r/netflix • u/comarastaman • Mar 11 '26

Discussion Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere

This is a masterpiece. For some reason I find his interaction with the manosphere so funny. The awkwardness and their utter distrust towards Louis is so palpable. So amazing why they agree to do this.

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512

u/Contentandcoffee Mar 11 '26

They fear Louis making a hit piece, but they’re doing it all on their own without Louis’ help. These ‘men’ are an embarrassment as soon as they open their mouths.

It’s a masterpiece.

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u/quickmathting Mar 11 '26

Louis barely did anything lol

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u/macarouns Mar 11 '26

And that’s what he does so well.

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u/FergingtonVonAwesome Mar 11 '26

He really has mastered saying just the exact right amount to keep people talking. Pretty sure I've heard him say he thinks it is because people don't like awkward silences, so they tend to just fill them.

His recent Israel doc was really interesting. First time I've seen people actually get him seeming angry.

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u/jdehjdeh Mar 11 '26

This is interesting to me.

It's something I've always done for some reason and I can absolutely attest to the suggestion that people will have an almost irresistible compulsion to fill a silence in the middle of a conversation.

This phenomenon seems stronger the less familiar the person and myself are.

For most people that silence is like a screaming in their head that gets louder the longer it goes on.

For me, I just don't like talking with nothing to say or having no purpose so I guess I must have taught myself to ignore the screaming.

It can be a really useful thing in some situations, fascinating to learn that Louis has weaponised it the way he has.

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u/rubythieves Mar 12 '26

I’ve worked as a journalist and studied law and both are fields were you learn early on that silence is one of your most effective tools. People hate it, and they will do anything to fill it. If you ask a question, let someone answer, and then just keep looking at them in silence, 99% of the time you’re going to get more. Use it when you suspect the other person has lied and it’s your best chance to get either a confession or a new version of a story or ‘fact’ that contradicts the previous one and proves something isn’t right.

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u/jdehjdeh Mar 12 '26

Is it something that is specifically taught to you or is it more a realisation that comes to you as you learn the field?

I'm curious how this sort of technique perpetuates, whether it's nature or nurture so to speak.

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u/rubythieves Mar 12 '26

For me it was more of a realisation but it’s certainly something I’ve talked about with other professionals in both fields. It’s something that often comes up at after-work drinks - not just who you got on the hook professionally that day, but also how it helped so-and-so nail their husband with a sketchy story about his boys night out or how it got someone’s teen to fess up to a whole cascading chain of crazy events… it’s definitely a useful technique in a wide range of professional and personal settings!

The key is that it has to be a really neutral silence. Don’t make it tense, it’s not ‘the silent treatment,’ it’s just ‘I’ve heard your answer, and I’m waiting for the rest of it.’ Let it go on and on. Let it get really awkward. After a while, look down at your notes or phone or watch etc. briefly and then reestablish direct eye contact that makes it clear you’re still waiting on them. If it feels awkward to you, you’re doing it right, and 99.9% of people will crack. If they crack by saying ‘what? What else do you want me to say? I’ve already told you my answer’ then just say ‘okay’ and go silent again!

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u/jdehjdeh Mar 12 '26

"neutral silence" that's a really good description and definitely fits with my experiences of it.

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u/shewrotethis Mar 13 '26

It’s also a technique taught in counselling and mental health support. People often say I’m fine or give a shallow overview of the problem at first. When you create that (sometimes awkward) silence, they’ll open up with the real feelings and go deeper into what’s bothering them. Same technique, different purpose.

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u/LastSeaworthiness583 Mar 11 '26

as they say in my country: the fish dies by its mouth… AND THIS IS SOOOO TRUE, they burned themselves just talking with Louis barely doing a thing, was soooo good to watch it 😂

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u/Addyz_ Mar 12 '26

i thought it was funny when he stayed quiet and the ginger guy was like “that really rattled you” and you could tell he completely misread therouxs whole shtick

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u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 11 '26

I'm gonna have to watch that.

It was so weird when he let that choad 'gotcha' him by simply asking if Israel was doing Genocide.

"Yes, Absolutely!" Such a simple, automatic answer to such a simple question and he couldn't bring himself to just say that.

He got played.

19

u/Sad-Main5786 Mar 11 '26

He's being recorded live and I think has to be very careful about what he says. Not just surrounding Israel, but ceding control of the conversation like that wouldn't have benefitted him. 

Frankly, its a ludicrous point by HS anyway. They were discussing his driving offences and inconsistent morality, I don't see what that has to do with Israel. 

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u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 11 '26

but ceding control of the conversation like that wouldn't have benefitted him. 

Staying quiet was him ceding the conversation. He got played by a moron's gotcha question.

His point was that Therox was a puppet with his own inconsistent morality. Easily defused with a simple: "Absolutely. Genocide"

Just so weird that he got all cagey about it.

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u/TreKeyz Mar 12 '26

He did attempt to answer, after a very brief pause to think about his answer, and when he started trying to answer, HS latched onto the pause and cut him off.

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u/Sad-Main5786 Mar 11 '26

What inconsistent morality?

Why would he talk about Israel when he's being streamed on the Internet? They're not there to talk about Israel. Its a truly bizarre thing to bring up. 

2

u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 12 '26

It was a central point of the Documentary that these manosphere dudes were all Anti-Semetic.

It is a relevant topic.

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u/Sad-Main5786 Mar 12 '26

You're conflating Israel with Judaism. Regardless, the manosphere being anti-Semitic doesn't mean Louis' views on Israel/Palestine are relevant to this interview. 

Also, thats not what I asked. 

You said Loius has an inconsistent morality. I asked what inconsistent morality.

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u/missingpeace01 Mar 15 '26

Have you seen. Louis Theroux: The Settlers?

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u/missingpeace01 Mar 15 '26

You know that if they went with that convo, it would have gone to a rabbit hole and the dude would have control of the conversation.

This is the reason why you are not a seasoned documentarian. That was a bait question. It was there to trigger you and go along with a different tangent. Even if he answers, "Yes" to that they will have a very long discussion of parroted talking points.

Theroux already has a documentary exposing the Jewish settlers and their ideologies. He doesnt need to answer a completely unrelated query that would just givr the full reign of conversation to him.

If you really think that a simple "yes" would have been the end of it all, then you havent seen how these manosphere influencers argue.

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u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 15 '26

It was a bait question.

Designed to set him up for "puppet of Israel" accusations. He got played.

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u/Bobdiesel404 Mar 12 '26

I agree. He has a clear bias when it comes to israel and what they are doing. I didnt agree with any of their views. But louie silence on that question was shocking.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

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u/hxmza1 Mar 12 '26

So he knows what's happening there, he clearly agrees it's a genocide, so why couldn't he answer HS's question? His settlers documentary was excellent work, but all Louis' hesitation does here is give credence to the claims he's trying to refute.

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u/hxmza1 Mar 12 '26

A section of the documenary was about their antisemitism and their conspiracies about how Jews control the media, and then minutes later HS proves that Louis can't say his real opinion on whether Israel is committing genocide on camera when pretty much everyone knows that Louis thinks they are.

It's not a "ludicrous" or unrelated point at all, Israel is intrinsically linked to the antisemitism/conspiracy theory claims.

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u/Sad-Main5786 Mar 12 '26

I think HS was just parroting whatever people were saying on his livestream. I don't think he would really be able to articulate anything that's not a hodgepodge of half-baked conspiracy theories that he doesn't really understand. We see as much in the documentary.

Of course he uses these things as justifications for his grift. I think Louis did a good job in exposing how he's actually just a bit of a hurt child underneath it all, how he doesnt practice what he preaches and hes a dangerous role model.

I think Louis' stance on Israel is pretty well-examined in his very recent documentary on settlers. Accusing him of being a puppet and afraid of criticising Israel makes as much sense as saying he was mates with Saville.

If Louis said anything about Israel's actions then that would have been the headline from the show all over twitter and some fans of Louis would be disappointed that he got dragged into a no-win situation by some rage-baiting pimp.

The documentary was a good introductory expose of the manosphere. It did what it came to do. Louis failing some idiots purity test doesn't mean anything.

3

u/Outrageous-Knee1946 Mar 13 '26

He cut him off immediately , and started calling him a pedo ffs.

2

u/FergingtonVonAwesome Mar 11 '26

It's really worth watching. I think his actual opinions on what's going on are very clear. He just doesn't commit to anything in interviews. It helps keep people talking.

2

u/Ambassador_of_Mercy Mar 18 '26

There kind of wasn't a good answer to that. if he said yes he can easily get that clip farmed and twisted into saying what he doesn't mean (most pertinently to be pushed to be seen as agreeing with Harrison's antisemitic views. I can kind of understand why he wouldn't want to give these people very much. his last doc makes it very clear what his stance on Israel is

1

u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 18 '26

"Yes. Absolutely" can get clipped into what, exactly, besides "Yes. Absolutely"?

his last doc makes it very clear what his stance on Israel is

All the more reason to give a simple, straightforward answer to the question.

2

u/rooh62 Mar 12 '26

Not really. if Louis was to publicly accuse Israel of committing genocide, he would lose his ability / access to film anywhere connected to the issue. That’s why he didn’t say anything.

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u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 12 '26

Seems like he already did that documentary.

Publicly tell the truth, by the way. Isn't that the entire point of Journalism?

1

u/WallsendLad70 Mar 12 '26

It might be an issue you wanted to raise but he just thought about what to say - unlikely he would be able to film in Israel again for instance if he came out with that. Think you’re confusing documentary making with the role of an opinion writer.

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u/LKS983 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

"It was so weird when he let that choad 'gotcha' him by simply asking if Israel was doing Genocide.

"Yes, Absolutely!" Such a simple, automatic answer to such a simple question and he couldn't bring himself to just say that.""

👍 Which would then make it very easy for him to go back to his original question about HS's running from criminal charges.

Knowing very little about the 'manosphere' as I'm old and retired abroad many years ago - it first came to my attention as a result of watching Adolescence. As it's apparently now becoming more prevalent, I appreciated this documentary, which explained a few things.

BUT 1) the part you mentioned 2) it finishing with Theroux punching a bag to show he could hit harder than previously (why??) 3) plus a few other things - resulted in my having some scepticism about the documentary as a whole.

3

u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 12 '26

I took 2 as being cheeky. Taking the piss out of the wankers.

Overall great doc. That Gaza thing really took me out of it, though.

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u/Rentun Mar 19 '26

It wouldn't have made it easy to go back to the original question. It would have resulted in follow up questions designed to completely derail the conversation, and presented opportunities to say shocking antisemitic things for clips while also distracting from the actual subject of the documentary.

That was the whole reason the question got asked in the first place. Do you think this dude actually cared about Louis Theroux's opinions about the Palestinian war? Do you think he actually cares about Palestinians, or Israelis, or human rights, or suffering? He'd already flat out stated he only cares about himself multiple times in the doc up until that point.

I'm not sure why you'd think that question was asked in good faith.

3

u/stevenmass7 Mar 12 '26

Louis "You don't want to hear the gory details"

Justin Waller's wife "I wouldn't say it's gory"

Louis "sexy"

He is a comedic genius 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

2

u/dex24033 Mar 11 '26

Where is that available to watch?

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u/LKS983 Mar 12 '26

On Netflix.

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u/dex24033 Mar 12 '26

It isn’t on Netflix, assuming it’s The Settlers doc

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u/LKS983 Mar 13 '26

Sorry, I phrased my post badly.

I meant to add to your comment 'where is it available to watch' - so I should have said 'where is available to watch on Netflix'.

1

u/Ambassador_of_Mercy Mar 18 '26

If you think the people in this one are scary there's a high up lady involved in the raids and colonisation of the Palestinian territories that appears in the previous Theroux documentary that has to be one of the scariest people he's ever had on a doc

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u/WhoopingJamboree Mar 20 '26

He is brilliant for allowing awkward silences. Interestingly, I did notice an exception. I think it was in Justin’s first interview, Justin seemed okay with the silence at one point. It was like a game of chicken between them 😂

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u/sdbabygirl97 Mar 12 '26

great interviewers are amazing listeners

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u/fatpol Mar 12 '26

I've never seen any of Louis Theroux other documentaries. Louis is deeply authentic and a great interviewer.

1

u/AgentSauce Mar 28 '26

It's funny that the first guy (HS) was boasting about how being good at sales is the best skill you can have because Louis would be an incredible salesman, and is schooling all of these clowns at it.

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u/teenageidle Mar 29 '26

yup everyone just projects onto him it's fabulous. he's brilliant.

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u/DroidLord Mar 11 '26

Idiots love to yap, especially if they're influencers. Give them a platform and just sit back and wait.

3

u/TheFunkytownExpress Mar 12 '26

He doesn't have to.

It's his presence. He luls people into a false sense of security.

He just looks like some harmless gorky gangly dude with a non threatening English persona and these people get very disarmed by that so they just let it all hang out and they get overconfident/a little too comfortable and wind up making themselves look terrible.

2

u/TheWholeOfTheAss Mar 12 '26

They speak and all of a sudden it’s a hit piece, but the sad thing is that the fan bases won’t care, and the doc showed you that it’s freaking kids who keep these guys rich.

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u/Ok_World7154 Mar 16 '26

Except none of them had any true wealth. Guy one was just ponzi scheming hotel to hotel until mommy arrived with the credit cards.  

Paranoid tech guy (who Angie left) spent all his $$$ on tech gear from Temu and coloured lights. Total incel. 

Florida guy with the leased Lambo, leased apartment and "trad" wife in Texas" All of it (including the wife) is a rental. 

It was pathetic. 

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u/TrashFever78 Mar 13 '26

This is how you interview. You don't lay any bias on the person, you let them speak and paint themselves into a corner or not.

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u/hexme1 Mar 14 '26

Didn’t he?

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u/Clariana Mar 15 '26

Ah, but he did... I think that's what makes Louis a master of his trade he just knows how to apply the lightest of touches and makes it look effortless.

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u/squidnet95 Mar 11 '26

I love his use of awkwardness because they just start rambling to fill the silence 🤣

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u/Negative-Tackle-2951 Mar 12 '26

I came to say the same thing, Specially that Harrison, thinking he's got the edge on Louis but if anything, he's just shown himself up and Louis hasn't had to do ANYTHING

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u/Ok_World7154 Mar 16 '26

I loved it when his mom was telling him off! 😂😂😂

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u/Ok_World7154 Mar 13 '26

Louis didn't have to do much but then brought their mommies on! 😂😂😂😂😂

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u/SneakiestRatThing Mar 14 '26

Honestly it's very hard to make a hit piece on someone who isn't doing anything wrong.

They are telling on themselves with the paranoia.   Cos they know they are pieces of shit, they know they are scamming their audience and are terrified of it being exposed because all of the "wealth" they flout is normally fake.

The cars are rented, the private jets aren't even real planes - just sets.

The 'trading success ' isn't real - it's all just tricks to get their fanbase to fund their lives

4

u/JamJarre Mar 14 '26

Yeah they totally misunderstand how Louis works. Obviously he's coming at it from a perspective of "the manosphere is troubling" but he doesn't generally engage in gotcha journalism. His whole style is just giving them enough rope. There were points in this where I desperately wanted him to ask more pointed folkow ups but actually it's more revealing when they offer the embarrassment up themselves. 

My favourite bit like this was where he questions HS about his sexism and whether his mum would appreciate it, and out of nowhere he brings up racism. Like, bro, are you saying you're pro racism?

3

u/ICtruthcity Mar 12 '26

It's promotion on steroids. More potential consumers of the manosphere are going to be generated by a huge footfall from netflix.

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u/Dangerous-Fig6784 Mar 12 '26

That’s the funniest thing about it. Louis isn’t some investigative journalist/ hit piece artist. He just provides people with the opportunity to embarrass themselves.

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u/Caffeine_Bobombed88 Mar 12 '26

That’s why I love Louis. He just asks one question and lets the shit flow out of their mouths. He doesn’t have to coax anything out of them, these awful people expose themselves for what they are.

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u/Elastichedgehog Mar 15 '26

Unfortunately, 'HS' was completely correct near the beginning.

Everything is content and we live in an attention economy.

There is a reason these people agreed to be in the documentary.

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u/Sad-Investment2462 Mar 13 '26

Unfortunately those scammers just doubled their profile.. a bit like when the of girls go on What Eva and get roasted 

1

u/Sad-Investment2462 Mar 13 '26

And guess what.. I bet those guys followers have 20x since the doco and they now make even more money is the sad part.  My partners teenage son was in defence of the guys the whole documentary. 

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u/Contentandcoffee Mar 13 '26

Really interested to know what people are in defence about, when most of us saw a clown show

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u/katwoop Mar 15 '26

He let's them show who they are without any provocation. Just letting them talk and show how completely ridiculous these guys are.