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Daily Show correspondent Michael Kosta examined the daunting question of what makes the alt-right so angry… and discovered one very unexpected possibility: They don’t masturbate enough, if at all.
The segment, which aired Wednesday, centered around an interview with clinical psychologist Dr. David Ley and featured plenty of delightfully dumb masturbation jokes. Ley noted that the biggest contemporary proponents of this “no wank philosophy” (Kosta’s words) were the Proud Boys, who believe not masturbating increases their testosterone and makes them more desirable to women. Ley countered that not masturbating can actually reduce testosterone, and added that there’s research to suggest that those who watch pornography can develop more egalitarian and feminist views.
But the Proud Boys, as Kosta puts it, represent “just the tip” of the “stroke shamers” on the alt-right: Jordan Peterson tells his followers there’s nothing noble about masturbation, while David Duke believes pornography is a Jewish conspiracy meant to get men to masturbate instead of procreate. In fact, this “far-right moratorium on salami wrestling” (again, obviously, Kosta) dates back to Nazi Germany, where young men were taught not to masturbate as a way to make them more malleable to other practices and ideas.
“First they came for our Fleshlights, and I did nothing…” Kosta deadpanned in response.
By the end of the segment, the whole issue had made Kosta so mad, he took a 41-minute personal break in the bathroom. After emerging, a little disheveled, but certainly more calm, he cracked, “If you or anyone you know seems to be getting drawn into the alt-right, before buying that tiki torch, try lighting the one inside your khakis first. I’m Michael Kosta, telling all you young, angry men to stop hatin’, and start batin’.”
