Level 2 Guys
On The Men Who Ruin Masculinity for Everyone
Negative stereotypes usually contain a kernel of truth. They don’t just appear out of thin air.
Negative stereotypes resonate because they align with real perceptions and experiences that people have had with members of a group. Now those members may be the worst representatives of that group, but the negative experiences and negative emotions they trigger do make an impression. They’re sticky. And anyone with an axe to grind against that group will try to tap into those negative impressions to make the whole group look bad and turn people against them.
When feminists and their pocket boys talk about “toxic masculinity,” they’re not just making things up. When they try to manipulate us into thinking that masculinity is a bad thing, they’re tapping into memories and bad experiences that men have had with other men. There are other negative stereotypes that come from experiences that women have had with men—but that’s a different subject.
Many of the negative experiences that men, especially young men, have had with other men come from a masculine personality type I call “Level 2 Guy.”
This guy has climbed up to the second level of some totem pole, and for some reason he doesn’t have what it takes to climb any higher. So, instead of helping men up, he decides it’s his job to push other men down.
Every man has encountered this type.
Nothing you do will ever impress Level 2 Guy.
He’s the biggest fish in the smallest pond and no one can take that away from him. He’s always pissed off about something, and no matter what you do or how hard you work, he wants you to know that, to him, you will always be a piece of shit. Nothing you do will ever be good enough. He will always find something you did wrong. He will never give you credit for anything. He will always one-up you. He will always “big-dog” you. Everyone is a threat, and every situation is zero-sum.
For Level 2 Guy to feel like he is somebody, he needs you to be a nobody.
This is where feminists get the idea that “masculinity is fragile.”
Level 2 Guy’s status is fragile, or he acts like it is. He’s insecure because he’s stuck. He recognizes on some internal level that there are tons of men above him. In many cases, Level 2 Guy will come up with reasons why the men above him don’t deserve it, are always corrupt, or just got lucky. He is a creature of resentment.
Maybe you’ve met a Level 2 Guy at work. He’s managed to gain some authority by not quitting a job that ten better men left—because maybe that job objectively sucks. But he’s “tough,” and instead of finding a better job or taking a risk, he “stuck it out” and became the senior sprinkler pissing on a dumpster fire for an extra two bucks an hour.
Level 2 Guy’s leadership style is to insult people and then call it “accountability” or “negative reinforcement.” He’s basically a bully.
Now, there’s really nothing wrong with getting to Level Two and staying there—whatever Level 2 is in a particular domain. Some men don’t want the stress or the hassle of moving up, or maybe they know they don’t have the talent or the drive and they’ve decided to be happy where they are. Those guys are fine, and they may even take pride in helping other men progress beyond them. They can be good mentors when they want to be.
But the Level 2 Guy I’m talking about isn’t satisfied and he isn’t happy.
He is a miserable, resentful prick.
In many cases, Level 2 Guy is perpetuating a cycle of abuse. You see this with low-level gangs and frats and blue collar jobs. I’ve heard some ugly stories about old-school tattoo apprenticeships.
Someone hazed Level 2 Guy or took advantage of him or treated him really poorly, but he endured it and made it From Level 1 to Level 2.
Instead of reflecting on that and trying to find a better way to mentor, he wears the abuse as an initiatory badge of honor and actually takes sadistic pride in doing the same thing to the next guy. Because “that’s just the way things are.”
And when they “wash out” or leave because they have too much self-respect to tolerate that kind of abuse, Level 2 Guy feels “tougher” because he “made it” and they didn’t.
There have probably always been Level 2 Guys in the world, and there probably always will be. It’s a naturally recurring type in masculine psychology.
What makes Level 2 Guy especially dangerous to positive masculinity is that Level 2 Guy represents himself as an authority on masculinity and what “real men” do and how “real men” behave.
“Real men” always happen to do EXACTLY what Level 2 Guy does. They like whatever he likes and any man who does or likes anything else is “stupid” or a “pussy” or just a total “piece of shit.”
I encountered a lot of Level 2 Guys growing up, and because they made masculinity look like a macho fantasy cope for bitter, stupid losers—that’s what I thought masculinity was. So, when I was a young man, I believed what feminists said about masculinity because it lined up with my negative experiences with Level 2 Guys.
Young men start at Level 1, so they all encounter Level 2 Guys. And, if they don’t have other positive masculine influences from better and higher-level men, they are going to be more vulnerable to feminist propaganda or just to becoming Level 2 Guys.
And a lot of men who never really fit into a male group or become secure in their own masculinity, especially gay men, project their negative experiences with Level 2 Guys onto all men and masculinity itself. Every masculine man is just another bully to them.
So, it’s important to be able to recognize Level 2 Guys for what they are.
Level 2 Guys want to define masculinity for you and everyone around you.
But don’t let them do it.
Because there are also Level 3 Guys, Level 4 Guys, and Level 5 Guys.
Level 2 Guy is not actually the “Big Dog.” He’s not even close.
The real “Big Dogs” probably won’t “Big Dog” you because they don’t have to.
Thanks to the success of my book, The Way of Men, I’ve been able to meet a lot of really successful guys. I’ve spent time with major UFC fighters, Green Berets, Navy SEALs, all kinds of operators and contractors and combat vets, black belts, famous authors, professional athletes, and multi-millionaire entrepreneurs.
And you know what guys at that level almost NEVER do?
They don’t push down on guys at Level 1. (Or 2, or 3, for that matter.)
They don’t have to “one-up” you or tell you how much better they are.
Because everyone already knows where they are.
Black belts don’t have to tell white belts that they know how to submit them. World heavyweight champions do not have to tell you that they could beat you up. Operators don’t have to tell you they can out-shoot you or remind you that they could easily enter your house at night and kill you in your sleep.
Because it’s understood.
High-level guys see where you are, and they don’t feel threatened by you. If you’re humble, they appreciate that you’re in the game, that you’re trying, that you’re doing the thing. And they almost all remember what it was like to be at Level 1 or Level 2. They’re generally a lot more positive, less “zero-sum,” and more willing to help other men succeed.
Like I said, there are always going to be Level 2 Guys in the world.
We just need to recognize them for what they are, and look past them.
They don’t represent masculinity, so don’t allow them to.
They only represent their own tiny, angry, trapped version of it.
Set your sights higher. Look for guidance from more successful men.
And leave these guys right where they’ve decided they belong.
At Level 2.
Stay Solar ऋत
Check out my reading of this essay on YouTube.