1) I'm gonna do a thread. I'm gonna do a thing. It's about time we had one of these threads. It's deep thinking kinda threads, that 200 IQ level thread that can only be comprehended by pounding glasses of bourbon.
Topic? Memetic vectors, dumbasses at the Daily Beast, and Biden.
Topic? Memetic vectors, dumbasses at the Daily Beast, and Biden.
2) First, an archive of this Daily Beast article about Joe Biden's digital campaign allegedly knowing what its doing.
I use the word allegedly in the very literal sense, as I disagree fundamentally.
archive.is/diFyc
I use the word allegedly in the very literal sense, as I disagree fundamentally.
archive.is/diFyc
3) Secondly, my thread from November 8th, 2017, talking about memetic vectors, a little over a year after Trump's electoral victory in 2016.
4) In that thread, I asserted that Trump's victory came through the use of viral memes, and better usage of memetic vectors, with a mixture of bottom-up vectors and mid-level top-down vectors. A fuckton of grassroots support of random people on the internet and a few big names
5) Clinton, meanwhile, used top-down vectors at the highest level almost exclusively, relying on massive media support alone to spread ideas in mass.
This is where it gets funny.
This is where it gets funny.
6) Democrats honestly believe that the level of Trump support from bottom-up memetic vectors was impossible, that it was unreal. They honestly believe that it was a bunch of Russian bots because that's the only explanation they can accept.
7) They put such a value to their own voice and their own ideas that they cannot possibly conceive of thousands of independent voices drowning them out. So obviously, those thousands of voices can't be real.
That's their logic.
That's their logic.
8) And now, the Daily Beast displays how the Biden campaign is making the EXACT SAME MISTAKE.
9) First, an archives Quartz article from last year describing the funniest fucking phenomena.
"TikTok banned political ads—but pro-Trump content is thriving and misleading teens"
archive.is/9go1K
"TikTok banned political ads—but pro-Trump content is thriving and misleading teens"
archive.is/9go1K
10) "Earlier this month TikTok announced that it would not accept political advertising, but political messaging is doing quite well on the platform, and reaching millions of young people who are the app’s primary user base—and who are emerging voters."
11) So, because they couldn't use advertising to generate top-down vectors artificially, Trump supporters who are almost all bottom-up vectors are dominating Tiktok.
Let's see what Biden's campaign thinks about Tiktok.
archive.is/diFyc
Let's see what Biden's campaign thinks about Tiktok.
archive.is/diFyc
12) "“For us to try and force it by having [Biden} go on TikTok and Hit The Woah or whatever, that just doesn't compute with who the guy is.”"
Well, shit. If that don't just beat all. You mean Biden can't compete with a bunch of random kids on Tiktok? NOOOOOO SHIT.
Well, shit. If that don't just beat all. You mean Biden can't compete with a bunch of random kids on Tiktok? NOOOOOO SHIT.
13) I mean, the leading rhetorical question from the article is fucking hilarious. "The currency of electoral politics is engagement. But what if engaging certain audiences is not always a good thing?"
This is the excuse they're making, that Daily Beast is trying to build.
This is the excuse they're making, that Daily Beast is trying to build.
14) 'Well, you see, Biden just doesn't jive with these young turkeys you see, so he has to be more selective' they say as the Biden campaign is effectively retreating from Tiktok due to being absolutely fucking facerolled on the platform by bottom-up memetic vectors.
15) "That’s the question the Biden campaign is trying to answer as it navigates a novel political landscape, in which the act of campaigning has been reduced to a series of decisions about which platforms to engage from the candidate’s home."
16) That is also what I've been saying about the Kung Flu for awhile now. Biden's campaign is going full digital, because they have to, and at first it WAS a blessing for them, because Biden in person is a goddamn nightmare for his campaign managers.
17) "Often, the choices they’ve made have proved correct." That's debatable.
"But occasionally they have not, as evidenced by the storm kicked up Friday when, appearing on Charlamagne tha God’s The Breakfast Club"
IE, they fucked up royal.
"But occasionally they have not, as evidenced by the storm kicked up Friday when, appearing on Charlamagne tha God’s The Breakfast Club"
IE, they fucked up royal.
18) See, the attempts to appear on these internet talk shows is an attempt to get mid-level top-down memetic vectors, an avenue that Hillary Clinton effectively lacked altogether. She did not have anyone like Thomas Wictor or Scott Adams spreading memetic ideas for her campaign
19) But now,t here hasn't been a single instance of Biden working with a mid level top-down memetic vector to a result in his favor. It just hasn't happened.
20) See, what they've realized now, and what this Daily Beast article is trying to set up for them, is for Biden to fully retreat from social media.
"For Biden, can less truly, actually, be more?"
THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE.
"For Biden, can less truly, actually, be more?"
THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE.
21) "...the day prior to the Charlamagne interview, Biden’s digital director didn’t directly say the campaign is deliberately limiting exposure. But he did say that the campaign wasn’t just cognizant of the dangers of over-engagement but actively strategizing against it"
22) "As documented by Peter Hamby in Vanity Fair, Biden’s appearances have been selected with the awareness that contrived settings are likely counterproductive—convincing the very audiences they’re trying to reach that he was there merely to shill for their votes. " 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
23) Biden's mere presence is outright TOXIC. The man hit a string of gaffs and sheer fucking nonsense before the Kung Flu 'struck', forcing him into his basement. They tried to softball him out on the internet. And now he's self destructing WHEREVER he goes.
24) "“For most candidates, more exposure is a good thing, but then there’s Biden,” said Rebecca Katz, a progressive strategist who has been critical of Biden. “It’s important to meet voters where they are, but only if you’re not offending them when you do it.”" NOOOOOOOOOOO SHIT.
25) "During the primary, he lagged in building up a small-dollar donor network, despite benefiting from the Obama-Biden email list. His campaign’s engagement on social media platforms was pedestrian and he kept largely within his media comfort zone." HE HAS NO BOTTOM UP VECTORS.
26) Biden does not generate positive supportive content. His followers can only attack, because they aren't able to defend Biden. He has reached a point of being indefensible for bottom-up vectors, which is why all of the excuses come from top-down memetic vectors.
27) "Biden made a bet that nostalgia for the Obama years and old-school campaigning would prove more determinative and, well, he was right." No it would not prove more effective. Biden can't beat Trump's rallies, when the old-school campaigning couldn't happen, LOOK WHAT HAPPENED
28) "Whatever plans the campaign had to adjust its approach online came to a halt with the spread of the coronavirus. Early on, it appeared that being confined to his basement merely accentuated Biden’s deficits." Appear to? They tried to edit out the gaffs. THERE WERE TOO MANY.
29) "The portrait of a candidate stuck in the dial-up generation was hardened by the daily tech problems and the verbal stumbles that defined his live streaming."
Yes. Because the mistakes were constant. The videos and live streams were supposed to be a consistent thing.
Yes. Because the mistakes were constant. The videos and live streams were supposed to be a consistent thing.
30) Daily Beast then goes into full on pander mode. "Biden’s standing against Trump is both remarkably persistent and historically good for a challenger facing an incumbent." REALLY? REALLY? Because Biden just fucked up royal, what, Friday was the Charlamagne interview?
31) "His grassroots fundraising has notably improved, having scored the single-day and single-hour record for donations through the online giving site ActBlue, according to ActBlue." ActBlue, attempting to do everything it can to save face. Hilarious.
32) "Biden is adopting a different tack. One of the principles of his online outreach is that the candidate himself can’t always be the primary messenger." AND THERE WE FUCKING GO.
They're accepting that they can't use Biden to campaign for his own damn self.
They're accepting that they can't use Biden to campaign for his own damn self.
33) "In order to tap into that paradigm, the campaign has tried to create organic content that Biden-supportive voters or trusted voices can help push through various channels."
And they're failing to, miserably. The campaign is trying to go purely top-down vectors.
And they're failing to, miserably. The campaign is trying to go purely top-down vectors.
34) You cannot fake bottom-up vectors. You cannot physically create them. You can't just make a Carpe Donktum or Solmemes.
The Warren Meme Team was a prime example of the Dems failing to grasp this very fucking concept.
The Warren Meme Team was a prime example of the Dems failing to grasp this very fucking concept.
35) "“Our base, the people who engage with our content, the formats that they like most are Vox-y… also like Upworthy and NowThis,” he said."
What in the actual fuck are upworthy and nowthis?
They couldn't make a dent in tiktok so they're fleeing to... what the fuck are those?
What in the actual fuck are upworthy and nowthis?
They couldn't make a dent in tiktok so they're fleeing to... what the fuck are those?
36) "while Team Biden has found a groove in its video production operations, there remains glaring problems still to solve in its overall approach. The plurality of their viewers on Facebook are women 65 and older. On Facebook, their largest growth in audience is older people."
37) IE, they're right now only reaching people through facebook who won't generate fresh content to spread. They're failing to create ANY top-down vectors.
Nowhere in this article does it talk about people outside of the Biden campaign making content of their own volition!
Nowhere in this article does it talk about people outside of the Biden campaign making content of their own volition!
38) This is where it gets EVEN MORE HILARIOUS as they try to compare Bernie and Buttgeiger's campaigns to Bidens.
39) "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) took pride in directly engaging audiences that weren’t always capital-D Democratic... Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg built an entire campaign persona around the idea that he was willing to go everywhere and anywhere..."
40) "Then again, neither of them won. Biden did."
Biden did not win. Biden simply existed at the top box of a cavalcade of really fucking bad choices. Bernie isn't palatable to anyone with 2 non-weed-induced braincells, and Buttgeiger ONLY functions in rural states like Iowa.
Biden did not win. Biden simply existed at the top box of a cavalcade of really fucking bad choices. Bernie isn't palatable to anyone with 2 non-weed-induced braincells, and Buttgeiger ONLY functions in rural states like Iowa.
41) "Still, Flaherty acknowledges that there is work to be done in generating interest among progressives and younger voters; that it is, in his words, “not enough for us to spend our time making content for my grandmother.”"
AND THEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM YOU SHITNUGGET
AND THEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM YOU SHITNUGGET
42) The point I'm trying to make is that Biden's campaign needs everyone supporting him to make memetic content for his campaign. Not CNN and MSNBC doing puff pieces and apologizing for his latest fuckups. He needs supporters to do his campaign's work for him.
43) "Can they reach those audiences without the candidate actually appearing on the platforms those audiences increasingly use?" No. No they cannot. They straight up fled from tiktok, as they themselves admitted in this article.
44) "More importantly, can the campaign and the candidate talk about the issues that matter to young people and minorities in ways that don’t feel distant or patronizing?"
YOU'RE RUNNING AN OLD GEEZER WHO HAS BRAIN DAMAGE.
LITERALLY.
BIDEN HAS BRAIN DAMAGE.
He had 2 aneurisms
YOU'RE RUNNING AN OLD GEEZER WHO HAS BRAIN DAMAGE.
LITERALLY.
BIDEN HAS BRAIN DAMAGE.
He had 2 aneurisms
46) "It’s why instead of going on TikTok, Biden sat down with soccer star Megan Rapinoe on her Instagram live feed—a choice, Flaherty said, that was made in part to reach young women voters."
Celebrities are high level top-down memetic vectors. These are not effective.
Celebrities are high level top-down memetic vectors. These are not effective.
47) Especially when they just lost a court case because the judge called them on their shit, noting they were OFFERED the contract that in hindsight would have made them more money but DEMANDED the one that ended up making them less money, and they can't call for a redo.
48) "t’s why Biden won’t likely be a guest anytime soon on Chapo Trap House (“probably not” said Flaherty) but will try and reach progressives through livestreamed conversations with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)."
IE, instead of going on reddit, he's talking to Warren.
IE, instead of going on reddit, he's talking to Warren.
49) Let me reiterate this.
Biden is so fucking unrelatable and unpopular, he's avoiding the liberal far-left paradise of reddit and one of its furtherst-left communities and going to talk to another top-down memetic vector, Warren, who failed at memetics the HARDEST.
Biden is so fucking unrelatable and unpopular, he's avoiding the liberal far-left paradise of reddit and one of its furtherst-left communities and going to talk to another top-down memetic vector, Warren, who failed at memetics the HARDEST.
50) "“NextGen ought to be doing that,” said Flaherty, “it’s super smart. But if Joe Biden hosted a Twitch drag show that would be weird. But if Joe Biden had a real serious policy conversation with a streamer about issues in the gaming community, like that’s just less weird.”"
51) It'll be less weird until Biden starts talking about children rubbing his hairy legs by the pool again, that is.
I can't believe I typed that, and its literally true. Biden talked about this at a filmed campaign event. What the actual fuck.
HE HAS BRAIN DAMAGE PEOPLE.
I can't believe I typed that, and its literally true. Biden talked about this at a filmed campaign event. What the actual fuck.
HE HAS BRAIN DAMAGE PEOPLE.
/end
