We are become meme

Well, here's something I never thought I'd do. Yes, it's an embed from Truth Social.

So, let's break this down:

• Obviously AI generated. It couldn't be more obvious if they were waving six-fingered hands on three arms at the “camera”.
• If you think conspicuous consumption capitalism is the only solution to deeply engrained racial and religious conflict, this is for you.
• Trump is meant to be a Christian. I'm sure there's something in the Bible about worshipping golden idols. If only I could remember…
• Did Trump actually watch this? The gender queer dancers don't seem like they're his thing, given the current run of executive orders.

This is AI-generated shit posting, as an official communication from one of the most powerful men in the world. This is our new reality.

One of the criticisms levelled at the media in the wake of Trump's first election was the degree to which they were unaware of the combination of online activism and Russian interference critical to that result shouldn't have been a surprise. That style of activism had its roots in Gamergate, and the Russian disinformation operation had been reported in the tech section of the NYT, but hadn't made it into the mindset of the politics reporters.

Now, the whole of the US ruling party is infused with the culture of the worst parts of the Internet. This is shitposting as policy. Goatse as government.

The Musk of Elon Meme

And, Trump's… right hand man? Boss? Real vice president? Elon Musk is deeply aware of this:

(Yes, that was a Mail embed. It was the only embeddable video of the clip I could find…)

This is no surprise, as this is the man who named his government “department” after a decade-old meme.

There was a time when the internet culture beat was just that — a separate beat. Only those of us who were immersed far too deep in it had to know what goatse was (or is). (Don't Google it. I MEAN IT.) That time is long over. Internet culture is deeply interwoven with society and culture in general. If you're reporting on politics now, and you don't understand both the last decade of internet culture, and the alternative media developing in podcasts, newsletters and forums, you're reporting with only half the story.

We had a warning that this was the case over eight years ago — and as an industry, we failed to act. Maybe we were lulled into a false sense of safety by the return to normality that the election of Biden in the US suggested. Certainly, in the UK, the Starmer government, for all its faults, is a much more conventional one that recent Tory administrations.

Who is the mainstream media now?

But now the US established media is paying the price of that complacency. And, indeed, one question that's been playing on my mind for the last few months is this:

What is the mainstream media now?

For all the political motivations between Trump's reshaping of the press access to briefings, the fact he's bringing in more people from the podcasting and influencing side of media is a real reflection of the way the public's attention is shifting. [Update: the influencers are getting more access than I expected…]

If you don't understand meme culture, if you haven't explored some of the darker corners of the internet, and even the communities that have been driven onto the darknet, can you really understand what's happening in politics now?

I have a lecture on memes and memetic culture that only a tiny fraction of our Masters' students get every year — and none of our undergraduates.

Perhaps I should make it open to all.