Earlier today, Utah Governor Spencer Cox described how authorities discovered phrases engraved on ammunition that was found with a rifle near where Charlie Kirk was murdered.
Cox read out those inscriptions at a news conference — but the phrases themselves are full of memes and jokes potentially meant for an online audience, one expert said.
The alleged shooter references video games and an anti-fascist song from Italy, according to Jamie Cohen, a professor at Queens College, City University of New York and an expert in memes and digital culture.
Cohen, who has written extensively about the internet and its culture, said the engravings could indicate that the suspect is an “extremely online person” and may have been trying to communicate with his inner circle.
“Memes are supposed to be read by meme audiences,” Cohen said. “They’re meant for in-group communication.”
Particularly in the context of mass shooters and extremist groups, memes are often designed to attract media attention and disseminate that group’s message into the mainstream, Cohen said.
“A lot of these memes are designed specifically as dog whistles,” he said. “You have to be fairly in tune with the idea that these are messages for that meaning.”
Cohen said memes often refer to other memes, which can make it hard to know exactly what the suspect was trying to convey. “Memes contain multitudes,” Cohen said, noting that you have to take out a lot of context to make them shareable. So — as with some things on the internet — the messages could mean nothing at all, he added.
With that in mind, here’s what some of the inscriptions might mean:
Up arrow symbol, right arrow, and three down arrows: This could be in reference to the video game Helldivers 2, describing how a player would use the controller to drop a bomb.
“Hey, fascist! Catch!”: Gov. Cox, at the news conference, interpreted this as a straightforward message. “I think that speaks for itself,” he said. But, it also could be a reference to the Helldivers game, which itself is a satirical commentary on fascism, as something the player says when they drop a bomb.
“Bella Ciao”: Not exactly a meme, this phrase refers to the Italian anti-fascist song from WWII, Cohen said.
“Notices bulges OwO what’s this?” This meme comes from furry subculture and is a reference to roleplay or cringy flirting, Cohen explained.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly characterized details about the furry subculture.