A young conservative Anglican, who goes by the pseudonym Crier in the Wilderness, has an essay at Virtue Online that attempts to explain a category of young men who are not in a good place. They are NEET: Not in Employment, Education, or Training.

These young men basically exist online. The Virtue piece points out that they “have become shut-ins, often addicts, without career or romantic prospects.” Their economic despair is somewhat justifiable. Our Crier in the Wilderness is part of their generation. He has navigated many of the obstacles the NEETS see as daunting. He writes of his struggles.

Our writer is a Christian, was “raised well,” he says, and has a college degree. His degree is in a profession that professed to need more males but became so woke it now won’t hire him. He says, “I was passed over for multiple positions because I was a man instead of a woman.” 

He started his own business, but was “undercut” by AI and inflation.

He is now in his thirties and working as a skilled tradesman. He has no debt and money in savings. His job is dangerous and requires “massive overtime,” which leaves him exhausted and with little opportunity for dating. Besides, he says, “Women consider blue collar jobs trashy.”

NEET affects young women too. Our writer warns parents, “If you’re wondering whom your daughters and granddaughters will marry, many won’t. The young men they could have matched with were discriminated against for so long, we can’t all catch up in time.”

Feminism geared education, media, and the workplace toward women at the expense of men’s opportunities. Now we’re paying for it. Our author calls himself Crier in the Wilderness. And, like John the Baptist, he speaks of a deep societal problem we have allowed. He says, “It’s too late to fix this.” 

This generation must beg the Lord: “Preserve us and save us.”  (Ps 12:8)