Thomas Vayos, Period 6, 02/13/24

 Thomas Vayos

Blog #3

Due February 13th

Deadline Extended

SOCIOPOLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS

INITIAL PREMISE: There are no longer “safe” spaces online for kids to engage with. Why?

Kids Are Using Social Media More Than Ever, Study Finds - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Often when discussing internet safety, we only think about the overt, explicit threat of a malicious actor taking advantage of somebody, usually younger, less inoculated in the doctrine of web security. The implicit threat posed by the easy, mostly unconsidered access to information – more specifically bad information or social and political indoctrination – is rarely taken into account. As more people use the internet, both young and old, it is important to expand upon our dilapidated understanding of what it means to remain safe on the internet.

QAnon is a barely comprehensible conspiracy theory which began circulating on the /pol/ board 4chan, a subsection of an imageboard (4chan; essentially, a social hangout) dedicated to politics. Preying upon the heightened emotions and fear of mostly older people during the 2020 election, a religious fervor and cult-like fixation on the words of “Q” – a volatile title, passed around from whatever posters on 4chan could feign pre cognizance about the future of the “election scandal” – developed quickly, spreading a false hope across the population which believed that the election was cheated. Adding fuel to the fire, the paranoia surrounding the belief in the election hoax was compacted with the outrage of believing that a select group of elites (associated specifically with the democratic party) were involved in child-*** trafficking rings, or otherwise involved in occult rituals to extract “adrenochrome” (essentially life force of babies)

This false hope quickly became a form of codependence. Although we can point to the outspoken believers of the QAnon conspiracy, some of whom were present at the January 6th riots (the most famous being the “QAnon Shaman;” the guy with the weird horns, staff, and facepaint), that does not speak to the most common experience people have with QAnon members. Often, the QAnon conspiracy affects close family members: mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles. QAnon Casualties is another subsection of another imageboard (Reddit), dedicated to giving members of families affected by the indoctrination of QAnon a platform to speak on how QAnon changed their loved ones. Most of the stories are hard to read, but are useful in understanding the long-term impact of QAnon.

QAnon is not the first, and certainly not the last, conspiracy to gain widespread fame through the media, but it remains a prescient and important example of how the internet can amplify the effect of harmful information and the voices of political and social indoctrination.

An even more recent example, this one targeting young children and teenagers, is the “Red Pill Movement.” Taking what we know about kids, that being:

1. They’re pretty dumb (it comes with being 5 years old)

2. They’re impressionable

3. They want to be entertained

And what we know about teenagers, especially young men:

1. They’re often told that they are responsible for becoming breadwinners for their families

2. Often face societal pressure surrounding emotional expression

3. Want to feel validated

We can boil down how perpetrators of the “Red Pill” target these two groups with almost surgical precision, on both streaming platforms like Twitch and Kick and short-form video platforms like TikTok.

On Twitch and Kick, streamers like Adin Ross and Sneako sell and stunt fast-moving lives meant to entrap young men in an illusion that they, too, can live the “dream:” fast cars, fast planes, living across the globe, with plenty of women* (*although toxic masculinity permits that, while being physically attracted to women, you cannot “love” them, at least not in the same way they love you.. They would even go as far to say that most women are gold diggers, while in the same breath seeking their approval.) Once they have you sold on this illusion, they can get you to accept any number of choices about your lifestyle and mentality, all in the vain hope of achieving what they have. Often, this includes the thought that women are lesser, – as one fan puts it: “F*** the women! F*** the women!” – that most people are trapped in the “matrix,” (usually embodying liberal ideals, most prominently those involving equality or gender and sexual identity) and that the only escape from the “matrix” is to become rich (through dropshipping.. Because they believe going to college will indoctrinate you) or die trying.

Sneako Meets His Oldest Fans

Andrew Tate, the “father” of the “Red Pill” however, mostly maintains his presence on TikTok. He uploads short clips where, sometimes, he only speaks one word, followed by music and a clip flaunting his lifestyle which, similar to the aforementioned Sneako and Adin Ross, is filled with expensive luxury goods, planes, and cars. The epitome of this content is a woman asking Adin Ross, “What would you do if I made more money than you?” and his response being a simple “Impossible.” It’s not meant to make sense, or make you think, but to sell you the image of an “alpha male.” He does not need to justify what he says; if you’re properly indoctrinated, you will understand what he means and make the justifications for yourself. If you’re seduced by the life of exuberance they show off, then you will believe, as they do, that a woman out-earning a man is simply impossible.

Through TikTok and streaming platforms, this harmful, misogynistic ideology misleading young men has entered classrooms of children as old as 6. QAnon and the Red Pill serve as sobering reminders that the greatest threat of the internet is not the ominous, lurking predator, but access to subversive ideologies, often without the skills to critically think about what the preachers of these ideologies are saying.

Teachers and Parents Talk About Andrew Tate's Influence on Kids (businessinsider.com)