Internet culture and its metaphorical language, memes, has potentially evolved into something that many people—both outside observers and even some active participants—have not fully realized nor conceptualized. What once was a promising frontier that symbolized global connectedness, free speech, and independence has become a breeding ground for alt-right ideology, desensitization, and hate.
While it’s not worth breaking down the exact ways that internet culture differs from more physical societies, its humor and communication style essentially rely heavily on sarcasm, absurdity, and irony. There is often no better way to tease out and expose the irrational and hypocritical standards we have as a society than through irony.
This is nothing new. Humor and irony have always been tightly woven together and are not necessarily malevolent. What is new, and potentially dangerous, is the array of privileges afforded to those that communicate through the internet. Anonymity, the immediate access to like-minded individuals, the ability to retreat from common society through its use, and, most insidiously, the benefit of the doubt afforded to jokes have created the perfect storm for extremism, with distinctly internet-arian components.
A necessary concept to understand here is the idea of performative language, which I recently came across in my Philosophy of Religion class with Peter Dula. In essence, performative language is the process in which communicating and participating in an idea reinforces the concept that was communicated. This could be as simple as when a kid says a certain team is good because it is a familial expectation. Even though the child doesn’t really understand the meaning, the feeling necessary to justify the action is generated through repeated participation in the norm.
Or, more consequentially, when I participate in he/she pronouns, it reinforces the conceptual existence of gender as a binary. I am not trying to derail the conversation towards a gender debate; I am merely saying that while we like to think that the human mind first has a moral or justification which we then act on, we are beginning to learn that the opposite can also be the case.
How is this relevant? Ironic participation in a behavior has the same effect. Have you ever ironically added a word or behavior to the way you communicate as a way to make fun of a certain trend? Yet over time, what started as a joke eventually becomes an actual part of you. Have you ever dabbed as a reflex or begun using “bro” as a legitimate filler in conversation?
As absurd as it seems, the same thing is true for the radicalization of teenagers and adults in the alt-right movement. The ironic nature of internet culture allows for performative language to work its magic largely unnoticed. The “it’s a joke” card can always be pulled if you are called out, and if you still don’t think it’s funny, then you are clearly not understanding the meta joke, i.e. that it’s making fun of people that think or act that way. On top of this, there is always competition to find the next edge, the new ceiling for absurdity. Before they themselves realize it, ironic stereotyping of women and minorities has become full-blown misogyny and racism.
Invariably, this will turn into what we saw in New Zealand. Socially alone, yet simultaneously in a community; the anonymity and culture of the internet allow for dangerous ideology to spread to at-risk individuals. I don’t mean to sound pessimistic. The internet still harbors incredible potential for prosperity and empowerment. However, the utopian city of the information age may, too, have its own seedy underbelly. It is time we recognize it.
