Reading an interesting article. For now, just some quotes. It’s The internet didn’t kill counterculture—you just won’t find it on Instagram, by Caroline Busta, for Document Journal.
The internet didn’t kill counterculture—you just won’t find it on Instagram
On power:
Actual power keeps a low profile; actual power doesn’t need a social media presence, it owns social media.
On Internet and dissent:
Counterculture requires a group. Us against the world. And the internet is excellent at bringing groups together around collective dissent. But just like the internet, there is nothing inherently socially progressive about these tools. … QAnon, … Boogaloo Boys, … Reichsbürger …
On the post-apocalypse:
Central to this counter-future crafting is a strong belief in impending ecological collapse, rendering all the existing systems of control obsolete—which is a logical work-around for thinking about dissent in a time when the socially and ecologically corrosive systems are deemed too sprawling to effectively counter or boycott.
On the politics of radicalization:
And maybe here, we do have an aesthetic counter to the wallflower non-style of Big Tech: a raging messy semiotic meltdown of radicalizing (if absurdist) meme culture where the only ideological no-go zone is the liberal center.
On the belief that reform is impossible and abolishment the only option left:
Intuiting that any activity directly opposing the system will only make the system stronger, the next generation is instead opting for radical hyperstition: constructing alternative futures that abandon our current infrastructure entirely
On identity, anonymity and pseudonymity:
… the internet doesn’t suppress expression—it forces you to express and then holds you accountable for whatever you say for years.
On a bifurcation:
… the internet bifurcated into what became known as the “clearnet,” which includes all publicly indexed sites (i.e., big social media, commercial platforms, and anything crawled by major search engines) and the “darknet” or “deep web,” which is not publicly indexed … It is also interesting to keep in mind that the dark forest shares the same cables and satellite arrays as clearnet channels, is accessed via the same devices, and essentially all of its denizens continue to simultaneously participate in clearnet spaces …
On aspects that remind me of the smol net joy:
One forages for content or shares in what others in the community have retrieved rather than accepting whatever the platform algorithms happen to match to your data profile.
#Philosophy