This week we learned that a lawsuit will be filed against Amadeo Llados, who is accused of pyramid scheme, humiliation and hate crime, among other things. This is an international accusation coordinated by several law firms and involving more than a thousand complainants, according to the lawyer handling the case in Spain.
So far so good. Llados has become not only one of the most controversial characters in recent years, but also the most visible tip of a problematic cultural wave: philosophy coach that targets young men as target principal and that capitalizes on their discomfort, their precariousness and their disorientation to generate income at their expense. This philosophy isolates them from their friends, creates a problematic relationship with their body and food (very close to ED) and inoculates them with a neoliberal mentality of the self, the other and the social.
We talk little about how ironic it is to insult Llados but ignore other motivational coaches or financial bros
But Llados’ problem is not Llados, or at least not only. It is something more generalized. It is an expanding culture among male sectors, where promises of happiness, the search for status and recognition are played out in contexts of anonymity, precariousness and emptiness. We talk little about how ironic it is to insult Llados but ignore others coaches motivational or financialbros (such as Hugo Monteagudo, Agus Nievas, Juan Faro, Adri Kastel, etc.). But I’m not here to talk about that today. Today let’s talk about the complaint.
A far-right complaint
We found out about the complaint in an unusual way: it was on the channel of Daniel Esteve, the infamous leader of Desokupa. Esteve was talking about how we were going to find out about the move but that he was going to make Llados do it. burpees. On Monday we already discovered the intention of the lawsuit. And not everyone wears it. It is Xaime Da Pena, who has been on all the news this week: the lawyer director of DP Abogados is known for financing the famous Desokupa de Atocha banner with 40,000 euros or for leading the tractor-trailer against the Government in February of this year.
Now, how should we understand this complaint, the participation of Desokupa and the tension against Llados? Esteve’s movement is calculated, logically. However, it does not have a clear partisan confrontation. This time there is no war against Pedro Sánchez or a racist or xenophobic motivation. His will comes (as he says) because several families of young people affected by Llados and his courses have contacted him: kids who have abandoned friendships, distanced themselves from families, left their studies and invested everything they had in pursuing the chimera. of the million, the Lambo and the mansion.
Where are we on the left?
It is certainly offensive that it was a far-right organization that initiated the lawsuit and championed the fight against Llados’ scam. Meanwhile, in the leftist movements, regarding Llados we alternate between mockery and maximum disinterest. At most, useless postures such as those demonstrated in the report of Research team (trying to convince the kids not to support Llados because he doesn’t pay taxes in Spain). You can even see many who, from the moral high ground, give sermons and label the kids who follow the guru as rubes and “heterobasics.”
These positions are of no use, they only fuel the “them”/”us” distance, further distance the kids from their support networks and enhance their reactive culture (“they criticize us because they fear us”). And while we laugh, a neoliberal, apolitical and reactionary lifestyle continues to grow among kids who build their image of the world based on shitposting, bots and rage-farming (the strategy of posting things that provoke outrage or anger in your viewers to increase traffic to your accounts, increase engagement, and attract subscribers/funders).
While we waste time mocking or lecturing, we still don’t have any strategy to address these kids.
While we waste time mocking or lecturing, we still do not have any strategy to approach these kids, talk to them, understand their position and build with them (and for them) new life horizons, new work stories, success and satisfaction that we do not go through sacrifice, loneliness and a ritualistic materialism that leads them to invest what they do not have. A paralyzed left that has no idea how to address the monsters of its time.
The face wash
Meanwhile, the far right continues to move. At a time when all the media are talking about Llados, obviously, whoever ran as his opponent would gain all the attention. It is outrageous how many media outlets have talked about the complaint, ignoring that small fact that it is fascist forces that are carrying it out. Free propaganda and a spectacular facelift. It’s not like he lost anything either. In the world of men, opinion about Llados is very divided. In Forocoches there are no posts by Llados defending him, rather they laugh at him and insult him. The Estevistas look at Llados with quite a bit of rejection, so attacking him reaffirms him as a defender of Spain “with two eggs.”
I don’t know if the complaint will succeed, but we already know that the extreme right tends to use the judiciary as a political weapon and even if the move doesn’t go well, the damage has been done. In this case, we see on the front page and in each of the news programs a neo-Nazi talking about how he is concerned about the kids and how his organization supports and will take measures against those who manipulate them.
The kids who have been screwed by Llados are many, but with that same logic they should (and we should) go against, for example, Bet365, Bwin, BetWay, etc.
More reasons to point to political interest are that, okay, the kids who have been screwed by Llados are many, but with that same logic they should (and we should) go against, for example, Bet365, Bwin, BetWay, etc. Betting houses are another space for manipulation, addiction and male debt and we talk little about it (the topic had its golden age, now we don’t even mention it).
Notes where to go
With all this I do not want to suggest that the complaint is wrong (although it is wrong that the initiative is taken by the fascists), nor that it is the panacea (the criminal route is not always the best, in addition to the fact that this complaint threatens to remain in nothing). But what strikes me is the political inaction, the absolute lack of initiative in our lines. The feeling of not even knowing which way gives us air in matters of reaction and new formats of the male experience.
Our criticism has to go towards the model as a whole, and point towards the discovered needs of the people who end up in these networks.
In a hypervisual moment in our society, Llados only mixes elements that already govern our lives: ostentation, mentoring, easy tips and body worship. But Llados does not invent any of that. Our criticism has to go towards the model as a whole, and point towards the discovered needs of the people who end up in these networks. Go beyond the surface and attend to needs.
This is precisely a population sector (young people who are precarious at an economic/ideological/social level) that we have allowed ourselves the luxury of ignoring, due to its complexity (how difficult it is to think about youth radicalization), due to the distance (they do not vote for us, they are not in our spaces, they do not interact with our accounts) and because of the mockery (how funny the gymbros and the fifes). In these times, I believe that we can pay dearly for this luxury and it is worth rethinking the political paternalism that we foster.
