"Hello and welcome to Regulator. Happy New York City mayoral election day to everyone who's voting, watching from afar, or just here for the memes. And happy 35th day of the federal government shutdown, which, as of today, is tied for the longest shutdown in history. But let's step back for a second, because there's something these two seemingly unrelated events have in common."
"Though the content originated from vastly different communities, their most viral posts shared the same qualities: they had to feature a shocking fight, and they had to make their intended audience feel a vicious, vicarious glee about how thoroughly the loser had been beaten up - to the point that no one felt any sympathy toward the loser at all."
Donald Trump's meme-driven, vicious ethos has started seeping into the U.S. government's official internet presence. Social media patterns from 2018 combined viral WorldStarHipHop fight videos and Trump-era Twitter flame wars. Those viral posts typically featured a shocking fight and aimed to produce a vicious, vicarious glee in the audience, eliminating sympathy for the losing side. The New York City mayoral election day coincides with the federal government shutdown reaching its 35th day, tied for the longest shutdown in history. Those seemingly unrelated events share a common thread of spectacle and audience-driven appetite for online schadenfreude.
Read at The Verge
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