Nazi Salute Is All The Rage In the UST
So it looks like the first political fad in "Trump's America"--the UST for short-- is the Nazi (or at least Nazi-esque) salute. Not kidding.
Turns out that the girl in the pic is, in fact, Tia Tequila, one of the few quasi-celebrities even less notable and more embarrassing than D. J. Drumpf.
And, for the record:
HEY I CALLED IT!!!
I don't think she's got an official position in the cabinet yet, but I expect she's on the list, along with Gallagher, the Shamwow guy, and a lesser Kardashian or two.
Now...though I'm not kidding about the link above, I expect the people in the picture are, actually, kidding. I reckon this as 4Channery. And my not-very-well-considered guess is that it's important not to fly off the handle about it. Mostly because it's not (entirely?) serious, and its point is to rile people up. We can point out that these lackwits are lackwits without giving them the reaction they're looking for. And, of course, it should go without saying that, whatever its degree of sincerity, it's Constitutionally protected expression. (Please no lame fire-in-a-crowded-theater analogies.) My guess is that these guys should be regarded and treated as approximate analogs of heavy metal "satanists." If we start acting like pearl-clutching religious types, they win and we make the problem worse. (More fascinating thoughts on this fascinating hypothesis soon.)
(Though I'm going to add that one might want to consider this guy before engaging in this kind of irony-or-whatever-it-is too enthusiastically.)
Turns out that the girl in the pic is, in fact, Tia Tequila, one of the few quasi-celebrities even less notable and more embarrassing than D. J. Drumpf.
And, for the record:
HEY I CALLED IT!!!
I don't think she's got an official position in the cabinet yet, but I expect she's on the list, along with Gallagher, the Shamwow guy, and a lesser Kardashian or two.
Now...though I'm not kidding about the link above, I expect the people in the picture are, actually, kidding. I reckon this as 4Channery. And my not-very-well-considered guess is that it's important not to fly off the handle about it. Mostly because it's not (entirely?) serious, and its point is to rile people up. We can point out that these lackwits are lackwits without giving them the reaction they're looking for. And, of course, it should go without saying that, whatever its degree of sincerity, it's Constitutionally protected expression. (Please no lame fire-in-a-crowded-theater analogies.) My guess is that these guys should be regarded and treated as approximate analogs of heavy metal "satanists." If we start acting like pearl-clutching religious types, they win and we make the problem worse. (More fascinating thoughts on this fascinating hypothesis soon.)
(Though I'm going to add that one might want to consider this guy before engaging in this kind of irony-or-whatever-it-is too enthusiastically.)
posted by Winston Smith at
9:07 AM
3 Comments:
I want to add an addendum to my comment on your post about "Trolls for Trump." It seems that I might have been to quick to blame 4chan and the like for having at least a minimal amount of influence over the general public, in terms of spreading misinformation and so on.
Is the best medicine for this type of thing to ignore it? At what point does this kind of trolling actually become toxic? I mean, I love dark humor, and some of the stuff 4chan says is hilarious, but doing the stuff in public? It's obviously not a "fire-in-a-crowded-theater" situation," but it still seems wrong to me.
I don't want to rob "normies" (as 4chan calls them) of their autonomy by claiming that people sometimes uncritically accept the trite that comes from 4chan, but people *do* accept the trite that comes from 4chan, and that can't be good, right?
Maybe this isn't enough for the "internet police" (the UN) to try and subdue 4chan.
I don't know, I'm having trouble figuring this one out. Especially because I've found myself laughing at some of the aforementioned trite that I'm quick to disparage.
Yeah, I'm with ya, man.
A lot of this is dark humor and similar stuff--I'm just trying to resist the urge to hold forth about that.
Anybody who thinks that all this alt-right stuff is straight-up, unironic racism is nuts / blind.
Much of this is calculated to induce liberal pearl-clutching...and, right on cue, said clutching commences.
As humor / irony go, this is a bit beyond what I find aesthetically pleasing, to say the least. But that's the nature of such stuff.
People are driven to this in part by revulsion at the exaggerated reactions of the left. Liberals better at least understand that part, whatever they might choose to do with the information.
Right, right a majority of people on 4chan aren't serious/are simply trolling. However, I frequent their boards and a sizable portion of them seem to believe in what they say to some extent or another. I'd say it's a 70-30 split, and that's an important factor to think about IMO.
Furthermore, these trolls seem to believe that everyone who's offended by the sieg heil is a bleeding-heart liberal who has been inundated by a toxic cultural narrative such that it causes people to see racism/sexism/whatever everywhere. This is simply not true. Many people, I take it, are offended by the salute because they aren't hip to internet counter-cultures, and, well, because nazism is bad. I'd say many are justified in their disgust. 4chan can't pretend like everyone is stupid for falling for it.
It gives the impression that the /pol/tards think that the average, ordinary person is incorrigible, and beyond help. I dunno, it seems cynical as hell to me. I mean, why not expend one's energy trying to educate people in some manner or another, instead of trying to elicit a rise out of ordinary folk?
OTOH: It is rather hilarious seeing SJWs overreact to 4chan's subversion.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home