You're one post away from becoming the internet's main character
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What does it mean to be the main character of the internet?
taylor do you ever think about bean dad oh my god yes now i do i forgot about that haven't heard that name in years what was your sort of final take on bean dad when it all kicked off do you remember i can't remember why he was canceled it wasn't for putting the fake shrimp in his cereal was it we'll get to it
Bean Dad, Justine Sacco, that woman who had fun sitting in the backyard with her husband once on Twitter. These are people we would call the main characters of the Internet. Everyone wants to know what their deal is. Everyone gets really mad about it. Their whole lives typically get ruined. Today, we're going to be talking about how that keeps happening and why it's a little different now than it used to be. This is Panic World, a show about how the internet warps our minds, our culture, and eventually reality. With me is my personal bean dad, Grant Irving, my producer, and our fantastic guest returning to the show today is Taylor Lorenz. Taylor, how are you?
Good, good. So psyched to be here.
You've been the main character of the internet a few times, I feel like.
Once or twice.
What does that feel like when it's happening?
How has the perception of viral fame changed over the years?
I have dabbled in that world myself, but I feel like you have a bit more experience than I do when the internet comes calling.
yeah i think it's overwhelming at first but i i think it's sort of changed over time too kind of like what it means to be the main character i don't care about it anymore now i'm like let's bring it on you know who cares yeah but it used to be traumatizing the first few times it happened
I feel like a lot of the panic around it when it would happen was like society hadn't really caught up to how silly a lot of this stuff is. So like the first time it ever happened to me, I had a boss say they were going to fire me over it. but it was because my family had been doxxed by 4chan and my editor basically didn't like the fact that we were getting that attention and was like, I'll fire you if you tweet about this or if you say anything about it. And like now that seems ridiculous, but this was 2012 probably. What'd you do to make 4chan mad? I wrote about a fake campaign they put together called Cutting for Bieber.
Oh yeah, I wrote about that.
They were pretending to be teenage girls who were self-harming because Justin Bieber was photographed smoking weed. That's pretty funny. Nowadays, I feel like if you become the main character of the internet, it probably stays more on the internet than it used to also, I would say.
You know, it's so funny. I get calls because I'm like a very well-known woman that's dealt with harassment online. Anytime someone's like in the midst of, you know, some sort of horrific campaign, I feel like I get a phone call.
What are the consequences of being doxxed or swatted today?
And I was talking to this one woman in media also the other day. And she's like, they're tweeting out my address. They're putting this. And I was like, girl, they're not going to do a thing. Trust me. They're not going to do a thing. Like people don't even swat anyone anymore. You know, they're not going to... Nothing happens. Like... they don't even send a pizza you know so i think there was this moment maybe in the 2010s where like the worst thing that could happen is you get swatted and let me tell you somebody that's had my family swatted the first time my parents were like what is going on and it's like you know somewhat traumatic i guess but then after that they're like okay yeah you tell the police department now there's articles about it no one gives a
Oh, they sent the police to your house. And it's horrible. Like somebody can, you know, people have been shot and died. But I just think there's so much awareness of it now. And because it's a federal crime, people don't do it anymore.
How do current internet dynamics affect women disproportionately?
So that was always like the one thing that they had that was scary, right? Like, you know, for instance, if you got doxxed and the 4chan people were coming at you, like swatting was this like one thing that they had. They don't really have that anymore. So now it's just like... What are you going to do?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does it mean to be the main character of the internet?
0:00–1:25
2
How has the perception of viral fame changed over the years?
1:25–2:59
3
What are the consequences of being doxxed or swatted today?
2:59–3:49
4
How do current internet dynamics affect women disproportionately?
3:49–4:23
5
What role does coordinated harassment play in online culture?
4:23–5:58
6
How do memes and viral moments shape public perception?
5:58–7:21
7
What are the implications of celebrity culture on social media?
7:21–8:35
8
How do economic factors influence online behavior and trolling?
8:35–1:13:16