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Hi everyone! Tonight’s call-in show will be at 7:30 Central/8:30 Eastern. As usual, we’ll announce the number closer to showtime and it will also be in the title of the stream. The theme is spirits, cryptids, and Appalachian folklore.

Some housekeeping:

* I’m going to wind down audio-only episodes of The Computer Room. I have a bunch of episodes I need to edit and post. I might do it in a big batch behind a paywall. There are maybe a dozen of them. A big part of it is I just… don’t enjoy doing the show. I’ve never been much of a podcast person if we’re being honest. And now, the format feels kind of tired. As my time becomes more precious, it’s just not something I am interested in continuing. Livestreams will continue weekly, under the same name.

* It’s not too late to sign up for Internet Real Life! Last week, Molly Soda presented. (I love her work so much and I am so excited to share her talk.) This week, Gunseli Yalcinkaya will be our guest speaker. Sign up here.

* I am going to be on a panel at The Philosophical Research Society to talk about the intersection of MAGIC AND TECHNOLOGY. Get tickets here. Meme Analysis, Tara Isabella Burton, and Gary Lachman will all be there. I’ll be in Los Angeles until Tuesday if anyone wants to get a coffee.

* I’m now a contributing writer at The Dispatch! Yippee! Read my latest for them here.

* I’m back in Comment mag here. This piece is very near and dear to my heart, it’s about Internet Overexposure Syndrome, something long-time Deeheads are already familiar with.

* I’m back in Pirate Wires with even more about falling in love with chatbots, yumejoshi, and fictive others.

* I’m still conducting/posting case studies. I’m a little behind on everything. My whole family has been battling some kind of virus since late February. It’s really been cramping my style! Such is life as a mamma.

* Please read, comment on, and share my short story. It will make me happy.

Me getting creeped out by caller stories last livestream. Please enjoy our unmade bed.

Many bite my moves. There’s only one me. Support the genuine article 👇👇👇

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Thank you Indi, Arif, and many others for tuning into my live video with Noelle Perdue! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Pre-Internet Era: Speculation, Satire & Historical Fiction (Before 1990s)

* Longstanding impulse: Presidents and politicians have appeared in apocryphal stories, satire, and speculative fiction since the 19th century. Think: romanticized Founding Fathers, counterfactual novels (e.g., what if Lincoln lived?), and pulpy stories like The Amorous Adventures of Aaron Burr (1947).

* Not fanfic—but proto-RPF: These works fictionalized real political figures in ways not unlike modern RPF.

Early Online Era: Slash-Glasses & Quiet Experimentation (1990s–2001)

* 1993: A now-famous early example of political RPF occurred when a fan on a mailing list joked about “slash-colored glasses” after seeing Bill Clinton and Al Gore hug:

“I can’t believe I’m looking at the Leader of the Free World and the Vice-Leader of the Free World through slash-colored glasses!”Source: Fanlore

* Late '90s: Discussions around “real person slash” began in other fandoms—boyband fic (e.g. NSYNC, Backstreet Boys) paved the way. Political figures remained fringe subjects, occasionally fictionalized in humor zines or on forums like Usenet.

2002–2004: FanFiction.net Ban & The Rise of LiveJournal

* 2002: FanFiction.net bans all Real Person Fiction, citing legal/ethical issues. This forced RPF writers to seek out more decentralized, semi-private platforms like LiveJournal (LJ).

* 2004: A watershed moment—johnxjohn, a LiveJournal community devoted to shipping John Kerry and John Edwards, is created during the Democratic campaign:

* Grew to 800+ members within weeks.

* Split between crackfic and emotionally earnest stories.

* One member said it was a space for “processing stress from the election via fic.”

* A private offshoot was formed to protect more serious or NSFW stories from mockery.

“I didn't want anyone to mock our feelings… or the campaign.” – JohnxJohn memberSource: Fanlore – Political RPF

2008–2012: Obama Era & The Rahmbamarama Surge

* 2008–09: With Obama’s historic election came new fandoms:

* Rahmbamarama: An all-caps, chaotic, meme-heavy LJ community devoted to Obama/Rahm Emanuel slash.

* Content ranged from soft romance to unhinged erotica, written in Rahm-style profanity.

* Featured crossovers (e.g., Obama meets Jon Stewart, Biden x Stephen Colbert slash).

“RAHM IS A HOT FCKING MOTHERFCKER. DEAL WITH IT.” – Rahmbamarama userSource: Jezebel

* Pundit RPF: Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart fanfic becomes a whole genre on LiveJournal and Dreamwidth.

* Obama/Biden ‘bromance’ content surges: mostly memes and buddy-cop headcanons, with occasional slash.

2012: Romney/Ryan & RPF Hits the Mainstream

* Romney/Paul Ryan slash emerges—mostly satirical, but not exclusively.

* One e-book titled "Dressage: A Romney/Ryan Presidential Slash Fic" featured:

* Paul Ryan in ponyplay gear.

* Romney delivering the infamous line:

“Screw me like we’ll screw the poor.”

* The Atlantic published a shocked/excited feature titled:

“The Strange World of Mitt Romney–Paul Ryan Fan Fiction”Read it here

“Erotic fan fiction is having a moment. Slash fans are swooping in.” – The Atlantic

2015–2018: Hamilton & Founding Father RPF Renaissance

* 2015: Hamilton becomes a Broadway sensation—and a fandom juggernaut.

* Tumblr teens write thousands of fics about Hamilton/Laurens, Jefferson/Madison, etc.

* RPF blends with canon from the musical.

* Often historically queer, irreverent, and educational.

“Tumblr is reimagining the Founding Fathers as soft gays and hot messes.” – NY Mag

* 2016 onward: Hamilton RPF becomes a major Archive of Our Own (AO3) tag, inspiring both original fic and crossover AUs.

2018–2019: Commercial Obama/Biden RPF Hits Bookshelves

* 2018: Andrew Shaffer publishes Hope Never Dies, a mystery novel starring Obama and Biden as a crime-solving duo.

* 2018: Tumblr and Twitter users started sharing clips of Beto O’Rourke skateboarding and using punk music in edits—early signs of Beto stan culture.

* 2019: Follow-up, Hope Rides Again, is released.

* These books are lighthearted, nostalgic—and openly inspired by RPF memes and tropes. They brought political fanfic into airport bookstores.

2020: Pete/Chasten, AOC Stans & AO3 Fandomization

* Pete Buttigieg’s campaign triggers a mini-fandom:

* Dozens of AO3 fics written about Pete/Chasten.

* Stories described as “gentle, soft, and overwhelmingly vanilla.”

* Some featured love triangles with Beto O’Rourke.

“Pete would be winning the election if it were held on Archive of Our Own.” – JezebelFull article

* AOC stans create fancams, memes, and even a few crackfics (e.g., “AOC x Marjorie Taylor Greene enemies-to-lovers” as meme fic).

* Political RPF merges with TikTok and Stan Twitter aesthetics. Many teens engage through meme edits

* The rise of the Cuomosexual

2020–Present: Ethics, Escapism & Political Mythmaking

* Trump/Putin, Trump/Hillary, and even Trump/Biden fics appear—usually as satire or political horror/comedy.

* Ongoing debates inside fandom:

* Is it okay to write smut about real politicians?

* Are public figures “fair game” for fic, like celebrities?

* Should fan spaces draw a line at living figures?

“Fan fiction helps process real world frustrations. It lets us imagine alternative political realities.” – Psychology TodayRead article

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I’m Katherine Dee. I read in an industry newsletter that I should re-introduce myself in every post. 😓 I’m an Internet ethnographer, sometimes podcaster, and reporter. I spend maybe 20 hours a week talking to people about how they use the Internet. It’s hard work. Consider sending me a few bucks for my efforts:

Help me get a filled in orange check mark so I stop feeling like a LOSER…

I’m really enjoying these streams, even though I know I need to practice getting to the point! I’m attaching today’s stream here but there are tons of tangents, so I’m also providing a write-up of what I talked about below.

BTW, if any Substack engineers are reading this, please, please, please provide better analytics! It’s unclear if I’m talking to anybody at all during the stream because the ticker only counts up—it never ticks down! It’s like the stream-equivalent of “heaven-banning.”

Today, I talked about Lisa Yo and what I suspect is behind transracialism (which is now more commonly referred to as “diaracialism” in its very small community).

Lisa Yo is a fascinating character who first showed up on my TikTok about a month ago. At first glance, she seemed like a Korea-based woman—possibly of Central Asian descent and maybe suffering from anorexia—who posts influencer-style sponsored videos about skincare and makeup. Her videos have this really unusual uncanny valley feel. Part of it is her visible discomfort in her own skin. As my ex-father-in-law once said of me, “She walks like she doesn’t own her legs.” Adding to the surreality, her TikToks are all narrated with an AI voiceover.

It turns out Lisa Yo is actually a 23-year-old Austrian who’s had extensive plastic surgery to look more Asian, possibly Korean. Previously, she described herself as a “koreaboo,” which is basically the Korean equivalent of “weeaboo,” itself, a contemporary word for “orientalist.” She had an older online alias—”lisartesandcookies”—that was apparently a failed influencer project on YouTube. It’s mostly wiped, but the archivists of our discontent (including myself now) have kept the receipts.

Older pictures show Lisa has clearly had a lot of work done: forehead filler, multiple rhinoplasties, under-eye filler for an aegyo-sal effect, lip filler, jaw surgery—the works. She’s been accused of “Asian-fishing,” like she was in this video:

I asked this creator, “What do you expect her to do?” because, really, what is she supposed to say at this point? Her face permanently looks like this now. Is she supposed to apologize? I mean, in Yo’s defense, she’s in this impossible position. This isn’t make-up or angles. Her face is permanently changed. It’s unclear to me what people who are this deep into the performance are supposed to do.

At any rate, Lisa has seen all the chatter. In response, she’s claimed to be half Mongolian (sometimes half Russian, depending on the day), and also that she was viciously bullied as a child for her “Asian appearance,” which is why she pursued plastic surgery in the first place. However, acquaintances—including somebody claiming to be a former friend who’s actually Mongolian—have provided “receipts” saying she’s Austrian, full stop. The alleged Mongolian friend even claims Lisa had zero knowledge of Mongolian culture and latched onto this identity as an after-the-fact justification for her new face. Who knows though: lolcows attract obsessive anti-fans, and anti-fans have a tendency to lie about their fan object.

Naturally, Lisa’s faced a lot of backlash. On various snark threads, people suspect her social media is propped up by bots or sock puppet accounts, claiming that some of the comments on her videos are auto-generated positivity from empty-looking profiles. It’s an odd story. As I said in the stream, I don’t think she looks bad, though I’m curious about what her inner life is like. Whatever the case, I hope she finds peace.

Lisa isn’t the only example of a “diaracial” or “transracial” person, as we know well. Plenty of people online—and throughout history—have lied about their cultural, ethnic, and racial identities.

On Tumblr, for instance, it wasn’t uncommon that people would fabricate entire identities as a form of social currency. In the offline world, we have Rachel Dolezal, Hilary “Hilaria” Baldwin, Jessica Krug, and C.V. Vitolo-Hadad. There’s Oli London, who’s been transgender, transracial, and reactionary.

There’s also a richer history of adopting new identities, before the social media age: Cher implied Indigenous ancestry for decades, so did Senator Elizabeth Warren. Before them, figures like Korla Pandit, Grey Owl, Iron Eyes Cody, and Sacheen Littlefeather misrepresented their identities for a host of different reasons. In a lot of ways, I think it’s baked in to the culture of the United States.

To me—and this is an old DF take—there really isn’t a meaningful difference between the person who has, let’s say, one Mexican grandparent who didn’t grow up speaking Spanish or with any Mexican culture in their immediate environment, including and maybe especially their home, and somebody like Lisa Yo. Lisa Yo is the extreme manifestation of what we see every day in people like Elizabeth Warren claiming to be Native American, or even people who are three or four generations removed from any Italian or Irish ancestry claiming to be European. It’s a spectrum of behaviors that includes your coworker who claims to have descended from “Cherokee royalty,” the invented histories of reconstructivist neo-pagan religions, and Rachel Dolezal.

In my opinion, there are three types of diaracial people:

1. Affinity-BasedThese folks develop a deep identification with an image with little lived experience of it. In our globalized, media-saturated world, people can encounter and adopt cultural markers from groups they feel speak to them emotionally or aesthetically. This might also help explain things like neopronouns or even “nostalgia” for places, times, or experiences foreign to people.

I explain what I mean by affinity-based identity over experienced identity at length here:

2. Status-BasedSome shift racial presentation for perceived social or economic advantages or cultural capital. My guess is that this is rarely—if ever—the sole reason for diaracialism.

3. Identity-BasedThis category has deeper psychological underpinnings, like body dysmorphia or internalized racism. Some people might see their own race as inferior, leading to internal conflict and attempts to escape that label. For example, there are quite a few black people in the diaracial community who express hatred of being black.

Another thread I’ve picked up on is that white women have a tendency to romanticize Asian identity in an unusual way. They see Asian women as more “pure.” There tends to be an overlap with eating disorders in this type.

Anyway, that’s my rabbit hole for the day—thanks for sticking around!

Housekeeping:

* We still need to do our Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? book club. I will set a date for that soon.

* I have two releases on Metalabel! We’re doing a second session of Internet Real Life with Sean Monahan, Molly Soda, August Lamm, and Gunseli Yalcinkaya. Buy a ticket here.

* I did a really bad job of advertising this but a couple of months ago, I released egirl 001, an illustrated timeline of the history of the egirl. Please buy a copy. I think it’s well done. Humbly.

Me Around the Web:

* Internet Overexposure Syndrome for Comment Mag

* Inside the Erectile Dysfunction–Industrial Complex for the Free Press

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J.D. Haltigan and default.blog regular Clinton Ignatov talk about identity formation in the digital age, using this blog’s favorite book, Life on the Screen, as a jumping off point. They discuss about the impact of screen-mediated play vs. physical world play, gamification, and online subcultures on personal development, attachment, and psychopathology.

(This is not an episode of The Computer Room but a recorded discussion edited for length and clarity.)

Follow Clinton here:

And J.D. here:

And:

Consider throwing me a few bucks! It helps me surface and support thinkers like Clinton and J.D., produce The Computer Room, and justify the time I spend in front of the computer.

P.S. Title my own! Don’t get mad at them if you don’t like it…

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Katherine: Let me know if you enjoyed this, and especially drop me a line if you’d like to submit a video yourself.

In the summer of 2017 I began working on an ambitious video project to reveal the history of the microcomputer revolution through the lens of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan. All I had was this basic concept and the title which had burst into my head one evening and, for reasons beyond my understanding, demanded to be interpreted through the work. I decided to scour the internet to discover its meaning.

I spent four unemployed months—thousands of hours—of researching books and documentaries and gathering rearranging hundreds of clips and timestamps. I arranged and rearranged the short clips on a video timeline over and over, searching through the combinations like they were tarot cards. Finally it all assembled for me, and I spent 48 manic hours awake until finally uploading the final render of Silicon & Charybdis I on November 26th, 2017. This video, albeit rather technical, tells the story of the Intel 8080 microprocessor, Gary Kildall and his DOS operating system, the MITS Altair and Microsoft BASIC.

I’ve written more about the behind-the-scenes development of episode one over on Less Wrong, my blog about the psychosis I was experiencing during this period.

On March 12, 2018, Silicon & Charybdis II was released. Thanks to a much better understanding of editing and production, this installment is probably the best entry-point into the series. Here we get an understanding of computer programming, the pedagogical techniques of Seymour Papert and his LOGO language, the “killer apps” of Word Processing and Spreadsheets, and the nature of human-machine interaction.

On November 12, 2018, I proudly released Silicon & Charybdis III, which focuses on the evolution of computer simulation from American Air Defense training in the 1960 using punch cards and analogue media, straight through to the merging of object oriented programming and the cathode ray tube into the modern desktop paradigm. If you’ve only time to watch one, this is the one!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel!

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