It originally meant "based on your own beliefs," usually in the context of sticking to your guns despite unpopularity. Which is/was the cool thing to express on 4chan.
"Based" is a catchphrase of the extremely online right. It basically means "cool" but with a subtext of "is annoying to libs/normies who just don't get it."
Words become political when you start injecting politics in them. It originally meant "cool" and had no political connotations to it. It originated on 4chan. And just because some group happens to use a word more frequently doesn't suddenly turn you into a NAZI if you happen to like using the same word.
I’m not sure why people are still talking about it as some insular 4chan slang. Like much of 4chan culture, it’s spread to most of the rest of the internet by now. Hell I’ve seen “based” comments on HN.
I shun most of the internet these days. HN and (German) reddit are the only "socials" I use. I have no clue what is happening on the wider Anglo speaking internet, especially Twitter and such is completely alien to me.
The thing about language is that it isn't static, it changes over time. Sometimes a previously dominant usage will become eclipsed by a new one that emerges.
There's nuance to the etymology of any word of course. In fact I sometimes see the extremely online left try to (ironically?) appropriate "based." But I think in the context we can all figure out which connotation Elon was using.
Yes I get that. My argument is, when some group you don't like starts adopting a word, your reaction should not be to politicize the word and shun it and pretend they stole it. Just keep using the word as you intend it and who cares about what some other dumbfucks think.
Because the primary purpose of language is communication and if you aren't accomplishing that then you have some other reason for using it. Slang changes all the time -- no one says 'true dat' anymore.
Lil B
(based ≈ doing your own thing (in a good way)
not swayed by critics)
↙ ↘
Gen Z 4chan
(based ≈ cool) ("based and redpilled"
≈"unswayed by pop rhetoric"
and "sees the world beyond the 'illusion'", resp.)
> "Based" is a catchphrase of the extremely online right. It basically means "cool" but with a subtext of "is annoying to libs/normies who just don't get it."
It is also a catchphrase of the extremely online left with exactly the same in-group vs. out-group implication (and, amusingly—because of the different meanings of “liberal” and “lib” favored by the two sides—usually identical meaning with regard to “libs/normies”.)
Yeah I had no clue what his deal was, but I decided to search his tweets for "openAI" and it became clear pretty quickly. Interestingly, for the same reason as the article.
Maybe they just wants to express how much they don't like Elon any opportunity they gets.