A look to viral Internet content and the Christchurch mosque attack.
Social media platforms, or, a series of web-based applications that allow for the flow and exchange of user-generated content, act as a podium and an online layer through which users organise their lives; fusing the online with offline, drawing upon an inherently human need for connectedness. Though these platforms act as vehicles by which connectivity can flow through, it is not always as a positive means; giving rise to both the notion of trolling and provocation, and the proliferation of hate-speech and cyber-terrorism, social media platforms can act as a medium for unmediated and damaging content to arise, allowing a voice for antisocial and problematic discourse to flow through.
This essay seeks to firstly examine the dual-sided nature of social media and connection and the possible ramifications of connectivity, and later explore the sociology and social contexts behind trolling, “shitposting”, memeification and cyber-terrorism amongst a growing landscape of political warfare and intensifying tensions through a lens of considering appropriate “digital citizenship”. An important and highly contentious case study will be drawn upon; the beginnings and aftermath of Brenton Tarrant’s violent attack upon a Christchurch mosque in 2019, as inspired by alt-right memes, a nationalist manifesto, and a culture of trolling that sought to redefine “edgy”.
The space we have constructed through our networked technologies, and the imagined community we have built through the intersection of people and practice within interactive social media platforms (notably Facebook and Twitter, Reddit and 4chan within the context of this essay) has allowed for the unprecedented proliferation of countless sub-communities based upon even more countless factions; shared identities, interests, views; connections forming in the online sphere, much like tree branches that continue to grow outwards (boyd, 2014). Our interactions online have coevolved with us; from “participatory cultures” to what is now a “culture of connectivity”, where being connected to digital media and social platforms is interwoven seamlessly in the everyday fabric of sociality and is a normal and uncontested part of our everyday lives, akin to “real-world” conversations and interactions. To be considered into these communities aligns with our inherent need to attach and identify with a sense of place and belonging; to fit into neatly characterised boxes that tell us what our identity is and where our place lies (Dijck, 2013).
The ephemeral and unpredictable nature of content within social media — it’s persistence in visibility to viewers — though convenient in terms of ease of communication between users, has equal and opposite flaws; “trolls” find their long-lasting voice, hate-speech lingers, unmediated and dangerous content forever stains the public sphere, and the circulation of easily digestible content, like memes, is forever to be chased. Our role as digital citizens, as contributing members to the online spaces through which we forge connections, is to uphold an ethical set of behaviours that renounce “problematic or aberrant forms of participation”, or, the common qualities of an internet troll; deviant, controversial, provocative and antisocial, with superficial aims to ‘embarrass, anger, and disrupt’ and sometimes, more serious goals deeply rooted in unwavering views toward politics and culture, seeking to draw out, multiply interactions and extract responses (McCosker, 2013). The very environment that encourages a culture of connectivity and a broadening of social circles, upon the same principle, can foster hate in the minds of those easily influenced, capitalising on our gullibility to join any group that posts perverse messages that tickle our ear and amuse our senses, without evaluating the consequences.
The interactions we have on social media platforms are completely irrelevant to our physical proximity to one another. This is one of the key differences between face to face and online interaction that drives the notion of provocation and antagonism in community spaces; physical remoteness in conjunction with anonymity creates the perfect environment for “trolls” to flourish, to hijack discussions and find like-minded others to create an “in-group” without ever having to rely on physical proximity (Hopkinson, 2013). The role social media platforms play, in essence, is simple —to connect, to broaden and to foster identity— but these platforms also act as a microcosm through which trolls find their voice and each other; and the more contentious the content, the more outrageous, offensive and absurd, the better they are received and accepted by other trolls. These are networks of hate; digital communities of free physical space where the circulation of intentionally disruptive content can be circulated and repurposed into easily digestible, visual-based format such as memes, generated amongst the alt-right community as “shibboleths” and a “reification of commonly-held values”, with correct interpretation as a cultural marker of belonging in the in-group (Hodge & Hallgrimsdottir, 2019).
This practice of internet radicalization through shitposting subculture was taken upon by Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year old white supremacist, when he stormed two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand on March 15th, 2019, killing 50 Muslim worshippers as if he were the main character in a first-person shooter game—turning the massacre itself yet another dark internet rabbit hole, designed to draw the attention of like-minded trolls around the world and inspire new alt-right allies, in an act of terror he described as heavily inspired by Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Breivik (Cherkaoui and Dewan, 2019). Tarrant’s real-life “shitpost” received exactly the mediatized coverage he desired; firstly, in the release of a 74-page ideological manifesto abundant with references to alt-right memes and “in” jokes plastered on news sites and social media, the circulation of the live-stream that documented the entire attack, and again, in the following memeification running rampant across shitposting groups, proliferating a discourse of Islamophobia that partly motivated the shooting itself. Digital shrines to Tarrant made by the already-radicalized denizens of Reddit and 4chan, immortalizing him as a meme, further strengthen the loop we have found ourselves in; where the platforms we have created to foster connection have done exactly that.
The hyper-connected world poses a potential threat to the fabric of societal wellbeing through the concept of “digital wildfires”, or, the damaging and often rapid spread of information with the potential for serious harm. The opportunity for information and misinformation to “spread rapidly and reach huge audiences” can give rise to provocative content in the form of rumour or hate speech or “politically or socially inflammatory messages”, which have the ability to translate into the real world, where wreaking havoc is ensued (Webb et al., 2016). The misuse of an openly and easily accessible system — social media platforms — allows for inflammatory content to easily become circulated amongst users. This poses questions upon whether stricter governance of social media is necessary; though, this only poses further questions upon the nature of free speech and our inherent rights to it. Reading social media as both a “generative and disruptive force in relation to belonging”, it can be understood that our digital interactions influence a feeling of belonging and inclusion that create a ‘situatedness’ that is “more meaningful than what is often assumed in virtual social spaces” (Marlowe, Bartley and Collins, 2016); and within niche digital communities, like the shitposting groups Brenton Tarrant found himself the (often) leader of, belonging is paramount and strongly influential.
Memetic exchange is deeply rooted within this subculture, running parallel to intricate social dynamics; coordinative work and “pervasive mimicry” in repurposing items from digital and gaming culture create a rich sense of cultural capital that the user owns and uses (Nissenbaum and Shifman, 2015).
Tarrant’s manifesto, and subsequent mass shooting, was exactly that; “Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie,” he remarks, as he loads guns emblazoned with meme-referenced text into his car. The ordinary, reasonable viewer would assume Tarrant was referring to following the ever-popular Swedish Youtuber “PewdiePie”; but was instead referencing a long-standing “insider” meme of a longstanding feud. Tarrant’s act of terror only further inspired hundreds of memes on “Brenton Tarrant’s Memetastic Warfare Thread”, an 8chan board entirely comprised of memes repurposing screenshots of the live-stream, made to resemble scenes from video games Minecraft, Call of Duty and Fortnite – an expression of the hyper-masculinity that fuels many extremist groups, a fight-club culture that inspires violence through formats we don’t typically perceive to be threatening.
Social media platforms are the medium through which we connect to one another in the digital sphere. It is there, that we can foster meaningful connections with one another based upon a number of factions and mutual qualities that lead us to people we wouldn’t have found otherwise; its ease of accessibility, no matter where we are, or who we are, means this connection is omnipresent in our lives, and often uncontested – much like the shows we watch and the food we eat, it is a notion interwoven deeply into the pockets of our co-dependent human nature. The medium is important, as is the message, and it is the messages through which we transmit to one another (through any easily convertible format like memes) that can spell even the most unprecedented acts of terror. It is the medium of social media platforms that allows us to capitalise and to act upon the darkest parts of our human nature in the pursuit of belonging.
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