The Tibetan meditation master Chogyam Trungpa once made a crack about the vacations westerners make, traveling to exotic locations to "lie on dirt".

Clearly not a fan of sunbathing, and especially not of traveling to some remote corner of the world to do it.

In a similar vein, I have to question the recent deluge of travel and lifestyle pictures here in MGTOW.

Look at me, I am in Finland! Look at me, I went to the tourist trap known as Brugges! Look at me, I went to the Rockies to hike! Look at this fantastic meal I am about to eat! Look at my new toy!

The funniest one was a picture from France, which I commented on at the time. It was about 20 years old - which you could spot by contrasting it with more recent photos showing further growth of the ivy, additional new street signs, etc.

So the point here is not about tone policing. It is about psychology, independence and boasting, bragging and approval seeking.

In my opinion, MGTOW is not meant to be like the flocks of Japanese teenagers in Harajuku, all rebelling together in exactly the same way. They aren't really rebelling, they are just joining their age cohort. It might have trappings of youthful rebellion, but it is utterly conformist.

The nature of conformity is to be like the other sheep, to seek approval and solidarity from the crowd. Conformists are not going their own way, they are looking to go the same way as everyone else. They might try to steer that way a bit, but they won't go out on a limb. They lack an involate moral code and a solid sense of who they are, which will not bend for anyone - male or female.

Approval seeking behavior is a sign of such conformity, and quite frankly, more typical of feminized of outright female behavior.

So when we come to these showoff pictures - muh travel, muh motorcycle, all such lifestyle porn - the question has to be, why do you make such approval seeking postings? Why do we need to impress people?

What moral and interpersonal courage we have there! Rebel, but make sure mommy approves. And be sure - any approval seeking behavior is analogous to getting mommy's approval.