Exploring the Intersection of Memes, Gaming, and Internet Culture in Relation to Charlie Kirk’s Shooting

hGreetings from Ello and TechScape! Dara Kerr is here to fill in for Blake Montgomery, who is currently on vacation. In the meantime, I’m diving into the memes, games, and internet culture that surround Charlie Kirk’s recent filming.

The bullet that claimed the life of a conservative activist bore the inscription, “What will this inflate?” This quickly caught the attention of the online community. It’s a phrase often used in internet culture to poke fun at participants in online role-play communities, particularly within the fur fandom, where individuals dress up as anthropomorphic animal characters.

“The phrase is embraced by the fur community not just to tease them for being cringy, but also to claim ownership over memes,” he writes. Know your memes, a site that chronicles viral trends. “Ultimately, this phrase functions as a meme and is regarded as one of the most annoying things to say to someone else.”

Other bullet casings seized by law enforcement in Utah featured inscriptions that referenced online games and niche memes, igniting a wave of speculation on social media regarding the potential motives behind the murder. One casing read: “O Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao,” while another stated, “If you read this, you’re gay, Lmao.” The former connects to an Italian anti-fascist folk song, while the latter is described by web culture writer Ryan Broderick as “just a boilerplate edgy joke.” Last week’s newsletter carried the title, “Charlie Kirk was killed by a meme.”

The final bullet casing disclosed by law enforcement read, “Heyfascist! Catch!” followed by a series of arrow symbols. This sequence appears to allude to commands in the video game Helldivers 2 that are used to deploy 500kg bombs.

Suspect Tyler James Robinson, a 22-year-old from a small Utah town near the Arizona border, has been charged with Kirk’s murder at a campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem. Kirk was hit by a single bullet fired from a “powerful bolt-action rifle” from a distant rooftop.

Both the suspect and the 31-year-old victim, Charlie Kirk, were well-versed in online culture. Kirk was associated with Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization, known for engaging in discussions about extremist views on race, immigration, gender identity, and gun rights. His rise to fame was primarily fueled by his strong online presence.

As my colleague Alaina Demopoulos wrote:

Kirk, a pivotal figure in Donald Trump’s rise, galvanized college conservatives who transitioned to a different ecosystem than mainstream media. Throughout the decade between Kirk’s emergence as a teenage activist and the shooting, he played a crucial role in the growth of MAGA politics alongside changes in the media landscape.

Founded in 2012, Turning Point USA aimed to redirect Obama-era youth outreach toward conservative values. Even adversaries of his views couldn’t disregard his significant presence in the political arena. For a young American viewer, Kirk represented a savvy figure across platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Tiktok, and live events—akin to a millennial and Gen Z version of Rush Limbaugh, the influential right-wing radio host of the 1990s.

You can read the full story here.

Photo: Peter Dasilva/Reuters

Recently, Meta faced allegations from two independent whistleblowers. One group of former and current employees claims that Meta’s virtual reality devices and apps are harming children. Another whistleblower, Attaullah Baig, who previously served as a security officer for Meta and WhatsApp, accuses the company of overlooking significant security and privacy issues within a messaging app, according to The New York Times.

In response to these VR device allegations, Meta spokesperson Dani Lever stated that the company has approved 180 studies related to VR since 2022. “Some of these examples are stitched together to fit a particular narrative and misrepresent the truth,” she asserted. Meta also emphasized having implemented features in its VR products to limit unwanted interactions and provide parental supervision tools.

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One of the first whistleblowers, Sophie Chang, brought her findings to the Guardian in 2021. She documented how Facebook facilitated political manipulation across over 25 countries. Later that same year, Frances Haugen shared with the Wall Street Journal documentation examining various allegations made by Zhang, revealing Facebook’s awareness of the harm its social media apps posed to teenagers.

In 2023, Arturo Bejard also provided evidence to the Wall Street Journal, providing further proof that Meta recognized how Facebook and Instagram algorithms directed content to teenagers that amplified bullying, substance abuse, eating disorders, and self-harm.

This year alone, eight additional whistleblowers have stepped forward. Baig, alongside a group of six former employees, came forward last week.

U.S. lawmakers are taking these allegations seriously. Politicians such as Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal have expressed urgency in regulating Meta and other social media platforms.

“The revelations from these disclosures exhibit such significant risks to safety that it’s troubling. It shows that Meta is intentionally distorting the truth about abuse on the platform. ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ is more than just a business philosophy—it’s a troubling narrative,” stated Blumenthal, who also mentioned that he and other senators are eager to advocate for “long-overdue reforms.”

Wider technology

Source: www.theguardian.com

Understanding Traitors: Exploring the Intersection of Forensic Psychology and Evolutionary Biology

Claudia Winkleman, The Traitors host

BBC /Studio Rambert

Food -up, torch light, knife Sharp: Viewers in the UK are ready for different delicious finale Traitor Tonight, at a video game show, a TV game show is trying to drive away the ruthless (strictly non -realistic) murderers walking between them.

For psychologists -Experts and armrests- Traitor This is the gold mine of the unauthorized human behavior, which is disassembled and analyzed. And it's not just psychology. Game theory, human evolution, and criminal science are only a few of the scientific fields that provide clues to Makabeli's dynamics.

I found something that I really needed to win to investigate a betrayal (academically speaking …) Traitor。 Warning: If there is no latest information on the show, there is a spoiler first.

Please be careful about compatible bias

“Having a strong feature seems to be that others are influential and potentially intimidating,” says a forensic psychologist. Kuala LightHost A Podcast About Traitor With a colleague at the British Chester University. She selects contestants such as shadows (too intelligent), Ellen (too emotional), and Armani (too much confidence).

Their falls are likely to be linked Compatible biasThe characteristics of human beings that most of us comply with social norms. Individuals who do not fit may be hated or distrustful.

This is not a place of altruism

Emily EmotThe London University College's evolution anthropologist says that players should not be able to “do not actually exist in evolutionary literature.”

“Remember, it's not a cooperative game,” she says. “It's a deceptive game, a survival game. You need to be there to win, so it's a mistake to commit some players because they trust the nearby people. “

Emot says that we have evolved to go ahead of others. Therefore, altruistic behaviors found in the show are said to have selfish benefits behind them. And such obvious altruism is not a bad tactic, whether you are faithful or traitor.

“In the context of the game, cooperative is functioning as a signal for reliability. A good example may not be open to the shield. [which protects you from the next murder] During the show task. “

However, here is Makabeli's intelligence. Because everyone knows the rules of the game, excellent players do not take altruistic actions at face value. “In this game, you may have an impure motivation for you, so it’s not a honest signal,” says Emot.

So be careful of wonderful people. an Thousands of messages analysis Between players DiplomacyGames that share similarities TraitorExcessive polite players have discovered that they are more likely to betray others.

Be careful of bias in the group

“We know from social psychology that they have what they are called when they form a social group. Bias in the groupAnd this can really accelerate TraitorLight says. “”[Contestants] Display priority actions to those in the group with them. This is why everything did not work for Mina after recruiting Charlotte as a traitor.

Charlotte is recruited as a traitor by Mina

BBC /Studio Rambert

For Mina, who was always looking for a female traitor, her group was a so -called sister relationship she created. “She identified it as a sister relationship. She used this word well,” says Light. “The problem is that Charlotte had already had a faithful person and a strong group's identity, and when she was hired by her will, she did not have the loyalty to the new group. did.”

And what happened? Charlotte immediately crossed Mina, and Mina was voted the next night.

Light says that the same group's bias can lead to a flock thinking when the player is voting, which can lead to an unrogical trust in people in the game.

What is a good liar?

A nervous or inconsistent answer to the question is generally considered doubtful, even if someone tells the truth. That's because these actions are tied to a stereotype about what a liar is doing. The better gifts are always those who say the same thing. Emma BarrettPsychologist and criminal scholar at the University of Manchester University.

“One of the most notable things is the same story in the exact same way, and they don't really explain it in detail when they re -speak it,” she says. The story may sound plausible, but repeatedly adds details as you remember. “People sometimes make a mistake in consistency, but that's not a way to work with real memories.”

Think like a scientist

Hunting for the traitor -Introduction to the 3rd season of the traitor

BBC /Studio Rambert

Faithful people are not very good at it TraitorBut another tactic that they can use is to encourage suspicious traitor to speak more than they want. Barrett says.

“If you are faithful, the good strategy to detect a traitor is to subtly encourage them as they speak.” “For example, if you want to know if you are a police officer and someone gave you a false address, one of the questions you might ask is,” Oh, how do you get there? What is your nearest station?

If you are suspicious, try a game theory?

The majority of information is always lost to the minority based on sufficient information. Based on this, it was created by Russian psychologist Dimitry Davidoff mafia -Which parlor game Traitor Based on the 1980s. since then, mafia It is used as the basis of many game theory experiments and models.

The good news is that Davidoff is not correct at all. He believed that the probability of a faithful person to keep the bad guys away is better than a coincidence. But many the study The model discovered that the possibility of victory was almost equal, and was leaned in support of people who were faithful to live games for the weight of the lie that the traitor had to talk about.

In other words, forget cold mathematics. If you really want to win TraitorYou must be just injustice than anyone else.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Quantum Witch: The Intersection of Religious Cults and 80s Spectrum Games | A Gaming Adventure

THus’ kingdom is a rural idyll, with happy villagers wandering around the market, the young shepherd Len tending his flock and his partner Tyra repairing the shed. It’s as if they all live in a cozy farming simulator made by a benevolent game developer. But is that really the case? Or is it just an illusion cast by an evil god that has trapped them in their horrible pixelated appearance?

That’s the fun “meta” setting of Quantum Witch, a pixel-art platform game by lone developer Nikki Jay. Heavily inspired by old LucasArts adventures and the legendary Dizzy series for the ZX Spectrum, it’s a comedy game with a serious autobiographical heart. Jay grew up in a right-wing religious sect with very closed-minded views, based in the northeast of England. “They were obsessed with the end of the world,” she says. “They believed it could happen at any time, and that all evil people would be destroyed. So I Had “Being good. It was very oppressive.”




“This is not a platform game. Plot Former“…Quantum Witch.” Photo: Nikki Jay

Jay came out as a lesbian as a teenager, but was quickly shunned by her group. After a period of homelessness, she taught herself to code and found work as a software engineer, but the desire to share her story haunted her. “My mind was constantly swirling with what had happened to me,” she says. “I thought, ‘I can’t just hold onto this trauma, I have to do something about it.’ I knew there were other people out there who had been through the same thing. I wanted to tell them a story they could relate to and let them know there was something better out there.”

She initially thought she would write a novel, but found the process terrifying. Instead, she turned to games. Growing up in the 1980s, her family had a ZX Spectrum, which was her escape. “I escaped into video games because they let me create the worlds I wanted,” she says. “I was obsessed with computer-generated worlds. When I first played Trashman on the Spectrum, I thought, ‘This is amazing. This is a completely self-contained, internally consistent world that I can interact with.’ I loved it. It freed me from the fears I was facing in my life.”




“Multi-layered metaphor”…Quantum Witch. Photo: Nikki Jay

In Quantum Witch, Ren discovers that something malevolent exists beyond the saccharine pixel-art world she’s lived in, and sets off on a journey to discover the truth. Along the way, she’ll complete fetch quests and pick flowers for her partner, but ultimately must attack a god and take his throne. While the open Metroidvania-style structure suggests a standard platform game, the game is actually a “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style narrative quest. You’ll make many choices over the course of four hours of play, meeting characters and taking on optional side quests that will affect the outcome. “This isn’t just a platform game, it’s a game about discovering the truth,” says Ren. Plot Former“Your choices shape the story. There are multiple endings and, where possible, each side quest also has multiple endings. It’s a total logistical nightmare,” says Jay.

Throughout the adventure, the story is filled with the wonderfully silly humor that is typical of the ZX Spectrum development scene. Available on Steamyou encounter dancing skeletons who can see into time, a lampshade-worshipping religious group (“We’re not a cult!”), and a marketplace where all the merchants resemble famous video game protagonists, including a wordy archaeologist selling dodgy artifacts and a strange circular character trying to sell you stimulants to fight the ghosts in your mind. Naturally, Jay was also a big fan of Digitizer, the cult teletext gaming magazine known for its surreal humor. She later became friends with the magazine’s writer Paul Rose, who served as a script consultant for the game. “I had lots of ideas for storyline and character development for Quantum Witch, but I’d never written anything this long or complex,” Jay explains.[Rose] It’s really helped me organize and make it all work together.

After being blown away by how fun Thank Goodness You’re Here is, it’s great to see other developers taking cues from quirky British humor from the ’70s and ’80s. But Quantum Witch isn’t just a pun-filled comedy quest. It’s a multi-layered metaphor about game development, identity and escapism, and it’s based on its creators’ own experiences. It’s about what games are supposed to be about: making the biggest decisions that sometimes save your life.

“I wanted to introduce a theme of choice and responsibility that is really central to the story,” Jay says. “A lot of religions involve giving up your autonomy to some mysterious force you’ve never seen, heard or met. In the game, Ren reclaims that agency… It’s a queer liberation story.”

Quantum Witch is scheduled to release on PC in 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com