What is 'Based'?
You have probably seen the term 'Based' permeating forums across the interwebz. What does it mean though?
- Lil B in 2011
Origins of the Term
The term 'Based' can trace its roots to drugs and rap music. 'Based' is derived from the term 'Basehead' used to describe a person addicted to freebase crack cocaine. For obvious reasons it was a pejorative, then along came rapper, Lil B, who decided to co-opt the term for himself and apply his own meaning:
Based means being yourself. Not being scared of what people think about you. Not being afraid to do what you wanna do. Being positive. When I was younger, based was a negative term that meant like dopehead, or basehead. People used to make fun of me. They was like, ‘You’re based.’ They’d use it as a negative. And what I did was turn that negative into a positive. I started embracing it like, ‘Yeah, I’m based.’ I made it mine. I embedded it in my head. Based is positive. - Lil B
Part of the motivation behind Lil B's adoption of the term was in response to being frowned upon by the rap community at large for not "fitting the bill". Instead of embracing the essentialist expression of rap culture, Lil B's wardrobe consisted of sweater vests and skinny jeans. To many in the community, this style of clothing was seen as "whitey" and as such, an affront to established norms.
For Lil B, referring to himself as "Based" was therefore a response to being derided for his individuality and non-conformity.
How to be 'based'?
So in essence, since being 'based' means 'being yourself' or 'being true to yourself' (sounds easy doesn't it?), how does one actually become based?
Naval Ravikant (one of the most brilliant minds in the world today) was on Clubhouse recently and giving advice to other speakers on how to optimize their content and be more engaging. A speaker made a remark that he had a hard time speaking his mind knowing that there's always an audience present in every huge chatroom. Naval rebuffed this, stating that in order to be engaging and interesting, one has to ignore the audience and pretend they aren't there. If you don't know anything about Clubhouse, just imagine podcasts that are happening live that you can actually take part in. If not, you could host your own room and create a topic about anything you want to talk about.
Naval made a good point. This is essentially the beginning of being "based" - to not give a shit what the audience thinks, reason being that if you care about what the audience thinks, you will end up pandering to them and no longer mean what you say since all you’d want to do is please the crowd. This is cringe, not based. Likewise, for everything else - replace "clubhouse audience" with "people".
In 3rd century Egypt, a group of men rejected the decadence of the world they lived in and fled to the Desert of Scetis to seek closer union with God. This group of men were early ascetic Christian monks and hermits and are collectively known today as the Desert Fathers. Despite rejecting all things worldly, The Desert Fathers offered their help to the common man. They have the marked distinction of (quite possibly) being the first psychotherapists in history, and many nobles would venture from largely populated cities to the solitude of the desert to seek advice from these holy and wise men.
One of my favourite tales about the Desert Fathers is as follows:
A brother came to see Abba Macarius the Egyptian, and said to him, ‘Abba, give me a word, that I may be saved.’ So the old man said, ‘Go to the cemetery and abuse [insult] the dead.’ The brother went there, abused [insulted] them and threw stones at them; then he returned and told the old man about it. The latter said to him, ‘Didn’t they say anything to you?’ He replied, ‘No.’ The old man said, ‘Go back tomorrow and praise them.’ So the brother went away and praised them, calling them ‘Apostles, saints and righteous men.’ He returned to the old man and said to him, ‘I have complimented them.’ And the old man said to him, ‘Did they not answer you?’ The brother said no. The old man said to him, ‘You know how you insulted them and they did not reply, and how you praised them and they did not speak; so you too if you wish to be saved must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead, take no account of either the scorn of men or their praises, and you can be saved.
In ascetic Christianity, to be "dead to the world" is the highest honour one can attain. In this sense, The Desert Fathers were the most based people in the history of mankind because they truly didn't give a damn what people thought of them. The wisdom gleaned from this parable ought to also be applicable to us living in the modern world.
In order to really not give a damn what others think and to truly be yourself, you must be immune to insults and the scorn of others. But likewise, in order to be immune to scorn, you have to be immune to praise. Reject praise, or at the very least, do not react to it, otherwise you will be conditioned (à la Pavlov's dog) to behave in a manner in which you will receive compliments so that you can score that extremely addictive dopamine hit. You will end up (consciously or unconsciously) pandering to your audience, or people at large, and you will never be able to truly be yourself.
Usage of 'Based' in Politics and the Culture Wars
The term 'Based' as popularized by Lil B eventually found its way into the lexicon of politics and culture. As Dictionary.com puts it:
Based has been appropriated by the alt-right online as a general term of praise, as if "un-woke."
Cringe.
Don't believe dictionary.com, my friends. 'Based' wasn’t simply co-opted by the Alt Right. It's not like dictionary.com even knows what "Alt Right" means in the first place. To be more accurate, 'Based' was co-opted by anyone against the Progressive elite (or as Moldbug refers to them - The Cathedral). This includes centrists and individuals who typically describe themselves as Liberals, though of the old-school stripe (Such as Matt Taibbi).
So what is The Cathedral? As Moldbug describes:
"In post-1945 America, the source of all new ideas is the university. Ideas check out of the university, but they hardly ever check in. Thence, they flow outward to the other arms of the educational system as a whole: the mainstream media and the public schools. Eventually they become our old friend, "public opinion." This process is slow, happening on a generational scale, and thus the 45-year lag.
The Cathedral, with its informal union of church and state, is positioned perfectly. It has all the advantages of being a formal arm of government, and none of the disadvantages. Because it formulates public policy, it is best considered our ultimate governing organ, but it certainly bears no responsibility for the success or failure of said policy. Moreover, it gets to program the little worm that is inserted in everyone's head, beginning at the age of five and going all the way through grad school.
If anyone is an obvious position to manufacture consent, it is (as [legendary commentator] Walter Lippmann openly proposed) first the journalists themselves, and next the universities which they regard as authoritative.
For example, we can ask: which set of individuals exerts more influence over American journalists? American professors, or American CEOs? American diplomats, or American generals? In both cases, the answer is clearly the former."
Thus to Moldbug, The Cathedral is the unholy alliance between Academic institutions and the Press, and being the real seat of power, it dictates the narrative of the day.
I don't even need to go into the nitty gritty details of Twitter purging accounts and employees being hunted by their Corporate HR departments for holding the 'wrong' political opinions for you to realize that the Progs have now adopted the moral absolutism once exhibited by the Neocons/SocialCons, and talking heads like Rachel Maddow and John Oliver effectively function as their high priests and clergypeople. (Did I get their lingo right?)
Even once politically apathetic friends of mine have unknowingly ecome conditioned to lean towards Progressive ideology by virtue of such values seeping insidiously into the TV shows or movies that they watch. (To quote Moldbug once again, "Cthulhu may swim slowly. But he only swims left..")
It is no wonder, then, that to be against such an overarching system of thought-control, is considered based. Because it IS based. It is to be reconciled or content with one's uniqueness in the face of the machinations of The Cathedral and to be free from the shackles of desiring to appeal to the masses. Anyone who recognizes the tentacles of progressive ideology wrapping itself tightly around every aspect of life, and in spite of pressure - still consciously chooses to reject mass culture is based as based can be.