Clavicular is surely the natural conclusion of what our culture has become, like Scott Fitzgerald in the roaring twenties with concomitant 1940s fall...
This ideology is basically the distilled ideology of capital itself, that everything is transactional and extractive. The problem for all these dum-dums, is that the “game” can only happen in the social field, but the ideology seeks to invalidate the social field itself. So the supreme status they seek is nullified by the way they seek it
interesting -- do you mean they're destroying the IRL social field they're extracting "content" from, which jeopardizes the future supply of content? Is that what you mean? I've heard people use the metaphor of "attentional fracking" to talk about the platforms, but that dynamic sounds a little more literally like what capital does to the planet. I'm not sure if that ends up nullifying the status though, because it's all short-term for them -- and if they can do the smash and grab fast enough, maybe you don't gotta plan for the future?
if you all would allow a 22 year old geriatric unc to yell at the clouds for a sec: We really should start blaming these people’s parents/guardians more because how the hell could you not notice/stop your 14 year old son from breaking his face in with a hammer, and giving himself - for all intents and purposes - permanent testicular dysfunction by taking unholy amounts of steroids??? that guy is a POS moulded by the current zeitgeist of edge and grotesque spectacle, but Clavicular isn’t a one time anomaly, I am guessing that online right now there must be hundreds, if not thousands like him, and we can blame the attention economy, the cultural shift to the right, and our corporate overlords for this, and we should, but the role of the parents/guardians, or rather lack thereof, in this shouldn’t be ignored.
That's part of what makes the story so tragic to me. There was a stream recently where Clav's dad was on the phone saying to him how disappointed he was, and throughout his looksmaxxing there were times when his Mom would try to take away his hammer, his drugs, etc. I think it must be very difficult for his family, and there are likely tons of cases where these alt-right guys are the victims of parental neglect (any reading of 4chan green texts would show this) but also cases where the parents try everything and it just doesn't work. I'm not sure what it is here.
Anybody who finds Nick Fuentes as anything other than a miniature douchebag want to clue me in on what I'm missing? His Tucker Carlson type giggle cements it.
Basically, his rhetoric skills are just really good, and he makes racism & antisemitism feel empowering & approachable to his listeners. This video does a really good job of showing how his most extreme views are usually only accessible AFTER he employs a ton of common sense ethical analysis that most of his most virulent critics might even agree with
I was talking to my sister about her high school experience a few years ago. She said there was this one girl in the class who was really big on Instagram. But everyone in the class regarded that girl as a weirdo, and she did not really have friends IRL.
It seems that the silent majority in my sister's generation are paranoid of getting any attention online, and prefer pseudonymous Discord socialization. At least that was true as of 2020 or so. Maybe Gen Alpha is no longer as afraid of cancellation.
I think that's kind of true -- being online is a different kind of social fluency, and I feel like I've met tons of internet-known people who in-person don't strike one as particularly charismatic, but they have a bajillion followers and when they're on camera it's super compelling
Is the implication of this that “Heil Hitler” and hitting yourself in the face with a hammer is what passes for being “punk rock” these days (in the sense of rejecting the status quo and demonstrating rebellious behavior)?
I'd nuance that by saying a kid tends to go punk rock because it's "cool" -- because they have taste, because the style looks good in magazines and the music sounds good on record. Because their peers IRL go to shows, do things out in the world, and there's all these weird rituals and institutions around it which have value because they run opposite those of the normie world. But the hammer-hitting face kids are primarily thinking bout numbers spat out by a machine, and commenters who are only ever a username to them. It's a replacement of "looking cool" with "looking visible and seen by the algo" which to me is a salient difference that I wanna figure out a bit better how to describe
Could it perhaps be a form of individual sovereignty? In a nihilistic world I can still assert control over how I die and elevate myself on the social stage in the process.
"The algorithm does to a discussion what Clavicular does to his face" - brilliant, thank you for this
Clavicular is surely the natural conclusion of what our culture has become, like Scott Fitzgerald in the roaring twenties with concomitant 1940s fall...
nothing matters and everything's serious
This ideology is basically the distilled ideology of capital itself, that everything is transactional and extractive. The problem for all these dum-dums, is that the “game” can only happen in the social field, but the ideology seeks to invalidate the social field itself. So the supreme status they seek is nullified by the way they seek it
interesting -- do you mean they're destroying the IRL social field they're extracting "content" from, which jeopardizes the future supply of content? Is that what you mean? I've heard people use the metaphor of "attentional fracking" to talk about the platforms, but that dynamic sounds a little more literally like what capital does to the planet. I'm not sure if that ends up nullifying the status though, because it's all short-term for them -- and if they can do the smash and grab fast enough, maybe you don't gotta plan for the future?
yes if you need a posterboy (literally) for attention-economy capitalism
if you all would allow a 22 year old geriatric unc to yell at the clouds for a sec: We really should start blaming these people’s parents/guardians more because how the hell could you not notice/stop your 14 year old son from breaking his face in with a hammer, and giving himself - for all intents and purposes - permanent testicular dysfunction by taking unholy amounts of steroids??? that guy is a POS moulded by the current zeitgeist of edge and grotesque spectacle, but Clavicular isn’t a one time anomaly, I am guessing that online right now there must be hundreds, if not thousands like him, and we can blame the attention economy, the cultural shift to the right, and our corporate overlords for this, and we should, but the role of the parents/guardians, or rather lack thereof, in this shouldn’t be ignored.
That's part of what makes the story so tragic to me. There was a stream recently where Clav's dad was on the phone saying to him how disappointed he was, and throughout his looksmaxxing there were times when his Mom would try to take away his hammer, his drugs, etc. I think it must be very difficult for his family, and there are likely tons of cases where these alt-right guys are the victims of parental neglect (any reading of 4chan green texts would show this) but also cases where the parents try everything and it just doesn't work. I'm not sure what it is here.
Anybody who finds Nick Fuentes as anything other than a miniature douchebag want to clue me in on what I'm missing? His Tucker Carlson type giggle cements it.
HIGHLY recommend this video as an overview of his ideology and appeal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8KCJq58qqg
Basically, his rhetoric skills are just really good, and he makes racism & antisemitism feel empowering & approachable to his listeners. This video does a really good job of showing how his most extreme views are usually only accessible AFTER he employs a ton of common sense ethical analysis that most of his most virulent critics might even agree with
I was talking to my sister about her high school experience a few years ago. She said there was this one girl in the class who was really big on Instagram. But everyone in the class regarded that girl as a weirdo, and she did not really have friends IRL.
It seems that the silent majority in my sister's generation are paranoid of getting any attention online, and prefer pseudonymous Discord socialization. At least that was true as of 2020 or so. Maybe Gen Alpha is no longer as afraid of cancellation.
I think that's kind of true -- being online is a different kind of social fluency, and I feel like I've met tons of internet-known people who in-person don't strike one as particularly charismatic, but they have a bajillion followers and when they're on camera it's super compelling
one of my favourite articles you've posted
thank you!
Thanks for blowing an old lady’s mind!
Is the implication of this that “Heil Hitler” and hitting yourself in the face with a hammer is what passes for being “punk rock” these days (in the sense of rejecting the status quo and demonstrating rebellious behavior)?
I'd nuance that by saying a kid tends to go punk rock because it's "cool" -- because they have taste, because the style looks good in magazines and the music sounds good on record. Because their peers IRL go to shows, do things out in the world, and there's all these weird rituals and institutions around it which have value because they run opposite those of the normie world. But the hammer-hitting face kids are primarily thinking bout numbers spat out by a machine, and commenters who are only ever a username to them. It's a replacement of "looking cool" with "looking visible and seen by the algo" which to me is a salient difference that I wanna figure out a bit better how to describe
Could it perhaps be a form of individual sovereignty? In a nihilistic world I can still assert control over how I die and elevate myself on the social stage in the process.
Unironically yes. If you're 14, a guy hitting himself with a hammer is as free-thinking as it gets
What do you think of Fiona Bowie’s work? If you’ve read the Anthro of Religion text, what would you recommend reading as an extension?
Audio is left ear only! Not stereo unfortunately
fixed it! thanks for letting me know
Wow! Thank you so much!