Moises Mendez II: The Worst People Online
Talk summary and resources created by Alex Turvy.
Talk Summary:
TIME reporter Moises Mendez II walks us through his list of the worst people on the internet. Mendez II is driven by his own particular “internet brain worms,” which are inspired by the fact that humans aren’t wired to be aware of how thousands or millions of people think about them and the internet has made us worse as a result.
Key Insights and Questions:
The nature of social media in 2023 lends itself to very intense micro-trends (e.g. pink sauce) that spin up and die out just as quickly
Notably, certain figures online inspire a culture of hate-watching, which is a bit like anti-fandom
People seem to respond to cringeworthy content with a desire to share with others – this sharing gives people a way to make downward social comparisons and bond.
Given how content is algorithmically sorted and served to users, trends that seem significant to some don’t even cross the radar of others
Why is it sometimes not possible to identify why certain figures (e.g. Lin Manuel Miranda) inspire such a visceral negative reaction? Is there any universal set of feelings or characteristics that inspire this reaction?
Talk Notes & Related Resources:
Painfully funny: Cringe comedy, benign masochism, and not-so-benign violations
“Audiences find benignly masochistic pleasure in such cringe-inducing media because they offer vicarious experiences with social worst-case scenarios.”
Essay 1 explores the nature of this emotional response, delineates the ways in which is differs from other forms of embarrassment, and explores a novel effect of cringe: Fifty shades of ghey: Snark fandom and the figure of the anti-fan
“The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (2012) has generated an ironic, even guilty fandom, in which readers and viewers bemoan the series’ flaws, while enjoying (sometimes furtively) the texts.“
On a similar note as the sexy chef trend (perhaps kicked off by Salt Bae?), disgusted fascination drives much of this viewership.