1 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:11,639 Speaker 1: Oh, welcome back to It Could Happen Here, a podcast 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: about things falling apart and about what we like to 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: call the crumbles in here. And a key aspect of 4 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: the crumbles is the ongoing resurgence of fascist political parties 5 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: and politicians in the United States and elsewhere. And today 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about about one of said fascists, 7 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: a fella you might have heard of named Ron DeSantis. 8 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 1: I'm putting Ron, yeah, pudding Ron Old dasanct de aemonious. Now, Garrison, 9 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: you've got a banger of an episode written out here. 10 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: I'm looking at your script right now. It's beautiful. Right 11 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: before we get into it, I do want to give 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: an update on a past subject of It Could Happen Here, 13 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: Lord Miles Rutledge, for those of you who may not 14 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: have caught that episode, Lord Miles is a British Man 15 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: who went to Afghanistan to hang out and got caught 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: up in the Taliban's you know, victory in that war, 17 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 1: and then turned himself into a danger travel influencer, visiting 18 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: in dangerous place, going to war zones, going to Ukraine 19 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: and like making it about him. He went back to 20 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,039 Speaker 1: Afghanistan because it really was better for his social media 21 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: following than any of the other places he went, bragged 22 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: about breaking laws, including faking his visa, and then got 23 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: arrested and has been radio silent for about the last 24 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: five months now. A lot of people have wondered is 25 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: Lord Myles dead that he liked die in custody in 26 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: the Taliban are trying to keep it a secret, but 27 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: worry no longer. Friends. Today his account posted this is 28 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: a friend of Lord Miles to give an update. Four 29 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: months in Taliban custody. He's treated very well, has several servants, 30 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: loads of movies on his laptop, goes on picnics and 31 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: as tea with the Taliban cabinet government. He still loves Afghanistan. 32 00:01:57,840 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: And then there's a photo of him giving the thumbs 33 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: up doubt. So he's not He's not dead, guys. He's 34 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 1: in a nice Taliban farm upstate. He gets to run 35 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: all he wants, you know, wide open fields. He's super happy. 36 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: It's really funny one of his All of these people 37 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: are so fucking brained, poised, brain poisoned, but like a 38 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: big part of Miles, he was like trying to also 39 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: be kind of a right wing influencer. He was doing 40 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: this like anti woke. The Taliban is awesome and like 41 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 1: actually kind of good guys because they they don't like 42 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: believe in the woke agenda. And one of his friends, 43 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: after this message got posted, like messaged his account be like, hey, Taliban, 44 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: if you're the guys that have like captured him, we 45 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: really want him back. I'll pay a ransom. I'm like, 46 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: I know, this is probably just a misunderstanding because you 47 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,399 Speaker 1: guys are on our side on the anti woke war. 48 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, I'm sure Taliban cares about the woke culture 49 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 2: war facing America. 50 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: That's what they're That's what's they're all about. That shit work, guys. 51 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 2: I'm sure they tuned into shodthead of the Every Night. 52 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,679 Speaker 1: So Funny, So funny. Anyway, that dude Debt is dead 53 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,239 Speaker 1: as hell. Look, I'm not saying that to gloat. I'm 54 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: just saying that the motherfucker's dead as hell. I don't 55 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,799 Speaker 1: care what a prick he's dead. He deserved. 56 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 3: Many many people have died in Afghanistan and it's been 57 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 3: a tragedy. 58 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: This one less. So anyway, Garrison, please continue. 59 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 2: All right, So we we we're gonna return to this 60 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 2: podcast being your number one source for slightly homo erotic 61 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 2: fascist memes. Once again. 62 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: That was how we pitched it to iHeartRadio. 63 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 2: Explaining the erotic fascist themes. 64 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: A lot of people talking about fascists these days, but 65 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: none of them are homo erotic. 66 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 2: So on the on the last day of Pride Month, 67 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 2: Desantas's campaign shared a ad that's been described as bizarre 68 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 2: and mystifying. He pedals a whole bunch of pretty pretty 69 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 2: extreme like homophobia. He attacks Trump for for for previous 70 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 2: statements that Trump has made regarding LGBTQ what rights, and 71 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 2: then the video kind of transitions and we see basically 72 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 2: a version of what's what we're gonna call fash wave. 73 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 2: And I'm gonna explain all of these terms here in 74 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,160 Speaker 2: this episode, but we're seeing kind of a resurgence of 75 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 2: a political meme style that was popular years ago. It's 76 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,919 Speaker 2: kind of laid dormant the past year or so for 77 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 2: reasons that we will very soon discuss. But a whole 78 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 2: bunch of both conservatives and liberals are kind of not 79 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 2: really sure how to take this ad shared by the 80 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 2: DeSantis campaign and are ill equipped to understand what the 81 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 2: fuck is going on. But luckily I am equipped because 82 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:59,280 Speaker 2: I spent my teen years in telegram chats watching this 83 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 2: meme style develop. 84 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: So how do you, buddy? 85 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 4: Yeah? 86 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 2: Thanks in the telegram trenches once again. 87 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: All right, So. 88 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 2: The first image of DeSantis, when it flashes to this 89 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 2: other kind of weird, more like bizarre editing style, has 90 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 2: him with like these these blue or red like glowing eyes. 91 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,480 Speaker 2: And this is gonna be something that is going to 92 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 2: be a recurring trend that we're gonna be talking about 93 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 2: in this episode, these like these like glowing laser eye 94 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 2: type things. So we're gonna start with this because this 95 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 2: is actually one of the one of the most common 96 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 2: traits of fash wave. And we've seen this be adopted 97 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 2: by multiple politicians in the past, and most people probably 98 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:43,160 Speaker 2: like don't know what the fuck this is? Like, is 99 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,280 Speaker 2: this like a Superman thing? Like, what the fuck is this? 100 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 2: So laser eye memes started in the early twenty tens, 101 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 2: originally referencing video games like Mass Effect two and other 102 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 2: like sci fi and superhero media people like Superman or 103 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 2: anyone with like laser eyes. Is also like a it's 104 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 2: like a cultural touch stone for this sort of thing. 105 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 2: The laser eyes usually represent like a figure growing in power, 106 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 2: So when when someone has laser eyes and a meme, 107 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 2: it's like they are they are They're gaining power, the 108 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 2: gaining security. The The original caption for the early laser 109 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 2: eye memes was assuming direct Control, which was also just 110 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 2: a video game reference. So again I would have someone 111 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 2: with like glowing, glowing laser eyes and text that says 112 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 2: like assuming control or assuming direct control. So this was 113 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 2: this was this was this was popping off in like 114 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 2: the early twenty tens. Around the same time, synth wave 115 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 2: and vapor wave were gaining traction as both like nostalgic 116 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:45,360 Speaker 2: musical microgenres and a memetic visual style featuring neon glitchy 117 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 2: kind of eighties retro computer athetics mixed with traditional Greco 118 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 2: Roman sculpture for a variety of reasons which we'll touch on, 119 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 2: but vapor wave had influences from video games, cyberpunk, anime, 120 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:01,479 Speaker 2: and it was it was relatively popular as in mycer 121 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 2: genre in like the twenty teens and through the twenty teens, 122 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 2: both the laser eye memes were steadily growing in popularity 123 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 2: on places like Reddit and four chun, alongside the rise 124 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 2: of a vapor wave and its kind of surrealist, nostalgia 125 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 2: laden aesthetics focused on highlighting the comfort and unfulfilled promises 126 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 2: of the Internet of yester year. And this like nostalgic 127 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 2: surrealist aesthetic was prime bait for easy co option into 128 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 2: the reactionary meme variant dubbed fash wave, which soon became 129 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 2: kind of the de facto esthetic of the then burgeoning 130 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 2: alt right. Glowing laser eyes on various fascistic political figures 131 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 2: became a staple of fash wave during the rise of 132 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 2: the alt right around twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen. I 133 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 2: actually kind of like vapor wave. I think it's maybe 134 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 2: a bit overplayed now, and it certainly is frustrating how 135 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 2: much it was kind of taken over by reaction because 136 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 2: actual vapor wave is almost actually like anti capitalistic in 137 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 2: a few ways. It's it's kind of it's kind of 138 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 2: criticizing the disposableness of like modern consumerist culture, using like 139 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 2: forgotten eighties technology and like software and that kind of stuff. 140 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 2: So I'm looking at two of my little vapor wave 141 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 2: images here in the script, and it does some of 142 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 2: some of the little like ways that the images are 143 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 2: broken up makes it look kind of like like old 144 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 2: Internet pop up ads back when they had like clearly 145 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 2: defined borders and x's and weren't just like overtaking your 146 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 2: entire screen and you had no way to close them. 147 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 2: But you know what does kind of overtake your entire 148 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 2: viewing experience via an ad? It's it's podcast advertising. Because 149 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,839 Speaker 2: it's going to go straight into your ears, and there's 150 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 2: no way to X out. You have to you have 151 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 2: to suffer through the ad unless you unless you figure 152 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 2: it out that you can press a button that makes 153 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 2: you go forward thirty seconds. Anyway, anyway, here is Here 154 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 2: is our beloved are beloved sponsors who fund such vital 155 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 2: research that I'm doing for this episode. Anyway, the rise 156 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 2: of the Alright. This is kind of where fashwave is, 157 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,679 Speaker 2: both like getting the name fashwave and also you know, 158 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 2: it's becoming a larger problem because there's more Nazis walking around. 159 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 2: So after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, 160 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 2: the Alright went through a sort of split between the 161 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 2: more Trumpian adherents who made up large parts of the 162 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 2: then dubbed all to Light, a term we don't really 163 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,439 Speaker 2: use it very much anymore. And then this this kind 164 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 2: of other section which had more of the accelerationist to 165 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 2: neo Nazis who were starting to congregate on the messaging 166 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 2: app Telegram. And then we have groups kind of like 167 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 2: the Proud Boys that are like in between. They're kind 168 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 2: of Trumpian. They're also also like more fascy, but they're 169 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 2: not like really full skull ask. Usually some would adopt 170 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 2: that esthetic later on, but that's kind of due to 171 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:07,319 Speaker 2: this cultic milieu that's starting to develop on Telegram. So 172 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 2: a fast wave largely followed the self proclaimed fascists, so 173 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 2: it too became the central visual style of the of 174 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 2: the burgeoning network of militant accelerationist Telegram channels, which would 175 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 2: eventually be dubbed terror Gram Terror as in terrorist. And 176 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 2: this was combining with a whole bunch of weird factors 177 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 2: around twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, including the Boogloo Boys, which 178 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:34,959 Speaker 2: Robert has written about at length before It's and it 179 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:38,079 Speaker 2: was also influenced by the Iron March Forums, and like 180 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 2: the skull Mask network with groups like Adam Waffen and 181 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 2: the Bass, they were all kind of the. 182 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: Iron March Forums are like the Boomers of Nazi Internet people, 183 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: not quite the boomers, maybe the gen X. 184 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 2: The jed X, Yeah, very much, the XE Forum generation. 185 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 1: There's a generation of people. Yeah, before social media it's 186 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: Nazi something awful, right, It's we're not quite into the 187 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: Chans yet. 188 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. And after Iron March kind of collapsed, a whole 189 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,680 Speaker 2: bunch of these weird accelerationists, we're starting to all congregate 190 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,199 Speaker 2: on Telegram. And this is where we see kind of 191 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,480 Speaker 2: fash wave develop into a much more overt apocalyptic and 192 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:21,839 Speaker 2: a doumer focus. The the hontology inspired and nostalgic reflections 193 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 2: on the false promises of techno capitalism that were already 194 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 2: present in vapor Wave were ripe ground for the addition 195 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,200 Speaker 2: of like return to tradition style reactionary fascism. 196 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: Do you want to explain horntology if people are familiar. 197 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, Uh, Hontology is a I mean, it started as 198 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 2: a term which then developed into a musical genre, but 199 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 2: it's it's similar to vapor wave. It's about kind of 200 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:47,439 Speaker 2: looking back on the unfulfilled promises of the past that 201 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 2: we were like promised as a culture that then never 202 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 2: came to place, but these promises still kind of follow us. 203 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 2: They kind of like haunt us in hoontology is a 204 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 2: big reason why liminal spaces got popular because of early 205 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 2: nineties and uh and two thousands, like aesthetics of like 206 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 2: big office buildings that are now left empty. 207 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: Office buildings, like schools, like particularly like the you know, 208 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 1: like the doors to a school or whatever. You get 209 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: a lot of like photos of that. Yeah, so stuff 210 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: that makes people feel a longing for a past that 211 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: was never really real. 212 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, and like like a longing for like this sense 213 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 2: of home and this sense of like a safe home 214 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 2: which you maybe that you never actually really had. 215 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,559 Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, because she hated being in school. You just 216 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 1: have forgot. 217 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:35,439 Speaker 3: Yeah, you've kind of been aathologized, like pers calls it 218 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 3: post memory, when you re remember things based on you know, 219 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 3: you're sort of standpoint. 220 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 4: Yeah. 221 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 2: So the the sort of doomer accelerationism of this of 222 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,959 Speaker 2: this kind of variant of fashwap or this like evolution 223 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 2: of fash wave was was also accompanied by by groups 224 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 2: like the Boogler Boys who were strying to make their 225 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:54,839 Speaker 2: memes in this in this style as well. I have 226 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,679 Speaker 2: I have a few examples of fashwave here showing to 227 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 2: to Robert and James Son and Rad's pretty We're pretty popular. 228 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:04,360 Speaker 2: It's like the sun wheel version of the swastika essentially, 229 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 2: But a lot of these are like remember tradition, embrace 230 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 2: your race with like Nazi figures in like this monochrome 231 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 2: style over over like scan lines like you would see 232 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,839 Speaker 2: on like a like an old like arcade video game 233 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,439 Speaker 2: that has like that has like a horizon, but you know, 234 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 2: all like neon colors kind of kind of like glitchy 235 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:27,400 Speaker 2: type stuff. There's there's one Trump one here from from 236 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 2: like twenty eighteen where he has a glowing yellow eyes, 237 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 2: also in the fashwave style. So this was kind of 238 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 2: the the aesthetic around around twenty nineteen here, and like 239 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 2: fashwave was definitely still common on imageboards like four chan, 240 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 2: eight chan, and eight kune, but the but the ever 241 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 2: pressened kind of hitler particles and poor web design on 242 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 2: those sites drove away most of the mega conservatives who 243 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 2: might try to stumble on to four chan or or 244 00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 2: to eight chan to like watch qan on stuff. It 245 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 2: was it was just the site was too hostile to 246 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 2: them and then circled like twenty twenty among waves of 247 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 2: Twitter and Facebook suspensions Trump supporters and high profile far 248 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 2: right figures started congregating on other platforms. A few Twitter 249 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 2: clones popped off, like Parlor and eventually Trump's Own Truth 250 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 2: Social but a number of mega conservatives also ended up 251 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 2: on Telegram, in part due to Telegram's largely hands off 252 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 2: approach to moderation. So around this twenty twenty and like 253 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 2: just post twenty twenty time period is when Telegram began 254 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 2: functioning as the far right's very own cultic milieu, a 255 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 2: sort of like shared online space where various memes, ideologies, 256 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 2: conspiracy theories, and propaganda could all intermingle with each other 257 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 2: and spread. Now, part of this is how Telegram operates 258 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 2: as a platform. I'm going to quote from an article 259 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 2: about Telegram and the cultic milieu from logically quote, Telegram 260 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 2: offers features that straddle the line in between social media 261 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 2: and messaging app. Users can create channels, which function as 262 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 2: one way message channels that allow someone to send a 263 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 2: feed of messages available to all of their subscribers. Public 264 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 2: channels and group chats are searchable by name, allowing anyone 265 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 2: to subscribe to a public channel or join a public group. 266 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 2: Channels and groups are uniquely connected on Telegram when a 267 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 2: message is forwarded from a public channel into another channel 268 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 2: or group, it links back to the original group, creating 269 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 2: a chain in between different channels and groups. Another common 270 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 2: feature is for users to advertise for channels and groups 271 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:38,000 Speaker 2: in other channels and groups, with some users creating directories 272 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 2: of these channels and these big group chats that have 273 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 2: extremest content. So this kind of interconnected nature that allows 274 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 2: this chain link of being able toward a message. Like 275 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 2: you have a Telegram channel with like three thousand people 276 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 2: in it, and you post fashay memes. You can make 277 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 2: some fashave memes in the style of like Trump, and 278 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 2: then you can forward this message to a Trump channel 279 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 2: that has forty five thousand members in it. They see 280 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 2: this meme, they might like it, they click the meme, 281 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 2: it sends them back into your three thousand person channel. 282 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 2: So now they're going to get exposed to all of 283 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 2: the other weird shit you have going on. So it 284 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 2: became a really easy way to kind of make a 285 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 2: rabbit hole and like a pipeline for people to get 286 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 2: exposed to new aesthetics, new ideologies, and especially conspiracy theories. 287 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 2: I think we should have an ad break now and 288 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 2: we will return to talk about the increased Trumpian focus 289 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 2: on fash wave that happened as a result of this 290 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 2: kind of telegram cross proliferation. 291 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: That's right, everybody, We're gonna break for ads from our sponsors, 292 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: who also sponsor Lord Miles Rutledge. So you know, let's 293 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: hear it up for these ads from the Taliban. Ah, 294 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: we're back. And I don't know about you guys, but 295 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: Taliban's making a lot of sense these days to me. 296 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:07,159 Speaker 1: Good pinks, really good. Yeah. I like their war on wokeness. 297 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:12,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking speaking speaking of a war on wokeness. 298 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: Keats us right back to oron. Well, meetball ron. 299 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 2: So to understand what the fuck is going on in 300 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 2: that Rohnda Santis video. This is probably one of the 301 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,400 Speaker 2: most important, important little tidbits of knowledge that some people 302 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 2: may be overlooking. Is this brief fever dream known as 303 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 2: dark Mega. 304 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: Oh god, no, I know. I'm just glad. Yeah, I'm glad. 305 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: This one didn't work out the way they'd hope. 306 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 3: No, it did. 307 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,159 Speaker 2: It did not work out, so the opposite of the 308 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 2: they hoped. 309 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 4: Yeah. 310 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,879 Speaker 2: So, because of this kind of telegram cross proliferation, the 311 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:53,360 Speaker 2: far rights memetic aesthetic went through a sort of coagulation 312 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:58,120 Speaker 2: after twenty twenty, which eventually resulted in the upsetting, albeit 313 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 2: short lived Dark Camega, also known as Ultra Mega, both 314 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:04,439 Speaker 2: of which are horrible names. 315 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, I remember Ultra Mega being big and 316 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 3: like people putting their Twitter handles along with like an eagle. 317 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: And a flag. Yeah. 318 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 4: So. 319 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 2: The dark Mega trend started around a year after the 320 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 2: January sixth capital attack and steadily grew in popularity for 321 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,159 Speaker 2: the next few months during the lead up to the 322 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,719 Speaker 2: twenty twenty two midterm elections. After two years of right 323 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 2: wing influencers and politicians operating in Telegram's cultic milieu, the 324 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 2: influence of militant accelerationist propaganda is immediately apparent in this 325 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 2: new stylistic iteration, which is basically downstream from fash wave. 326 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 2: Dark Mega promoted a form of dystopian inspired overt authoritarianism, 327 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 2: with the assumed direct control laser eyes front and center, 328 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 2: and for emphasizing militaristic domestic connotations, dimlylit images were usually 329 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:01,840 Speaker 2: edited in red or blue monocro. Dramatic images of Trump 330 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,639 Speaker 2: are fairly prominent, as is the presence of weapons and 331 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 2: the occasional Nazi symbol I have a two examples of 332 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 2: fashwave here for for for the for the gallery. James, 333 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,159 Speaker 2: what do you what do you think of this of 334 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 2: these of these two pictures. 335 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 3: First of all, they look like somebody used like a 336 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 3: MS paint Like it's kind of that. Yeah, that's the 337 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 3: tear of work. 338 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 2: When none of these are well edited. 339 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:32,879 Speaker 1: No, they're not nineties horror. Yeah it is yet it 340 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 1: is one of them, the one on the left. He 341 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: looks like it's like like the eighth movie in like 342 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: a Jason or Freddy type series, right where it's like 343 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: straight to DVD, Like they're moving that ship right into 344 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:48,879 Speaker 1: the red box and they just paid a guy forty 345 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: five dollars to mock up a cover. 346 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:52,879 Speaker 4: He is it is it is it is. 347 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:57,000 Speaker 2: It is a two B and direct to digital remake. 348 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 3: I didn't. He's like, it looks like it. It's like 349 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 3: like being developed in a dock room. It's like red 350 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 3: and black. 351 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 1: It's like all red and black. His eyes are glowing blue. 352 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: He's skit. It appears to be like a long a 353 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,159 Speaker 1: springfield long rifle or something like that. I couldn't tell 354 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,879 Speaker 1: you the exact type, but that does I am now 355 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: thinking about like So if you've ever loaded black powder, 356 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: you tend to like have you know, like a wrapped 357 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 1: you know cartridge that's got the ball and the powder 358 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: and you rip it in half in your mouth and 359 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: you pour the powder and then you like expect the Anyway, 360 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: Trump is such a germophobe, I just desperately want to 361 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,439 Speaker 1: see him try to like manage a black powder rifle. 362 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: I would, I would really deeply enjoy that. It's as 363 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: good as a Tucker Carlson shooting. They like the sec 364 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: fire rifle was a very funny moment. Yeah, guys who 365 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: pretend to light guns. 366 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 2: So and then the the other more horror inspired one 367 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 2: has has text at the bottom that says it's time 368 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 2: to just kill them with again with Trump and red 369 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 2: laser eyes. 370 00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 3: I was. 371 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 2: I was upset to find out that the original person, 372 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 2: like the original like Nazi who coined the term dark Mega, 373 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 2: which which which kind of started this trend. Uh followed 374 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:13,920 Speaker 2: me on Twitter, which wasn't wasn't coreast Oh no? Oh no, yeah, yeah, 375 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 2: so that was that was a fun thing I discovered 376 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 2: over the course of researching this episode. So one pro 377 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 2: trumpan neo Nazi, described dark Mega as such, quote dark 378 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 2: Mega is the aesthetic demand that Trump embrace a harder 379 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,160 Speaker 2: and more focused approach in the role only he can fill. 380 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 2: He was too kind hearted, too forgiving Dark Mega demands 381 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:41,119 Speaker 2: he learned from his mistakes. Another another Dark Mega propelled 382 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 2: It just described, uh, described the intentionality behind the movement 383 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 2: of being quote, if you want to win, if you 384 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 2: don't want to repeat the past, you have to get mean. 385 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,920 Speaker 2: You have to almost embrace the villain role that they're 386 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 2: bringing you with. So that's fun. But uh, but like 387 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 2: dark Mega's ambitions were to be more than just a 388 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 2: meme but instead kind of be the first real attempt 389 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 2: at a coherent post all right aesthetic that was being 390 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 2: pushed by mainstream of political actors. And included in this 391 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 2: push was kind of a pressuring back toward militant posturing 392 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 2: after the failed pseudo coup on January sixth, because in 393 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 2: those first few months after j six everyone was like, oh, 394 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,240 Speaker 2: you know, we probably shouldn't be doing super overt like 395 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 2: violent propaganda if we're if we're like on the right, 396 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 2: and then over over time, and I think Dark Mega 397 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,679 Speaker 2: was part of this, was the right realizing that maybe 398 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 2: they should just keep going and like go back to 399 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 2: that much more kind of like militant posturing that they 400 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 2: were doing beforehand. I have, I've I have a few 401 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 2: other a few other dark, dark mega images here, one 402 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 2: with Trump and a skull mask and uh and pit 403 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 2: vipers holding a bible in front of a vipers. 404 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: Pit Vipers are a type of like ski sunglasses that 405 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: have a very distinctive look. There's nothing wrong with them. 406 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: The company is actually anti Nazi. 407 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:08,120 Speaker 4: Yeah. 408 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: Never people post their pit vipers pictures, they will like 409 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: donate the price of that pair of pit vipers to 410 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,119 Speaker 1: you know, the ad L or something. But they've become 411 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,680 Speaker 1: a signifier for Nazis for reasons that we probably don't 412 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: need to explain it. 413 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,920 Speaker 2: No, but you can read an article by me and 414 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,640 Speaker 2: Robert and Bellingcatter about white boys. Want you really need 415 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 2: that right now if you really want to hear more 416 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 2: about pit vipers. 417 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, we can explain this ship at length, bro. 418 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 2: And then and then I have these two other images 419 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 2: of Trump in front of these American flags, and one 420 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 2: of them's edited in a glitchy style with him holding 421 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 2: a it looks like some type like machine gun or something. 422 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 1: Tommy, Yeah, m it can't really test too small to see. No, no, 423 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: that's got to be some sort of like either ar 424 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,800 Speaker 1: nine millimeter carbine with a suppressor on. It is what 425 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: it looks like ice to me. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. 426 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's generic. He's gonna yeah, yeah, it's 427 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,400 Speaker 3: kind of Wolfenstein style almost that one. 428 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, all of these guys are obsessed with Wolfenstein. Yes, 429 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 2: oh yeah, very good, James, you figured it out. 430 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,159 Speaker 1: There's a longer conversation to be had because Wolfenstein the 431 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: most recent game, not a pro Nazi. 432 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 2: Game, anti Nazi, but because you know, it's. 433 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,159 Speaker 1: It's a game where like the Nazis won the war 434 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 1: and you're like fighting the YadA YadA YadA, because they're 435 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: trying to do like future Nazi troopers, and it's like 436 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:31,199 Speaker 1: a video game where you want to make the bad 437 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: guys look cool, same thing as like making the demons 438 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 1: look cool and doom and that you know, it's like 439 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: for Nazis to not like that. 440 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 2: Very very selectively edited clips of Wolfenstein cut scenes and 441 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 2: music appears in fashwave propaganda fairly often. The piers in 442 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 2: Schizaway propaganda, which is kind of another downstream iteration of 443 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:52,480 Speaker 2: fash wave, which I am not going to cover on 444 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,800 Speaker 2: this episode. And I guess the one other meme style 445 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,879 Speaker 2: we have here is red and dark blue monochrome with 446 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 2: Trump with these blue leys, and this is kind of 447 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,639 Speaker 2: the this is like the main dark mega aesthetic here 448 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 2: is this one that's just like red with with with 449 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 2: with like a dark dark blue as like the accent 450 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 2: and then these little laser eye things. So dark megas 451 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,399 Speaker 2: had the goal of serving as both a rebrand and 452 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 2: an attempt to reunify the various disparate factions of the 453 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 2: online right into using attention grabbing authoritarian propaganda to push 454 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,880 Speaker 2: Trump and his supporters even further into the extreme while 455 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 2: holding on the legitimacy that is lacking in the contemporary 456 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,360 Speaker 2: sketchiness of like the Proud Boy groups or like Patriot Front, which, 457 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 2: especially after J six, the Proud Boys legitimacy took a 458 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,400 Speaker 2: big hit. And all of these fucking dark Mega guys 459 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 2: think that Patriot fronts like a fed op. So it's 460 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,480 Speaker 2: it's it's it's it's a it's a way to kind 461 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 2: of like push a new version of the alt right 462 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 2: that still relies on the legitimacy of Trump. To quote 463 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 2: the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, quote. The secondary aim of 464 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 2: Dark Mega is to launder more extreme narratives and aesthetics 465 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,400 Speaker 2: into the mainstream Trumpist movement, an attempt to introduce mainstream 466 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,760 Speaker 2: conservatives to more extreme parts of the right through melding 467 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 2: Trump memes with these different aesthetics. So, like we kind 468 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 2: of mentioned before, the previous attempt at this was the 469 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 2: White Boy Summer trend from twenty twenty one, which I 470 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,199 Speaker 2: and Robert have already wrote about before. And White Boy 471 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 2: Summer was influenced by very similar kind of fash wave 472 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 2: telegram aesthetics, but it was only really successful in leaking 473 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 2: through to one or two Republican politicians, namely Paul Gosar. 474 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: Paul Gosar you can look him up if you want. 475 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: He's one of the Republicans who had a degree of 476 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 1: mainstream legitimacy and was also super tight with like just 477 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: straight up we want to set off bombs place as Nazis. Yeah. 478 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 2: But Dark Mega, on the other hand, was picked up 479 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,199 Speaker 2: by a large handful of conservative politicians as well as 480 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 2: like the usual suspects made up of right wing influencers 481 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 2: and content creators. Among the Dark Mega proponents were Republican 482 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 2: candidates like Tim Swain, a former strategist now Blazed TV 483 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,400 Speaker 2: employee Logan Hall, Andrew McCarthy, far right propagandist Jack sobiec 484 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:25,720 Speaker 2: now former Congressman Madison Cawthorne, and former White House lawyer 485 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:31,439 Speaker 2: Andrew Closter, and was even boosted by the father of accelerationism, 486 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 2: Nick Land was a brief Dark Mega proponent himself. Famously, 487 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,160 Speaker 2: Marjorie Taylor Green joined in on the action in May 488 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,920 Speaker 2: of twenty twenty two under the hashtag Ultra Mega, but 489 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 2: with the same like red monochrome images with the with 490 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 2: the big glowing eyes. Probably the most upsetting bit of 491 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,480 Speaker 2: dark Mega lore was a post that Madison Cawthorne wrote 492 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 2: on Instagram. He he he had this post full of 493 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 2: like here's the list of America First conservatives. Look how 494 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 2: small the list actually is the people who are truly 495 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 2: America First. And attached to this little image of this list, 496 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,920 Speaker 2: he wrote an extremely unhinged Dark Mega post. This was 497 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 2: also in May of twenty twenty two. Quote, the time 498 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 2: for genteel politics as usual has come to an end. 499 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 2: It's time for the rise of the new Right. It's 500 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,639 Speaker 2: time for Dark Mega to truly take command. We have 501 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 2: an enemy to defeat, but we will never be able 502 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 2: to defeat them until we defeat the cowardly and weak 503 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 2: members of our own party. Their days are numbered. We 504 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 2: are coming unquote. So this this rhetoric did not secure 505 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 2: Vess and cawthorne continued employment in the House of Representatives. 506 00:28:54,680 --> 00:29:00,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, it turns out most people in national polotics are 507 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: not entirely telegram brained. They cannot just had their skulls 508 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: melted by that shit. 509 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 2: So yeah to quote, so yeah, to quote an analysis 510 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 2: from the Global Network on Extremism and Technology. Quote dark 511 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 2: Mega is an embodiment of the revenge president burst from 512 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 2: the far rights urge to reclaim what they crave and 513 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 2: have lost power. Proponents seek to punish their political enemies 514 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 2: without attending to political correctness. Dark Mega is an appeal 515 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 2: to accept the true desires of the most dissident Trump 516 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,640 Speaker 2: supporters and mainstream their feelings through the medium of memes, 517 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 2: which played a crucial role in twenty sixteen election. So 518 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 2: dark Mega peaked as an online search topic back in 519 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 2: May of twenty twenty two, and it may have reached 520 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,960 Speaker 2: like peak popularity in actual like spread of memes as 521 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,040 Speaker 2: early as March of twenty twenty two. I think I 522 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 2: think it peaked in May because there was a few 523 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:03,680 Speaker 2: news articles about it, so more kind of normies were 524 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 2: like googling what it was. But it actually the actual 525 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 2: peak was only in March of twenty twenty two. It 526 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 2: only lasted like three months. You can you can still 527 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 2: find some dark Mega bubbling under the surface, but only 528 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 2: by like random Nazis and like that doesn't that doesn't 529 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 2: that that's not signifying any kind of like political movement. 530 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 2: And the reason why dark Mega kind of stopped being 531 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 2: effective in between between March and May of twenty twenty 532 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,640 Speaker 2: two is that there was there was there was something 533 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,720 Speaker 2: that happened that summer and that spring that effectively killed 534 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 2: dark Mega while also dealing a pretty big body blow 535 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 2: to fast Wave in general. And we will learn more 536 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:52,680 Speaker 2: about about Brandon's special secret operation in part two. That's right, 537 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 2: this is going to be a surprise two parter because 538 00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:57,719 Speaker 2: I wrote get too many words? 539 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,360 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, Because this took an hour and a half 540 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: to record of dense, dense information. So now it's two days. 541 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,040 Speaker 1: You guys get to enjoy this for two days. 542 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 4: It could happen here as a production of Cool Zone 543 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 4: Media for more podcasts from cool Zone Media. Visit our 544 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 4: website coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 545 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,800 Speaker 4: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, 546 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 4: you can find sources for It could happen here, Updated 547 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 4: monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.