This Man Is Not the Answer to the Masculinity Crisis

He’s like plastic. He’s everywhere: CNN, podcasts, your TikTok feed. But when it’s time to face uncomfortable truths, Scott Galloway folds.

Conversations about the crisis of modern masculinity are gathering steam. At the center of that conversation, from community halls to chinwags with Theo Von, is NYU professor Scott Galloway. With his trademark mix of economic data, personal anecdotes, and rapid-fire rhetoric, he’s carved out a peculiar niche: the sober businessman diagnosing the emotional ailments of a generation.
His new podcast, Lost Boys, produced with Anthony Scaramucci, aims to shine a light on what’s breaking young men. The project is timely and appears to be well-intentioned. However, once you look a little closer, what emerges is a troubling contradiction, one that should make us question whether Galloway is the right man for the moment.
Let’s begin with his message. Galloway tells young men to be brave. To take risks. To stand tall and confront discomfort. He calls for courage, stoicism, and discipline. He tells them to reject victimhood and accept responsibility. These are, inarguably, good things. Necessary things. Things that should be shouted louder in a culture that increasingly tells boys they are broken and beyond repair.
And yet, the messenger cannot be separated from the message. Recently, it emerged that Galloway declined an invitation to appear on Real Time with Bill Maher because Steve Bannon was also on the lineup. Galloway, who has spent the years building a brand on facing the uncomfortable, backed out because the lineup included someone he didn’t like. Isn’t the very essence of masculinity, at least as Galloway defines it, the ability to step into the fire and not flinch? To stand one’s ground in the face of disagreement? To confront ideas rather than run from them?
If Galloway can’t be bothered to walk into a room with someone who holds views he deems reprehensible, what hope does the average 21-year-old have when confronting a world filled with actual hostility? This wasn’t a dark alley. It was a studio. With cameras. And moderators. Yet Galloway ran for cover. The paradox...