless of gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ideology, etc, if you take a group of people, put them at the top of a hierarchy and give them a high concentration of power, they will all become monsters and they'll create a system were everybody is making everybody miserable through a tiresome power struggle. Of course, historicaly, men have had way more experience perpetraiting and subjugating themselves and others to these power dynamics and now it has become a staple of our society to the point that even if you put a woman in charge, she will end up reproducing the same toxic dynamics of power that men have perfected (the girl boss). I think the only way of fixing this issue is to reject strict hierarchies altogether and to opt for the most horizontal mode of organizing possible, one in which power is not concentrated in one group but it's as spread out as it can be.
Bud it’s a TV show relax