An Out-of-Touch Adult’s Guide to Children’s Culture: Why Is Bin Laden Trending on TikTok?
I don’t talk about politics often in this column because other people on the Internet actually study or work in international relations and public policy, and they know a lot more about it than I do. But this week the kids are scaring me by making a hero out of notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden, so I’m breaking my own rule. On the other hand, young people are also using high-tech butt plugs to cheat at chess games, so perhaps that balances things out.
Why is Osama Bin Laden’s Letter to America trending on TikTok?
This week, dead terrorist and al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden became the rising star of social media among children. Bin Laden, who was the son of a billionaire and believed that women should be killed if they showed their faces, got TikTok’s attention earlier this week (or maybe got TikTok’s attention, then Twitter’s attention, then TikTok’s attention again) when some users discovered his “ Letter to America ,” a message he wrote to justify committing terrorist attacks. Several people began making videos about how “eye-opening” the mass murderer’s words were, voicing comments like: “It completely changed my life.” view of American government.”
A video on the topic had amassed more than 15 million views as of Thursday, although it’s unclear how many of those were from people genuinely interested in the content and how many were caused by the so-called “Streisand effect” – meaning many were likely watching the video just because , because they heard about them from the media, and not because they sympathize with the point of view of the architect of 9-11. However, in response to this trend, the UK’s The Guardian removed the letter from its website , and TikTok promised to remove all videos supporting terrorism (but at the time of publication they were still there).
As widespread as it actually is, this trend highlights the dangers of an incomplete understanding of recent history mixed with turbulent times and the enthusiasm of young people. But the point is that Bin Laden should not be anyone’s role model. I hope that people whose “eyes have been opened” will continue to explore this complex topic and come to a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between the West and the Muslim world. Perhaps they will place the letter in its proper context as propaganda written by a mass murderer rather than a credible account of geopolitics. To paraphrase Twitter user @dril : Under no circumstances should you “hand it to him.”
Viral Video of the Week: “We Used an Adult Toy to Beat a Chess Grandmaster”
It’s a little strange to go from Osama bin Laden making TikTok famous to a video of YouTubers using high-tech anal beads to cheat at chess, but that’s the world we live in. The video was created by YouTubers Josh and Archie, who took the MythBusters approach to the crazy theory/joke that chess grandmaster Hans Niemann upset world champion Magnus Carlsen back in September 2022 with an “insert” that told him the correct moves. While this almost certainly wouldn’t happen in real life, Josh and Archie wanted to find out if it was at least possible , so they tracked down a chess grandmaster to act as an opponent (but didn’t tell him about the butt plug scheme). , ordered a remote-controlled sex toy and created a chess code that could be transmitted directly to the prostate. I mean, they really did it ; I just love the dedication to science. I won’t spoil the ending, but watch it below:
What does “could” mean?
The word “could” is becoming increasingly popular on the Internet. It originated in the ever-unsettling world of incels and recently went viral on TikTok. “Could” usually means something like “to be attractive”, but it’s more like being attractive to someone .
Mog is usually used as a verb: if a woman decided to talk to an attractive, normal guy rather than a sweaty incel (shocking, I know), the incel might say that he was beaten by another guy. This demonstrates one of the unique traits of incels: narcissism. They feel that the world around them ignores them, but at the same time, the existence of a person with a beautiful physique and straight teeth is perceived as a personal insult – as if handsome guys are made beautiful only to make incels look bad. This is all worrying. Not “Bin Laden is a hero” level of alarm, but definitely not good.
Who is Elijah Jamerson?
I love following internet famous people who would never have become famous without the internet; like Elijah Jameson. The high school senior first caught the attention of the online world in October when he was interviewed by classmate Braden Hales. The videos received tens of millions of views and reposts thanks to Jamerson’s unique manner of speech, good-natured disposition, demonstration of various tricks and funny voices. There is something so cute about this kid, you have to like him, so people started making memes of his videos and spreading his catchphrases everywhere like “Let the show go on” and “Keep worshiping me.” Jamerson might have something like this. cognitive issues, or maybe he’s just weird, but it’s nice that almost all the comments on the video are celebrating him rather than hating him – but then something bad happened.
At the end of October, Jamerson promised that he would have a “surprise” for the school on Halloween. Some apparently took this as a threat of a school shooting. But Jamerson says he was referring to his suit. Either way, Jamerson posted a tearful video to his TikTok account, apologizing to anyone who was scared and explaining that he was just going to show up for Halloween in a stupid outfit. He then deleted his social media, depriving us all of his charming presence.
What gifts should you buy for a Skibidi toilet lover?
Our sister site RetailMenot recently published a gift guide for the Generation Alpha in your life who loves the weird YouTube series Skibidi Toilet. The article begins with quotes from one of the world’s most lovable Skibidi toilet experts, and then links to Skibidi-related products, including “adorable” plush heads coming out of toilets, stickers of your favorite Skibidi characters, and a full set. of 16 skibidi figures so your child can recreate the entire series. (All of this assumes that you want to encourage this kind of thing, which I don’t condone.)