The million-dollar and entirely unanswerable question: Was this a coincidence? If Something Awful hadn't had this influence, would some other forum(s) have instead?
Could online left-wing culture have been different or was this always lurking inside the technology of the internet, waiting to come out?
I think Something Awful's ban system put it ahead of its time.
Since each ban cost $10 if you wanted back in, mods were incentivized to be trigger-happy, and people got good at pushing boundaries without catching a ban.
My imaginary Sam Kriss, should he ever be asked about his involvement in these forums and message boards, would reply, with disdain and scoffingly, with all the sneering an omerta tends to bring out of people, “What forum? Watchu talkin' bout?”
I speedread the title and assumed this had been written much more recently than it had and was confused about the intro, which is very 2017. Curious as to what the 2024 edition of this would look like. Some of the individuals are maybe more mainstream now but it seems like the online left movement itself is in decline, having failed in largely nonpolitical countercultural terms to sufficiently distinguish itself from liberalism.
I have referred to this article numerous times over the years. It is the most concise explanation for one part of the insanity that has overcome us as a populace, that you still won’t find in a place like, say, The New Yorker. Twenty years hence, they’ll finally come around; the rest of us are left to fight before it’s too late.
I know it's supposed to be concise but, I read half of the article and already felt like it's enough internet for me today. Don't these people like, work? Touch grass? Walk around and talk to real people?
Say we as a society actually achieved Marxism and nobody needs to work, alright? But judging from what these people do all day long, is the Marxist future actually desirable? Even in the book brave new world, the characters seem to be having a better time than these real people who seem to have too much free time in their hands.
I've said this on other forums. Something the Very Online Left doesn't realize is that in the 1930s, socialism/Marxism/communism was very much considered hip, cool, in vogue and leading edge. And they thought they owned the institutions.
20 years later, not so much.
Go rewatch Oppenheimer if you want to see how that played out last time.
I'm not saying McCarthyism was right, but it was indeed a thing.
The million-dollar and entirely unanswerable question: Was this a coincidence? If Something Awful hadn't had this influence, would some other forum(s) have instead?
Could online left-wing culture have been different or was this always lurking inside the technology of the internet, waiting to come out?
I think the latter, and that's what's underappreciated
I think Something Awful's ban system put it ahead of its time.
Since each ban cost $10 if you wanted back in, mods were incentivized to be trigger-happy, and people got good at pushing boundaries without catching a ban.
Such a good point
My imaginary Sam Kriss, should he ever be asked about his involvement in these forums and message boards, would reply, with disdain and scoffingly, with all the sneering an omerta tends to bring out of people, “What forum? Watchu talkin' bout?”
I speedread the title and assumed this had been written much more recently than it had and was confused about the intro, which is very 2017. Curious as to what the 2024 edition of this would look like. Some of the individuals are maybe more mainstream now but it seems like the online left movement itself is in decline, having failed in largely nonpolitical countercultural terms to sufficiently distinguish itself from liberalism.
I have referred to this article numerous times over the years. It is the most concise explanation for one part of the insanity that has overcome us as a populace, that you still won’t find in a place like, say, The New Yorker. Twenty years hence, they’ll finally come around; the rest of us are left to fight before it’s too late.
I know it's supposed to be concise but, I read half of the article and already felt like it's enough internet for me today. Don't these people like, work? Touch grass? Walk around and talk to real people?
Say we as a society actually achieved Marxism and nobody needs to work, alright? But judging from what these people do all day long, is the Marxist future actually desirable? Even in the book brave new world, the characters seem to be having a better time than these real people who seem to have too much free time in their hands.
The author of the piece, or the people described?
The people described
The beat is taken increasingly seriously, plenty of good writers out there. These types of stories just don’t sell.
This was a killer article and a stroll down memory lane, ha.
I've said this on other forums. Something the Very Online Left doesn't realize is that in the 1930s, socialism/Marxism/communism was very much considered hip, cool, in vogue and leading edge. And they thought they owned the institutions.
20 years later, not so much.
Go rewatch Oppenheimer if you want to see how that played out last time.
I'm not saying McCarthyism was right, but it was indeed a thing.