Thread by @KrisAtLarge

let's talk about the wacko racist crap a little bit. it's not just @NateSilver538 farting out tales of Chinese evil scientists creating all the world's diseases. the whole @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @MrAndyNgo / QAnon-ish set is super into whackadoo nonsense about "cabals".

(1/x)

https://twitter.com/KrisAtLarge/status/1631346346874777600

the "gender critics" of the @bindelj / @Docstockk camp are super into conspiracy theories of their own; @HJoyceGender copied antisemitic fantasies from Jennifer Bilek into her own work, blaming the existence of "TRAs" on some murky Jewish doctors' plot or other.

(2/x)

@HogwartsLegacy is an *entire game* pitching antisemitic blood-libel trash to the fascıst #JKRowling / #HarryPotter / @RGalbraith fandom—bigots are Rowling's chief base of support, and the Rowling fanbase no doubt overlaps heavily with the @mtaibbi / @NateSilver538 fandom.

(3/x)

so why do they all do it? the mention of @HogwartsLegacy should supply the key hint: for bigots like @NateSilver538 and @elonmusk, racism is FUN. it's like making the whole world a more colorful and exciting place, peopled with comic-book heroes and villains.

(4/x)

needless to say, bigoted #gamer geeks like @ID_AA_Carmack and the @HogwartsLegacy people and much of the #DnD / #warhammer40k set are especially fond of viewing the world through the lens of their Rogues-Gallery way of seeing humanity and society. games make that *easier*.

(5/x)

racists like @sama and @NateSilver538 like to have their "logic" and "rationalism" completely unimpeded by contact with reality, and the intricate schemes and taxonomies of bigotry are *perfect* for such activity—and it's just like writing a detailed role-playing manual.

(6/x)

bigoted stereotypes are great villains, for they barely exist. @NateSilver538 can pretend that his ignorant fantasies about "liberals" or "TRAs" (or Jewish persons or Black persons) are true for everyone; his overgeneralizations make his thinking so much more "efficient".

(7/x)

if @NateSilver538 ever feels some pang of doubt about the reality of his stereotypes, all he needs to do is find some one little scrap of information that "proves" all his suspicions—one mug shot, one carefully edited @MrAndyNgo video, one flatulent essay from @lesswrong.

(8/x)

and thus refreshed, @NateSilver538 can catapult himself back out into the public fray in order to make an even bigger arse of himself.

bigoted stereotypes and bigoted conspiracy theories, because they're about 99% fantasy, are always _changing_. that's good, for bigots.

(9/x)

@EPoe187 and @SwipeWright and @charlesmurray, and other dedicated peddlers of modern-day "race theory", can spend their lives tinkering with their fantasies about how humanity is divided up into superior and inferior "genetic" categories that @NateSilver538 can memorize.

(10/x)

because these racist models of the world only have to line up with reality in a few superficial details in order to satisfy the "logic" and "rationality" of bigots like @NateSilver538 and @mtaibbi, they're free to vary widely in other details—and that's part of the FUN.

(11/x)

Dan Olson's valuable video about the flat-Earth phenomenon and its overlap with the QAnon cult (most of which has gravitated towards the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @bariweiss gang) gives us a glimpse of how the ever-changing landscape of bigotry is *entertaining* to bigots.

(12/x)

it gives these people something do to—a reason to get out of bed in the morning. "is there another 'Q drop'? is there another update on the Wuhan Lab Leaker? have @elonmusk and @mtaibbi extruded another #TwitterFiles turd? did @NateSilver538 say something stupid?" etc.

(13/x)

and because bigotry is always changing shapes and costumes to disguise itself and perpetuate itself, bigotry will never be *dull* to the shallow, celebrity-chasing "influencer" crowd. @mtaibbi and @NateSilver538 and @jonathanchait and all the rest of them *enjoy* bigotry.

(14/x)

it makes the whole world into a neverending TV series or comic book, like @mtaibbi &c. were following "Storm Saxon" from Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta". bigotry reduces *all politics* to the level of bottom-grade comic-book fare (see also #Christian Rapture eschatology.)

(15/x)

and @mtaibbi and @NateSilver538 get to pretend to be authors of part of the endless racist narratives about the world!

it's a shame that neither of them is any good at writing.

~Chara of Pnictogen