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cjeanne99's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
A lot for me to digest as I was unfamiliar with much of the sub culture events discussed in the book.
I started the book in November - then took a three month break before finishing. Still - could only read 15 to 20 pages at a time.
I started the book in November - then took a three month break before finishing. Still - could only read 15 to 20 pages at a time.
mwplante's review
3.0
An interesting but non-essential framework for understanding the state of our present politics through the medium of bullshit on the internet. I learned a ton I didn't know (did you know goatse was an acronym?!) but often found myself saying "so what". Even when the books thesis did manage to feel momentarily transcendent, as soon as I would put the book down for a break I would quickly find myself back in the realm of thinking that the "death by memes" framework was not the most useful way of framing the politics emergent in our present material conditions. Still, the full extent of links between Trumpist figures like Bannon & Thiel and the message board-era internet makes for pretty fascinating reading.
Beran's theories on the left end of popular, identitarian politics frequently feel lacking in nuanced consideration of what identitarians really want. Agency is elided despite some attempts to throw it a bone, and the tumbler crowd come off as being nearly as blinkered as the 4chan nazis, which is unfair to the relative depth of historical analysis and embodied experience that the tumbler ideology represents. Nevertheless, I did find myself at times horrified and nodding along at his descriptions of how identitarian complaints are in fact ALLOWED to take up so much of the air in our political discourse precisely because they present such a small threat to the status quo.
The book ends on a hopeful note by pointing out that capitalism surely cannot survive in the face of automation, but he also mentions the twin challenge of climate change... I suppose its a question of which trend accelerates the fastest. If automation wins before climate change ramps up the precarity of the population too high, sure, we could be headed for a positive post-capitalist future. But I tend to think ecological disaster will reduce us to neo-feudalism and a slow, bleak death of the species before that day can come. I hope Beran's optimism wins out and the world (and internet) finally become "a better place".
Beran's theories on the left end of popular, identitarian politics frequently feel lacking in nuanced consideration of what identitarians really want. Agency is elided despite some attempts to throw it a bone, and the tumbler crowd come off as being nearly as blinkered as the 4chan nazis, which is unfair to the relative depth of historical analysis and embodied experience that the tumbler ideology represents. Nevertheless, I did find myself at times horrified and nodding along at his descriptions of how identitarian complaints are in fact ALLOWED to take up so much of the air in our political discourse precisely because they present such a small threat to the status quo.
The book ends on a hopeful note by pointing out that capitalism surely cannot survive in the face of automation, but he also mentions the twin challenge of climate change... I suppose its a question of which trend accelerates the fastest. If automation wins before climate change ramps up the precarity of the population too high, sure, we could be headed for a positive post-capitalist future. But I tend to think ecological disaster will reduce us to neo-feudalism and a slow, bleak death of the species before that day can come. I hope Beran's optimism wins out and the world (and internet) finally become "a better place".
ksilvennoinen's review against another edition
3.0
The subtitle of this book was initially a turn-off, because it's a very stupid argument. However, the book starts off with a great history of social internet and its forums all the way to 4chan and Reddit. The book is understandably only focusing on the US but treats the internet as mainly an American thing. This is fair to a point, considering that the forums it talks about were created and visited by North Americans.
However, the book starts to lose its footing once causes and consequences of the forums are projected on the real world. The rise of alt-right globally is more complex than 4chan and the rise of authoritarian leaders is not because of memes. Just like the book fails to imagine the world outside of the US, it also fails to consider that forces outside of the social internet could co-opt its users, that the forums were a fertile ground to existing ideologies and not a necessarily a birthplace of a new one.
One of the better books when it comes to the history of the internet and its denizens, but falls apart when it starts to explain last decades' political development to a bunch of basement-dwelling nerds. The internet has very likely been a big factor in upending the traditional political order but the book's thesis feels shaky for US and is completely unaware of the rest of the world.
However, the book starts to lose its footing once causes and consequences of the forums are projected on the real world. The rise of alt-right globally is more complex than 4chan and the rise of authoritarian leaders is not because of memes. Just like the book fails to imagine the world outside of the US, it also fails to consider that forces outside of the social internet could co-opt its users, that the forums were a fertile ground to existing ideologies and not a necessarily a birthplace of a new one.
One of the better books when it comes to the history of the internet and its denizens, but falls apart when it starts to explain last decades' political development to a bunch of basement-dwelling nerds. The internet has very likely been a big factor in upending the traditional political order but the book's thesis feels shaky for US and is completely unaware of the rest of the world.
annauq's review
3.0
I loved the analyses of the Chans and Tumblr, but the global politics and social movements were treated a bit too simplistically for my liking. Good starting point for more in-depth research or reading, but I'm not sure how useful it is on its own.