Writing the Web is a bookclub podcast that discusses writing about the internet. Join Oxford literature grads Mollie and Charlie as they explore how language captures (and creates) our experiences of being online.
Episode 3: “Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy” (2020) by Talia Lavin
Talia Lavin’s Culture Warlords (2020) gives a searing account of how contemporary white supremacy spreads online. To access these hateful and secret corners of the internet she makes different personas, such as Ashlynn, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed huntress on “whites only” dating sites, or Tommy O’Hara, a 21-year-old incel who hates feminists. Lavin gives a wide-ranging account of the historical conditions that have lead to today’s iteration of antisemitism, antiblackness, and white supremacy, as well as a foray into the language, memes, and jokes which the far-right currently use. We discuss how edgelord humour can function as a stepping stone to alt-right radicalisation, how fascist audiobooks spread through group chats, and the scapegoating of antifa (anti-fascists).
CW: discussion of racial and sexual violence, misogyny, doxxing, anti-Semitism, suicide.
While preparing for this podcast, we donated to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a not-for-profit that monitors and analyses far-right radicalisation online in order to empower a global governmental response.
Follow Talia Lavin on Twitter @chick_in_kiev
To see how we write the web, follow us on Twitter @writingtheweb @charlespidgeona (Charles) @danglingwire (Molly)
Music by Alice Boyd
27 Dec 2020
Episode 2: "It’s Complicated: the Social Lives of Networked Teens" (2014) by danah boyd
danah boyd’s It’s Complicated: the social lives of networked teens (2014) is so much more than a defence of how “the kids are alright”. It is also one of the most perceptive studies about what the internet has actually changed for teens (and society at large), and what has remained the same. Never alarmist and always insightful, boyd brilliantly untangles these puzzles. We recount our own experiences, chatting about growing up gay online, and also discuss how boyd’s metaphors about social media ‘making visible’ or ‘magnifying’ offline problems are tied to a mid-2010s view of the social internet.
Links:
Find out more about danah boyd: http://www.danah.org/
To see how we write the web, follow us on Twitter @writingtheweb @charlespidgeona (Charles) @danglingwire (Molly)
Music by Alice Boyd: https://soundcloud.com/aliceboyd
27 Dec 2020
Episode 1: "Because Internet" (2019) by Gretchen McCulloch
Gretchen McCulloch’s Because Internet (2019) gives an energetic and enthusiastic overview of how the internet is changing language. McCulloch shows how the language we use helps us find belonging and identity, and sees the emerging quirks and weirdnesses of internet writing as a cause for celebration, rather than anxiety about “technology eroding language”. We discuss expressive lengtheningggg, our own social media coming-of-age, and her metaphor of “internet as uncharted territory”.
Links:
Find out more about Gretchen McCulloch through her podcast Lingthusiasm and via her website: https://gretchenmcculloch.com/
To see how we write the web, follow us on Twitter @writingtheweb @charlespidgeona (Charles) @danglingwire (Molly)
Music by Alice Boyd: https://soundcloud.com/aliceboyd
Podcast transcription available at: wordpress
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