From the Shadows of the Foot Clan: Male Alienation and the Battle for Purpose

There’s a verse floating around in a song—one of those lines that hits harder than it should:

“They were misguided, unloved. They called them the Foot.”

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Foot Clan is a gang of masked, ninja-trained misfits—alienated youth scooped up and indoctrinated by the villainous Shredder. Skateboarding kids and punks with no home, no father figures, no future. All it took was someone to see them. Shredder gave them structure. Belonging. A mission.

Sound familiar?

The metaphor isn’t subtle. The Foot Clan was a warning. Behind the cartoonish fights and sewer-dwelling reptiles, TMNT slipped in a social critique: when society turns its back on its boys, someone will come along to weaponize them.

Fast forward to today. We're living in a world that's done everything possible to alienate its young men. We've told them they’re toxic by default. That their natural impulses are suspect. That their value is in what they produce—not who they are.

Our culture increasingly demands men perform—but never belong. Work until you drop. Fight our wars. Suppress your doubts. Do not cry. Do not complain. Just do your job.

Is it any wonder they’re looking for a Shredder?

Someone—anyone—who speaks directly to them. Who sees their confusion, their aimlessness, their pain, and tells them: “You're not crazy. You're not broken. You're needed.”

That’s the vaccine. The void. And right now, it’s being filled by controversial figures like Andrew Tate. He doesn’t sneak in through the back door—he kicks it in. He tells boys what they long to hear: You can be strong. You can take control. You can rise.

It doesn’t matter that the message is flawed, or even dangerous. It matters that it exists at all—because no one else is stepping in.

Tate didn’t create the void. He just saw it. And that’s the tragedy.

If you don’t want a generation of Foot Clan soldiers—angry, radicalized, and ready to burn the world that never loved them—you have to give them something better. Something real. Mentorship. Belonging. Purpose.

Because when boys have no heroes, they will follow villains.

Because if you don’t teach young men how to wield power with wisdom, someone else will teach them how to wield it with vengeance.

And if you're not offering them a tribe... Shredder will.

I want you to tell me every where that i'm wrong or that I'm short sighted or I haven't thought something through.

I'm going to do my best to step back and let people have their opinions and not be so volcanic in the comments section because quite frankly I am honored you would even read my work. I have Jewish followers of my work that I value and I have followers that wear brown shirts that appreciate my work. My brown shirt friends I hope I can change your ideas about some things I hope I can show you a different way.