Satire As Commentary
If you grew up in an English-speaking country, you very likely had to read A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift in one of your grade school classes. For those unfamiliar, this 18th century piece asserts with deadpan seriousness that the Irish government should legalize the selling of infants as food. Ireland was experiencing problems with famine and poverty at the time, and the satire was a commentary on this situation and how those in power were responding to it.
While the piece was satirical in nature, it aimed to make a serious point about the state of affairs in Ireland at the time, and despite the waning relevance of that particular time and place to modern affairs in the English-speaking world, it is still used as the classic and prototypical example of satire-as-serious-commentary. While the piece was satirical in nature, the point it was making was sincere, and was interpreted as such.
Such satire is very common, and the authors are generally open about the serious nature of their commentary. Satire is an important and valuable tool for showing the absurdity or danger of particular viewpoints, speaking truth to power, etc.
Motte-and-Bailey
That said, there is a class of propaganda that has become popular in alt-right circles that centers on using humor as a form of propaganda without being sincere about it. It usually takes one of the many forms of internet humor, such as a meme, quick video clip, etc. And any critique of the point the satire is making elicits a response along the lines of “It’s just a joke, bro. Relax.”
It’s a reversal of the satirical approach. Satire portrays something absurd or ridiculous in order to make a serious point. This class of propaganda instead asserts something serious and then claims it was just a bit of silly humor.
This is a very common rhetorical technique known as the Motte-and-Bailey. When engaging in Motte-and-Bailey, one starts with putting forward one’s sincere point of view, which is usually something controversial or extreme, and when critiqued on that point of view, one then moves the goal posts by claiming that you were merely asserting something common sensical and non-controversial.
One commonly sees this technique used by proponents of Critical Race Theory, also known by the acronym of CRT. The bailey will be something like “racism is an intrinsic and inseparable part of Western institutions, such as capitalism and democracy”. When critiqued, the proponent of CRT retreats to the motte of “racism exists in some capacity in some people’s minds and in some institutions.”
Notice how the second point is mostly uncontroversial and difficult to deny. Who would claim that nobody has unconscious racist biases, or that no institutions have problems with racism? A small minority of people might make such ridiculous claims, but most people would accept these are common sense realities of the world we live in. But consider how different this point of view is from the idea that racism is an intrinsic and inseparable part of Western institutions, and the difference this would make in the sort of policy proposals or political agendas one might adopt. It’s an extremely non-trivial difference.
Comedy As Motte-and-Bailey
In the case of the alt-right, an extremely common technique is to do this via joke. For example, take this recent Twitter post from the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus:
I have covered how the populist right, including the alt-right, fixates on vegetarianism and veganism as some kind of plot by the Elites in a previous piece. The point being made here is sincere; the person posting this really believes it, and wants you to believe it too, and wants to attract an audience that believes it.
That said, a common response to critique of this post has been “Why are you getting upset? They are just joking!” This is a form of the Motte-and-Bailey technique. In this version of it, the bailey is the actual point being made, and the motte is “It’s a joke and therefore not actually making a serious point.”
This is a particularly pernicious form of Motte-and-Bailey, since it is very easy to fool people that appreciate dark or ridiculous humor into actually believing the motte and spreading your propaganda on your behalf. They themselves may sincerely appreciate it purely as a ridiculous joke, but the point being made is still being shared with a wider audience who may indeed read it was actually intended.
They can also weaponize the motte as a form of character assassination. If you critique the point they are making, you can be accused of being an uptight bore and having no sense of humor. You can also be attacked for not supporting free speech, since evidently some people believe that critique of their ideas is somehow an attack on free speech rather than an example of it, or they might automatically assume critique means you favor deplatforming them.
The Legitimate Role of Edgy Humor
At this juncture, I feel the need to make a small counterpoint to the above to avoid being misunderstood. I myself have a great appreciation of black humor and edgy humor. Particularly when I was younger, my friends and I would often make insincere racist/sexist/etc. jokes. These jokes would go to comical extremes, often involving other taboo subjects like rape, murder, suicide, etc.
This is essentially a form of play that many young people, particularly young men, engage in. The point isn’t that the jokes were sincere commentary, but to laugh at pushing the boundaries that society, authority figures, etc. have set for what is and isn’t acceptable to say. It’s a marginally more mature version of a giggling child saying the word “fuck” around his friends when no adults are around.
For many people, me included, this is part of growing up. One is raised within various constraints, some with good reason, and part of becoming a functional adult is bucking some of those restraints. For many men, early adulthood is a period of life where they are oppositionally defiant, not as a form of the disorder of the same name, but as part of a learning process where they learn who they are and how the world actually works. In a healthy individual, one eventually matures out of this.
I raise this point because I don’t want to mischaracterize people engaged in this kind of necessary play. That said, I do believe bad actors are more than happy to exploit this tendency in young men in order to get them to share their propaganda. The infamous website 4chan in particular represents an interesting intersection between these two different kinds of people.
Of particular concern is the fact that many of the young men engaged in this kind of play are also exactly the kind of men that get recruited into dangerous extremist organizations. If one observes neo-Nazi organizations, Islamist groups, paramilitary leftist organizations, etc., one finds a common theme despite the notable ideological differences between these kinds of groups. They aim to appeal to disaffected young men, unsure about their future and without direction, by offering them a narrative where they can be a great hero fighting against a grand evil force. They also offer a convenient narrative for why these individuals feel socially disconnected and purposeless; it’s because of whatever group they have scapegoated as the cause of all of the world’s problems.
What To Do About It
What we need to do is shine a light on exactly what is happening. I’m hoping this piece serves this function, and I encourage others to offer their own analysis and commentary. This particular propaganda technique, like most such techniques, depends on the target being unaware of the fact that they are being played.
Share this piece (or others like it) when someone tries to weaponize the motte against you on social media. You’ll know when this is happening because they’ll clearly be making a serious point in line with their other claims/posts/etc. but assert that they are just joking and try to turn it into a character assassination of you. You’re not likely to convince them, but you can at least shine a light on the technique for any passers-by that see the thread.
Additionally, avoid unironically sharing comedy or humor that is intended as propaganda. Even if it is funny to you as just a ridiculous joke, if you suspect that was not the intent of the author, keep it to yourself, or share it with a comment explaining how this form of propaganda works. This can be tricky, of course, since such propaganda often intentionally tries to camouflage itself as nonserious in order to strengthen the motte, but I think a conscious awareness of this propaganda technique will go a long way.
Finally, be aware of the counterpoint I made. Edgy humor is, for many young people, part of growing up. Have some compassion for this and be aware that not everyone sharing edgy jokes might be aware that they are sharing something intended as unironic propaganda. If you choose to engage someone like this, be polite and make them aware of how they might be getting unintentionally exploited by propagandists.