The rise of social media has helped people increase their outreach to a global audience, and with it saw the rise of internet celebrities, who gained a mass following on various platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Some of these internet celebrities have dedicated fanbases, developing obsessive behaviour and paying close attention to their private lives, attempting to imitate their lifestyle, attitudes and opinions.

With this, I want to focus on internet celebrities who are deemed to be role models, particularly for young men and teenagers. These internet celebrities may have been popular prior to their following on the internet, but through social media platforms they have gained a massive influence over the opinions and behaviours of young men. We may be familiar with some of these figures: Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, David Goggins, Joe Rogan, Andrew Tate, Tony Robinson, Piers Morgan, Kanye West, Harry Styles, and KSI. My aim is to not promote or undermine any of these examples as role models, though I will be using them as case studies. My aim is to provide a basic understanding of role models, particularly from the theory of moral exemplarism, and ask how the discussion of role models should be applied to these internet celebrities.

We begin by asking ourselves the question; what is a role model? The discourse of role models is a broad church, and its pews are home to many controversies. With this, I turn to Linda Zagzebski, who defines a moral exemplar as someone who we can ineluctably trust and carries the incentive to imitate. For Zagzebski, these exemplars provide the best approach to mortality, rather than focusing on defining complex ethical terms like ‘utility’ or ‘human flourishing’. By imitating exemplars, humans can be motivated to be moral, and imitating is a basic way in which humans learn. This description of moral exemplars can be translated to what we identify as role models.

Now, we can turn to the list of examples I have provided, and we can ask ourselves if these people fit into Zagzebski’s description of moral exemplars. Examples such as Jordan Peterson and David Goggins are people who have been supported and described as good role models for young men. Their lived experiences and academic research have been used to motivate young men and teenagers. As a result, they have positively changed their lives dramatically, with some saving their lives from suicidal thoughts.

It is worth asking if it is fair to label people as role models when some resent being tagged as one. That is, we ask if it is safer to deem people, not as role models, but acknowledge the fact they have a great influence on young men and teenagers’ decision-making and use that influence in a positive manner. In an interview to promote his documentary, KSI (Olajide Olatunji) did not feel comfortable with being labelled as a role model, yet realised he can use his platform to be of help and guide young men and teenagers in the right direction. We view these people as not something to imitate but broaden our perspective on how to be a good person.

But what about the people who explicitly state that they wish to be a role model for young men and teenagers? Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer who has gained widespread popularity on social media, claims that he is a positive role model for everyone, and wants to be able to lead young men and save them from the masculinity crisis. That is, the examples I have provided have sometimes been praised in helping young men and teenagers to become more masculine (the task of defining and describing what it means to be masculine is not an easy task; one might treat the word masculine as a window into modern gender politics rather than an analytical term. However, I think the VICE ‘Be A Man’ debate and The Guardian’s Modern Masculinity series is helpful in understanding the contemporary discourse of what is masculine.) Hence, Tate does not just recognise the amount of influence he has on young men and teenagers, but he is portraying himself as an exemplary moral person. In light of Zagzebski, Tate is stating that young men and teenagers should begin intimidating his behaviour in order to become better people. If we agree with Zagzebski, we can begin investigating his behaviour, and ask if he fits the criteria of being a role model.  We can ask whether Tate’s past comments on the treatment of women and the recent controversies surrounding his arrest should elicit our admiration.

Whilst this is a brief but tentative introduction to role models, we may begin to be more critical of who, in our own lives, is considered to be a role model. I am unsure whether we should have role models ourselves, and this article does not cover everything that needs to be said. The discourse of moral exemplarism instructs us what to think of the question concerning who is fit to be role models – who are genuine, who are fraudulent. It is important that whenever we find a man to be a more suitable role model to young men and teenagers than any of his contemporaries, it is sure to come into doubt. None of these examples are straightforward role models; maybe the best approach is using these people to broaden our perspective, and in that way develop our character. Indeed, the vast array of examples on the internet that we may mark as suitable role models for young men and teenagers requires plentiful reflection.

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