“Based on What?” Based on Entropic Meaninglesƨnesƨ, Janet.

Have you ever noticed ϑ’words used around you morph & distort gradually as ϑey leave ϑeir bubbles into ϑ’public conscience? Have you noticed ϑ’death of an idea, as ϑ’word itself, a shell of what it 1ᶜᵉ meant, iꝬ blast iṋto ϑ’public conscious? Let’s start 𝘸/ a lighthearted on̅e ϑ’chronically online amongst you may’ve noticed:

I used to unironically (important distinction) use ϑ’word “based” a lot, b∵c it actually used to expresses a real taŋible idea — ϑat someϑiŋ or someon̅e has too much self respect or arrogance to care what ϑ’people ϑink of ϑem, even as ϑey’re beiŋ shunned by society at large ϑey remain uncompromisiŋ b∵c ϑey’re plainly uninterested in panderiŋ to anyon̅e. Beyond ϑat ϑ’word also exists as a feeliŋ — ϑ’opposite of cringe. For clarity’s sake, here are a list of people / ϑiŋs I find based, ϑ’funny, infuriatiŋ, powerful & important:

• Rosanne Barr “siŋiŋ” ϑ’national anϑem as ϑ’whole stadium booed
• Margret Thatcher as she permanently annihilated ϑ’British economy refusiŋ to turn back even as it became obvious
• Sylvia Rivera’s “GAY POWER!!!!” speech at pride confrontiŋ her community for turniŋ a blind eye against ϑose ϑat have been “jailed, beaten & raped” for gay liberation in 1973
• Trans people
• Early Bladee; etc

“no touchiŋ I find it disgustiŋgg”

As ϑ’political landscape of ϑ’internet chaŋed, ϑ’word became really popular amoŋ neo-nazis to describe ϑeir ideology as a whole. & to ϑose people I say — no. Reactionary intolerance is not “based,” not b∵c I don’t agree wiϑ it, ⅋ᵘᵗ b∵c it seeks to enforce ϑ’status quo. ItꝬ nøt subversive, nøt interestiŋ & nøt funny. ItꝬ cringe. ItꝬ boriŋ, &cᷔ. Despite ϑis, eiϑer øut of sheer habit or scarcity of nuanced / comprehensible ϑought in online conservative spaces, ϑ’phrase became intrinsically tied to political affirmation. Just anoϑer way to tell someone you’re just as delusional as ϑey are. ϑis is now ϑ’official definition of ϑ’word accordiŋ to Dictionary[.]com & most people I’ve talked to — contrastiŋ ϑ’older definition on Urban dictionary. Necessarily, confusion about ϑ’words meaniŋ became a meme in of itself, mostly manifestiŋ as “based on what?” impact font text wiϑ silly cat pictures as per usual. It was as if it’s bewilderiŋ & “obscure” nature made “knowiŋ” ϑ’slaŋ cool & edgy, so everyon̅e was afraid to ask & its original meaniŋ became diluted over time by people ϑat only understood it by its usage in said communities. It probably didn’t help ϑat it was very often used ironically.

ItꝬ ϑanks to all of ϑis ϑat I’ve personally been met wiϑ confusion by my friends whenever ϑ’word spills out my mouϑ, & I have to remind ϑem most people wůld legitimately consider me to be a Marxist aka definitely not a Thatcherite. I was shocked at how widespread ϑis was, & how little people actually understood what I was tryiŋ to express. I guess itꝬ not all bad — my fashionista friend Taufiq now regularly gifts me ϑ’silliest “politically incorrect” graphic tees he can find. Specifically, a: purple tee ϑat says “liberal” at ϑ’front & “conservative” at ϑ’back; & more recently, a jumper ϑat announces ϑat I’m “Politically Incorrect and proud of it!”

I’m complainiŋ now but itꝬ really just ϑ’natural course of laŋuage. ϑ’same has and will happen for ϑ’years to come.

TW: gore, violence, war, etc for ϑ’following section

Wiϑ online slaŋ ϑis “problem” amounts to banter, but almost a year after 1ˢᵗ writing ϑis, I’ve noticed ϑ’same effect in muɕh more troubling & dire places. Remember the BLM movement? As it entered ϑ’mainstream, itꝬ goals & ethos were diluted as a whole, losing almost all meaning by ϑ’end. “Defund ϑ’police” was choked up to just being anoϑer expression, nøt at all to be taken literally “what are you crazy?”. Sometimes itꝬ engineered. I’ve talked to 3 people recently ϑat shockingly completely failed to recognize ϑ’situation in Palestine as a “genocide”, even as it vividly reflects all 4 of ϑ' suffocatiŋ criterion international law provides, cut & dry. As ϑ’CNN, Sky News, The Sun, &cᷔ approves only to report on ϑ’effect of bulldozed civilians on Israeli appetites, new words are created to communicate môre specifically ϑ’barbarity & horrors of ϑ’situation. Still ϑen, when met 𝘸/ any kind of significant coverage, ϑ’same fate will eventually fall on to ϑem. Vietnam’s ecocide, America’s cultural genocide, & now necrocide, for ϑ’death toll policing; skepticism; erasure; denial; settlement atop mass graves of nameless families; assassination & demonization of international healthcare workers & journalists; state funded trauma Tesla & drone monuments to drive it all under ϑ’guise of democracy; & so on. Words used to mean ϑiŋs. ϑey want you to believe itꝬ “nøt ϑat simple”. It truly iꝬ.

Zaken says he can no longer eat meat, as it reminds him of the gruesome scenes he witnessed from his bulldozer in Gaza, and struggles to sleep at night, the sound of explosions ringing in his head. “When you see a lot of meat outside, and blood… both ours and theirs (Hamas), then it really affects you when you eat,” he told CNN, referring to bodies as “meat.”

"meat"

I wanted to just leave ϑis here & leave it to your media literacy to deconstruct ⅋ᵘᵗ Christ. “Witnessed from his bulldozer”????… Just surreal. Un-φuckiŋ-believable. Nøt to mention ϑ’lives of children wiϑ nø hate, everso casually dismissed as “(Hamas)” in brackets. Evil. On days I feel hopelesƨ, I remind myself Vietnam won. Cuba won. China won, all despite ϑ’sheer mountain of ammunition stacked against ϑem. Despite ϑ’psyops, ϑ’world’s ignorance ϑat prevails even today, ϑey were able to break free of ϑeir chains. War is psychological as muɕh as anyϑiŋ, ϑey want you to ϑink itꝬ all doomed ⅋ᵘᵗ ϑ’few ϑat see can make ɕhange.

I Hope Øut of Spite.