# The Dark Subcultures of Online Politics - Joshua Citarella Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNCHDE1vgS8 Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/qNCHDE1vgS8 Generated: 2025-12-13T16:38:16.084+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Joshua Citarella analyzes the evolution of dark online political subcultures, tracing their origins from niche, mimetic activity among teenagers in 2018 to mainstream relevance, arguing that the collapse of the post-1989 liberal democracy consensus and increased access to information fuel this chaotic ideological experimentation, leading to the current rise of right-wing populism and new forms of online political organization that bypass traditional media gatekeepers. **Key Points:** - Citarella's early work focused on the mimetic activity of teenagers aged 12 to 17 on the 'post-left,' encompassing eco-anarchy and anarco-primitivism, which laid the foundation for current media ecosystems. - He identifies the end of the post-1989 consensus on liberal democracy as a key factor, stating, "now that has been like completely thrown to the wind and so there's a period of I think renegotiation that we're going through." - A major current trend Citarella tracks is the rise of right-wing populism across advanced nations, noting that constituencies that once voted labor now support these candidates, leading to "this new international nationalism." - Citarella details extreme rabbit holes, mentioning following young left-leaning posters from meme-making to joining a small Discord distributing writings from active eoterrorist groups alongside IED instructional manuals. - He attributes the intense engagement of young people with extreme politics to three factors: access to the internet's infinite information archive, the historical grounding of having no political answers (unlike previous generations), and the tendency for teenagers to exaggerate or post ironically. - Citarella argues that mainstream media opportunistically uses the 'pipeline' metaphor to lump disparate groups together, asserting that claims of popular podcasts being a direct pipeline to real-world violence are a "gross gross mischaracterization" by those trying to claw back lost media monopoly. - Online political communities are manifesting in the real world, evidenced by Destiny mobilizing more canvassers for the Georgia Senate runoff than the Democratic Party, marking a turning point where media entity calls to action surpass political parties. **Context:** The discussion centers on an interview with Joshua Citarella, known for his work as an artist and internet culture writer, focusing on his research into the dark and rapidly evolving subcultures of online politics. Citarella previously published a self-published essay in 2018 called "Polit the Post Left," which ethnographically studied young people's political development, laying the groundwork for understanding how niche online narratives scale into mainstream political phenomena, a process he calls "political trend casting." ## Detailed Analysis Citarella argues that the current political landscape is defined by a breakdown of the neoliberal consensus that dominated from 1989 to around 2020, forcing a period of renegotiation where young people, lacking the historical context of established political outcomes like liberal democracy, experiment with an infinity of ideologies available on the internet. This experimentation, fueled by access to the entire digital archive and often initiated through ironic posting that can lead to genuine belief ('irony poisoning'), allows niche movements to gain traction. He traces the path from early eco-anarchy memes to the current ascendancy of right-wing populism, exemplified by figures like Nick Fuentes, whose proportionate influence on his platform vastly exceeded mainstream commentators at one point. Citarella counters the mainstream narrative that simplifies these pathways into a linear "radicalization funnel," suggesting that belief systems are inherently in motion and that gatekeepers are failing because they ignore important early signals, like the rise of libertarian skepticism among young conservatives who reject the previous era's free-market evangelism. Ultimately, he sees the power shift away from legacy media toward decentralized online entities like Twitch streamers or specialized posters like Raw Egg Nationalist, whose influence quietly shapes discourse, as a political necessity for opening up vital conversations, even if the process is messy and involves testing the boundaries of acceptable speech through transgression. ### Citarella's Work and Focus - Self-published book "Polit the Post Left" analyzed mimetic activity of teens (12-17) on the post-left (eco-anarchy, anarco-primitivism) - Now says artist and internet culture writer, hosts Doomscroll podcast - Focuses on 'early detection' of political trend casting. ### The Collapse of Consensus - The period after 2008 splintered the post-1989 liberal democracy consensus, creating a vacuum where Gen Z has no defined political answers - This leads to brute-forcing combinations like 'monarco syndicalism' via a GAN-like mimetic activity. ### Rise of Right-Wing Populism - The clearest trend is right-wing populism across advanced worlds, tracking with 40 years of neoliberal consensus breakdown - The surprise for the left is the rise of "new international nationalism" instead of renewed trade unionism. ### Radicalization and Irony - Early activity often involves ironic posting to 'piss off the libs,' which can evolve into genuine belief via 'irony poisoning' - Citarella rejects the mainstream media's use of the 'pipeline' metaphor as a slanderous tool to maintain their precarious gatekeeping position. ### Influence of Online Figures - Nick Fuentes is a canonical example of the young far-right avatar post-Charlottesville optics debate - Other quietly influential posters include Raw Egg Nationalist and Jarvin, whose niche commentary links to current administration figures like JD Vance. ### Real-World Manifestation - Online communities cross over into political organization, such as a lefty Discord forming mutual aid pantries or Destiny mobilizing more canvassers than the Democratic Party during a runoff - This shows media entity calls to action exceeding traditional political parties. ### The Nature of Memes - Memes must be understood in the Richard Dawkins sense as transmittable units of information or narratives, not just JPEGs - Studying memes is a deep investigation into how humans piece together worldviews through narrative abstraction.