Dear Americans —
Welcome to the age of the Peripheral Man.
The people you mocked for being primitive and savage, the barbarians from the edges of your empire, the ones to be conquered and ordered around, fit only to grow your bananas, to mine your minerals, to pump your oil, to work your sweatshops, to watch your films and consume your culture. As far as you can remember, you thought the Peripheral Man had nothing to offer you. You thought you were smarter, stronger, and wiser just because you were the ones on top. But something is changing inside you. You don’t want to admit it, but be honest…you’ve had this feeling for a while now. You’ve sensed that something was amiss, that there was something you’ve been keeping from yourself, a profound truth that you had locked up in the deepest recesses of your mind. In this time of American decline, these restraints are no longer working as they should, and you can feel those half-formed fears floating up from the deep, demanding to be heard. And you recoil, scared to confront the truth. And it is this: the Peripheral Man is better, smarter, and stronger than you. Those backwards men and primitive women, the one’s you’ve looked down on for so long…they’re everything that you are not.
They are hard where you are soft. They are wise while you are shallow. They are used to waiting, while you’re entitled and want everything now. They are resourceful, while you’re wasteful. They know their own culture and language and your culture and language, while you barely know your own. They underestimate themselves and overdeliver, while you overestimate yourself and underperform. They have felt defeat and humiliation, while you’ve always been on top. You are atomized, while they are communal. Their chaotic societies have made them sophisticated and versatile, while your well-oiled social machinery has made you simple and rigid. Stability has made you weak, while chaos has made them strong. You have been cruel in your carelessness, while they have always paid the price — not just for their actions, but yours. You have forgotten, they remember.
We know that these are frightening and uncertain times for you, dear Americans. But there is hope. Listen to the Peripheral Man. Your own kind doesn’t have the answers. Your own kind doesn’t even know what questions to ask. Your own kind doesn’t even know what questions to ask. But the Peripheral Man does. We know. We are him. We are her.
— Levine, Yasha. “The Age of the Peripheral Man (and Woman).” Nefarious Russians, 25 Apr. 2025.