r/technology • u/NowThatsMalarkey • Feb 21 '25

Social Media Mark Zuckerberg’s makeover didn’t make people like him, study shows

https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/20/mark-zuckerbergs-makeover-didnt-make-people-like-him-study-shows/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANAZlr-hGuhX1KqqPjBTkTce5FHYoTfozy456eW6cuu8YldzC5rpGfIlP07_a0jXdYc_eaaM6DrAXHX5G8e2xGc5SpbfTOxsJAwxR81w_TBGJlcjoLsVnZ8PWO1lNJgWgzm3MMz0BHDbCl-W5ehgrTueoJBD4LubB0aUd2ecJ39Y
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u/ejp1082 Feb 21 '25

he just looks like he's trying to roleplay at masculinity.

Seriously, for the life of me I'll never understand this.

The whole manosphere thing is baffling to me but it's especially baffling to see guys on that level buy into it.

Musk and Zuckerburg frickin won capitalism. They're friggin billionaires, part of the very small three comma club. They could do and have literally anything they want.

Yet somehow that makes them into more of an insecure man-baby rather than less of one? I just don't get it.

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u/fireblyxx Feb 21 '25

I think that masculinity itself is broad and the bounds of it are arbitrarily defined, and for a lot of people, “masculinity” is one of those things you define by describing what it isn’t, or using symbology and association to denote belonging.

I think between the two Musk is the clearer example of masculinity defined by symbology. He comes out on stage with a chainsaw or a flamethrower. Wears dark clothes in an attempt to look intimidating. But none of those things are him, just trinkets of things we’re meant to see as masculine, and therefore him by association. And that’s what makes it feel so fake, the need for association and recognition.

Like, I don’t like Joe Rogan, but at least he’s, like, relaxed in his demeanor. He has all that masculine symbology association bullshit too, but at least he’s honest about supplementing his testosterone levels and wouldn’t lie about it like he’s some natural fount of masculinity that we somehow aren’t all seeing.

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u/Special-Garlic1203 Feb 22 '25

To be fair, Rogan is really into fitness bro culture. They're all on PEDs these days. I'm not sure if he should get credit for not lying about it, because its less an admission and instead kind of functions as signalling group belonging with the gym rats he loves so much. 

I will agree that Musk is one of most performative try hard over compensators I've never seen. 

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u/LegitosaurusRex Feb 22 '25

Eh, Musk does those weird jumps and stuff on stage, and Zuck is ripped now and does martial arts.

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u/Special-Garlic1203 Feb 22 '25

I don't think it's insecure for Zuckberburg. I think he's just really really manipulative and has a need for dominance. So he just picks up and abandons values and hobbies and aesthetics according to what he thinks will serve him best. 

He was also beta testing being a wife guy for a minute. I think that's what we would have seen if Harris won.

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u/Pure-Night9422 Feb 22 '25

It's the money. It constantly erodes him. The more of it he has the more aware of it he is, it's always there always hanging out not maximizing its potential, not working as hard for him as he himself works, although mainly nowadays to keep out of the range of sniper fire more than anything. It haunts him in the wrong way. Not because he could do good things with it, this is not the guilt he feels for hoarding obscene wealth, no. His is different than that of the merely mortal man. It is because it could somehow make even more money had he done something different and possibly better, at each decision point in the past. He thinks it's all a game. He even uses words like 'delete" to refer to government agencies, showing the callous disregard he has for peoples livelihoods. The billionaire makes a shitty politician, folks, when will we get it through our thick skulls?