Cooper Lund was born and raised in Minnesota, and has now lived in Brooklyn for a decade. He\u2019s only been to Philadelphia twice in his life. <\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he can quickly rattle off a list of the city\u2019s most notorious cultural touchstones: the introduction of Gritty, the decapitation of hitchBOT, what a \u201ccitywide special\u201d is, that time the Sixers\u2019 general manager ran multiple secret Twitter accounts<\/a> to discredit his enemies and defend his collared shirts. <\/p>\n That, he claims, is because he\u2019s a creature of the internet, and on the internet, Philly culture is inescapable.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a soft spot for the Eagles, specifically from being on the internet,\u201d Lund, 36, said. \u201cBecause of Philadelphia exposure, I have opinions on Wawa and Sheetz.\u201d<\/p>\n Lund\u2019s experience posting and riffing on Twitter and now Bluesky<\/a> eventually led him to develop a full-on theory: spend enough time in certain corners of the internet, and you risk becoming spiritually and culturally Philadelphian. <\/p>\n It can sometimes feel like Philadelphia boosterism spreads far and fast online. Why, for example, was the internet itself overjoyed when Hannah Einbinder ended her Emmy\u2019s speech<\/a> with \u201cGo Birds, F\u2014 ICE, Free Palestine?\u201d <\/p>\n Inspired by his bold analysis, we at The Philadelphia Inquirer set out to talk to a number of chronically online people, both within and outside the city limits, to learn more about the phenomenon.<\/p>\n \u2018The center of weird regional quirks and affectations\u2019<\/p>\n No one could exactly verify the theory, though there was no denying it often feels true. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I have FOMO over this city that I\u2019ve only been to one time,\u201d said McKenzie Ortiz, a 29-year-old transit advocate who lives in Columbia, Mo. Ortiz is not sure how Philadelphia took over her feeds; all she knows is that her \u201cFor You\u201d page on X<\/a> is \u201conly photos of the most beautiful streets in Philadelphia \u2026 and people saying \u2018afternoon in Philly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n From 1,000 miles away, Ortiz followed Philly\u2019s Democratic Socialists of America job fair<\/a> (\u201ccoolest thing ever\u201d) and tuned into how SEPTA cuts were impacting ordinary people. People\u2019s enthusiasm for capturing Philly\u2019s tree-lined sidewalks and walkable streetscapes even influenced how she views other cities. She recently visited Detroit and photographed the protected bike lanes there. <\/p>\n \u201cI was thinking, if this was in Philadelphia, it would do numbers,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n There are a number of possibilities for why the internet seems distinctly Philadelphian. Dan McQuade, a lifelong chronicler of Philadelphia<\/a> and a visual editor at Defector, theorized that Philadelphia is a very large city that can feel like it is very small, filled with \u201cyokels happy about a chance to talk up our town.\u201d<\/p>\n Also, the sports teams have been relatively good for the last 25 years and, due to being on the East Coast, people in Philly can more easily set the online agenda for the day because we wake up earlier than they do on the West Coast, McQuade said. <\/p>\n He likened Philadelphia\u2019s biggest fans to an old tweet about the nature of hobbies<\/a> on social media: \u201cWelcome to Twitter. Here is your copy of the Communist Manifesto and a season pass to Monday Night RAW for some reason.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cMaybe the hobby of \u2018being from Philadelphia\u2019 is also that way?\u201d he wondered.<\/p>\n The internet also rewards the visually absurd, the loud, and the energetic. As Lund said, Philly is \u201cthe center of weird regional quirks and affectations that play well on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n The Gritty effect<\/p>\n For example, Gritty. Gritty is a perfect meme<\/a>. Gritty has also been embraced by lefties online, who see his frightening googly eyes and his ability to blow smoke from his (nonbinary) ears as unhinged chaotic good, a symbol of anti-fascism. Philly, too, is a symbol of that anti-fascist energy, and anti-fascist energy is having a moment<\/a>. <\/p>\n Philly is \u201ca city that is working-class, and a union city, and reliably anti-Trump. I think we\u2019re just kind of that salt of the Earth. And that gets roped into all kinds of other memes,\u201d said Gwen Snyder, an organizer and writer<\/a> based here who attended the anti-Proud Boys protests of 2018, just after Gritty was rolled out. Many of the activists brought Gritty signs to the protests. <\/p>\n That year, cultural critic Emily St. James wrote an analysis of just how exactly<\/a> \u201cGritty can simultaneously be a high-fivable hockey mascot whom kids adore and an advocate for the radical dismantling of capitalism.\u201d In the years since, Gritty has remained an icon of Philly\u2019s anti-fascist attitude, spreading across the internet through memes and quips and political takes. <\/p>\n So the lefty internet loves Gritty, which sometimes translates into love of Philadelphia; it\u2019s like Gritty as gateway drug. <\/p>\n \u201cHe just has an aura around him, you just respect Gritty,\u201d said Laasya Vulimiri, a Raleigh, N.C., native who is chronically online<\/a>. Gritty and hockey fandom initially drew her into Philadelphia\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n But now Vulimiri, who has never been to Philadelphia, talks about other aspects of city life with the jaded recall of someone who\u2019s seen it all. She reminisced on the phone, from 12 hours away, about the \u201csanitation workers strike recently, where everybody was like, \u2018No screw you, we\u2019re not crossing the picket line,\u2019 and it just got to smelling so bad because all the trash was piling up everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Go Birds<\/p>\n