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Aidan Walker

@aidanwalker.bsky.social
3.1K followers 293 following 393 posts

internet meme researcher and historian, sometimes reporter linktr.ee/aidanwalker1 Substack: How To Do Things With Memes, @aidanetcetera TikTok, Insta, YouTubey

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Aidan Walker
James Santelli @santelli.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Kirkification saved America from a civil war.” It’s a bold claim/hook, but in remembering those days after Charlie Kirk’s death, I can’t really argue against it.
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
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EnchantedHickie @enchantedhickie.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
#meme #digital #AI thanks @aidanwalker.bsky.social howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com/p/cuck-skibi...
howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com
Cuck Skibidi: a theory of autonomous warfare
Back in May, I proposed “cuck internet theory” kind of as a joke and ended up having to take it seriously when the idea made its way into The Atlantic under the pen of Charlie Warzel. In his great pie...
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Marcus Bösch @boesch.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"The media class continued to read X like a thermometer offering data about the climate of opinion when it was actually a probe taking the rectal temperature of the internet’s loneliest men." @aidanwalker.bsky.social 💯 howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com/p/shift-slop...
howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com
shift, slop, chud: operating a vibe
Vincent Bevins recently wrote a great essay re-evaluating the effects of the Musk reign over the platform formerly known as Twitter.
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
when they call me unc on tiktok in the comments section
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
People on here will post anything. "Rahm Emanuel is a plausible nominee for president." No he isn’t. That isn’t true.
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
locking in
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
the case for a slop tax!
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
upping my YouTube thumbnail game and cashing in on the Clavicular viral cycle during its last gasps www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jtB...
youtube.com
The Ideology of Contentmaxxing
YouTube video by Aidan Walker
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Reposted by Aidan Walker
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
One point @aidanwalker.bsky.social made about why we ought to take the some of the dumbest shit ever seriously is because of the way that the right wing has fully surrendered itself to extremely online brain rot as part of its political project. prime example right here:
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
probably my favorite podcast appearance i’ve ever done on my least favorite topic i’ve ever researched
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
it goes without saying the kamala hq rebrand is hollow, hopeless, and a likely flop from an internet culture perspective
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
when will we as a society progress past the need for a yuval noah harari
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Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
really good piece by @aidanwalker.bsky.social on the "nihilism by default" embodied by influencers like clavicular and nick fuentes and consumed by younger zoomers who've never known anything other than an online, politically fucked world howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com/p/clavicular...
Part of the audience pleasure, to my mind, comes from this knowledge: both Clavicular and Fuentes are entirely dependent on their viewers. Much has been made about the sadomaschocistic dynamic between Fuentes and the “pay pigs” that listen to him and take his verbal abuse on stream, but the manipulation goes both ways. For each of these men, there is no meaningful relationship in their lives other than the one with their audience. They are purely devoted to a constituency of slimy, broken people in the way that nuns are married to Christ. And each of these men, at this point, could never get a normal job. So all of their actions should be assessed as the moves of a man with his back to the wall and a loaded gun pointed at his head: they are desperate, and kept in a state of desperation by an attention economy that needs them to be in that position, by a transgression curve that calls for ever-more horrendous stunts.

Each man is a kind of martyr. They inflict suffering on themselves to prove devotion to something immaterial. Like the mystic self-flagellating, or the stigmatic continually reopening the wounds on their hands so they remain gory for the faithful to see, Clavicular and Fuentes turn their lives, their bodies, into material proof of an abstract principle’s power. They strike, isolate, scar, and maim themselves to illustrate the supremacy of the simulation and its digital representations over the reality which their audience loathes.
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
you can totally force him to back down. he’s a coward. for the past year, everyone’s been throwing their hands up going “there’s nothing we can do.” well, now we know you can support street protests, mutual aid networks, and direct pressure. fuck the midterms. this matters more.
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Justin Maxwell @303.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
I seriously hope some fbi investigating chats have an “are we the baddies?” moment Yeah guys guess what Entire tv/film genres exist about the elite craft and secrecy. People aspired to be part of the organization. Now you’re a Temu KGB Investigate internally and show up please
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Marcelo Rinesi @marcelorinesi.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
By @aidanwalker.bsky.social via @mattmuir.bsky.social . Doing the rounds, probably mostly among people who, like me, now cherish the lost innocence of a halcyon time before I knew his name. Also, JFC, he hits himself in the face with a hammer. /subtext is for cowards.gif etc.
howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com
Clavicular and contentmaxxing
the next step after groyperfication
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
I pray that what happened today does not become the new normal, but as it stands there’s nothing but the people who can keep that from happening
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
My new pamphlet “ON SKIBIDI: Cyborg Violence, Brainrot, and the Phenomenology of Digital Witness” coming to a handheld screen near you. Link in bio to the metalabel place where u can get pdf for $2.67
the cover of a pamphlet on skibidi toilet showing a cameraman soldier
a page from a skibidi toilet pamphlet
back cover featuring a qr code on an ipad held by a robot hand
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
american canto is like joan didion but if she were kinda dumb
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
was this how y'all felt about obama? like for real... the feeling that we're in the story, rather than at its end or epilogue. people who look like me and friends I love fist-bumping, hugging, walking proud in the streets, all kinds. got me libbed out heavy x.com/ZohranKMamda...
x.com
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Andy Ostroy @andyostroy.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Watch the full video with @aidanwalker.bsky.social in THE BACK ROOM. We talk Bill Maher, memes and more! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnT0...
youtube.com
Aidan Walker on Bill Maher, Memes and More!
YouTube video by The Back Room with Andy Ostroy
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Andy Ostroy @andyostroy.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Did you catch his epic appearance recently on Real Time with Bill Maher? Writer, creator and internet culture researcher @aidanwalker.bsky.social's in THE BACK ROOM talking memes, Maher and more! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
@harpers.bsky.social a question
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
i am going to write a letter to the editor of Harper’s magazine about Gooning
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
last winter: eye of rah, bought a property in egypt, chopped chin this summer; eeffoc, adrian, barbershop haircut, etc. now: burger in vegas. i hazard the prediction that we’ll see new standard collage elements emerge to go with that burger clip, seems to be how these edit trends work
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
the last time i wrote about gooning — spring of 2024. On a rainy afternoon in richmond, VA visiting a friend. Was on a deadline to get an explainer for the term “gooncave” posted to know your meme dot com by 5:30 pm. remember eating chicken tikka masala later that night. core memory.
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
have consulted the group chat and it looks like i gotta write something about gooning because print media has gotten a piece of story very well, but the depths still demand to be plumbed
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
one cause of the bothsidesism we still see, even today, is the left isn’t really foreign to the center like the right is. when they get mild opposition from the left it hurts more because it’s in a language they understand, from the kind of people they respect, so it leaves a deeper impression
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Michael Smerconish @smerconish.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Episode 5 of The Mingle Projects starts RIGHT NOW, streaming live on the Michael Smerconish YouTube Channel with Special Guest @aidanwalker.bsky.social . Tune in to watch 🎥 www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGtLL3e7AHk
youtube.com
Are the Kids Alright? Aidan Walker joins The Mingle Project with Michael Smerconish (Ep 5)
Vote on Today's Poll: https://www.smerconish.com/daily-poll/ Subscribe to The Smerconish.com Daily Newsletter: https://loom.ly/8oqcf-0
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Michael Smerconish @smerconish.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Watch the Trailer for The Mingle Project Episode 5: "Are The Kids Alright?" with special guest @aidanwalker.bsky.social Full episode streams Thursday Oct 23 at 8 PM ET, exclusively on the Michael Smerconish YouTube channel. Subscribe ➡️ loom.ly/QzHOoAg
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
the defining image of the early 21st century is an agent of the state pointing a gun at a person, and a citizen pointing a smartphone camera back at them we see this scene reenacted every day, around the world
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
nothing like looking at moving water while one is melancholy. this is what it’s all about, a good feeling
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Phrenology reply guy on twitter looked at my head shape when i was on bill maher and really went “physiognomy check failed, not listening to a word he’ll say” internet is a great place
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
it is all about the simple joys: herringbone sidewalks paved with brick, the smell of wood fire, the precisely-chosen typeface on an esoteric shitpost
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Isaac Chotiner is an american hero
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
memory is a contest -- rambles about the difficulty of internet archival work and the deficiency of progress narratives to explain history open.substack.com/pub/howtodot...
open.substack.com
memory is a contest
why memes matter, especially now
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Chris Egusa @goosenaut.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Super proud of the team for pulling this together in just a few days. Always insightful to hear from @aidanwalker.bsky.social
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morgan sung @morgansung.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
we did a big deep dive with @aidanwalker.bsky.social explaining the meme references found on the bullet casings, the groyperfication of young people, and why this shooting was, ultimately, a shitpost: disruptive and incoherent www.kqed.org/news/1205620...
kqed.org
Groypers, Doxxing and Charlie Kirk’s Death as a S***post | KQED
What is a “groyper?” The term began trending on Google in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. Kirk, the right-wing podcaster and Turning Point USA co-founder, was fatally shot last Wednesday during...
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
another take on if MrBeast is devil open.substack.com/pub/howtodot...
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
asking the important questions: open.substack.com/pub/howtodot...
open.substack.com
is MrBeast the antichrist?
the woe of more and more and more and more and more and more and more
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
finally, Abundance reviewed in the proper context www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
nybooks.com
How to Blow Up a Planet | Trevor Jackson
What happened to the future? When did we lose it, and what has taken its place? Political scientists have found a continual decline in visions of a shared
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
strangely charming to imagine these man-children fumbling about their lives, screenshotting the email draft with 30% battery on the smartphone and posting it to the official department of justice account -- the country being run by sad sack losers pbs.twimg.com/media/G0CltA...
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
This is the way I felt after watching a program called “bailing out baddies,” on instagram reels open.substack.com/pub/howtodot...
open.substack.com
everywhere is ohio
the spiritual alienation of american weird, part two
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Does anybody have a good explanation for why congressional democrats arent on 14th street heckling the occupiers? I’m not angry so as much as just wanting to understand why
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Amanda Litman @amandalitman.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
This TikTok from a researcher on the thesis he wrote about the distracted boyfriend meme is the most succinct explanation of how the internet info ecosystem has changed in the last decade that I’ve maybe ever seen. www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8BrkPe6/
tiktok.com
distracted boyfriend 8th anniversary post #distractedboyfriend #memes #critique
TikTok video by Aidan Walker
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
I'm not right wing but some of this "woke" stuff is a little over the top [6 months later] Slavery was fine. Your city is under martial law
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Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
A sneaky Barred Owl from this morning here in Washington state. #birds #owls #nature
An owl with dark eyes and a yellow beak perched among green pine branches.
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
The man predicted the future and he told you exactly how it was going to happen, too
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Aidan Walker @aidanwalker.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
I am beginning to believe, unironically, that Jacques Derrida and deconstruction is the best way to understand AI-generated brainrot open.substack.com/pub/howtodot...
open.substack.com
Italian Brainrot and AI semiotics
part one
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