"Their very existence is proof of something not working. And so, in a way, their project is to exist, to be seen, to be popular. That's why he's going to say the N-word on stream. That's why he's going to read the humiliating text from his father on stream. It's a total commitment to that project. Because I think his existence just sort of proves that the gatekeepers are gone."
"I'm Charlie Warzell, staff writer at The Atlantic, and this is Galaxy Brain, a show where today we are going to expose ourselves to a lot of really awful internet content so that you don't have to. We are really going to plumb the depths of the online fever swamps here. Or maybe it's more appropriate to say that the characters from the depths of the online fever swamps moved up in a rather concerning way from the fringes all the way into popular culture."
A young livestreamer named Clavicular transformed from absurdist curiosity into a manosphere fixture through extreme body modification, relentless self-documentation, and shock-driven stunts. Clavicular leverages willingness to offend and humiliate for attention, broadcasting racist slurs and personal family humiliations to gain visibility. Internet-culture researchers place Clavicular alongside figures like Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate, showing connections between looksmaxxing, nihilism, grievance politics, and an anti-political, algorithm-first ethos. The removal of traditional gatekeepers enables fringe performers to scale rapidly, making nihilism a common tactic for attention extraction and audience-building within modern influencer ecosystems.
Read at The Atlantic
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