Techno

How Elon Musk Uses Internet Slang to Marshal His Army of Online Fans

In 2010, a woman in Sakura, Japan, published pictures of the well -allowed Jiba Eno in her digital magazine. The dog, Kabosu, called its owner a wide -eyed look, a comic image that quickly jumped from Tumblr to Twitter to Facebook and the rest of the Internet.

The legend of Mimi was born. Someone is on Radet The name Dog “Doug”, which is a meaningless nickname. Another transported currency in the name of Doug.

now, After 15 yearsIn the fast mixture of Internet culture, Doug is considered very old. But try to tell that Palon Musk, from It has chosen “Doug” for the name of his efforts to overcome the federal government mechanism – more formally, the Ministry of Governmental efficiency.

It is one of the dozens of ancient Easter that is baked in its daily vocabulary. The brief scroll through Mr. Musk’s X reveals Minaji of themes and the serrated committee – my father’s jokes on the Internet. Includes:

  • Repeated signals to “420”, which is the year of half a century to smoke marijuana, which was said to have started in a high school in North California. (After smoking, something like a sharp in Podcast Joe Rogan, Mr. Musk briefly briefly his autobiography to “420”.

  • Including the number “69”, a colloquial term for sexual action that has been present for less than Kama Sutra. (Mr. Musk, 53, is rushing to indicate that his birthday is 69 days after 4/20).

  • It is called “epic” or “existing”. These are the qualities that repeated users prefer for Reddit and their longing by lovers Jose WidonThe director “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” in the late 1990s and continued to direct two Avengers films. (Mr. Musk said he wanted to create “standing” artificial intelligence with Chatbot, Grok, and recently Tesla told the investors Expect the “Epic” 2026 in the future.)

The colloquial of Mr. Musk may seem mysterious to people who are not drowned in online culture. But for his fans, the sensitive sensitivity of Mr. Musk is a kind of comfortable online food – and the gesture of a common and common global look.

Mr. Musk’s publications are full of war and open video game. This loaded language is a massive cry for players and other world of Mr. Musk on the Internet, and those who – if they have a common political ideology – they see a person sharing their doubts about power and their belief that America has woke up very much. For them, Mr. Musk online updates about what Doge is to coincide with more than just a press statement, a press conference or – the worst of all – something they read in the media Home. (It is a strategy Donald Trump’s use for Twitter To refer to originality during his first administration.)

“We live in revenge on the era of the obsessive,” said Hassan Baker, a popular, progressive, political figure who is not a fan of Mr. Musk, in an interview. “This is the real, actual revenge of the professionals.”

Mr. Musk did not respond to the comment.

Each image of Mr. Musk, who uses a series of chain while wearing a “deal” sunglasses at home (Another MimiThe victory of the culture he has long identified. On Wednesday, he attended the first meeting of the new cabinet of President Trump wearing a shirt that said “technical support.”

His admirers speak in his language. They send suggestions about how DOGE can reform the government by dismantling complete sections of it, and often coded in the language of the images usually on Reddit. (Wojak, a Personality brilliantly drawn Fame on the 4chaan messaging board, is a permanent favorite.)

Mr. Musk has searched more than 200 million x x followers to help decisions on online opinion polls. He listens. The conversation becomes a reactions from the interior jokes for the billionaire, which once hosted “Saturday Night Live” and is proudly proud of the spirit of humor. (Mr. Musk sometimes exaggerates his popularity in the world of comedy. Once he joins the comedian Dave Chapille on stage in San Francisco. pale.)

“Anyone can find their own community, even if it is a frozen society in 2010,” Brian Feldman, Internet culture writer Who has long followed the exploits of Mr. Musk, said in an interview.

But for those who are drowned in a modern internet culture, the method of communicating with Mr. Musk is far from the direction. This is particularly even when current terms such as “no cover” (translation: no lie) or “low decline” (diminishing in popularity or importance) are already their age. As with modern questions about Mr. Musk Super video game skills claimsThey see cracks in his Supernerd interface.

“More than people want to admit, they often become trapped on the Internet who face it first,” said Mr. Feldman.

Last week, Mr. Musk appeared at a conservative political conference wearing dark sunglasses, a large golden chain and a shirt saying that he is “not equal”, but rather works on “side questions” (a common practice in sprawling games). He played a quotation from Bhagavad Gita Robert Obenheimer said he is going through his mind When he tested the first atomic bomb: Now, death has become. Best worlds.

“I have become Mim,” Mr. Musk said of a silent crowd. “There is a dream that lives and lives, and this is what is happening to a large extent.”

Even some of his most amazing followers on X Retluced. “Elon Musk has fallen from you,” one of the users wrote.

The vocabulary of Mr. Musk online is a reminder for the year 2010, when the student’s culture, who taught a lot, was up. Reddit MEME Flag Factory was like Lolcats and Icanhazcheespurger. Players gathered in web forums or in the online roles to shine and fight through digital fortified towers.

This was also the beginning of Mr. Musk’s transformation from just a billionaire to the Internet celebrities. That year, himself appeared in the second movie “Iron Man”. I ate his fans on the Internet.

All this also coincided with the rise of the Web 2.0, which is a more social version than the Internet. Twitter – a long time before Mr. Musk bought it and called it – was the city square. Facebook moved beyond the likes and case updates with “groups”, a feature that allowed people to form their smaller societies. The 4Chan chat forum was full of unknown homosexuals, and they were often angry online who were associated with vulgar behavior.

While online groups were present for years, the latest social networks were more coherent and the reward for Mr. Musk today. The correct type of posts can pick up steam and shoot online.

The engines moved beyond a small -scale clinic to aggressive mass movements, such as GamergateA harassing campaign against a game designer by video game players who claimed to represent a lack of ethics in the press. It turned into a social movement that fought diversity and women’s movement and what the players saw very progressive values ​​in movies, television, literature and video game industry – a view shared by Mr. Musk.

Gamergate also pointed out that digital demonstrations can, for the better or worse, lead to a change in the real world.

Mr. Musk Twitter style has been changed from Anodyne updates to more public clinic. In 2018, he tweeted that he had received a buying offer for Tesla at an arrow price of $ 420. Once, when a competing car company tried to reduce the price, Mr. Musk said it would decrease the cost of Tesla Model X to $ 69,420.

“The glove has been thrown!” Advertise on Twitter. “The prophecy has been fulfilled.”

Unlike other technological billionaires, who seemed to be living a life far from the ordinary Internet people and became less online, Mr. Musk was making himself with themes, absurdity and publication unabated. And parts of the world online embraced it.

He said: “Many people find him far, I think.” coldA pseudonym Cultural commentator It follows regularly Mr. Musk and other social movements online, in an interview. “But there are a lot of people who are retreating from them, and although I think 10 percent of the population is a maximum, it is 10 percent effect.”

The life of Mr. Musk online became more bomb after the street epidemic began in 2020. Tesla sellers attacked California’s state officials who will not allow him Re -Opening Tesla Factory. In 2023, his photos were even directed to drive his car to Mark Zuckerberg’s home, threatening the wrestling of the CEO of Facebook. (They were, at that time, in Including a real combat match Among them. Never happened.)

He posted himself playing Elden Ring, Path of Exile and other video games like Diablo IV. One of the richest men in the world was telling the players that he was one of them.

Mark Kern, former CEO of Blizzard, wrote in a post to X last week that people should not tamper with the players. “We are prosperous by endless major battles against impossible possibilities. We do not give up. We do not stop. We are the two sides of the cultural war.”

“Yes”, Mr. Musk wrote, quoting this position.

Conservatives who do not spend much time online also adopted the image of Mr. Musk as he is making a chain of saw to what they see as an enlarged federal government, even if many of them are not completely sure of what he tries to say or when he is supposed to laugh.

“It is checking the health of people who have no idea what he says, but they still think he is speaking this language experts,” said Mr. Feldman, Internet Culture.

But Mr. Musk may find his borders online. It was difficult for some of his followers to get rid of the theater’s appearance last week at the conservative political work conference, which he mentioned that it was difficult to remain cold when it is in reality, not very small. ((Kabosu did not live To see the M. that inspired it to enter American political life. Shaiba Eno, 18, died last year.)

“Anyone else feels a shift in TPOT/Tech?” A user of X wrote, referring to a community on the Internet called “This Part of Twitter”, which is largely formed from technology workers who historically improves Mr. Musk. In other words, Mr. Musk began to look a little on the touch and is increasingly lucky.

However, Mr. Musk appears to be doubled. It has increased to X in recent weeks, where some days have been numbered in hundreds. His fans are still valid.

On Thursday, Mr. Musk published another Mimi on his X’s account – one of the dozens of posts he made that morning. In this, it was a picture of Mile Gibson in the role of “The Road Warrior”, the Action Action movie in the early eighties of the last century around a Bedouin world that transmits a post -sensitive world. In bold letters, Mim said: “My ladies, it’s time to start thinking if the man who dates him has the potential for post -analyst war.” (Film enthusiasts may notice that the wife and son of Max were killed by the motorcycle gang in the first movie “Mad Max”.

One of the followers answered a picture of a man wearing a Trojan helmet and body shields with an offensive rifle in one hand and a spear in the other. It was one of more than 7,000 replies.

“Yes,” the follower said, adding expressive symbols.

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