Academics are studying shitposting. I read the papers so you don't have to
Turns out there's an entire field analyzing why "when you spaghetti" followed by just... spaghetti... is funny.
I just spent hours reading peer-reviewed academic papers about shitposting.
Not ironically. With citations. From actual universities.
Turns out there's an entire field analyzing why "when you spaghetti" followed by just... spaghetti... is funny.
What I learned:
Scholars link shitposting to Dadaism. The same art movement that put a urinal in a museum in 1916 now explains why deep-fried memes are art. Marcel Duchamp would be proud.
Intentional JPEG degradation = authenticity. Looking like you tried is cringe. Effort is suspicious. The more your meme looks like it survived a nuclear war, the more people trust it.
@dril's tweets are classified as "Prestige Short Prose." This is real. Academics typed this with a straight face. Someone cited a tweet about the skeleton war in a journal article.
The goal is "appearing to hold a position while giving the impression you might be kidding." Finally, a framework for my entire personality. Thank you, University of Amsterdam.
There's a paper distinguishing "ironic vs post-ironic memetic discourse." Someone's PhD advisor approved this. Someone's parents paid tuition for this. Someone is citing this in their dissertation right now.
The funniest part?
Academics are studying shitposting with the exact seriousness that shitposting exists to mock.
Which is either beautiful irony or proof the simulation is broken.
I have a master's degree and this is what I'm doing with it.
The Dadaism connection actually slaps though
Quick history for the uninitiated:
1916 World War I is happening. Industrialized slaughter. Millions dead for reasons nobody can articulate anymore.
A bunch of artists in Zurich look at "rational" Western civilization and go: "lmao this is clearly working great."
Their response was to reject logic entirely.
Marcel Duchamp submits a urinal to an art exhibition. Signs it "R. Mutt." Calls it "Fountain." That's the whole piece. A toilet. The message: You want meaning? Here's a toilet. Figure it out.
Hugo Ball performed nonsense poetry in a cardboard costume. That's Dada.
Cutting up newspapers, rearranging words randomly, calling it a poem. Dada.
If the "rational" world produces senseless war, then senselessness becomes the only honest response.
Now fast forward 100 years
- Pandemic. Climate doom. War after war. Greenland. AI maybe ending jobs. Algorithms controlling what we see.
- Everything feels fake and optimized.
- The "rational" professional world says: Post thought leadership. Build your personal brand. Leverage synergies.
- And a generation raised on the internet responds: Here's a deep-fried image of Shrek with no context.
Same energy. Different century.
Shitposting is Dadaism for the algorithm age.
When everything demands engagement, meaninglessness becomes meaningful.
When every post is optimized, chaos becomes authentic.
When the professional world feels absurd, absurdity becomes the only honest response.
Duchamp put a urinal in a museum to mock the art establishment.
@dril tweets about the skeleton war to mock... everything.
Both are saying the same thing:
"You built this system. You told us it matters. Look how stupid it is."
Sometimes the most honest thing you can do is post something unhinged and watch the algorithm try to categorize it.
The academics get it, actually. They just use more words.
Sources for the skeptics:
- Shitposting: an analysis of its practices and meanings — University of Amsterdam
- Who Is Dril? Paul Dochney's Famous Twitter Account Explained — ScreenRant
- Nihilist Arby's — Know Your Meme