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When you get a chance, take a look at any prominent AltRight, Irony or even WeirdTwitter account and scroll through the list of their followers. Just look at all the thousands of generic shitposting accounts, all using similar profile aesthetics and memed lingo. Page after page of Garfield and groyper and honkler avatars, catboys, catgirls, cowboy hat emojis and every account using variations of the same viral terminology like "cringe," "yikes," "smoothbrane, "NPC, "pawg," grifter,” "cope," and "lindy," etc.
Most of these terms will seem painfully dated a few months from now if they aren't already. These accounts often specialize in the most pointless and juvenile content imaginable, which consists of almost nothing but stolen jokes and trendy meme lingo. Now I'm not suggesting that all or even most of these accounts are secretly feds, though some are. The numerical breakdown of those which are real vs. those which are part of an extended network of sockpuppets created to signal-boost memes—is irrelevant. What should be alarming is the ease with which a critical mass of people can be programmed into adopting lingo and imagery almost overnight. This process can be organic or directed. Since this process can be directed, we must assume that it is being directed. If so, then by whom and for what purpose? It's safe to assume that—in part—it's being orchestrated by those who have much more resources at their disposal than you or me.
Many years ago, when I was confined to the realm of conventional employment, I interviewed for a position at Yelp. Their interview process consisted of the prospective employee meeting with three different managers separately, one after the other. The first interviewer would make some pleasant introductory small talk, roleplay a sales scenario and then give you critical feedback. The second interviewer would come in and engage in another roleplay. Secretly, he/she would be looking to see if you had applied the feedback which was given by the previous manager. The second manager would also give you some feedback. The third and final interviewer would engage in yet another roleplaying scenario, this time checking to see if you had incorporated the feedback from the first two managers into your pitch. The purpose was to determine whether the candidate was "coachable" and could be molded into the kind of salesperson who would follow Yelp's assembly line sales system to the letter, without question. Needless to say, I did not get the job.
The extent to which viral meme imagery and lingo are incorporated into someone's social media presence could serve as a litmus test for assessing how easily manipulated or impressionable that person is. A profile that's loaded with this sort of vapid content indicates a person who's highly susceptible to programming, or perhaps even someone who's in league with the programmers themselves. Whereas someone who's more reluctant to embrace the latest meme could be seen as having a greater resistance and capable of maintaining a higher degree of independent thought. The process is interesting. “Influencers” and “early adopters” can get others to adopt various fun and innocuous icons, emojis, avatars, lingo, etc. Getting people to embrace these harmless memetic artifacts as part of their online personalities establishes a pattern of social control and softens you up for programming. When it's time for them to sprinkle in some ideological content, you're already used to taking cues from them and will be primed and ready to go along with whatever they have lined up next.
Unfortunately, few of us are completely resistant. I wish I could say that I was totally immune to this form of manipulation, but indeed I have tepidly and at times, enthusiastically been swept up in many memes and diversionary "ops" over the years. It's difficult not to be. People want to be part of something fun. They want to laugh and be entertained. They want to be in on the latest inside jokes and don't want to be left out of the hottest craze. They crave the constant dopamine hits that come with high-engagement social media posts. Authentic dissident political advocacy on the other hand is an isolating and dreary business. Let's face it, it can be depressing. Actually caring about people, pursuing impossible dreams, taking ideas seriously and expressing personal vulnerability are all considered "cringe" in the age we live in. This is to say nothing of the tangible consequences one faces for being a genuine political dissident, consequences which often include social ostracism. You risk getting fired, blacklisted from future employment and disowned by friends and family. You can even be sued into oblivion or arrested on trumped up charges. It's no mystery then that people would find the world of anonymous shitposting and performative irony to be a more attractive domain. There's a reason Randian individualism fails to ever gain much traction. People are tribal. They seek acceptance, approval and validation from groups. They want to enjoy things and just have a good time, engaging with the world. Few are going to opt for the lifestyle of a reverse Sour Patch Kid or some defiantly grumplicious curmudgeon who has walled himself off from popular culture.
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