PPEcel
cope and seethe
-
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2018
- Posts
- 29,089
Nate Gallagher's thesis: The Blackpill and the Suffering Apparatus
I should first thank @Personalityinkwell for bringing this to my attention. Now that I have fully read it, I realize that it is actually very well-written and reveals a lot of original research. This is something that reads like it's from a PhD student, even though it was authored by an undergraduate youngcel.
Gallagher uses qualitative virtual ethnography to analyze the discursive social constructionism of the incels.co community -- i.e. he lurked here and read our posts. Before I offer my thoughts on the subject, I will tag everyone who was mentioned in the thesis, organized by thread.
Note: This is a long list. Page references correspond to the page of the thesis where the incel in question is quoted.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is impossible to get ripped unless you have Godly genetics or use massive roids (which will make you bald)
OP: @RageAgainstTDL (p. 44, 45, 49)
@MayorOfKekville (p. 46)
@Gremlincel (p. 46)
@Creep (p. 46, 48)
@Mahlo (p. 46, 78)
@GeneticDysfunction (p. 47)
@EthnicelNL (p. 47)
@WakeMeUpIncel (p. 48)
@janoycresva (p. 48)
@fred_herbert (p. 49)
@Arentheal (p. 50)
@BlackPilledKira (p. 50)
@nxdismycope (p. 50)
@Ecstasy (p. 50)
@Xenocel (p. 50)
@Born2 (p. 51)
@Ascend2Chadpreet (p. 51)
Slut Shaming is a Cope
OP: @Philosophycel (p. 54)
@GeneticDysfunction
@ColdLightOfDay (p. 54)
@frustratedhapa (p. 54)
@wandercamp (p. 55)
@speedtypingincel (p. 55)
@Robtical (p. 56)
@BrendioEEE (p. 56)
@Uggo Mongo (p. 57)
@based_meme (p. 57)
@UpsideDown (p. 57-58)
@Legendarywristcel (p. 58)
I always wanted to stop playing video games and "grow up", but people like us cannot grow up.
OP: @FidelCashflow (p. 69)
@sub8male (p. 70)
@MayorOfKekville (p. 70)
@NocturnalDecay (p. 70)
@Pumkin (p. 72-73)
@Excluded (p. 77)
@chadalwayswins (p. 77)
@Gyros_Pretcel (p. 77)
@Blackpincel (p. 77)
The Life and Times of itsOVER (Legendary white incel slaying in Thailand)
@itsOVER (p. 90)
SCIENTIFIC PROOF that the order of importance is: Race > Height > Face > Money
OP: @RageAgainstTDL (p. 91-92)
@Adolf Reinhardt (p. 93)
@gookcel96 (p. 93)
@rabitter (p. 93)
@backyardslayer (p. 93)
@MilkTeaPill (p. 94)
@Grotesque (p. 95)
@Ledgemund (p. 95)
Racial Allegiance Is An Extremely Blue Pilled Cope
OP: @BlkPillPres (p. 97-98)
@ColdLightOfDay (p. 99)
@StaroRavager (p. 99)
@Ledgemund (p. 100)
@RopeMaXXer (p. 100)
@Ap0calypse (p. 100)
@Salustio (p. 100)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gallagher's conclusion:
Instead of creating one uniform narrative about the ideologies of the incel community, Gallagher's thesis seeks to detail the diversity of opinions found on incels.co -- all of which he describes as part of the "suffering apparatus", and he defines as "the discursive machinery that permits, evaluates, and valorizes expressions of suffering among blackpill adherents".
Interestingly, Gallagher rejects the conclusion that the blackpill is an "absurd pseudoscience".
He concedes that although the lexicon of incels.co is often extreme, incel conceptions of race are not "fringe" and in fact are broadly reproduced in the cultural milieu.
Gallagher ends his thesis by suggesting that the "incel problem" is one that reflects society's broader problems of "patriarchy" and "white supremacy". He does admit, though, that the incel community's "close engagement with the complexity of life" allows sociologists to examine how "race-gender discourses perniciously reproduce racial asymmetries and power inequalities".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My personal thoughts:
The vast majority of academic literature surrounding the incel community comes in one of two approaches: 1) from a counter-extremist perspective that lumps incels more broadly in with other domestic security threats in North America and Western Europe (see Hoffman et al); or 2) from a feminist perspective that generalizes incel discourse as yet another aspect of hegemonic masculinity.
That Gallagher has avoided the pitfalls of either approach is commendable. The anthropologist perspective on the incel community is deserving of social commentary.
His methodology and conclusions are not without flaws, however. For logistical reasons, he has not engaged in direct communication with any incel; such communication might enrich his paper. And while I am glad that he is willing to tackle the toxic race-gender discourses which adversely influence perceptions of ethnicels, I was also hoping to see more content surrounding lookism and its general ramifications on non-sexual aspects of social behaviour.
Possible topics for further discussion by the academic community might include 1) the normative justifiability of lookism* in various behavioural contexts, 2) possible policy interventions by the public sector and civil society, 3) normative justifications of such intervention, if any, and 4) the affect theory as applied to online discourse and identity-building (the interactions between incels.co and r/IncelTear in particular). Though I will admit that these topics of choice simply reflect my personal bias as someone studying philosophy, political science, and economics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*considering that lookism is inextricably tied to not only race and gender but also social class
In this project, I pull from political subjectivity as a means of vitalizing incel ideology. In analyzing the articulations of experience on blackpill forums, I emphasize how individuals actively construct incel epistemologies and identity from online interaction. There is an element of irony here, given that incel status is explicitly defined by a striking absence of agency. The blackpill purports that genetics and societal misandry have essentially shackled “low-status” men to a condition of imprisonment. Ascension—transcending the life of inceldom—is treated as an impossible reality for those bound by terminal genetic constraints.
I should first thank @Personalityinkwell for bringing this to my attention. Now that I have fully read it, I realize that it is actually very well-written and reveals a lot of original research. This is something that reads like it's from a PhD student, even though it was authored by an undergraduate youngcel.
Each incels.co post I have selected represents an attempt to validate a particular interpretation of inceldom. Incels.co site users initiate forum discussion by providing evidence on their understanding of the blackpill or their own life circumstances. The responses generated by the post can be seen as a way of negotiating the fairness or the validity of such narratives. Although these posts often invoke broader incel texts, they also reproduce, challenge, and structure incel discourse through interaction.
Gallagher uses qualitative virtual ethnography to analyze the discursive social constructionism of the incels.co community -- i.e. he lurked here and read our posts. Before I offer my thoughts on the subject, I will tag everyone who was mentioned in the thesis, organized by thread.
Note: This is a long list. Page references correspond to the page of the thesis where the incel in question is quoted.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is impossible to get ripped unless you have Godly genetics or use massive roids (which will make you bald)
While there is no doubt that incel rhetoric borrows heavily from “dated” understandings of human variation, to call the blackpill “pseudoscience” obscures the critical link between inceldom and contemporary academic research. The blackpill is not an inherently antiscientific understanding of human courtship and social relations, but one that pulls significantly from peer-reviewed, “credible” scholarly literature. This suggestion is not intended to validate incel principles; instead, it calls into question the methods and interpretations of current scholarship surrounding apparent gendered difference along mate choice, attraction, and sexuality.
OP: @RageAgainstTDL (p. 44, 45, 49)
@MayorOfKekville (p. 46)
@Gremlincel (p. 46)
@Creep (p. 46, 48)
@Mahlo (p. 46, 78)
@GeneticDysfunction (p. 47)
@EthnicelNL (p. 47)
@WakeMeUpIncel (p. 48)
@janoycresva (p. 48)
@fred_herbert (p. 49)
@Arentheal (p. 50)
@BlackPilledKira (p. 50)
@nxdismycope (p. 50)
@Ecstasy (p. 50)
@Xenocel (p. 50)
@Born2 (p. 51)
@Ascend2Chadpreet (p. 51)
Slut Shaming is a Cope
Here, women’s sexualization is intimately linked with their supposed hypergamous nature. For incels, sexuality represents a resource women can leverage in order to lure men existing beyond their attractive tier. By extension, the more women’s sexualization is made permissible, the worse “low-tier” men will fare.
OP: @Philosophycel (p. 54)
@GeneticDysfunction
@ColdLightOfDay (p. 54)
@frustratedhapa (p. 54)
@wandercamp (p. 55)
@speedtypingincel (p. 55)
@Robtical (p. 56)
@BrendioEEE (p. 56)
@Uggo Mongo (p. 57)
@based_meme (p. 57)
@UpsideDown (p. 57-58)
@Legendarywristcel (p. 58)
I always wanted to stop playing video games and "grow up", but people like us cannot grow up.
The comparisons drawn here highlight the privileges associated with being a Chad and the societal disdain for incels. While Chads receive no criticism for playing videogames, the same act is leveraged as evidence of incels’ immaturity. Women are entranced by Chad’s good looks and fail to consider him capable of embarrassment or wrongdoing. They will happily indulge his gaming tendencies if they find themselves lucky enough to be his anointed possession.
OP: @FidelCashflow (p. 69)
@sub8male (p. 70)
@MayorOfKekville (p. 70)
@NocturnalDecay (p. 70)
@Pumkin (p. 72-73)
@Excluded (p. 77)
@chadalwayswins (p. 77)
@Gyros_Pretcel (p. 77)
@Blackpincel (p. 77)
The Life and Times of itsOVER (Legendary white incel slaying in Thailand)
@itsOVER (p. 90)
SCIENTIFIC PROOF that the order of importance is: Race > Height > Face > Money
Inceldom tends to be represented in popular and scholarly writing as a white nationalist movement, but these depictions fail to capture the diversity of racial narratives circulating on incels.co. Rather than uphold white supremacy, incels.co users generally treat whiteness as tentatively incompatible with the incel condition given its wide societal appeal.
OP: @RageAgainstTDL (p. 91-92)
@Adolf Reinhardt (p. 93)
@gookcel96 (p. 93)
@rabitter (p. 93)
@backyardslayer (p. 93)
@MilkTeaPill (p. 94)
@Grotesque (p. 95)
@Ledgemund (p. 95)
Racial Allegiance Is An Extremely Blue Pilled Cope
While journalists have been quick to reduce inceldom to a white nationalist movement, evidence supporting this framing remains elusive.
OP: @BlkPillPres (p. 97-98)
@ColdLightOfDay (p. 99)
@StaroRavager (p. 99)
@Ledgemund (p. 100)
@RopeMaXXer (p. 100)
@Ap0calypse (p. 100)
@Salustio (p. 100)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gallagher's conclusion:
Instead of creating one uniform narrative about the ideologies of the incel community, Gallagher's thesis seeks to detail the diversity of opinions found on incels.co -- all of which he describes as part of the "suffering apparatus", and he defines as "the discursive machinery that permits, evaluates, and valorizes expressions of suffering among blackpill adherents".
Interestingly, Gallagher rejects the conclusion that the blackpill is an "absurd pseudoscience".
Incels.co users invoke these principles in their writings to provide evidence of the unfair and incurable nature of their undesirability. Scientific literature, as it filters from cited publications into individual utterances, grants authority to these framings of pain.
Research on partner preference, mating strategies, and genetic correlates of bodily traits inadvertently grant legitimacy to the incel worldview by upholding an evolutionary paradigm wielded to naturalize difference. Most literature in forum postings or on the scientific blackpill page is reputable among academic circles, rather than widely discredited as “pseudoscience.”
He concedes that although the lexicon of incels.co is often extreme, incel conceptions of race are not "fringe" and in fact are broadly reproduced in the cultural milieu.
...that white men are the normative template of sexual conduct, that Asian men are emasculated and undesired in light of this white ideal, and that black men are threateningly hypersexual...
...antiracist movements that do not deconstruct race-gender discourses can fail to address the logics that continually recreate racial difference. Incels.co refracts how these discourses reproduce racialized asymmetries: they represent more raw versions of popular race-gender representations that become sanitized in the mainstream majority. All of these considerations are lost when inceldom is relegated to an “extremist” margin.
Gallagher ends his thesis by suggesting that the "incel problem" is one that reflects society's broader problems of "patriarchy" and "white supremacy". He does admit, though, that the incel community's "close engagement with the complexity of life" allows sociologists to examine how "race-gender discourses perniciously reproduce racial asymmetries and power inequalities".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My personal thoughts:
The vast majority of academic literature surrounding the incel community comes in one of two approaches: 1) from a counter-extremist perspective that lumps incels more broadly in with other domestic security threats in North America and Western Europe (see Hoffman et al); or 2) from a feminist perspective that generalizes incel discourse as yet another aspect of hegemonic masculinity.
That Gallagher has avoided the pitfalls of either approach is commendable. The anthropologist perspective on the incel community is deserving of social commentary.
His methodology and conclusions are not without flaws, however. For logistical reasons, he has not engaged in direct communication with any incel; such communication might enrich his paper. And while I am glad that he is willing to tackle the toxic race-gender discourses which adversely influence perceptions of ethnicels, I was also hoping to see more content surrounding lookism and its general ramifications on non-sexual aspects of social behaviour.
Possible topics for further discussion by the academic community might include 1) the normative justifiability of lookism* in various behavioural contexts, 2) possible policy interventions by the public sector and civil society, 3) normative justifications of such intervention, if any, and 4) the affect theory as applied to online discourse and identity-building (the interactions between incels.co and r/IncelTear in particular). Though I will admit that these topics of choice simply reflect my personal bias as someone studying philosophy, political science, and economics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*considering that lookism is inextricably tied to not only race and gender but also social class
Last edited: