https://www.wired.com/story/whos-afraid-of-skibidi-toilet/
"If you’re baffled by
Skibidi Toilet, you’re not alone.
The bizarre animated YouTube series centers on an alien invasion: a swarm of
singing heads, all popping out of toilets, has descended on a Los Angeles–like
metropolis and triggered a surreal, cartoonish, apocalyptic war. That’s a more
direct and clear explanation than you’ll find in the actual videos, since
they’re all almost completely wordless. There’s no language barrier, which is a
major reason why the videos have been viewed hundreds of millions of times,
becoming a global cultural phenomenon among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
Surprisingly for something so popular,
Skibidi Toilet has garnered a
reputation for being incomprehensible to anyone who isn’t a fan. Its
impenetrable nature has raised serious concerns around the world. Some call it
a moral outrage, foreign propaganda meant to prey on vulnerable young minds, or
even a disease. In a cultural climate where it’s harder and harder to
understand trends and popularity, people are searching for an explanation for
how singing toilets conquered the world. On the May 22 episode of
The Late
Show, Stephen Colbert punched up a joke about the Biden campaign using
Skibidi Toilet to attract the youth vote, saying that if anyone didn’t get
the gag, their grandchildren could explain it “and you still won’t understand.”
As random as the videos can seem, their success isn’t.
Skibidi Toilet deftly
combines modern storytelling trends with nostalgic internet humor in a way that
magnifies the outwardly confusing qualities of both. “It was initially
appealing to young people for its utter weirdness,” says danah boyd, a partner
researcher at Microsoft Research. “Parents (and many other adults) probably
reacted with revulsion, as they’ve done many other times. That revulsion from
adults makes it even more appealing to young people.”"
Via
Garbage Day: Cargo cults for autocorrect
https://www.garbageday.email/p/cargo-cults-autocorrect
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
