The reality of inaccurate reporting or deliberate falsification of information has always been a lingering shadow in the annals of journalism. In a perfect world, all journalism would provide the facts and subsequent context to the population, who would then be equipped to make informed decisions on a given issue. But this is not a perfect world.
People have now learned to leverage the discovery of inaccurate or false reporting to construct troubling worldviews. This is the case with former professional kickboxer and self-proclaimed misogynist, Andrew Tate. Tate was recently arrested in Romania for alleged sex trafficking and rape, but, as was expected, he has denied all allegations against him. It is here that I will suggest that even if Tate is found guilty, he will continue to advocate for his innocence.
Tate has cultivated a unique worldview where he suggests that virtually all of society is the Matrix, a nod to the nineties sci-fi film by the Wachowski siblings. In the film, the protagonist discovers that he has been living an illusion created by malevolent entities in an effort to enslave people.
Pursuing this puzzling idea to its logical end, Tate has constructed a world where he can never be found guilty of anything, as any accusation could be dismissed as a product of this so-called Matrix. After Tate was arrested, a tweet was sent out from his account that said: “The Matrix sent their agents.” A cursory scroll through Tate’s Twitter feed will confirm that his identity is one built around the illusory nature of reality.
There is a marked distinction between self-promotion and pure, unalloyed narcissism, and Tate appears to lean toward the latter.
One of Tate’s tweets reads: “My unmatched perspicacity coupled with sheer indefatigability makes me a feared opponent in any realm of human endeavor. For every domain the Matrix shuts down, we have dozens ready to replace it.”
Another: “Going to jail when guilty of a crime is the life story of a criminal. Going to jail when completely innocent is the story of a hero.”
He operates under the assumption that he is the one who can wake everyone up from this Matrix. In a way, he fancies himself the savior of humanity. And anyone who attempts to derail his effort is a metaphorical brick in the illusory necropolis that has all of us seeing through a glass darkly. This strategy has evidently worked for him, as 86% of the 970,418 who voted on his Twitter page believe that he is "totally innocent," with many of his followers asserting that his arrest was executed by an arm of the Matrix. However, it is likely that the majority of those who voted already subscribe to Tate’s ideas.
Though Tate has been met with immense support for his oddball ideas, there are plenty of people who have questioned and criticized him every step of the way. Recently, Elon Musk took to Twitter to address Tate’s claim that the Matrix was involved in his arrest. Musk tweeted: “What if I told you the only way to escape the Matrix is to unlearn everything that you have been taught and rebuild your entire belief system based on critical thought & analysis.”
Tate spewing his confusing thoughts into the Twittersphere would not be all that worrisome if he did not have the amount of influence he does. However, he has the attention and engagement of hundreds of thousands of people who are convinced that his recent arrest had nothing to do with a potentially serious crime, but that he was hounded down by a malevolent, slave-driving system that wants nothing more than to bring him down.
One of the more recent defenses of Tate came from a Twitter user who posted a Romanian news clip featuring two “alleged” victims in the Tate case, suggesting that the two women featured said that they are close with the Tate family, and that the Romanian authorities are lying on their behalf.
However, this position has been contested, as another Twitter user attempted to clarify what the video revealed, tweeting: “In the interview recently posted on Andrew Tates case, the headline doesn’t say the women are ‘2 out of the 6 victims’ identified by police but ‘women from the environment’ a translation reveals. The police interviewed more than 6 women and the victim list has not been released.” The same Twitter user posted that “these women admit they didn’t work as cam girls or live with the Tates.”
Additionally, it is not out of the realm of possibility that coercion has played a role in these two women coming forward on Tate’s behalf. Tate discusses in an educational course how he intimidates and coerces women, declaring that he has sex with his female employees as a means of controlling them, saying that “[i]f you're not f***ing the girl, she is f***ing someone else. And that other person she's f***ing, is gonna have THE CONTROL over her mind.” Tate appears to double down on his statements, elaborating on why it is important to mislead women by having sex with them first before bringing up his business recruitment.
Tate’s way of operating in the world runs parallel with his vision of the Matrix. Since much of society is an illusion, controlling and manipulating women amounts to pulling levers and pushing buttons in a way that tips the scales of the illusion in his favor. Tate has managed to create a Westworld-like playground for himself, where everyone merely exists for his pleasure and enjoyment.
Keeping Tate’s conception of the Matrix in mind, his living situation represents an interesting plotline in his arrest for alleged sex trafficking. The former kickboxer lived in the United Kingdom until 2017, when he relocated to Romania. However, in 2015, he was arrested in the UK for suspicion of sexual assault, as two women came forward and said that he had “raped and violently abused them.” This is a similar accusation that he is currently facing in Romania.
Not only did Tate get arrested in these two countries for similar accusations, but a recent report stated about 75% of women trafficked to the UK come from Romania, adding that the UK had become something of a “pimp’s paradise.” It is compelling that Tate has been arrested in two countries that undoubtedly have a relationship when it comes to sex trafficking.
Tate’s views on women do not help his case, either. He has made it abundantly clear that he believes a woman’s body belongs to the man with whom she has a relationship. When he was pressed on this subject by Barstool Sports, he said: “It’s not about being property, it’s about she belongs to him, and the intimate parts of her body belong to him because they’re in a relationship.”
Additionally, he stated that a woman who shows her body on OnlyFans owes a man a cut of the profit she makes. However, when asked if the same applies if a man sells his body, he said no, because “I think the women belong to the man.” What appears to be a double standard is actually not a double standard at all, as only women can be owned, according to Tate.
While the accusations brought against Tate are remarkably cohesive with the open statements he has made about women, there are evidently many people out there who believe that there is nothing amiss about the former kickboxer.
Tate has successfully managed to persuade a significant portion of the population into believing that a large chunk of reality is illusory, and that anyone or anything that stands in the way of his own desires is a tripwire in the Matrix that must be snipped and tossed aside.
The fallout of this worldview is that it encourages impressionable people (mostly men) to do whatever they want, regardless of its legality, since lawmakers and other authorities are desire-killing phantoms. However, what Tate’s followers do not seem to realize is that he has usurped the very position he criticizes. The only individual’s freedom Tate truly believes in is his own, and he will do whatever is necessary to maintain it, even if that means the erasure of everyone else’s.
Tate has constructed a solipsistic world for himself, where the division between reality and illusion are despotically dictated by his wishes and desires.
