So I managed to unstick myself from my lovely BTS and K-pop research long enough to delve into the world of bias that exists in the AI-assisted YouTube algorithm.

And I know what you’re saying, you missed my apparent obsession with Korean men who are just, y’know, way outta my league. I was beginning to miss it too, until I remembered I have a brain.

Me being autistic me, I have some struggles, but my ability to get sucked into the depths of the mirror world is not one of them. And, luckily, I can come out of there, too. What follows are my observations, as scattered as they are, about relatively current YouTube analysis culture and the politicization of nearly everything that exists—including your perception.

But you knew that, because you watch the stuff. You have beliefs. Hell, you’re “media literate”! That’s a buzzword. And a very important one, because the very systems that we try so hard to escape have co-opted it to oppress you further.

My journey began with a character study of Wednesday, who you’ve seen me reference on this blog before. I tracked the racialization of this character over maybe twenty videos, her apparent psychological makeup, her “color theory”, and, of course, the endless edits making the people who invented disability discourse turn in their graves.

And maybe they should be turning in their graves, because honestly, most conversation (what a word) on any topic—even discussions surrounding what bread to eat—is so rarified, commodified, and exploitative that you wonder why society is still functioning at this point.

And I’ll tell you why. It’s because its vestiges are powerful reminders that humanity is an illusion, and without a God (not that there is one, though maybe), the ceaseless influx of information our world produces is really just empty echoes of a once promising idea—life.

After several days of deep processing the mess that is YouTube, I came out with the feeling that words in American culture are not social currency anymore. They’re not memes in the sense of cultural heritage, but memes in the sense of… shackles designed to program. And if you’re left-leaning, you may be thinking, “Well, that’s good, ’cause America ain’t got no culture!”

Good on you. You just fell into the very trap I’ve been describing. And you’re probably feeling pretty good about it, too, because these memes? Without culture, they’re merely a means to power. And yeah, currency is… kinda power, ’cause it’s money. But this is different.

This is seeing the entire playing field at once, and seizing someone’s mind with a well-placed word. This is not just 1984 levels, which many influencers or content creators joke about or analyze for the LOLs, because, y’know, it’s just an old book. And it’s meta, which the kids like; plus, “Marxism is cool.”

And if you’ve got pink hair, a diagnosis, or maybe just snappy editing, you can weave a story like the best of propagandists.

At this point you should be questioning two things, if I didn’t piss you off:

1. What is this author’s political position?
2. Why does this author sound like, malicious?

The answers to your questions, my babes, are blowing in the wind.

But the Uncanny Valley effect starts creeping in when you realize that YouTube is a macrocosmic microcosm of capitalism and communism collapsing in on one another to form the ultimate cesspool. The machine. The algorithm.

It’s funny, I was watching videos on why Gen Alpha sucks. It was such an echo chamber that maybe the creators piggybacking off other creators didn’t realize. Or maybe that’s just the very business savvy that comes from this post-industrialist, post-modern, Dadaist, absurdist blend of crapshoot. Let’s throw in some more buzzwords, shall we?

When was the last time you read or heard something with real meaning that wasn’t just someone repeating a social script or political agenda, from any side of the aisle?

And yes, while you’re wondering, I am an Aspie supremacist, for all the people currently identifying with my “seemingly fresh” take.

And if you didn’t detect that sarcasm, you’re probably an Aspie supremacist.

I have to ask, do you like being one? It can be very useful in the current American circle-jerk. You’re the non-binary, watered-down identity the government needs to serve as foot soldiers for the new regime.

At least according to what I’ve been seeing on YouTube. And, y’know, they’re all critical thinkers. Do I actually believe it? Oh, I couldn’t. I’m currently a popsicle melting at a seaside stand…

And my critical thinking abilities short-circuited when I realized that reality’s just a simulation.

Also when I noticed there’s a connection between eugenics and well, the human condition.

That brings me to my next point: might YouTube be a eugenics primer? If it was, that’d be interesting.

Mostly I think it’s like starting into the void while the void stares back.

It’s not a black hole, no.

Mostly just… the collective unconscious. Which, apparently, we’re not supposed to believe in.

Because science isn’t science—art isn’t art. And the one thing we can always count on tethering us to this mortal coil?

“The Gays” and “The Straights” becoming an amorphous blob of exploding Illuminati conspiratorialists the second a new Trump press conference hits the live feed.

Pretty good, I’d say. Jolly good.

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Featured image by Freddie Addery.