I know this is reddit, but in the adult world using words like "popcorn" and "buttery" just tell everyone you have zero credibility AFAIK.
If anyone is a cyber carpet bagger on reddit I would say it is the people on /r/SubredditDrama. I've been here for a few years, never saw anyone supporting that kind of stuff. Then a huge amount of people appeared out of nowhere.
My guess is that a few of them are professional schills for (((Big Popcorn))) and the rest are Jerry Springer crowd types who developed an interest in drama after seeing r/drama.
The silver lining there is that after the alt-right and Trump go away /r/SubredditDrama will probably wither away too, like all of the Ellen Pao hate subs.
I think one of, if not the, largest motivating factor in all of this: the conflation of trolling/humor/fun and conviction. I actually think that's how most young /r/drama posters got drawn into the fold.
First, it's all about getting a rise out of people. Trolls have been around since the dawn of the internet, of course, but extremist views that concern identity politics are absolutely ripe for trolls. So when they jump onboard the offensive meme train, they can say (and they probably even believe) that it's solely for the purpose of stupid humor and trolling. They don't "actually believe" these things (...right? Right?!).
And then when they're successful in offending and people fire back, the trolls actually get offended themselves. ("Wait a second, I'm just being an ass, but you're actually bothering me now!") In their minds, it was only a prank, but the cardinal rule of trolling is to never admit you were trolling, and so they have to strike a balance between keeping up the facade of asshattery while also falling into their own trap and taking it personally. This circles downward to an extreme: maybe a troll just messaged a mayo, telling her to kill herself, but he didn't "really mean it," and now she's taking things out of control by trying to show the world what he just said.
But the longer anyone continues their rhetoric, the more likely they are to believe it. It feels good to have the ostensible moral high ground. And as you're forced on the defensive, you are also forced to defend whatever ideology you posited in the first place - all of a sudden, you start sympathizing with the subject matter you were joking about simply by association. Moreover, you believe it becomes a matter of "free speech," because people are angry at you and trying to silence you for offending them, and even hatespeech is protected speech (nevermind that your detractors also have free speech and the 1st amendment has nothing to do with online arguments, but we're way past that point on the logic train).
So you've adopted A Right for Bussy as your main ideological anchor, and since your memes were born of mayohate, incelshaming, etc., then that's the ammo you'll continue to use, regardless of whether you "actually believe" it. And you'll join a BLM march, even, if that will prove your point about free speech and ruffle the feathers of your opposition. And when you start doing the "Hail mayocide" just to offend people, and they start calling you a racist, then you've proven your point because you've got them to call you something crazy! Congratulations: you've memed and trolled your way into a BLM rally, surrounded by 200 other people just like you. But you don't "actually believe" any of this - you're just trolling to prove a point. Right? Wait, what the point originally? Oh, right: that hilarious meme about how mayos are inferior.
9 comments
1 SnapshillBot 2017-08-17
You're oversimplifying a complex situation to the point of adding nothing to the discussion.
Snapshots:
I am a bot. (Info / Contact)
1 StrongerThroughFaith 2017-08-17
I know this is reddit, but in the adult world using words like "popcorn" and "buttery" just tell everyone you have zero credibility AFAIK.
If anyone is a cyber carpet bagger on reddit I would say it is the people on /r/SubredditDrama. I've been here for a few years, never saw anyone supporting that kind of stuff. Then a huge amount of people appeared out of nowhere.
My guess is that a few of them are professional schills for (((Big Popcorn))) and the rest are Jerry Springer crowd types who developed an interest in drama after seeing r/drama.
The silver lining there is that after the alt-right and Trump go away /r/SubredditDrama will probably wither away too, like all of the Ellen Pao hate subs.
1 HodorTheDoorHolder 2017-08-17
for u
1 diarrheaondemand 2017-08-17
4uuuu
1 beskargamkote 2017-08-17
UUUU
1 nmx179 2017-08-17
Reminder that boring forced shitposting is for SRDines
1 Blinwar 2017-08-17
I think one of, if not the, largest motivating factor in all of this: the conflation of trolling/humor/fun and conviction. I actually think that's how most young /r/drama posters got drawn into the fold.
First, it's all about getting a rise out of people. Trolls have been around since the dawn of the internet, of course, but extremist views that concern identity politics are absolutely ripe for trolls. So when they jump onboard the offensive meme train, they can say (and they probably even believe) that it's solely for the purpose of stupid humor and trolling. They don't "actually believe" these things (...right? Right?!).
And then when they're successful in offending and people fire back, the trolls actually get offended themselves. ("Wait a second, I'm just being an ass, but you're actually bothering me now!") In their minds, it was only a prank, but the cardinal rule of trolling is to never admit you were trolling, and so they have to strike a balance between keeping up the facade of asshattery while also falling into their own trap and taking it personally. This circles downward to an extreme: maybe a troll just messaged a mayo, telling her to kill herself, but he didn't "really mean it," and now she's taking things out of control by trying to show the world what he just said.
But the longer anyone continues their rhetoric, the more likely they are to believe it. It feels good to have the ostensible moral high ground. And as you're forced on the defensive, you are also forced to defend whatever ideology you posited in the first place - all of a sudden, you start sympathizing with the subject matter you were joking about simply by association. Moreover, you believe it becomes a matter of "free speech," because people are angry at you and trying to silence you for offending them, and even hatespeech is protected speech (nevermind that your detractors also have free speech and the 1st amendment has nothing to do with online arguments, but we're way past that point on the logic train).
So you've adopted A Right for Bussy as your main ideological anchor, and since your memes were born of mayohate, incelshaming, etc., then that's the ammo you'll continue to use, regardless of whether you "actually believe" it. And you'll join a BLM march, even, if that will prove your point about free speech and ruffle the feathers of your opposition. And when you start doing the "Hail mayocide" just to offend people, and they start calling you a racist, then you've proven your point because you've got them to call you something crazy! Congratulations: you've memed and trolled your way into a BLM rally, surrounded by 200 other people just like you. But you don't "actually believe" any of this - you're just trolling to prove a point. Right? Wait, what the point originally? Oh, right: that hilarious meme about how mayos are inferior.
1 mr_dinkle 2017-08-17
came here to say this
1 aqouta 2017-08-17
That's why I always troll ironically where I shitpost what I actually believe but with an intentionally poorly formed argument.