Beyond “Broicism”: Reclaiming the Compassionate Core of Stoic Philosophy

Social media has twisted Stoicism into a cold, selfish pursuit of power. It’s time to remember what it’s really about: community, compassion, and our duty to others.

HOn one side, the solitary pursuit of power and individual dominance often mislabeled as “Stoicism.” On the other, the true, compassionate heart of ancient Stoic philosophy: community, shared wisdom, and our duty to all humanity.

Scroll through certain corners of social media, and you’ll find a new, distorted version of Stoicism on the rise. It’s a philosophy stripped of its nuance and repackaged for the hustle culture age. Its icons are not wise philosophers but stern-looking statues, its wisdom reduced to edgy, out-of-context quotes about being emotionless and cruel.

This is “Broicism.”

It’s a caricature of Stoicism that champions a hyper-individualistic, emotionally detached pursuit of wealth, status, and power. It uses the language of virtue to justify a lack of empathy, framing compassion as weakness and interdependence as a trap. It tells young men that to be “stoic” is to be a lone wolf, to suppress all feeling, and to see the world as a zero-sum game to be…