https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Internet_tough_guy
A lovely side effect of crank/grift magnetism is the constant squabbles between competing ideas and even within individual communities. From a purely economic standpoint while viewing Internet grift as a business this is perfectly logical. At a given moment of time there’s a finite number of people that can be goaded into parting with their money. The products are equally bad, like two shitty beers both vying for your purchase, and the demographics are skewed toward the lower end of the pay scale. The kind of person who drinks shitty beer instead of Don Perignon.
There’s been yet another flame war, I’m not going into the details as it’s fairly easy for those who may be interested to figure it out, between mostly four different individuals that has spilled over into not the Internet life. Lots of talk of jail sentences and the charges that led up to them and videos and whole channels getting deleted and who is the biggest loser among the ringleaders and those tangentially involved. Pretty much standard Internet Tough Guy talk. And although it’s nice to see them engaging in a lot of unhealthy social Darwinism as an example for what newcomers can be getting themselves into, the real life spillover is a lose either of three ways situation.
If there has been not Internet life assaults and batteries, it may not be just between competing cranks. Pretty uncool that bystanders have to be around this. If it is just between grifters in real life, that’s free advertisement. The top of the MLM pyramid wants a core group of die hard sociopaths who will do more than watch videos and comment on videos. Those people tend to be a little more open about their identity, maybe still with the typical tough guy handle, but their face showing in self made videos. And finally, the bottom of the pyramid is your true internet tough guy, never thinking about consequences and trolling for fun and spreading memes of misinformation. If not directly a target of the incessant fundraisers they provide a template of the way that a good truther should act - always subservient to the cult leader and nothing shows support more than donating to that leader.
After years of observation, or maybe just making it up, you decide, I’ve come to realize some things about the internet tough guys and the timing and the capitalization on the free advertising. Although we can make generalizations about the pool of gematria users they still are individuals with different backgrounds and personalities. The only common denominator for sure is that they have a severe confirmation bias problem. You can’t operate as a true believer of gematria fake evidence without a confirmation bias problem. And things that are a problem that aren’t a certainty factor in. They don’t do actual research and look into the past lies and hypocrisy. They stick to the most recent material and the confirmation bias allows them to select what they want to believe about the leader’s personality and ignore the contradictory material.
When the leaders of competing groups fight, that’s pure internet tough guy, “Debate me you pussy!” trash talking. This appeals to the followers who are also self styled internet tough guys. Both leaders will put out a recap of the debate and claim victory. Both group of Internet tough guy followers get their fix. But some of the followers are turned off at how ugly it can get. To appease them and convince them you need to let them cherry pick material that is more rational sounding and calm. The damage control video. The, “Oh look I’m really a Good Samaritan just misunderstood” video.
And the real kicker is something that seems to happen a lot around the times that these territorial conflicts erupt. The Rage Quit fundraiser. There’s even a couple of variations. You can openly berate the flock for not being supportive enough monetarily. Or you can just leave it at a tone of “woe is me” and let the flock volunteer to support you. The main way to go for a good Rage Quit video is the internet tough guy cranky and angry rant style. This is then followed up with the I’m Really a Nice Guy video.
Now a couple generalizations about my personal views on this. The cycle between a good leader made Rage Quit rant and the next one is getting shorter. Like a TV series that needs enough episodes for viewers to forget enough that they want to rewatch it has to be aimed at a brand new audience or suffer who the target audience didn’t forget you just asked for money. The middle of the MLM pyramid Woe Is Me Rage Quit. They’ve been around awhile and they aren’t putting out anywhere near as much material as five years ago. Subliminally if not consciously realizing that getting a handful of Patreon subscribers and no YouTube monetization isn’t working out for them. If they have no need for a I’m Really A Nice Guy video they aren’t going anywhere up the food chain. Therefore, without acting like a true internet tough guy they can’t get the engagement of the top of the chain.
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