Introduction
Hey all you cool cats and kittens!
Apparently, there is no better way to cope with a pandemic than with complete chaos. To say ‘it is weird times we are living in is an understatement. To make it even more weird, I have gathered data about how social media is responding to the Netflix docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness (2020). Tiger King features several characters who walk the line between morality and legality, all of which cross the lines of both sides… and this is what people love about it. The magnitude of Tiger King’s virility doesn’t make much sense but neither does the toilet paper shortage. The theories of cults and social media have a lot more in common than we would think. This research reveals that the structure of social media happens to make up for the virtual barrier between a charismatic leader-follower relationship.
Literary Review
Tiger King Context
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness says it all in the name. This true-crime Netflix docuseries takes us through the drama-filled, plot-twisting feuds of big cat zoo owners (2020). Most of the media commentating about the series is about Joe Exotic. He is a man of many things: a musician, political candidate, mullet head, polygamist, attention lovin’, Carole Baskin hatin’, and now incarcerated big cat zookeeper. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s probably because you’ve gotten all you need to know off your social media feed. Joe Exotic has become somewhat of a cultural icon. People are obsessed, inspired, and raged to #FreeJoeExotic.
While Joe Exotic has become the face most media, it is not to go without the discussion of Carole Baskin, essentially his arch nemesis. Carole Baskin is not only Joe Exotic’s rival but a huge player in the big cat industry. She runs her own zoo and is often in association with PETA who is against Joe Exotic’s care for tigers. To put it simple, they both feud about each other’s means of operation and it gets nasty. Joe Exotic’s living work shifted from loving and caring for the big cats to taking down Carole Baskin. Not to mention, there are also allegations that Carole Baskin murdered her missing, late husband. Joe Exotic uses these allegations to his defense while trying to take her down, but someone got to him first. Joe Exotic sits in prison while he grows in fame.
Structure of Social Media
The structure of social media allows us the tools to connect across geographical distances, bond over shared memories and communicate ideas. However, it is a platform that can unite us just as much as it can bring us apart. Our feeds are cultivated with the content that we give our attention to (Williams, 2019). In James William’s “Stand Out of Our Light”, he discusses that social media exists in a digital attention economy. In other words, social media monetizes the attention we pay to the content we consume (Williams, 2019). Naturally, we gravitate towards the ideologies that we identify with and then algorithms give us more of that. So, while the algorithms reinforce us with what we like see, the overarching narratives are pushing the polarization of societies ideologies (Williams, 2019).
There is not one definite reason why media becomes so spreadable or viral. In Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture, Henry Jenkins argues that the gesture of sharing content is an act of interpersonal relationship (2013). Whether that is friendship-based or interest-based is subjective. The gesture of staring a piece of content is not always intentional. Jenkins echoes Douglas Rushcoff’s theory of media spreading like a virus (2013, p. 17). They both argue that when people share content, media is “spreading without the user’s conscious consent, people are duped into passing a hidden agenda while circulating content” (Jenkins, 2013). So rather than considering what the content means as a representation of their identity, or what agenda they are encouraging, they become a passive audience (Jenkins, p. 18). This also means that when people share viral content, they are more likely to share with the motives of gaining a social status (Jenkins, p. 13). People want to feel included in the mass narrative and they are willing to do that despite the message they are communicating as a result of their participation.
Historical Context
While considering the way people are communicating on social media and the structure of social media, it is especially important to consider the historical context. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that has spread across globe resulting in a life-altering pandemic. As the world has had to adapt to COVID-19 prevention strategies, 2020 has become a time of fear, anxiety, and panic (2020). According to the CDC, it is expected that people react to these stressful circumstances in unexpected ways (2020). Everyone’s life has changed, suddenly and drastically, in several ways. We can only assume that this has also affected how people are communicating and sharing media.
Cult Behavior
My initial interests were to find out why people are obsessing over Tiger King and going to the extremes to be a part of this bizarre trend. As I have looked further into this topic, I came across the YouTube video essay Joe Exotic: The Cult of Tiger King – Wisecrack Edition (2020). His research covers the evidence for how Joe Exotic, Doc Antle and Carole Baskin are essentially leaders of big cat cults (Wisecrack Edition, 2020). Psychiatrist and Harvard Professor Robert Jay Lifton’s paper: “Cult Formation”, explores the theoretical and historical development of “cults” (1991). Lifton defines cults to have three common characteristics, those being: 1) A charismatic leader, 2) Coercive persuasion or thought reform, 3) Exploitation of group members (1991). If you have seen Tiger King or have been on social media in the last month, I am sure the listed criteria triggered several cult-like instances within big cat operations.
However, the discussion is not whether Tiger King meets these cult criteria because that is obvious. I am particularly interested in whether this cult behavior- as exhibited in the show- has appeared over social media, why and what does that mean in the greater scheme of things. The psychology of cults provides some explanation to why people are so attached to Tiger King.
Intentions of the research
By narrowing down our focus on one case of potential cult-like behavior, it allows us to make assumptions about how society reacts to the media they are interacting with and processing in their everyday life. Whether it is Tiger King or politics, people rage and praise all the time. If you can see how the praising of Joe Exotic can be toxic, what does that say for the other type of media?
I am hypothesizing that the consumption of absolute chaos dilutes the current state of chaos people are existing in. The wild rampage of praising and raging about Tiger King on social media is at least a means of distractions and connection. Its crime filled-plot-twist nature offers excitement; something that these days seem to lack. However, there seems to be a deeper, underlying relationship. Considering the mental state of the world in the midst of a deadly pandemic, the structure of social media and the nature of viral spreadability, perhaps that makes for the perfect recipe to participate in cult-like behavior. If so, it would explain the loads of extreme Joe Exotic fandom. This may not meet the exact criteria of a cult since we are talking about a virtual medium. Although, this could be a new form cult behavior.
Method
Twitter was used to collect data for this research. The microblogging and social media network is home to “330 Million user and 145 million daily active users” (Oberlo, 2019). Twitter is also home to a plethora of Tiger King commentary data. I have performed a two-part data research process including both quantitative and qualitative research methods. First, I used a quantitative method to perform an advance search provided by Twitter’s platform to collect #FreeJoeExotic tweets over a 15-day period. I gathered the first 10 tweets every other day starting from March 22, 2020 to April 6, 2020.
Once this data was collected, I organized and coded it into like categories. I found the coding to put thing into perspective but not reveal much on its own. At most, the coding results reaffirmed my assumptions that people are obsessed with Joe Exotic. I had expected that there would be more instances that rationally held Joe Exotic responsible for the crimes he has allegedly committed. Since this was not the case, it shows the popular narrative is siding with Joe Exotic and teaming up against Carole Baskin.
For my second part of data analysis, I used a qualitative method to find the similarities and differences of traditional cult behavior to the cult-like behavior performed by Tiger King fans on social media. The tweets discussed throughout the analysis are the most extreme cases from my collection. As cult are often extreme in devotion to their leader, I found my selection to be fitting for these circumstances (1991). Lifton’s definitions of cults provided a lens of cult criteria that situated the interpretation of my data (1991). Further, I pulled in social media theories to justify the similarities and differences found in traditional cults vs cult-like behavior online.
There is no evidence that this was the methodological best practice, however, there are some convincing elements to why I chose this method. First, I chose Twitter over other platforms because it is conveniently equipped with the advance search tool. This quality allowed me to search hashtags and specific dates that they were used. The time frame of my data selection covers the window from when #FreeJoeExotic was born through its apex and fall. Tiger King sat as Netflix’s #1 show for 15 days straight from March 22 to April 6; the days I collected data through. It important to recognize that the Most Popular List on Netflix feature was released on February 24, 2020 (Netflix). That is less than a month before the release of Tiger King. So, while Tiger King ran an intriguing streak, it is not all that significant considering the duration of the most popular feature.
Data search:
- Starting from March 22, 2020 to March 23, 2020
- Starting from March 24, 2020 to March 25, 2020
- Starting from March 26, 2020 to March 27, 2020
- Starting from March 28, 2020 to March 29, 2020
- Starting from March 30, 2020 to March 31, 2020
- Starting from April 1, 2020 to April 2, 2020
- Starting from April 3, 2020 to April 4, 2020
- Starting from April 5, 2020 to April 6, 2020
= Total of 80 tweets collected
Research questions herein:
- Why is society using Tiger King (a depiction of complete chaos) to cope with COVID-19 (more chaos)?
- Is the obsession with Tiger King signs of cult-like behavior?
- Does the nature of social media influence cult-like behavior?
Data
Code Categories:
- Praising Joe Exotic: includes advocating for Joe Exotic, his release from prison, his brand i.e. G.W. Zoo, music, politics, etc.
- Total of 33 tweets
- 2 of which were extreme in the sense of comparing Joe Exotic to Jesus Christ
- Rescuing Joe Exotic: includes actual plans to #FreeJoeExotic, “me on the way to free Joe Exotic” memes, and references to celebs freeing Joe Exotic
- Total of 9 tweets
- Self-association with Tiger King: includes fan pics with Joe Exotic, pics with tigers, dressing up as Tiger King characters, Oklahoma natives
- Total of 8 tweets
- Raging Joe Exotic: including negative connotation about Joe Exotic
- Total of 1 tweets
- Raging Carol Baskin: includes negative connotation about Carol Baskin
- Total of 25 tweets
- Advocating Animal Rights: includes commentary regarding advocacy for animal rights issues i.e. references to the tiger’s wellbeing
- Total of 2 tweets
- Neutral: includes neither fully praising or raging
- Total of 2 tweets
As you can see, out of all the data gathered, the Praising Joe Exotic was the most popular. If we grouped the categories Praising Joe Exotic, Rescuing Joe Exotic, Self-association, and Raging Carol Baskin, that is 74 out of 80 of the tweets think about Joe Exotic in a positive light. That is a shocking 92.5% of the tweets had discourse portrays Joe Exotic with positive connotation. These tweets are not all shown in one category because they communicated their advocacy for Joe Exotic in different ways. If you have been on social media in the pasted two months, these observations come as expected.
Analysis
We know that people love Joe Exotic, but this does not tell us much about the effects on social media. I have pulled together the different factors that may explain why people are reacting to Joe Exotic with intense admiration.These factors include what we know about the nature of social media, cult behavior and the historical context of covid-19. Going into this research we know that people are obsessed with Tiger King and based off convincing evidence, we are assuming that Joe Exotic, Doc Antle, and Carole Baskin, more or less, all ran their own forms of a cult to operate their zoos (Wisecrack Edition, 2020). By using these several factors to explain the obsession of Tiger King, we reveal that the intense admiration exhibited on social media could be a new form of a cult.
In the literary review, I introduced Lifton’s definition of a cult: “1) A charismatic leader, 2) Coercive persuasion or thought reform, 3) Exploitation of group members” (1991). While analyzing the data, I looked at it through the lens of this criteria and identified similarities and differences of traditional cult theory to cult-like behavior online.
Charismatic Leader
It is evident, by the virality of Joe Exotic, that we have ourselves some sort of a leader but is he charismatic? Lifton’s criteria specifically says “1) a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship” (1991). To determine if Joe Exotic is a ‘charismatic leader’ we should first define what cult theory deems a ‘charismatic leader. In Narcissism and the Charismatic Leader-Follower Relationship, Jerold M Post says that:
Charismatic leadership is a relationship between a leader and a group of followers that has the following properties:
- The leader is perceived by the followers as somehow superhuman.
- The follows blindly believe the leader’s statements.
- The followers unconditionally comply with the leader’s directives for action
- The followers give the leader unqualified emotional support (1986, p. 676)
We will refer to this definition as we go through the examples. We should consider the unique circumstance of our ‘leader’ being in prison which greatly effects the dynamic of the leader to follower relationship. Despite the leader being in prison, the virtual medium alters how the charismatic leader and the followers’ function.
The tweets that stood out the most were those that were the most extreme forms of praising. For instance, this tweet by @itsvanessa_c12, shows a depiction of Joe Exotic’s face photoshoped onto Jesus Christ’s body.
This notion puts Joe Exotic- a man in prison for murder for hire and animal abuse- at the same hierarchy as a God. Referring to the properties of a charismatic leader, we can check off number one: leader perceived as superhuman (1986, p. 676).
Traditionally, in cults, the godly hierarchy of the charismatic leader is established by the leader and the followers are manipulated into believing this narrative (1986, p. 676). If we refer to the show, Doc Antel demands his workers to call him by the name ‘Bhagavan’ which translates to ‘Lord’ in Hindu. Okay so that’s pretty culty- no questions asked. Now, on social media, we have people voluntarily placing Joe Exotic on the same divine and holy pedestal.
Of course, every tweet is not of Joe Exotic’s face photoshoped on Jesus’s body, but there are other extreme tweets that stood out to me, for instance, Joe Exotic as President.
Here, @C_Tyler_Hicks tweets another photoshoped picture of Joe Exotic. This tweet must have been inspired by Joe Exotic’s legit run for presidency so, the idea was not completely influenced by the follower. While his verbiage indicates that this is meant to be taken as a joke, he still suggests that Joe Exotic as President would be a better alternative to the current circumstances.
What is significant about these two instances is that they are placing Joe Exotic in higher leadership and honorary positions than he holds. Whether these tweets are meant to be taken seriously or not, they still situate the idea of Joe Exotic as a charismatic leader. These examples are more extreme than most of the other media. However, it shows us the extent at which people will go to reward honor to public figures without the consideration of what the narrative means as a representation of their self. Rather than considering that the depiction of Joe Exotic as Jesus or the president is disrespectful to god, the president, and their followers, they mindlessly grant a false status.
In our circumstance, the structure of social media itself plays a huge role in the spreadability of Tiger King. The massive Joe Exotic bandwagon is influenced by the response to the documented media. There is no active leader manipulating people into their extreme devotion here. I am speculating that algorithms play a similar role to that of a charismatic leader of a cult. In the virtual medium, people should be more inclined and able to make their own decisions than in a physical cult. However, the virtual realm is equipped with psychological tools that have the potential to manipulate our attention, ideologies and values (Williams, 2019).
Algorithms acts as a developer’s tool to provide us with content that in turn, guarantees our eyeballs (Williams, 2019). The problem with algorithms is that they are designed to highlight bad content rather than good content for the sake of our attention (Williams, 2019). It is a fact that we are more notorious for giving our attention to bad. Negative narratives get 176% more attention than positive narratives (Forden, 2017). There are negative effects on both our individual and societal authorship as a result of our attention being manipulated towards ‘bad’ content (Williams, 2019). As individuals, it hinders our personal authorship (Williams, 2019). As a society, it disrupts the story of our collective authorship (Williams, 2019). The power to manipulate people’s sense of self, is nearly identical to that of a charismatic cult leader.
Thought Reform
According to Lifton’s definition, a charismatic cult leader participates in “2) the process of thought reform or coercive persuasion” (1991). Thought reform and coercive persuasion is the change in behavior, attitudes and/or ideologies influenced by a force of manipulation (Ofshe, 1999). Thought reform was very present in Tiger King. Wisecrack says that thought reform and persuasion is hard to pinpoint in Tiger King because we see the workers already acclimated into the culture, but this is the key point (2020). The workers are unquestionably devoted to their underpaid, 18 hour day jobs (Wisecrack, 2020). On social media, thought reform would be people’s unquestionable devotion to Joe Exotic and the mass narrative.
When people were not obsessing over Joe Exotic, they were most likely standing up for him by dogging on Carole Baskin. The most popular categories were Praising Joe Exotic at 35 tweets and Raging Carol Baskin at 22 tweets. We saw Joe Exotic preach his narrative in the docushort and we are seeing his followers stand behind him on social media, despite his absence. We saw a lot of people promoting the narrative that ‘Carole Baskin put Joe Exotic in jail’ or ‘Carole Baskin killed her husband’. However, the most disturbing tweets encouraged illegal behavior which theoretically, Joe Exotic would approve of. Most surprisingly, this tweet by @DomineekP is encouraging murder:
Some could argue that he was joking. Although, can’t you agree that murder is not really something to joke about? I would hope so. We should also consider that while the creator of the tweet may be joking, the interpretations of the tweet are subjective. So, what if someone took this seriously? Praising Joe Exotic dismisses his wrongdoing and therefore promotes a skewed moral code. A skewed moral code could not only affect people’s ideologies, but I would expect it to effect people’s actions, outside of the virtual medium.
The entirety of the Tiger King trend reinforces the social acceptance of immoral actions. The show itself crosses the line of crime from drugs, to animal abuse to plans for murder. As a society we have been constructed and desensitized to accept this type of behavior from the movies see. The concern here is that we are not talking about Hollywood characters, we are talking about real people. Immoral narratives ultimately have the potential to alter what society deems as moral and immoral and this can have long term effects (Williams, 2019).
Don’t think that the structure of social media doesn’t go without a blame in this either. The media people experience is a result of cultivated content. Algorithms are used as persuasive tools to reinforce the popular narratives, often leading to polarization and overarching narratives (Williams, 2019). Polarization is radical, two-sided, black and white opinions or beliefs (Williams, p. 64). In effect, this drives people away from having a general will or a “common purpose” (Williams, p. 64). Williams agrees with Rousseau that this persuasive control “[subdivides] society into groups, which leads them to ‘abandon’ their ‘membership’ of the wider group.” (Williams, p. 64-65). In other words, the persuasive and manipulative structure of social media constructs a society that is susceptible to dividing and finding purpose in subgroups. He says that this division encouraged on the internet, acts as a “distorted reflection” of our identities and values (Williams, p. 65).
Post discusses this same theory of polarization in the context of cult theory (1986, p. 681). He says that this “we verse them” rhetoric is meant to “unify the populace against the outside enemy” (1986, p. 681). The majority narrative that Joe Exotic is good, and Carole Baskin is bad is exactly that of a polarized, “we verse them” agenda. The most popular categories in my data collection were situated off polarization. Over time, we begin to moralize the narratives algorithms feed us which inevitability “threatens our ability to know and define what our goals and values are…” (Williams, p. 65). Sound like thought reform?
Exploitation
Lifton’s third criteria: “3) economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie” (1991). Exploitation is a little bit harder to define because it can come in many forms. In Tiger King we saw instances of sexual coercion, underpaid workers, and the mistreatment of tigers (2020). Exploitation is less present in our circumstances because we do not have an active charismatic leader-follower interaction happening. However, there are some questionable instances of self-exploitation happening.
The first instances of people exploiting themselves is, you guessed it, another photoshoped picture. @EthanTrueblood tweets a picture of his face over Joe Exotic’s husband’s face. By doing this he is essentially labeling himself as sexually available for Joe Exotic. Keep in mind, no coercion from a charismatic leader took place here.
In another tweet, @Captainkbob suggest we strip to save Joe Exotic. This was by for the most popular tweet I collected. This speaks for itself that people aren’t too opposed to the idea. Over and over again people are showing extreme devotion all by their own intentions.
In this new cult-like behavior, rather than a charismatic leader coercing people into subservient followers, people voluntarily self-associate as a follower. I coded 8 tweets of Self-association. These tweets in particular, went out of their way to let everyone know that they should be labeled as a Tiger King follower. It was as if by sharing photos with Joe Exotic or tigers, they were justifying their level of loyalty or long-term dedication. The tweets acted as a means of competing for being a real follower of Joe Exotic.
Social media is exploitation in the sense that we are being robbed our attention (Williams, 2019). Williams goes as far to say that the attention economy seeks to achieve the capture and exploitation of human desires, actions, decisions, and ultimately lives…” (2019). As people scroll their feed, they are bombarded with the overarching narrative of Tiger King, they feel the need to claim their place, so they drink the Kool aid.
Anthony F. C. Wallace coined the theory of revitalization movements (Bainbridge, p. 287). His research found that when societies experience a great load of stress, tragedy and/or threat, such as “epidemics”, they are susceptible to forming ‘crisis cults’ (Bainbridge, p. 287). In the processes of revitalizing their society, they find purpose and community in cult groups. Bainbridge claims that “cults are particularly likely to emerge wherever numbers of people seek help for intractable personal problems” (1979, p. 292). Further, he says that social acceptance is one step in the process of forming cults. In retaliation to polarization and not to mention covid-19, people seem to be clinging to the crazy Tiger King narrative as a ground for connection.
Both religions and cults are based off a reward system (1979, p. 284). Whether this be guaranteed life after death or cuddling tigers, there is always something that persuades a follower into staying. If Joe Exotic is unintentionally leading his own cult from prison, there would not be anything in it for the followers. However, if you remember, Jenkins argues that we share content on social media with the effort for interpersonal relationship. That can be either friendship-based or interest-based (2013). Perhaps the reward online is as simple as feeling included by a common narrative. People are always searching for their place in the world. It is evident that theories of cults and social media have a lot more in common than we would have suspected.
Conclusion
Before Tiger King went viral, people’s diction was less extreme, but as more people joined the Tiger King fandom, people started going to the extremes of idolizing Joe Exotic, dressing up like him, asking him to be our savior from the coronavirus and referring to him as a “national treasure”. The tweets that stood out the most align with the characteristics in Lifton’s definitions of cults. Particularly, we saw followers praise Joe Exotic in extreme manners, advocated for immoral actions, and self-exploit. While Joe Exotic is sitting in prison, he has transitioned from a wanna-be celeb to an object of worship. The difference between an in-person cult and the cult-like behavior we are witnessing here is that, the leader is not manipulating people into acting this way; the followers are doing it all on their own and algorithms are encouraging it.
You would think that the structure of social media would hinder the effectiveness of cults, however, it seems to compliment it. If we refer to our first cult criteria, charismatic leader, we can recall that people voluntarily graced Joe Exotic with the honor of a god or the president. The second criteria, thought reform, we see a shift in moral integrity. The most extreme advocates for Joe Exotic to murder Carole Baskin verbatim. The third criteria, exploitation, looks a little bit different than what we would expect in traditional cults. Instead of the charismatic leader exploiting the group members, the followers voluntarily exploit themselves. In some ways, algorithms take the role of manipulation as a cult leader. This reveals that the structure of social media happens to make up for the virtual barrier between a charismatic leader-follower relationship.
The devotion of the Tiger King cult-like people is questionable. As we know it, it is only a trend that is bound to die. Still, I think these finding should be considered in further research. For instance, an analysis on how people responded to Joe Exotic’s Carole Baskin Saga on JoeExoticTV YouTube channel would give a gauge of how committed his followers are to his word. More importantly, these finding should be explored in more concentrated data with potential charismatic leader-follower relationship. It is concerning that cult behavior appeared as it did consider the absence of a charismatic leader being an active influence. The power of cult psychology and the structure of social media could breed some dangerous outcomes. My analysis may be a bit of a stretch, but like the obsession of Tiger King and the toilet paper shortage, nothing is making a lot of sense these days.
References
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Williams, J. (2019) Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3F8D7BA2C0FE3A7126A4D9B73A89415D/9781108429092AR.pdf/Stand_out_of_our_Light.pdf?event-type=FTLA.
Wisecrack. (2020). Joe Exotic: The Cult of Tiger King – Wisecrack Edition. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri2Pmv9_iMk
DIGITAL CATHARSIS 