When Meme Lords Blur the Lines
In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting, everyone seems to be rushing to slap a political label on the shooter. Is he alt-right? Far-left?
Or something else entirely?
There are some theories abounding that could create even more confusion and consternation about the killing..
We might just be dealing with a “meme lord,” someone who thrives on irony and chaos rather than traditional political lines.
The bullet that struck and killed Kirk had “Notices bulge OwO whats this?” written on its casing. A reference to a longtime internet joke that originally comes from text-based furry roleplay. It is not proof, however, that Robinson was a furry. The meme has long since become part of the extremely online canon.
The unfired bullet casings had other phrases written on them, including, “Hey fascist! Catch! ⬆️, ➡️, ⬇️⬇️⬇️,” “O bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao,” and “If you read this you are gay lmao.” The first message is a reference to the satirically fascist video game Helldivers 2, the arrow combination triggering the most powerful bomb attack in the game. The second message is a reference to an Italian antifascist folk song, which has gotten renewed interest online and offline after its use in Netflix’s Money Heist. “Bella Ciao” is also used in the video game Far Cry 6. The third is just boilerplate edgelord speak, given extra layers of irony by the much more online jokes on the other casings.
Groyping in the Dark
But let’s add another layer. Commentator Nick Fuentes has been out there insisting that his followers, the Groypers, are being wrongly blamed. Maybe that’s just another part of the meme lord’s game: by dragging Fuentes into the narrative, they stir up even more confusion and keep everyone guessing.
It’s like we’re living in a world where the old boundaries don’t apply anymore, and reality is as fluid as a social media feed.
A MEMERS NIGHTMARE WORLD..
And that brings us to another key player in all of this: 4chan. For decades, 4chan has been at the cutting edge of internet culture. It’s the place where countless memes originate before they ever show up on Facebook or Twitter. People like to talk about Reddit or other platforms, but it’s often 4chan that’s the real brain of the internet, where the old web’s raw energy meets a new generation of digital pranksters and havoc makers. They’ve mastered the craft of shaping online narratives, and in many cases, they become instrumental in investigating who killers are after crimes… They’re the ones who can take a situation, spin it through layers of memes and mockery, and leave us all wondering what’s real and what’s just another internet in-joke.
In the end, whether or not the shooter is tied to any political group, the meme lord culture—and the platforms like 4chan that fuel it—is its own kind of force.
It’s about chaos, irony, and a reality that’s as slippery as a meme. And that’s the world we’re trying to understand now.
Just know this, the rabbit hole is deep. But the arguments you are having online are probably all on the wrong path.. there is a new type of killer among us–ones without the same politics of the old time but a new chaos that we never saw before.
