Internecine internet drama
Worker revolts, Tumblr failings, yet MORE micro-aesthetics, Instagram fakes, virtual murder and the burner phone Olympics
Hi friends. Today is February 4, 2022.
And the digital dust has begun to settle on the aftermath of r/antiwork.
The subreddit — a one-time poster child and virtual home base for a generation of disaffected pandemic workers — racked up nearly 1.7 million members in the past year, largely off the strength of its viral, often funny, fuck-you-I-quit messages. Goldman Sachs even pointed to it as an indicator of popular sentiment toward work and the labor market.
But long before it became a place to laugh-cry about shitty jobs, antiwork was a forum for fairly hardcore anti-capitalists, who still ran the group and sometimes clashed with the newbies in their midst.
On Jan. 26, one of those long-time mods gave an interview on Fox News that went pretty poorly, by anyone’s standards, but went especially poorly by the standards of newer “idlers” who did not endorse the whole “actually, laziness is a virtue” schtick. So, in the chaos that followed the segment, antiwork underwent a full-blown regime change that installed newer (more moderate?) moderators at the top of the subreddit.
Now a little network of ideological spin-offs has either splintered from r/antiwork or welcomed its political refugees. Many, to my delight, come with even better politics and in-fighting. They include, in descending order by size:
r/WorkReform: “a movement fighting for a good and healthy quality of life for everyone who sells their labor.” Quadrupled its members to 468,000 overnight. Immediately assailed by Reddit leftists who claimed its founders were bankers. Shortly thereafter, one of those founders left in real fuck-you-I-quit fashion after claiming the sub had been compromised by new, power-tripping, anti-democratic super-mods imported from r/SandersforPresident. (Truly amazing. More on that in a moment!)
r/WorkersStrikeBack: “dedicated to support[ing] worker strikes, protests and unions all over the world, address[ing] the obvious problems related to an average worker's workplace and offer[ing] advice to a fellow worker struggling with his or her workplace problems.” Up to 70,000 members over the past three months.
r/DebtStrike: “a coalition of working class people across the political spectrum who have put their disagreements on other issues aside in order to collectively force the President of the United States to cancel all student debt by executive order.” Just over 56,000 members, as of this writing. God bless — I hope they’re successful.
r/WorkersRights: “a place to discuss labor law, employment trends, hiring & firing, salaries, etc.” One of the sleepier heirs to r/antiwork, started in 2013, it grew from 4,300 members to 5,800 last month.
r/Workers_Revolt: “Here we focus on transparency, democracy, and information.” The new fiefdom of the r/WorkReform mod who says his sub was overtaken by fascists, r/Workers_Revolt has acquired almost 5,000 members but seems more concerned with Reddit frictions than the future of labor at present.
r/USLabormovement: “a place for workers to talk about their jobs, pro and anti-labor politics, worker empowerment, and class consciousness in the United States of America.” Up to 4,400 members.
r/BestQualityofLife: “united by our goal of finding a post-capitalistic alternative; one which provides equal benefit to everyone involved.” Only 2,800 members as of this writing. Already kicked out a faithless mod.
Anyway, this whole thing is easy, and maybe appropriate, to dismiss as internecine internet drama, of the kind Redditors often tangle in. But if Goldman Sachs sees r/antiwork as some kind of leading ideological indicator, then who am I to argue with them?
Assuming the r/antiwork fallout does fairly capture the sentiment of the Great Resigners, then — contrary the fears of several smarmy right-wing pundits — it would appear the masses have not entirely awoken to the oppression of wage slavery, per se. Maybe they’d just like to unionize! And negotiate a nice raise.
If you read anything this weekend
“How the Snowflakes Won,” by Kaitlyn Tiffany in The Atlantic. I’m hoping this eulogy for Tumblr is a little premature, given reports that it’s enjoying an ironic renaissance. But yeah, irony is not exactly a promising business model — especially for a 15-year-old blogging platform once considered a primary petri dish of millennial culture.
“How Miami Became the Most Important City in America,” by Joel Stein in the Financial Times. Miami has gone all-in on crypto, and that’s apparently working for them — if your definition of “working” includes an influx of ex-Silicon Valleyites, an “anti-woke” mayor and archipelagos of man-made islands in a climate crisis. (H/T Today in Tabs, who also advises you can get around this paywall by clicking in from Google.)
“Deep-Internet Bubbles: How Microgenres are Taking Over SoundCloud,” by Kieran Press-Reynolds in No Bells. You’ve probably never encountered the musical “genres” name-dropped in this piece, because something like three artists produce each of them. But that’s true for many of the fascinating, momentary micro-aesthetics now churning through music, design and fashion. (See also: “Fashion Is Just TikTok Now,” which introduced me to “bellhopcore” and “avant apocalypse.”)
“That’s How It Works When You’re a Woman on the Internet,” by Aubrey Hirsch in Men Yell at Me. Just a really visceral, terrifying essay on online harassment and its consequences. “You have to laugh … so you turn these awful, scary, dehumanizing things that happen to you into funny little quips.”
“Real Me and Fake Me,” by Joe Dunthorne in the London Review of Books. Dunthorne, a Welsh poet and novelist with whom I was not previously familiar, recently realized that someone was impersonating him on Instagram to schill crypto. He fought back; the whole thing’s a lark. I want to read one of his books now.
👉 ICYMI: The most-clicked link from last week’s newsletter was this banger of a profile on ‘80s hacker Susy Thunder.
Postscripts
14 books schools want to ban. 8 alternatives to Spotify. 37 new emojis and story inspiration by AI. “Instagram’s best photographer” made a new book. Three anecdotes apparently make a trend. Anti-colonial digital maps and words used in headlines about women.
“I’m an influencer, and I think social media is toxic.” The Army subreddit that helps when the real Army won’t. Behold: the colors of the internet and the truth of “wine medals.” Welcome to the fake snow, burner phone Olympics. “If you’re a real man, you’ll buy crypto.” Kinda freaked out, personally, that most people are down with “virtual murder.” Facebook shrinking / Wordle saving / tortoises aging gracefully. Last but not least: I read every word of this endless essay on Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers, and enjoyed the hour immensely.
That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Warmest virtual regards.
— Caitlin