You notice a particularly gruesome installment of a sci-fi fantasy tabletop miniature war game subscription based magazine/lore book. It features an in-depth exposé on the Legions of Khorne, the Bloodgod, and quite an extensive Brittenden style Political Compass with most of the sci-fi world’s playable races and factions mapped accordingly using seemingly rigorous ideological theory. Speculative, but rooted enough in reality to be contextually relevant to extreme ideologies rehearsed in today’s online environments by young people in niche politically aligned communities.
One of many navigate and construct to find their place in society, and this often reflects in very game like structures. You love games. You always felt the term escapism to be a little contrived. Sometimes, the word building in a game act as blueprints for hope, a concept for another future or past, or a speculative warning of the horrors of what those could be. Speculating on futures in response to global sociopolitical occurrences or shifts, is what researchers like Joshua Citarella are doing, by way of interviews with young people active in political discourse and content online, comparing consensus perceived reality across the political spectrum, and speculative estimations of what their futures will consist of.
THE CARTOGRAPHER:
People like you, like us, who also grew up alongside the internet’s massive expansion, often desire a categorisation – a class, guild, group, ideology which definitively gives them this character to roleplay, at least in online spaces. To try on all the different hats, read all the widely available resources in response to their own lived experiences and reflections on the world.
THE BIT:
Maybe you could be kind of crazy conceptual artist who wears a really outrageous shirt. And your core beliefs are Keynesian economics and libertarian neo-monarchism. Keynesian Neo-Monarcho-Libertarianism (or KNML, for short). Believing in Divine Fiscal Intervention, Absolute Individual Freedom (Under a Crown), and Trickle-Down Pageantry.
Citarella’s work on internet ideologies showcases some very confused and fragmented ideological thinking, actually informed by ingesting a lot of philosphical and political theory online through YouTube video essays and Instagram posts. Expressed, usually, in these spaces using humour (often quite absurd or surreal) which incoroporates their aligned theory and iedology quite appropriatley – often re-contextualizing or applying them to very contemporary and current experiences or concerns. The ideological iceberg is both terrifying and enormous. Extreme views propagate extreme opposing views.
THE FAUX-SAVANT:
You resist an unnatural compulsion to type the phrase “how to build a bomb” into your search browser. Can it be that easy for teenagers on Reddit?
WHAT IS YOUR TERRIFYING FANTASY SCI-FI RACE IDEOLOGY?