Young Men and Online Radicalization: Dissecting Internet Subcultures with Lee Fang, Katherine Dee, and Evan Barker
System Update with Glenn Greenwald
Rumble
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2025
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Should there be a moral panic about young people being radicalized online? As much of the media struggles to understand and describe Gen Z internet culture in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, journalist and culture writer Katherine Dee discusses the dark internet subcultures influencing young people and what can be done about them. Plus: former Democratic operative Evan Barker discusses how Democrats alienate young men, and what Democrats can learn from Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA. Lee Fang guest hosts.
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| 0:00.0 | This is Lee Fong. I'm your host of System Update. |
| 0:19.6 | Glenn's out this week and I'm filling in. Charlie |
| 0:22.6 | Kirk was a towering figure among conservatives, but in particular for many young men. |
| 0:29.0 | Kirk built a national following through the organization that he co-founded, Turning Point USA. |
| 0:34.8 | Turning Point has become an incredible institution on the conservative right. The group now has chapters at over 850 college campuses. It has many paid organizers who are expected to make at least 1,500 student contacts per semester. The group boasts a budget, an annual budget of over $80 million per year. The money is spent to train |
| 0:56.1 | students in debate and social media and tactics for electioneering to help the Republican Party |
| 1:01.2 | and various conservative causes. And Kirk realized early on that college campuses were fertile |
| 1:07.8 | ground for rebuilding the conservative movement. His debate format was a bit |
| 1:12.1 | formulaic at times, often using quips and canned responses to counter liberal opponents. But he was |
| 1:17.9 | nonviolent. He was engaging. He inspired countless young people with his ability to create viral |
| 1:23.8 | moments, and in doing so, he became the de facto youth leader of the MAGA movement, |
| 1:28.8 | a pivotal institution for Donald Trump's coalition. In 2024, young men swung to the Republican |
| 1:35.9 | Party by 30 percent, one of the biggest demographic earthquakes in modern electoral history. |
| 1:42.1 | It's safe to say that Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA played a big |
| 1:46.3 | role in this incredible shift. Young men, it turns out, have been exhausted by the liberal |
| 1:52.7 | culture wars, which of all too often demonize men as oppressors, as sexual predators, and as the |
| 1:59.2 | cause of many problems in society. |
| 2:01.6 | Yet, young men, the statistics show, are not doing well. |
| 2:06.6 | Recent data shows that young men are becoming more addicted to drugs and alcohol, |
| 2:11.6 | including high potency pot, as well as addicted to sports betting and other forms of gambling. |
| 2:16.6 | Compulsive habits around video games and pornography are overwhelmingly reported among young men. |
| 2:23.3 | They're increasingly dropping out of college, failing to hold a job, and becoming more and more lonely. |
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