To the Andrew Tate disciples who feel downtrodden by society: straight white men are still winning

‘Online influencers like Andrew Tate make their living off fuelling the directionless rage of young men, and in some ways I have to hand it to them for appropriating the victim narrative so effectively.’ Photograph: @cobratate

As far as viral TikTok content goes, Flynn Martin’s controversial rant started out unassumingly: a young white guy sitting in his car, baseball cap and grey T-shirt, speaking conversationally. He meanders for the first few seconds with caveats and prevarications, but his next sentence sets the app aflame. “Is it actually OK,” he drawls “to be a white straight male? Because I was born this way.” Cue thousands of stitches and duets ripping Martin to pieces.

I watched the original TikTok video – which has since been deleted, along with his original Phlinmartin account – with a sort of sick fascination. As he ranted about emasculated feminist men, who he characterised as being fat and unfit, I wondered what had caused Martin to snap and spew this nonsense out on the internet.