Yeah, it’s kind of soy but its also kind of fun if you don’t take it seriously. This idea has me wanting to rewatch the prequals again and watch for Anakin through the lens of generational strife and institutional hypocrisy from a moralizing hippie generation.
I agree that this stuff is more bad than good and I really can't stand the self-important essay-length posts people make on X about how Malfoid will win the culture war or whatever, but honestly I'm not that concerned. I remember two years ago people were making really cringey edits of peanut the squirrel and trump rescuing cats (I can't even remember the context for that one). I think people are already kind of moving on from Malfoid and by next week they'll have moved on from Anakin to some other dumb meme. I look back at the stuff I thought was funny and interesting in 2016 and it's really shocking how stupid a lot of it was. I just think a certain amount of coal is part of the process. What used to be good about twitter/X is how rapidly it exhausts the novelty of new ideas so that stupid things become tiresome more quickly, leaving the good things to stand longer on the basis of genuine merit.
The real danger I agree with you about is that Elon's takeover has made X more of a bubble. What I really worry about it is the "Gab-ification" of X. If it continues to become an echo chamber it will cease to function as an idea engine.
Agree with you about the real danger. Peanut the squirrel posting mostly came from MAGA boomers who did what MAGA boomers always do. Online Right treated it more ironically.
Article reads like the author himself is not sure what to make of all of this.
Star Wars , Harry Potter and capeshit is slop for sure but they are undeniably mainstream. Same goes for Odyssey. Now does it make most normies ‘soy’ by definition? And does it make communicating with normies using slop references ‘soy’? Or ‘soy’ is not mere memes but specifically writing the mentioned 10k word essays? Or if its specifically meme LARPing, then what about all the meme LOTR LARPing of 2010s? Btw zoomers are still fans of these IPs (probably Marvel more than the other 2), and suppose you supplant these 3 IPs with 100% Zoomer coded IPs like FNAF and SCP/Backrooms. Is it no longer soy?
These are the questions that got in my mind while reading and some were even partially raised in the article itself with no particular answer given.
Truth is none of this shit matters in the slightests and neither did the Online Right at *any* point (including in its supposed heyday). Hence why no deportations and war in Iran.
I explain at the beginning of the post. I wrote a book about the Online Right. It's my job to keep track of what's going on in our sphere. This isn't as important as the midterms but it does say something about the trajectory of the movement.
You’re not the arbiter for the right. You even state it’s an online phenomenon. People pay for your writing that most can just think for themselves? YouTube is free people and there are smarter people than Scott who talk about the metaphysics of cinema culture on society.
I understand the online right has grown by an order of magnitude over the past decade and half, but I still don't think I really understand who exactly these new people that have been coming on board are or what motivates them. I know a lot of normies that get exposed to and enjoy online right stuff on Instagram reels these days, but none of them are posting on X. I don't think any of them particularly care about Harry Potter or Stars Wars either. Are these just the dregs of society living in their mom's basements? I can't imagine encountering another person in the real world that would actually express the opinions of online rightists. It's so totally bizarre and detached from reality. Any time Greer posts about this his mentions are just flooded by an army of anime avi accounts that I have never even seen before and honestly find hard to believe are engaged with right wing politics after I see their posts on this subject unironically soyjacking about children's cartoons. Is this just Auron MacIntyre fans?
A lot of guys got redpilled after COVID and are relatively new to posting. Every genuine zoomer i meet is more of a lurker rather than a poster on X. The new posters are mostly millennials but different from the millennials who made the Alt Right a decade ago. They liked Reddit back in the day and share the earnestness of their liberal peers. Some are bored and having a mid-life crisis. Others have seen their lives not go so well as they near 40.
Through TikTok and Reels, we've reached a ton of Zoomers. But they're not on X where this content first gestates.
It’s all just a product of X sadly. As you mentioned, all the left wingers left. However, the algorithm is now so messed up and content farming so common that your feed is just miles and miles of this crap. The old 2010s online right needs a new platform IMO.
Yeah, it’s kind of soy but its also kind of fun if you don’t take it seriously. This idea has me wanting to rewatch the prequals again and watch for Anakin through the lens of generational strife and institutional hypocrisy from a moralizing hippie generation.
Therein lies the issue; nearly everyone involved is taking this extremely seriously.
In my circles it is just people having fun.
I agree that this stuff is more bad than good and I really can't stand the self-important essay-length posts people make on X about how Malfoid will win the culture war or whatever, but honestly I'm not that concerned. I remember two years ago people were making really cringey edits of peanut the squirrel and trump rescuing cats (I can't even remember the context for that one). I think people are already kind of moving on from Malfoid and by next week they'll have moved on from Anakin to some other dumb meme. I look back at the stuff I thought was funny and interesting in 2016 and it's really shocking how stupid a lot of it was. I just think a certain amount of coal is part of the process. What used to be good about twitter/X is how rapidly it exhausts the novelty of new ideas so that stupid things become tiresome more quickly, leaving the good things to stand longer on the basis of genuine merit.
The real danger I agree with you about is that Elon's takeover has made X more of a bubble. What I really worry about it is the "Gab-ification" of X. If it continues to become an echo chamber it will cease to function as an idea engine.
Agree with you about the real danger. Peanut the squirrel posting mostly came from MAGA boomers who did what MAGA boomers always do. Online Right treated it more ironically.
Article reads like the author himself is not sure what to make of all of this.
Star Wars , Harry Potter and capeshit is slop for sure but they are undeniably mainstream. Same goes for Odyssey. Now does it make most normies ‘soy’ by definition? And does it make communicating with normies using slop references ‘soy’? Or ‘soy’ is not mere memes but specifically writing the mentioned 10k word essays? Or if its specifically meme LARPing, then what about all the meme LOTR LARPing of 2010s? Btw zoomers are still fans of these IPs (probably Marvel more than the other 2), and suppose you supplant these 3 IPs with 100% Zoomer coded IPs like FNAF and SCP/Backrooms. Is it no longer soy?
These are the questions that got in my mind while reading and some were even partially raised in the article itself with no particular answer given.
Truth is none of this shit matters in the slightests and neither did the Online Right at *any* point (including in its supposed heyday). Hence why no deportations and war in Iran.
Completely agree except for the part of saying watching the NFL is preferable to this.
Why is this important?
I explain at the beginning of the post. I wrote a book about the Online Right. It's my job to keep track of what's going on in our sphere. This isn't as important as the midterms but it does say something about the trajectory of the movement.
You’re not the arbiter for the right. You even state it’s an online phenomenon. People pay for your writing that most can just think for themselves? YouTube is free people and there are smarter people than Scott who talk about the metaphysics of cinema culture on society.
I understand the online right has grown by an order of magnitude over the past decade and half, but I still don't think I really understand who exactly these new people that have been coming on board are or what motivates them. I know a lot of normies that get exposed to and enjoy online right stuff on Instagram reels these days, but none of them are posting on X. I don't think any of them particularly care about Harry Potter or Stars Wars either. Are these just the dregs of society living in their mom's basements? I can't imagine encountering another person in the real world that would actually express the opinions of online rightists. It's so totally bizarre and detached from reality. Any time Greer posts about this his mentions are just flooded by an army of anime avi accounts that I have never even seen before and honestly find hard to believe are engaged with right wing politics after I see their posts on this subject unironically soyjacking about children's cartoons. Is this just Auron MacIntyre fans?
A lot of guys got redpilled after COVID and are relatively new to posting. Every genuine zoomer i meet is more of a lurker rather than a poster on X. The new posters are mostly millennials but different from the millennials who made the Alt Right a decade ago. They liked Reddit back in the day and share the earnestness of their liberal peers. Some are bored and having a mid-life crisis. Others have seen their lives not go so well as they near 40.
Through TikTok and Reels, we've reached a ton of Zoomers. But they're not on X where this content first gestates.
I'm becoming more convinced that if you're looking at a TV screen for any reason, you're wrong.
It’s all just a product of X sadly. As you mentioned, all the left wingers left. However, the algorithm is now so messed up and content farming so common that your feed is just miles and miles of this crap. The old 2010s online right needs a new platform IMO.