66 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
66 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "based"
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author: "yehorovye"
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---
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**based** is a word that has, over the last two decades, undergone a semantic mutation so extreme it would make even orwellian newspeak engineers blush. originally used as an insult to mock people addicted to base substances (e.g. "freebasing" crack cocaine), the word was reclaimed, recontextualized and eventually turned into the highest form of internet praise. in modern internet parlance, being *based* roughly means being **unfiltered, honest, grounded in reality, ideologically self-consistent**, and most importantly, **not caring if what you say makes normies cry**. sometimes even being wrong doesn't disqualify you from being based, it's the manner in which you're wrong that matters.
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the word was arguably reintroduced into circulation by rapper **lil b ("the based god")**, who used it to signify being true to oneself regardless of what others think. in his mouth it was a vaguely positive aura word, similar to "enlightened" but with swag. later, 4chan weaponized it.
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## characteristics of basedness
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to be based is to exist outside of mass-manufactured thought paradigms, to think something not because cnn, wikipedia or your university said so, but because your own internal pattern recognition or experience told you it makes sense. this includes unpopular, politically incorrect or offensive views, but not necessarily: someone advocating for rural self-sufficiency and open source software over google docs is based; so is someone defending the right to offend. based doesn't mean edgy for its own sake, it means principled disregard for fashionable delusions.
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**being based typically implies:**
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* saying what you think even if it offends the mob.
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* not caring about clout, status, or institutional approval.
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* being immune to mainstream ideological manipulation.
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* not pretending to like garbage pop culture to fit in.
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* choosing truth over social comfort or fake kindness.
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the opposite of based is **cringe**, or more precisely, **bluepilled cringe**, mindless conformity, virtue signaling, regurgitating consensus opinions to avoid controversy, apologizing for existing, drinking soylent, thinking nft monkeys were "an investment", being scared to laugh at a joke because someone on twitter might cancel you.
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being based doesn't automatically mean you're correct, **you can be based and wrong**, but you're wrong in a dignified, independent way. you might be wrong today, right tomorrow, but at least you're *your own person*, not a product of some marketing department's zoom meeting.
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## misconceptions
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many people misuse *based* as a catch-all for "something i agree with." that's not quite right. you can call something based **even if you personally disagree with it**, but admire the unapologetic delivery or see it as refreshingly honest. for example, someone might say:
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> "i don't agree with this guy at all, but he's based for saying it out loud."
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this disarms the typical "agree/disagree" binary, basedness exists in a different dimension, not about ideological alignment but about balls.
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> **"he said that in 2025? on the internet? without asking for pronouns first? damn. based."**
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## examples
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| based statement | why it's based |
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| --------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
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| "i don't care what the government says, i'm not injecting that shit." | resisting pressure. |
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| "modern architecture is soul-killing and ugly." | honest critique. |
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| "i don't hate rich people, i just want to abolish their class." | boldly anti-capitalist. |
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| "no, i won't update my phone. it works." | rejecting consoomer logic. |
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| "you can't cancel me, i don't care." | immunity to mob. |
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note: all of these could also be cringe if said in a try-hard way. basedness has a **vibe**, it can't be faked, marketed, or mass-produced. you either glow with it or you don't. once buzzfeed runs a "10 most based tiktok accounts" article, all the basedness is gone from earth.
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## based as memetic armor
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calling someone *based* can act as a rhetorical shield. once someone is declared based, attacks on them lose potency. like calling a jester a clown, it's the job. based people are expected to be problematic. this frustrates online outrage mobs, who rely on shaming and deplatforming as weapons.
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being *based* is the meme-world's equivalent of achieving **zen detachment from social punishment**. you no longer fear being banned, disliked, or misunderstood. you have escaped the matrix and laugh at its npcs.
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## note on overuse
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unfortunately, as with all good things, based is being slowly co-opted. tiktokers, corpos, and pr departments trying to appeal to "the youths" have started misusing it in attempts to sound edgy or ironic. be careful: once based is printed on a starbucks mug, it's over. we may have to fork the language again. based will split, and the real ones will follow the hard fork into a new word. (suggestions: redpilled, grounded, sigma, dematrixed, unplugged, etc.)
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## examples of based people/software/whatever
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for example, we can say that [drummyfish](/drummyfish) is based, aswell as [ashley jones](/ashley_jones).
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an example of based software would be any software that follows [suckless philosophy](/suckless_philosophy).
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## see also
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* [ashley jones](/ashley_jones)
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