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6/18/2025, 11:57:23 PM
https://archive.is/N0qr0
>London Review of Books: William Davies on Faragist TikTok
>In the last six months, to take just one example, 4chan and X have been responsible for the rise of a racist meme that has spilled over into other forums: references to ‘yookay’ as a shorthand for lawless multiculturalism, evident in the behaviour of Muslims and black men especially.
>I was shown clips of policemen and women asking not to be filmed. Clips of masked men cutting down Ultra Low Emission Zone cameras with angle-grinders. Clips of supermarket shelves displaying inflated new prices. Clips of fights breaking out in the street. But above all, clips of men and women addressing their phones while sitting in cars or out walking, lamenting the state of ‘Starmer’s Britain’, their words appearing in TikTok’s distinctive pink-highlighted font.
>We are beginning to witness what happens when these algorithmically channelled resentments show up in mainstream politics. Aside from Jenrick’s nod to [Turkish] barbershops, Labour has made high-profile statements on topics that would baffle many listeners to Radio 4’s Today programme: cracking down on dangerous cycling and seizing (and crushing!) the vehicles of fly-tippers. That the government is finding time in its schedule to highlight these issues can only mean that they are coming up in the focus groups that Downing Street is said to be so attentive to. But focus group participants don’t tend to report what they see outside their front door; rather, they draw on narratives made available to them in the media.
They're really trying to make "Faragism" a thing. So they can pathologise it, deconstruct it, dismiss it.
>London Review of Books: William Davies on Faragist TikTok
>In the last six months, to take just one example, 4chan and X have been responsible for the rise of a racist meme that has spilled over into other forums: references to ‘yookay’ as a shorthand for lawless multiculturalism, evident in the behaviour of Muslims and black men especially.
>I was shown clips of policemen and women asking not to be filmed. Clips of masked men cutting down Ultra Low Emission Zone cameras with angle-grinders. Clips of supermarket shelves displaying inflated new prices. Clips of fights breaking out in the street. But above all, clips of men and women addressing their phones while sitting in cars or out walking, lamenting the state of ‘Starmer’s Britain’, their words appearing in TikTok’s distinctive pink-highlighted font.
>We are beginning to witness what happens when these algorithmically channelled resentments show up in mainstream politics. Aside from Jenrick’s nod to [Turkish] barbershops, Labour has made high-profile statements on topics that would baffle many listeners to Radio 4’s Today programme: cracking down on dangerous cycling and seizing (and crushing!) the vehicles of fly-tippers. That the government is finding time in its schedule to highlight these issues can only mean that they are coming up in the focus groups that Downing Street is said to be so attentive to. But focus group participants don’t tend to report what they see outside their front door; rather, they draw on narratives made available to them in the media.
They're really trying to make "Faragism" a thing. So they can pathologise it, deconstruct it, dismiss it.
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