“No one person owns a meme, they’re a universal template,” says Matthew Kriner, executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism. “We do not see a meme itself as an indication of what the ideology behind it is.” This hasn’t stopped people from attempting to use the memes as proof that Robinson was part of a certain political groups. Some completely misunderstood the memes, such as the BBC’s Mike Wendling, who suggested in a post that a gaming reference, which was later attributed to Helldivers 2, might be linked to antifa. Others, like the Telegraph analyzed purported connections between Robinson and the Groypers.
Sadly, Groypers aren’t the only online group that uses the language and practices of memes to advocate and commit acts of political violence. As far-right movements have gained significant political power worldwide, the irony seems to have been replaced by nihilism. The past few years have seen new internet movements like the Com network and 764. These groups, made up largely of isolated underage people, are centered around criminal acts such as committing abusive, violent, and exploitative practices like sextortion in the name of creating the most chaos and fear possible, with no other ideological or political agenda. The FBI has categorized these groups as NVE (nihilistic violent extremism), and they operate in much the same ways, and along the same vectors, as more benign online communities.
“In the 2010s, radicalization was about being the underdog, using grievance culture to shift narratives,” says Jamie Cohen, professor of media studies at Queens College. “Today, the institutions are fully captured by far-right narratives. The culture is shifted, so radicalization is stochastic incidents designed to sow chaos.”
There’s no indication Robinson was a member of any of these NVE groups, though they offer context into how these crimes can often lack any political intent or meaning. “We often research individual perpetrators to understand how memetic elements fit into the larger data and history of their lives,” says Kriner. “[With Robinson] we have little to no public information, so making inferences is challenging, if not impossible, based on what we have in the public eye right now.”
New details have emerged that give some further grounding without anything definitive. Some reports claimed that Robinson was not registered with either political party, but that both his parents were registered Republicans; according to court docs, his mother said he became more invested in “pro-gay and trans rights” in recent months.
In the aforementioned text exchange, Robinson allegedly said “I had enough of his hatred” in reference to Kirk. Independent reporter Ken Klippenstein, meanwhile, investigated a Discord server frequented by Robinson and reported that Robinson virtually never mentioned politics, focusing instead on games like Helldivers 2, which is directly referred to by one of the engraved memes.
Robinson’s Discord server seems to have been a conventionally silly and friendly internet community. The exact kind of space that still exists and flourishes on the internet alongside the more violent and chaotic groups. Similarly, the memes cited by law enforcement that were inscribed on the bullets started out as harmless in-jokes before they were given a new, deadly context last week.
“We often use memes as indicators, as guideposts of where to look deeper,” said Kriner. “They can be a helpful tool, but they can also be a distraction.” And without a clear understanding of the context and culture surrounding these memes, they seem to have been a distraction for most people looking for meaning.