Newsweek chronicles
the transformation of Roosh from pickup artist to political philosopher:
When I meet Roosh at a Starbucks in Washington, D.C., he’s early. That’s surprising, since he tells his readers to show up five to 10 minutes late to dates. (“She’ll have anxious feelings focusing on your arrival instead of the doubts she had about coming to see you.”) Less surprising is that he records the interview. “Your editor, is he part of the global conspiracy?” Roosh asks. [Editor’s note: Yes.] “No? But let me ask you this: Who hired him? [And] who hired him?” Roosh is tall and has a thick, bushy beard with gray patches. He’s wearing a red “Make America great again” hat and a T-shirt, jeans and black sneakers. He grew up around Washington and says he is back visiting his parents; he’s been bouncing between countries for the past decade and lately sticks to Russia, Poland and Ukraine.
Roosh’s focus has changed, and Free Speech Isn’t Free shows it. His previous books explained how to “bang” women, but his newest one turns to a topic likely familiar to Trump’s followers: how people from minority groups can say whatever they want while straight men cannot. “There are active attempts to silence men, to marginalize them, and at the same time to elevate all these far-left agendas and viewpoints,” he tells me.
That shift in thinking is occurring across the “manosphere,” the informal network of websites, blogs and online forums that deal with masculinity, dating and men’s rights. “Once you learn how to do well with women, then you start understanding the deeper political and philosophical issues,” Mike Cernovich, another unofficial leader in the movement and a friend of Roosh’s, says in an email. “Why are gender relationships so toxic, you start to ask, and from there you are down an entirely new rabbit hole.” Few are exploring those ideas as well as Roosh is, Cernovich adds. “Roosh is a welcome relief from the banality of pseudo-intellectualism that passes for ‘free thought’ these days.”
If you haven't read
Free Speech Isn't Free, you absolutely should. It's highly informative and even modestly thought-provoking.