Did you follow the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial?
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Me, almost none.
But I followed what happened on the internet on the sidelines of this trial between two ex-spouses who accused each other of being toxic and violent, I followed the virtual army that rose in favor of Johnny Depp.
Fan-made videos, memes and clips of Depp flooded the platforms. Formerly, when you liked a star, you cut out his image in the pages of girls today and you stuck it on your headboard…
Today, you make videos that drive his ex crazy, for the clicks.
Depp will soon be 59 years old. When Mme Heard was born (in 1986), Depp was already a small star in the suburbs of Hollywood fame, handsome Brummel popular with teenage girls.
That’s how vast Depp’s fan base is. His hyperpopular movies – fromEdward Scissorhands at Pirates of the Caribbean – have constantly renewed this pool, widened it, deepened it.
Hence this army of fans who defended it with clickbait, completely voluntarily. To create a reality, a truth: Depp, victim, from A to Z.
Did I say “army”?
Bad word.
“Tribe” is a better term.
Since the pandemic, I have been fascinated by identity. Not in the sense that we hear it in our Quebec debates, around the Nation. No, I’m talking about these new identities, freed from the millennial borders of race, religion, nationality, powered by digital technology. tribes of interest.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Demonstration against sanitary measures in Montreal, last February
Anti-sanitary measures were not just an opposition to rules, vaccines, masks. It was more than that. The individuals who were active in these movements affirmed something about themselves, about who they are. Having found each other – and self-pumped – on the internet, they federated. Have become a tribe.
This tribe marched in the streets to say “I exist” as much – perhaps more – than to rail against the mask, health rules and vaccines.
Protesting, sweating, they counted, finally. To exist, a tribe must reject, too. They rejected the knowledge, the scholars. Society, a little.
Fifteen years ago, the tribe of 9/11 “Truthers” united around a rejection: that of the “official” version of the 2001 attacks. For a long time, I saw them as an aberration. Rather, they announced the world to come.
Take the bitcoin bonkers. Do you understand anything about cryptocurrencies? Me? Not at all. I’m not saying it’s stupid, just that I don’t care. But it’s another tribe, the bitcoin tripe, one of the most intense of the time…
They have the certainty of sect leaders, convinced that the reign of national currencies is over. Enraged in their belief that those who buy RRSPs are not only wrong, but heretical. Their favorite insult: “Do you like being poor? »
On Twitter, they put laser beams in place of their eyes1, in their photos. They also adore Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, who also believes in bitcoin…
They see themselves as Musk: rebels, system breakers. Are just less rich than Musk, who made his money elsewhere than in cryptos…
I quote Finn Breton2, the author of a book on cryptocurrencies: “The culture around bitcoin is part of its appeal. When you buy bitcoin, you are buying a ticket into this environment. And this environment is part of your identity. »
In short, you join a tribe. You affirm your identity: I’m not a stubborn person who buys RRSPs, ME…
And that’s how you add laser beams in place of your eyes, in your photo, on Twitter, even if there is something profoundly stupid about adding lasers to your eyes, as an adult, as if you were Grendizer…
But it’s the norm, it’s the crest of the tribe, it’s the others who are abnormal, those who “like to be poor”.
I don’t know where this new world of tribes will take us, with their codes, with their facts, with their… It’s funny to say, but let’s face it: with their truths.
Because the more tribes there are, the more truths there will be.
I quote the American journalist David Roberts3 “Information is therefore evaluated not in accordance with common standards of proof or in accordance with a common understanding of the world, but whether or not the information supports the values and objectives of the tribe. “Good for our side” and “true” then become one…”
It’s the modern tribal belief: if we are numerous enough, if we are enraged enough, we can alter reality.
Look at the Trumpists, the most disturbing tribe of the time, who howl that their cult leader was robbed of the election (sic): they believe it. And maybe reality will have to bow to the Trumpist tribe. Either way, they’re off to a good start.4.