‘The memes are so potent because they are designed to be subversive and to bait their opponents into a reaction’

Gillian Tett

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Gillian Tett

4 hours ago

30

Almost a decade ago, Matt Goerzen, a Canadian artist and social scientist, stumbled into the world of subversive internet chatrooms. He was fascinated — and alarmed.

Goerzen could see that the anonymity of the internet was enabling a virulently angry, anti-establishment community to emerge on platforms such as “4chan”, where users post under pseudonyms with little or no moderation. And while these groups did not initially seem very political (the message boards were notorious instead for puerile humour and pornography), as the years passed they became infused with an “alt-right” agenda — that of the white nationalist movement. They also became adept at launching online attacks on their opponents, or “trolling”.

The artist in Goerzen observed something else: what made the alt-right so influential was that the users were not just using words to communicate their messages, but snappy visual images too. Both 4chan and 8chan, a similar platform, were originally created as “image boards”, focused on pictures rather than text — a format first created in Japan, where they were used to share manga and anime. Alt-right users had become adept at creating visual “memes”, to use the phrase coined by Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist, back in the 1970s, to describe a “unit of cultural transmission” that spread from “mind to mind”.

“These [white nationalists] are a small group of people,” explains Goerzen, who now works as a researcher at a New York-based project called Data and Society, which studies modern cyberculture and media. “But these groups can deliver an outsized impact because of their ability to push the right buttons to bait the media.” Those memes, in other words, have wings.

It is an important point to ponder, particularly given the furore this month in Washington around racist imagery, and the degree to which malevolent political forces (in Russia, for example) have been using social media to discredit and delegitimise political debate.

When reports emerged that President Donald Trump had used the word “shithole” to describe countries such as Haiti or Nigeria, mainstream observers were understandably appalled. But many alt-right message groups were thrilled. “Shithole” is a tag that has circulated in these message groups for a long time, giving birth to a range of memes. “Ha, CNN is actually saying shithole,” crowed one commenter on 4chan. Another participant said, amid a stream of cartoons and messages on the subject: “Who wants to colour in the world in five shades of brown?”

To be fair, there is no evidence that Trump has visited sites such as 4chan, and the word “shithole” is a fairly common expletive in America. However, the images created on 4chan and the more extreme 8chan have been seeping into social media and news publications such as Breitbart. During the presidential campaign, Trump shared an image on Twitter of Hillary Clinton against a backdrop of money, with the phrase “Most corrupt candidate ever!” in a red six-pointed star. The image, with its anti-Semitic overtones, was discovered to have been previously featured on 8chan, though Trump’s social-media director later said it had been “lifted from an anti-Hillary Twitter user” and insisted that the star was a sheriff’s star.

Doubtless many FT readers would like the most extreme of these sites to be shut down. But it would be naive to think you can stop this trend simply by banning platforms. The alt-right has swelled in power by presenting itself as a victim of elitist attacks, and the memes are so potent precisely because they are designed to be subversive and to bait their opponents into a reaction.

Indeed, what is going on here is a classic example of the type of “network” effect described by Niall Ferguson, the British historian, in his 2017 book The Square and the Tower: people are congregating online to challenge hierarchies, using the power of the (cyber) crowd against the elite. This fight is not just about ideas, but communication styles too. Six centuries ago, Martin Luther upended the power of the Roman Catholic Church by using vernacular speech to undercut priestly Latin. Today, alt-right trolls are using memes to overturn mainstream ideas about political communication.

The urgent question is whether there is any way for people to counter alt-right memes. After all, as Goerzen points out, one of the great oddities of our cyber age is that the leftwing of American politics (never mind the mainstream) has hitherto been ineffective at using this visual language.

There have been attempts to fight back. Liberal voices have created a few popular hashtags, such as #blacklivesmatter or #metoo. And last year a “left accelerationist” group of artists and activists called “Alt-Woke” appeared in cyberspace; they hope to beat the alt-right at its own game.

But it remains to be seen whether these counter-attacks will pack any punch — not least because one problem that haunts leftwing groups is that they seem reluctant to use the same aggressive “trolling” tactics employed by the right. Either way, the next time you hear the word “shithole”, consider how quickly that particular meme spread. Yes, the topic and image may make us wince; but this is a political trend that no voter can afford to ignore, least of all on the left. Particularly as the 2018 mid-term elections draw near.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35188343)

To be fair, there is no evidence that Trump has visited sites such as 4chan, and the word “shithole” is a fairly common expletive in America.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35188358)

bootlicking social science shitheads are humorless, odd case

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35188493)

Huge advantage in the new memesrace

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35188583)

that's why (((they))) hate it so much and write articles about how horrible it is that all of the normal filters and pressures used to shut down free expression don't apply. but it's not fair if truth is the only currency! oy vey, moshe.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35188539)

it's not a "free market," it's an asylum. it's not about who has the best ideas, it's about who's most obsessive and mentally ill and aggressive and willing to spend a shitload of time on teh interwebs.

you think shit comes to predominate on a message board because it's some brilliant truth? that's like thinking IFNB has become a strong meme because it's such a brilliant and hilarious idea. it's become a strong meme because some mentally-ill obsessive fucks relentlessly repoast the same shit over and over again even if it's gay and dumb.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35195920)

how many publications do you have in Science, Nature, PNAS, etc?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35196356)

tell me all about your high-IQ contributions to science or some other g-loaded field faggot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35196405)

shitpoasting and forcememing on anonymous message boards, on the other hand...no clearer way to assess IQ than that!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35196441)

right wing nuts dominate unmoderated anonymous forums because it's one of the few places that they could air their views. if every forum was open to their nuttery, the effect would be much smaller

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35197055)

"Doubtless many FT readers would like the most extreme of these sites to be shut down."

"Doubtless many FT readers would like the most extreme of these sites to be shut down."

"Doubtless many FT readers would like the most extreme of these sites to be shut down."

"Doubtless many FT readers would like the most extreme of these sites to be shut down."

"Doubtless many FT readers would like the most extreme of these sites to be shut down."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35190298)

http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864633&forum_id=2#35190245

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35195869)

that must be it

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35196337)

"There have been attempts to fight back. Liberal voices have created a few popular hashtags, such as #blacklivesmatter or #metoo."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35196403)

More pantsuit flashmobs on the way

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3864391&forum_id=2#35196494)