The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: Why Is Bin Laden Trending on TikTok?

Credit: Asianet-Pakistan

I don’t talk about politics in this column often, because other people online actually study or work in International relations and public policy, and they know a lot more about it than I do. But this week, the kids are creeping me out by making a hero out of notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden, so I’m breaking my own rule. Then again, young people are also using high tech butt-plugs to cheat at chess games, so maybe it balances out. 

Why is Osama bin Laden’s "Letter to America" trending on TikTok?

The rising social media star among kids this week is dead terrorist and Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, who was the son of a billionaire and believed women should be murdered if they showed their faces, caught TikTok’s eye earlier this week (or maybe caught TikTok's eye, then Twitter’s eye, then TikTok’s eye again) when some users discovered his "Letter to America," an messaged he'd penned to justify carrying out acts of terrorism. A few people started making videos about how “eye-opening” they found the mass-killer's words, voicing comments like, “it change[d] my entire perspective on the American government.”

Videos on the topic had over 15 million views as of Thursday, though it's unclear how many of them were from people genuinely engaging with the content and how many were driven by the so-called "Streisand effect"—that is, it's likely many were only viewing the videos because they had heard about them via the media, and not because they sympathize with the POV of the architect of 9-11. Regardless, in response to the trend, U.K.’s The Guardian removed the letter from its site, and TikTok to promised they are removing all videos that support terrorism (but they’re still there as of this posting.) 

However widespread it truly is, the trend highlights the danger of an incomplete understanding of recent history mixed with turbulent times and the passion of youth. But bottom line—bin Laden shouldn’t be anyone’s role model. I hope that the people whose “eyes have been opened” will continue to research this complex topic and arrive at a more nuanced understanding of relations between the West and the Muslim world. Perhaps they’ll place the letter in its proper context as propaganda written by a mass murderer as opposed to a trustworthy account of geopolitics. To paraphrase Twitter user @dril: you do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to him.”

Viral video of the week: "We Used An Adult Toy To Beat A Chess Grandmaster"

It’s a little weird to go from Osama bin Laden becoming TikTok-famous to a video of YouTubers using high tech anal beads to cheat at chess, but this is the world we live in. The video comes from YouTubers Josh & Archie, who take a Mythbusters approach to the crackpot theory/joke that chess Grandmaster Hans Niemann upset World Champion Magnus Carlsen back in September 2022 with the help of an “insertable” that indicated the right moves to him. While this almost definitely didn’t happen in real life, Josh & Archie wanted to find out if it was at least possible, so they tracked down a chess grandmaster to act as opponent (but didn’t tell him about the butt plug scheme), ordered a remote control sex toy, and created a chess-centric code that could be transmitted directly to the prostate. I mean, they actually did it; I just love the commitment to science. I won’t spoil the ending, but check it out below: 

What does "mog" mean?

The word “mog” is growing in popularity on the internet. It was born in the always-disturbing world of incels, and has recently been spreading on TikTok. “Mog” usually means something like “being attractive” but it’s more like being attractive at someone. 

Mog tends to be used as a verb—if a woman decided to talk to an attractive, normal guy instead of a sweaty incel (shocking, I know), the incel might say he was mogged by the other fellow. It demonstrates one of the unique traits of incels: narcissism. They consider themselves ignored by the world around them, but at the same time, the existence of someone with a nice build and straight teeth is seen as a personal insult—as if handsome dudes are only handsome in order to make incels look bad. It’s all disturbing. Not "bin Laden is a hero" levels disturbing, but definitely not good. 

Who is Elijah Jamerson?

I like to keep track of online-famous people who never would have become famous without the internet; like Eliah Jameson. The high school student first caught the online world’s interest in October, when he was interviewed by classmate Braden Hales. The videos gained tens of millions of views and shares based on Jamerson’s peculiar speech patterns, genial disposition, and demonstrations of various tricks and funny voices. There’s something so sweet about the kid, you have to like him, so people started memeing his videos, and spreading his catchphrases like “"Let the show go on,” and “Keep worshipping me” all over. Jamerson may have some kind of cognitive issues, or maybe he’s just weird, but it’s nice that the comments on videos about him are almost all celebrating instead of hating—but then something bad happened.

In late October Jamerson promised that he “had a surprise” for his school on Halloween. Someone apparently took this as a school shooting threat. But Jamerson says he was referring to his costume. Anyway, Jamerson posted a tearful apology video to his TikTok account, apologizing to anyone who was scared, and explaining that he was just going to show up on Halloween dressed silly. He then took down his social media, depriving us all of his endearing presence.  

What gifts should you buy for a Skibidi Toilet fan?

Our sister site retailmenot recently posted a gift guide for the generation Alpha in your life who loves weird YouTube series Skibidi Toilet. The article starts with quotes from one of the world’s most attractive Skibidi Toilet experts, and goes on to providing links to Skibidi-related merchandise, including “adorable” plushies of heads coming out of toilets, stickers of favorite Skibidi characters, and a full set of 16 skibidi action figures so the kid in your life can reenact the entire series. (All of this is assuming you want to encourage this sort of thing, which I do not endorse.)