The Card Says Moops is public!

Really, genuinely disturbing. Also... oh god, the super-speed scrolling when you're talking about 4chan. OH GOD. PLEASE no. It took all I had to keep watching. Be aware that super-fast scrolling and flashy lights are both really tough for anyone with migraines or neuro disorders of any kind.

Jaime Seltzer

One more thing: the inversion of truth > belief > argument. I can't recall another time when I had the simultaneous feeling of, "That's brilliant, exactly describes reality!" and "My god, that is so fucked up!"

PC Escobar

FWIW, while the information density was high, I don't think it was too many things in too few words. That said, I did have the advantage of going from recognition to recognition -- I was familiar with every element described, since I'd seen all of them with my own eyes. This made it easier for me to follow the construction of the argument.

PC Escobar

This was the most disturbing essay of the series yet, mostly because I recognize every element you described in the comment sections of YouTube, in forums, on Twitter. That donning of the mantle of "rationalist" by people determined to win every argument, regardless of the facts? Seen it. Enemy of my enemy is my friend, even when their own positions are diametrically opposed? -- "Keep politics out of games" vs. "Games are racist against white men," being a prime example -- seen it. "He believes he believes it," scares the shit out of me too, but even more, much more, does, "Truth is a democracy."

PC Escobar

It's from this nifty site called Google Image Search. XD

Ian Danskin

Well done. I've been mulling it over and I suspect the reason that certain very online people on the right will take any argument that may "own the libs" is indeed because they simply don't care about the viewpoints they espouse - because it's not about ideology, ultimately, it's about power. They feel powerful when they get reactions, they feel powerful when they can derail or control the conversation. Might really does make right for many of them and any proof of might is an end unto itself. (And honestly I wonder if some of this is rooted in their sense of measuring themselves by their impact on their "enemies" above all else.)

ThatKat

Congrats on another phenomenal piece of work Ian. I really liked it, you've shined new light on what goes on behind anti-sjw online discourse. I've been thinking about a twitter thread I saw recently, on someone witnessing their little teenage brother adopting this type of faux-nihilist anti-sjw attitude from following certain gaming youtubers and the like. Your video has really answered a lot of questions I had on what was going on there.

I was struck by the photo at 8:50. Very nostalgic. Where is it from?

Love the metaphor, I use a very similar one when trying to describe my personal process of learning as well. I usually describe it as building a house or a shed where you need to construct the foundation/skeleton of the house and then place the walls and then start placing interior furnishings and finally decorations. Each layer down is a more specific and the previous steps provide a framework of where a given piece of information is supposed to fit in the overall argument or topic of discussion. The more of a framework I already have constructed on a topic the easier it is for me to take bits and put them in the proper location to make the entire thing work together.

Drew & Meggo

That was very dense, but well put out I've tried to talk out a few online friends out those circle jerks and while I think it partially worked I still have that feeling that : once you've dwelled into that nihilistic 4chan culture, its very hard to adopt any kind of beliefs wholeheartedly without that kind of ironic distance that makes you feel smarter than anyone else and also give you a safe angle to distance yourself from anything and always feel superior, because that's what the right is about: feeling superior, and to be frank there's a lot of people on the left who could learn to do away with the same attitude.

Snapping Snapper

It was less about the content-thickness for me, I'm really good at that, it was more that I was sometimes missing the point, the argument, you're trying to make with what you say, like when you started talking about why 4chan is a nutrient ground for nazis. That that's the point you're making only came clear to me once you said that, which was several minutes after you started talking about it, so without a cupboard into which I can put your arguments they were kinda just lying around and starting to pile up (I hope that metaphor isn't too, uhm, cheesy ^^). If you had started talking about that topic by explicitly mentioning that that's where you're going in some way, that would have helped a lot for me.

Nikki

I can't always tell if I'm covering too many things in too few words, or just going over the same stuff over and over in slightly different phrasing. Guess it was the first thing this time.

Ian Danskin

Damn, this was a LOT. I lost track a couple of times because your topic changes aren't framed as clearly (for me) as usually and I wasn't sure what you're talking about anymore. Otherwise, great video, as always!

Nikki