Can 100 men fight and win against 1 silverback gorilla?

Recently the internet, specifically Twitter (if Musk can deadname people, so can I), was engrossed in a debate trying to figure out if one hundred (100) men could win a fight against one (1) silverback gorilla.

Some of the responses are extremely well-thought out and show nuance in terms of how this “goal” can be achieved while some are just silly and joining in on the fun. Most responses, however, are violent. Needless to say, most of these violent responses are from, well, men. As someone who is chronically online, I was pulled into this rabbit hole early on. But as I dug deeper into the question and started understanding the patterns of answers coming from men, I knew I had to have an opinion on this.

So, can 100 men fight and win against 1 silverback gorilla? The short answer is no. But let me explain why:

Before the 100 men v. 1 gorilla debate took over the internet, young men have been using social media for a while now to throw light on how lonely they are. The male loneliness epidemic-if you do not already know- is a concerning phenomenon where young men feel isolated due to a lack of social connection which is beginning to have severe consequences on their mental and physical health. To a large extent, the male loneliness epidemic can be attributed to the growing divide between young men and young women. However, young women are seemingly benefitting from this divide by finding community among themselves, which often times feels safer and more emotionally satisfying than engaging with young men. On the other hand, young men simply do not seem to have each other’s backs, which is further escalating a feeling of loneliness. The irony here is that men as a group are experiencing loneliness.

How does this tie in to fighting a gorilla? Well, in the simplest sense, where would we find one man who knows, likes and is willing to work with 99 other men. Of course, not all these 100 men have to know and like each other. But beating this gorilla will take teamwork, coordination, strategy, communication and of course, the power of friendship- all qualities, the lack of which, men claim, are making them feel isolated from society.  Even if 100 men who are strangers to one another decide to fight this gorilla, they will most likely lack these skills required to defeat this gorilla as a team.

A much more concerning thought that plagued me when I heard this absurd question was why are they trying to harm this gorilla (which is an endangered species)? Has anyone tried making friends with it?

To those of you who are thinking “oh, it’s just a hypothetical”, sure, I agree, it’s a hypothetical question. But should we not question why if a 100 men come together, the expected outcome is violence? Should we not worry about how even in hypotheticals, young men are leaning towards causing harm? Normalizing harm and violence is a sure shot way to ensure it manifests into the real world, especially as violence against women and other minorities. This is not new information, we have known it for a while, yet when men across the world choose to spend their time thinking about how to kill an animal, we as a collective are expected to watch on in amusement. Unsurprisingly, once the 100 men v. 1 gorilla question got boring, the men of the internet re-ignited a conversation on an average man winning in a fight against 1 female UFC fighter- making the violent fantasy a little bit closer to the real world.

This does speak deeply into the manifestations of the male loneliness epidemic and the perils of the patriarchy that men have to deal with as well. The idea young men today have of community is that it can be used, first and foremost, to overpower anyone, even a wild beast. This hypothetical makes me think that if men were presented with the opportunity to be in a group with 99 other men, they would not use that space to get to know each other, or to have a conversation, or to find solutions to existing problems, or to help each other grown, instead they would try to oppress the first creature that they come in contact with.

Let us look at the question again. Who would win in a fight between 100 men and 1 gorilla? Why did all of the men on twitter decide that to win in a fight you would have to kill your opponent as violently as possible? Why do young men believe that to win in conflict means to annihilate your enemy, when truly to win in conflict means to learn how to co-exist? When violence is the only answer to winning in a group, it points to oppressive inclinations. Again, this is a hypothetical world where the impossible is possible, yet men are resorting to primitive instincts of violence to overpower a self-imagined “enemy”. This goes to point to larger patterns of how conflict resolution is clearly amiss among young men and how there still exists a need for creating spaces where men learn to center empathy and compassion.

Social media being abuzz with this question is an alarming sign that society has, yet again, failed its young men. Society, especially on social media, is continuing to nudge young men towards violence as a pastime and/or a critical thinking exercise when in reality violence is neither of those two. It’s time we encourage young men to think about problems with compassion and kindness which will in turn ensure that they find and grow a community where they feel a sense of belongingness.

So, at the end of the day, it does not matter if 100 men can win against 1 gorilla. Of course, 100 men should not fantasize about killing a gorilla together. If 100 men were together, they should learn how to create a sense of sustainable community around themselves to tackle male loneliness, if it is in fact a cause that we should care so deeply about.