They walk out dazed, confused that it didn’t go the way the chat room said it would. But still don’t believe they have been lied to all along. Still waiting for the comet to the dinosaur planet.
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Replying to @MollyMcKew
It's both true and somewhat misleading because that's true of almost any insurgency now, from the most ridiculous to the most deep civil war. It doesn't make it for the "lulz" at all. Go-pro cameras, special mounts etc. were everywhere in the Syrian civil war, same dynamic.
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Replying to @zeynep @MollyMcKew
In fact, I think this may be a key misunderstanding—that the importance of chat rooms or presence of GoPro etc. makes it something part of a "fantasy worlds" they inhabit rather than, yeah, that's exactly how it happens for real in the 21st century. Will write a bit more.
2 replies 3 retweets 25 likes -
Replying to @zeynep
Don’t disagree on broader context of cameras/vid from war zones (esp Syria, Ukraine). I meant this specifically in context of the events at the Capitol, anchored to comments from the streamers in other interviews, clips where they observe what is unfolding before them via screen
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Replying to @MollyMcKew @zeynep
Maybe it is now that everyone thinks they can be an observer and not a participant in events they are participating in, a role that used to be reserved for journalists, the definition of which has been expanding. Maybe the drive to generate content is just everything.
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Replying to @MollyMcKew @zeynep
But it’s that presence of journalistic detachment in a non-professional posture that is hard to marry. Someone collapses at your feet and you film it, instead of render aid. Etc.
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Replying to @MollyMcKew
I disagree with all of this, to be honest. The Capitol is not much different than those contexts, and the invocation of lulz and fantasy worlds is misleading. People do aid, of course, not just film, & bystander effects precede all this. There is no journalist detachment really.
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Replying to @zeynep
You’re probably right that I just don’t want to fully accept they think of themselves as insurgents, even though I know they do
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Replying to @MollyMcKew
Not sure if they have standardized terminology but they do think the legitimate president was defrauded out of his landslide re-election victory and they stormed the seat of government during the last step of the fraud. It's not cosplay, LARP or some mere content-generating lulz.
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Replying to @zeynep
I didn’t intend to dismiss the perceived grievance or intention. I’m haunted by the shock, the disconnect from consequences/outcomes. The interviews with people coming out saying they did their part and thought something would happen but it didn’t, and they are confused.
1 reply 1 retweet 16 likes
zeynep tufekci Retweeted Molly McKew
I'm disagreeing with this, primarily. Most insurgencies don't go the way participants hope for, and many are divorced from realistic outcomes to varying degrees. But they were there with a purpose so *of course* they had cameras. That's how they recruit.https://twitter.com/MollyMcKew/status/1347205383559983106 …
zeynep tufekci added,
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