Social media as not just virtual surveillance mechanism--but as a leveling weapon wielded by mediocre individuals against excellent ones

This is a short post. It extends what I wrote over the last few posts about social media as a mechanism for mass distributed mutual ideological surveillance and intimidation. It is not merely that—but also a mechanism that the mediocre, who disproportionately take to social media to partake in its noxious brutality, wield against the excellent in particular.

Social media is not only a virtual distributed surveillance state whereby people within polarized parasocial identity hierarchies compete with each other in large part to be the most effectively noxious to the outgroup (thereby reinforcing group identity)—leading to surveillance, harassment, intimidation, cancellation, etc.

But further, those at the top of these hierarchies tend to be disordered, dysfunctional people. They are the types of people who have some modicum of ability but, due to their personal defects, are often routinely frustrated in their real-world efforts, turning instead to the far less lucrative, pale shadow of success found in brutish behavior directed at The Enemy on social media.

In other words, social media is not merely an incentivized de facto distributed virtual surveillance mechanism; it is also such a surveillance mechanism actualized specifically by the disproportionately dysfunctional, mediocre, and resentful.

Organically, then, social media is by default a powerful mechanism for the leveling of society, for the reign of the brutal and uncouth, for the destruction of the excellent and productive at the hands of the shady and questionable.

Social media does not represent a plurality of competing virtual Gestapos or Stasis, but rather a plurality of such competing Gestapos and Stasis staffed entirely by unremarkable or dysfunctional men and women who are acutely aware of their lack of talent and/or character, and taking that bitterness out especially on those who have either.

Social media does not merely enforce the reigning ideology and disperse a freezing pall on those who would dare to associate with the mainstream institutions while cleaving to heterodoxy. It also enforces brutishness, stupidity, and mediocrity as values in themselves, since those most likely to be surveilled are not merely those who are subversive but especially those who are also excellent.

To be subversive to the values of my virtual tribal ingroup is a crime; and to be clearly excellent is hateful; but to be both excellent and subversive is a hateful crime, particularly deserving of my targeting and punishment.