Fascist-core: Pinterest, The "Vibe Shift", and Late-Stage Capitalism

If you’ve been on Pinterest or TikTok recently, you may have noticed the proliferation of niche micro-aesthetics, often cataloged in the form of collages, compilation videos, or “guide to ____-core” masterdocs. These, unlike larger fashion trends that might last several years before fading into obscurity again, flit in and out of existence in the blink of an eye. Behind this urge to label and behind the endless churn of micro-cores is a consumer culture driven by ego-identification with images, that intersects with the increasingly rapid rate of modern-day image consumption. 

Whether or not you’ve been on Pinterest, you may have also noticed that we are living through a cultural ”vibe-shift”. Some of the hype around this is no doubt manufactured, or outright forced, by fascist demagogues who wish they had full jurisdiction over the cultural output of the United States, assumedly so they could ensure that the only “art” that ever comes out of this country is AI Ghibli slop posters encouraging Americans to turn their neighbors over to ICE, or slow-winding shots of bodybuilders set to Brazilian phonk. Some of it isn’t though, and seems to have been given new life by Donald Trump’s second term as tech giants, influencers, and cultural taste-makers alike bend the knee to the new regime. 

Our culture is fast and increasingly fascist. These things, I contend, have to do with each other. Enter Jonah Peretti, theorist, better known for other work (we’ll get to that in a moment). In 1996, he wrote an article entitled Capitalism and Schizophrenia, a Deleuzian and Lacanian exploration of identity formation and dissolution under late capitalism. He argues, (and any COMD student worth their salt will corroborate) that “in order for an advertisement…to be successful, it must provoke an ego formation that makes the product integral to the viewer's identity”. This means that the “increasingly rapid rate at which images are distributed and consumed in late capitalism necessitates a corresponding increase in the rate that individuals assume and shed identities. Because advertisements link identity with the need to purchase products, the acceleration of visual culture promotes the hyper-consumption associated with late capitalism”. Peretti would later use the exact strategy described to found Buzzfeed, an early internet content house known for pioneering identity-based content in the digital space.

An online culture that is primed for rapid ego-identification with images and aesthetics is a hyperconsumerist culture. It is also a culture primed for fascist encroachment. Instagram, for example, wants to sell you things, and is run by someone who has bent the knee to MAGA. Using algorithmic association to lead people down the fascist pipeline is not only of no real concern to the heads of Instagram; it may even be beneficial to them. Along the way, they can provoke ego formation, and they can use then use that to sell you supplements, beef tallow, milkmaid dresses, AGA stoves, and organ meat. In an era of increasing top-down attempts at media control, the fascist might be the perfect social media customer: easy to sell to, slow to question, and, most importantly, loyal.

Orion Smith Anderson

Blog: https://atiglain.mataroa.blog