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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · 6d

happy to report that the world is now so stupid that my knowledge of shitposting has become valuable enough to publish in the Guardian.

My favorite part is I got to call JD Vance a try-hard who can't even shitpost properly in print.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Do you know about shitposting? It’s cheap humour, rage bait – and now, it seems, US government policy | Robert Topinka

Donald Trump’s White House reveals a new ‘portrait’ of Joe Biden – and in his world, if you don’t laugh, the joke’s on you, says Robert Topinka of Birkbeck, University of London

www.theguardian.com

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Annie Kelly @annieknk.bsky.social · 10d

Everyone always asks me what my favourite conspiracy theory is but medbeds is for sure the saddest, I really can't think about it for too long. Just openly preying on the hopes of very desperate people

Alex Kaplan @alkapdc.bsky.social · 10d

Trump tonight appears to have pushed the false "medbed" conspiracy theory, which has spread in the far-right internet over the years. www.yahoo.com/news/qanon-c...

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · 12d

If Palantir secures the contract for the digital ID rollout, will that make it more or less likely that the Antichrist will help me pay my council tax?

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 15d

Last week I had a bit in @theguardian.com about how rhetoric provides a vocabulary for people to think/argue with. Here's my colleague @robtoes.bsky.social explaining how exactly that was done by online reactionaries inventing 'Boriswave'. Read & learn.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Tuesday briefing: The online origins of ‘Boriswave’, the right’s favourite new phrase

In today’s newsletter: How a term created by the extremely online right made it into the mainstream press – and a major speech by Nigel Farage

www.theguardian.com

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · 16d

First Thiel, then Trump: the American project has failed because the libs were too mean in a celebrity gossip blog

'One Trump appointee recently told Semafor that they were "radicalized" by "being booted out of the Gawker comments section, way back in the day."'
www.garbageday.email/p/petty-powe...

Petty, powerful, and pathologically online

Read to the end for an academic paper on puppygirls

www.garbageday.email

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Gavin Mueller @gavinmueller.bsky.social · 28d

media studies: media effects model used to be the "hypodermic needle" but ofc that is way too simple

psychologists: Just as the hypodermic needle is the delivery mechanism for drugs like heroin, the smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine for a wired generation.

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Daniël de Zeeuw @ddzeeuw.bsky.social · 24d

Together with Marc Tuters and @robtoes.bsky.social I wrote an essay on the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Groypers - Nick Fuentes connection and the state of memetic political violence today oilab.eu/frozen-antag...

Frozen Antagonisms: Charlie Kirk, Groypers, and the Meme Politics of Violence – OILab

oilab.eu

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · 24d

The BBC apologised for livestreaming Bob Vylan's chants.

BBC News at Ten played a video of Elon Musk telling protestors to 'fight back or die' and calling for the dissolution of parliament.

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Sep 3

The NYTimes is out here defending the Great Replacement Theory as 'normal'

I've been calling this ambient extremism - a once obscure French far-right conspiracy is now so ambient that one of the last avatars of the liberal order defends it, mistakenly attributing its origin to American politics.

Reposted by Rob Topinka

Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.social · Aug 10

Anas Al Sharif had these words to publish if he was martyred which he was tonight as Israel starts the invasion of Gaza City

Martyrs of Gaza @GazaMartyrs
This is my will and my final message.
If my words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.
First, peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.
God knows that I have given all my effort and strength to be a support and a voice for my people since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that God would grant me life to return with my family and loved ones to our original town of Ashkelon (Al-Majdal), occupied land. But God's will was swifter, and His decree is binding.
I lived pain in all its details, tasted grief and loss repeatedly, yet I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is—-without distortion or falsification— hoping God would bear witness against those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, those who besieged our breaths, and whose hearts were not moved by the shattered bodies of our children and women, nor did they stop the massacre our people have faced for more than a year and a half.

I entrust you with Palestine, the jewel of the Muslim world and the pulse of every free heart in this world.
I entrust you with its people, with its innocent children who were not granted the time to dream or live in safety and peace.
Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart, their remains scattered on the walls.
l urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward liberating the land and the people until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland.
I entrust you with my family.
I entrust you with the apple of my eye, my beloved daughter, Sham, whom fate did not allow me to see grow as I dreamed.
I entrust you with my dear son, Salah, whom I wished to support and accompany until he grew strong, carrying my burden and continuing the mission.

I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose prayers were the reason I reached where I did.
Her supplications were my fortress, and her light my path.
I pray God to ease her heart and reward her abundantly on my behalf.
I also entrust you with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah Bayan, from whom war separated us for long days and months, but who remained faithful, steadfast like an olive tree trunk that never bends, patient and devout, carrying the trust in my absence with strength and faith.
I urge you to gather around them and be their support after God Almighty.
If I die, I die steadfast on my principles, bearing witness to God that I am satisfied with His decree, believing in meeting Him, and certain that what is with God is better and everlasting.
O God, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path to freedom for my people and family.

Forgive me if I fell short, and pray for me mercy, for I have remained true to the covenant, never changing or betraying it.
Do not forget Gaza...
And do not forget me in your good prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.
Anas Jamal Al-Sharif
06.04.2025
This is what Anas ordered to be published upon his martyrdom.

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · Aug 4

THIS is the kind of journalism I believe we need more of to understand & fight fascism. It's what I call empathy for the devil: illumination of the path by which a brilliant kid descended into the darkness of Muskism, likely resulting in real death in the world. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Portrait of a Young DOGE Coder Dismantling America’s Institutions

Luke Farritor could have been an artist, or a builder, or someone dedicated to seeing a great historical mystery through. Instead he wound up at the Department of Government Efficiency, slashing, dism...

www.bloomberg.com

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Scott Rodgers @scott-rodgers.bsky.social · Jul 18

Some snaps from the @birmac.bsky.social / Media & Democracy / Qualitative Methods Group workshop 'Exploring Quali-Quantitative Approaches in Social Media Research', where me, @robtoes.bsky.social & participants explored methods for approaching the messy, contradictory phenomena that is social media

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Jul 16

I was on TV (not really just Channel 4 online) to talk Trump, MAGA meltdown and the Epstein files.

my body goes into powersave mode on Zoom calls but I managed to explain that Trump screwed up, the Dems are still hopeless, and true believer posters will go on posting
youtu.be/Zbdr-C2h6uA?..

Trump says Epstein case is a 'scam', lashing out at his supporters

YouTube video by Channel 4 News

youtu.be

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Jul 16

From Kier Starmer acquiescing to Tommy Robinson over grooming gangs, to the NYTimes sourcing Zohran Mamdani hit pieces from eugenicists, extremism is now ambient, and it directly shapes mainstream culture. Had a chance to talk about it at the Amiel & Melburn Trust lecture...
youtu.be/3c7W2AyGIk8?...

2025 Amiel & Melburn Panel Event: Resisting the Rise of the Radical Right

YouTube video by Jarman Lab

youtu.be

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Cllr Liam Shrivastava @liamshrivastava.bsky.social · Jun 30

The Amiel & Melburn Annual lecture is happening this Wednesday!

A stellar lineup discussing how the Left can resist the Rise of the Radical Right, hosted at Birkbeck.

@kojokoram.bsky.social, @irrnews.bsky.social @afoggyplace.bsky.social @bethanyrielly.bsky.social @robtoes.bsky.social

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Jun 18

Thanks Arife! Great to hear it was useful.

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Jun 17

In Amsterdam today to talk ‘ambient extremism,’ the incoherence of reactionary digital politics and the rhetoric of outrage, a more free floating and more readily purged passion than ressentiment. Streaming fom 5pm CET www.spui25.nl/programma/am...

Ambient Extremism in Reactionary Digital Politics

In this second talk of ACES’s “Diagonalism” series, Robert Topinka engages with the idea of “ambient extremism.” This type of contemporary digital reactionary politics entails a dissolution of distinc...

www.spui25.nl

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · May 6

oh, cool, the evil company founded by a comic-book villain reports surprise profits because they're good at using AI for warfare on.ft.com/42HX1TA

Palantir shakes off defence spending concerns with boost to revenue outlook

Data intelligence group’s shares fall 9% after hours even as it reports forecast-beating first quarter

on.ft.com

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Apr 1

Buried in this story is a link to official figures showing white people get shorter prison sentences, but fascists kept posting 'two-tier Keir', so the 'row' becomes the story, redressing racist sentencing becomes 'special treatment' and the BBC gives Tommy Robinson a W www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Sentencing guidelines delayed after 'two-tier' row

It comes after the government said it would pass an emergency law to override the guidance.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · Mar 28

The most serious Nazi shit in this extremely Nazi shit executive order may be the idea, just slipped in there, that one of the "divisive narratives that distort our shared history" is that "race is not a biological reality but a social construct." www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.

www.whitehouse.gov

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Chad Loder @chadloder.bsky.social · Feb 3

NEW: Archived tweets for Gavin Kriger, Musk's 20-something DOGE employee wreaking havoc inside USAID, shows that Kriger has retweeted multiple neo-Nazis including Nick Fuentes, leader of the so-called Groyper movement, and another popular explicit Nazi account recently unmasked by @travisbrown.dev

Chad Loder @chadloder.bsky.social · Feb 3

Gavin Kliger, Elon's DOGE hitler youth shutting down USAID, is now indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of children. His Instagram appears to be @gkliger. He's scrubbing his online footprint.

Here's an archived copy of Kliger's resume: web.archive.org/web/20240418...

screenshot of the private IG account of a Gavin Kliger

Screenshot of Gavin Kliger's now-deactivated GitHub account

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Jeremy Gilbert @jemgilbert.bsky.social · Jan 15

New podcast! @profafinlayson.bsky.social and I spend 3 hours discussing reactionary digital politics, the history of the online right and the politics of the platform economy. We also have a row about Bitcoin. It's all here, and in the feeds: culturepowerpolitics.org/2025/01/15/h....

Has Musk Won? Reactionary Digital Politics

In this episode, Alan Finlayson joins Jeremy for a 3-hour discussion of the genesis, reality and possible futures of the online right. We cover the history of reactionary digital politics, the chan…

culturepowerpolitics.org

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Jan 13

checking into the shared X account I made for students in my digital method class.

The account only follows the Met Office. Haven't clicked or searched on a thing.

Here's the first post in my For You page.

The 'this is fine' dog in the fire memes are getting too literal

Alex Jones posts a photo of Governor Newsom with a feather in his mouth alongside a claim that he caused the California wildfires

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Rob Topinka @robtoes.bsky.social · Jan 7

created a research account on X for a digital methods class I'm teaching, and these are the top suggestions. what a time to be alive and posting.

A list of suggested accounts to follow on X

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Catherine Grant @filmstudiesff.bsky.social · Dec 17

My video concludes with reference to @robtoes.bsky.social /Robert Topinka’s brilliant study of heterotopia rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/fo...

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