I was going to come to the defence of pick-up culture, but then I noticed the tweet from that Roosh fellow and... Yeah, doesn't exactly paint a pretty picture
For the most part though if you check out pick-up communities it's harmless (and productive) advice - 98% of the time targerted at men who feel they need help in the socialising and dating scene. The
subreddit for pick-up it's mostly the same advice over and over: hit the gym, groom yourself properly, be playful, don't act like a dick, approach. Other posts are guys sharing their experiences of meeting women, successful or not. It's not an echo chamber of misogyny or pro-rape culture (that would be r/ince1s, that was
actually shut down for being an echo chamber of misogyny and pro-rape culture), it's just geeky guys figuring out how to actually be attractive instead of an undesireable lump who does nothing with his life
And with all that said, I can't help but wonder if a tragedy like this could have been avoided if the guy hadn't fallen in with the wrong crowd. For those that never saw it, I can confirm that r/ince1s really was a hideosuly toxic place. Not only were the posts shared horrifyingly misogynistic (each time I visited out of curiosity you could bet that there'd be a rant about how rape is justifiable because sex is a base human desire) but any attempt to toss the members a lifeline and actually help them out with productive advice was often banned and removed. I remember seeing a post that read something like:
"Former 25 year old ince1, here's what I did to change myself. In a happy relationship now, you can do it too!"The guy was chewed up and spat out for it. Mods would rush in to reassure the sub's followers that if you're over the age of 20, you're doomed to be virgin forever/Stacy only goes for Chad/we are in this together brothers and you wouldn't betray us now woud you?
I confess I haven't actually read up on this story much, but if this killer was in with a crowd like r/ince1s, it's not difficult to imagine him ending up, for want of a better phrase, radicalised in this way. Grim stuff
(Also take that, word filter)