The first thing that came to mind for me was Secure Contain Protect stories, which are supposedly reports from the monolithic SCP Foundation on the paranormal phenomena which it contains and studies. It's definitely somehow connected to the desire for orderliness, and in a way it's more about middle class thrift, diligence, sobriety, fidelity, procedure, and orderliness triumphing over the worst the universe has to offer, although you always get the sense that the Foundation's control is extremely tenuous which adds back some of that anxious feeling that it all hangs by a thread as JJ also observed.

One of the most horrifying things I've ever seen on the internet was an internet horror comic. The themes weren't particularly new or horrifying, I think it was about zombies, but at one point while scrolling through the vertical format of the site, the screen stopped responding to my mouse and locked on a single panel. While the rest of the comic was stationary, this panel was a gif, in which one of the zombies turned around to face the screen. After watching this video, I realize how little I was scared by the content, but instead by that short moment where the screen would not respond to my attempts to keep scrolling and then acted in a way that defied my expectations for order. I closed my browser immediately out of terror, while thoughts of viruses and "haunted" websites jumbled around in my mind. It felt silly at the time and feels silly now, but it genuinely frightened me

You know, after a couple of years of watching J.J.’s videos, I’m beginning to think that none of his videos are actually award-winning and he might just be pulling our leg.

I love topics like this and "Middle Class Millennial Nostalgia Art". Something about the way the intentionally mundane, everyday aesthetics of suburbia have been placed in increasingly psychedelic and bizarre contexts in recent years is so fascinating to me. Like we suddenly realized how alien the world we built for ourselves really is.

In Spanish we divide the horror genre in movies in Terror and horror, I believe this was the case in the past for american films but somehow they lost it and now they call both genres horror. Terror is basically a realistic fear while horror is a subgenre of terror that is based on the supernatural and tends to be more repulsive/Goreish

The album, “everywhere at the end of time” I think is an exceptional unnerving album since it appeals to the existential fear that our very minds cannot be trusted, and in the case of those who have Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other diseases associated with memory loss it is a reality. The song slowly turns from nostalgic 1920s music to incomprehensible static over the course of several hours, that captures the subtle nature of the deterioration of the mind. This fear definitely appeals to the middle class fear of disorder, but I think this song appeals to a more universal fear among humans.

ok that scared me quite a bit. at 6:40 JJ said "not all of this is supposed to be horrific per se" and after that my screen went all black and the sound was gone too. I first thought that was JJ being funny to scare his audience, but instead my monitor has decided to die right in that moment. Fun xD

I would've also included the suburban middle-class fear of serial killers living in our midst. This is a widespread anxiety that has been boosted by the rise of the internet, as we have become more sensitized to the fact that serial killers often present as normal, completely sane, and even charming when observed or interviewed on camera.

I think a lot of the "horror" around neurodivergent people is a fear of appearing cringe. ND people sometimes don't have the inhibitions others have that would prevent them from entering embarrassing situations. This seems to provoke a gut reaction in a lot of neurotypical people (and neurodivergent people who do adhere to those social expectations), who have plenty of fear around being perceived as odd. It can manifest quite darkly, like the relentless mocking of people you get online.

the whole "every copy of Mario 64 is personalized" phenomenon seems like an interesting sort of twist on the whole "object no longer belonging to you" thing where now an object is unique to you in a uniquely terrifying way. somebody smarter than me can unpack this one

I think the rise in "analogue horror" is somewhat related to this. It takes something familiar to middle class people who grew up in the 90's and earlier and distorts it in some creepy way. The channel Local 58 has been covered a lot by horror KZfaqrs, and it really does take things that you didn't think much about and made them scary - for instance, giving someone the idea that their GPS could be hijacked by some kind of alien predator who's out to kill you.

The "popularity" of the Mandela Effect is probably related to this. What could be more horrifying than a faulty memory, but thousands of people sharing that same faulty memory. And even more horrifying than that, but that it is NOT faulty, and instead the result of quantum physics experiments at CERN or natural tears in reality not yet understood by science. And ironically, the debunking process is no less disturbing, basically having to accept that one's own memory is so unreliable :(

I think the "disorder" fear is actually just fear of the unknown -- which I wouldn't say is exclusively a middle class fear. And in general I think a lot of what you're talking about is more just "postmodern horror centered around media".

I work at Omegamart in Las Vegas and this video helped me understand why some customers get upset at our art exhibit. There are no goals, we don't have all the answers, and many art pieces are corrupted versions of everyday things. The creators made it so people can explore and experience the space however they want, but some guests hate that there isn't a begining or an end to the exhibit or the story. Some hate that there isn't a reward for completing the tasks or that they didn't get all the answers, but personally I like that

This disheveled era jj has been great. I don’t remember the last time I started a video and wasnt hooked on the unique subject matter

I find abandoned places and urban exploration very intriguing and creepy. I think this relates to the middle class because seeing these places like amusement parks or shopping malls in a state of disrepair and neglect is completely opposite of what we expect.

Discoursing on the horror of disorder in an asymmetrical t-shirt. Absolutely shook.

The SCP fandom is my favorite modern internet horror thing.

Another "new fear" of the Internet age is exemplified by stories like Candle Cove in which something frightening has gone unrecorded but has managed to persist in the collective memories of those who watched it. The Internet has made it possible for the first time for people to share their collective memories, which allows mass emotional outburst to be triggered from these things.This is probably somewhat similar to the Mandela Effect in the sense that there's an unease when collective memory fails to match up to the objective reality.

I'm starting to see this channel as a great reliable document of current times that future people will discover and use to understand our present. If I could find an equivalent KZfaq channel of someone from the 1700s explaining their modern happenings I'd watch every video 1000 times

There is this new style emerging on KZfaq called “analog horror” where there is a usage of 80s-90s-style cartoons or video games or tv channels that slowly turn into horror. Very similar to the stuff you mentioned. Some examples are Local 58 and the Walten Files.

I love getting this diverse content from you! I think stuff like this connects to our human desire to understand, analyze, and being able to categorize things in a meaningful way. When we fail to do that due to the sheer obscurity and "meaninglessness" of the subject, our best subconscious mechanism is to avoid and steer clear of it. So our brain drives us to be repulsed by it or be afraid of it to achieve that.

🏆 This video wins the Award for Excellence in Keeping Me Interested Another award winning video by JJ.

If I hear "Middle Class" one more damn time my head is gonna blow up

Not a fan of horror; HUGE fan of J.J. and his insightful content!

Your video topics are super creative, I love it. I never would have thought about the idea of "internet horror" before, let alone middle class internet horror. Thanks.

The despair code I’ve always heard about seems more centered on how if you think hard enough on something you can make it come true. So for example if millions of people everyday are thinking about how the world is going to get worse, then the world will get worse through both their own actions that fulfill a self-fulfill prophecy but also more esoterically through their psychic thoughts.

The analogue horror of channels like Local 58 are pretty effective. They evoke a sort of warped nostalgia: the feeling of being wake and alone late at night with only the television for company, and that ostensibly comofrting thing warping into something strange and unfamiliar. Pad Chennington made a pretty good video about the concept.

It's crazy to me that the more I've gotten older, I now realize my fears are all based in my comfortable and privileged middle-class upbringing. Now having to live and work in society after graduating college has been one of the most difficult things to transition to. Not that I never worked, I had several part-time jobs, freelance work, and internships when I was a teenager, but knowing that I had the backing of school kinda made me feel more invincible. So now especially when I see people breaking the norm and living for lack of a better term "on the fringes," I feel spooked by it in a way I never quite did as a kid. Back when I was a kid, I would laugh at this stuff, but now, I can't watch it without a visceral reaction. Particularly, I remember vividly when Chris-chan trended on Twitter, a name I hadn't heard since like 2009, and the amount of horror I felt seeing that this individual was deteriorating even farther made me sick. Almost like a "what if that was me" type of feeling. This video really helped me understand my feelings better.

I'd say the middle class does inherently value schedules and stability (take me looking forward to a J.J. post every saturday morning). But rather than this creating "horror" in anything strictly oppossed to the predictability of middle-class consumer culture, I think it instead represents a break from the routine and mundanity of that lifestyle. In this way, the popularity of these videos is driven not so much by fear and the obsession of the percieved "fragility" of the middle class so much as it is by fascination intrinsic with anything that provides a juxtoposition to it. As with any new phenomenon, our curosities are peaked. Thanks J.J. for another great video!

I love this video and a previous one on "Middle Class Millennial Nostalgia Art"! I like that other people have noticed this trend in defamiliarizing intentionally mundane, everyday middle-class aesthetics of the 80s and 90s in a way that creates this strange, uncanny sense of discomfort and timelessness. It's difficult to explain the feeling I get from the vaporwave/Simpson wave |A E S T H E T I C|, so I enjoy your videos because they help me put words to something that I can somehow feel so intensely and yet not articulate.

I really enjoyed this video! Another good form of horror that is spreading like wild fire on the middle class internet are "distorted images." These are images which are changed or distorted to become horrifying - with many artists who focus on it like Canadian artist Trevor Henderson.

The mental illness part of this reminds me alot of 'it's just a burning memory' and that album due to its manifestation of dementia in and especially at the start when the music is warm and soft and nostalgic but by the end is cold, broken and lonely which both is something middle class life can be thought of.

With the middle class panic thing I feel that you could have added to the Momo scare that went around awhile back. Even my school made a call to parents about it.

This was a super fun vid JJ, right up my nostalgia hole.

This is actually really interesting. I've grown up with gaming and the internet, and one occuring topic in my nightmares, even now Im older, is a game refusing to pause. Like I try to pause a game and things just continue without me having control. It always left me terrified. Might be some deeper meaning about live passing me by too fast or some shit, but also definitely things not responding in the way you expect them to. Another good example of this are the "piracy is no party" videos showing made-up terrifying anti-piracy messages in mario party for the DS

The earliest form of internet horror I can think is that maze game where a dead person pops up after you complete the last level. I don’t think it’s pushing to subvert our idea of horror like the the examples listed in the video, but I remember when I innocently fell for the game and thought: “huh, I didn’t know that was allowed”

I think a good example of middle class internet horror is the work of Alex Kansas. He has an ongoing series called the monument mythos which is framed as a documentary made in an alternate universe in which all famous landmarks such as mt. Rushmore, the pyramids of Giza, and the Washington memorial are actually a shrine used by a secret cabal of elites to cause supernatural havoc and human sacrifices, the series also takes many icons of American pop culture and twists them into something horrific, a good example of this is how James Dean become president by hypnotizing most of the public. In short it does a good job at upsetting middle class sensibilities by taking well known mundane symbols and transforming them into something alien.

This is one of my favorite topics. Loved to see that you covered it, fantastic video, JJ!

“Everywhere at the end of time” is probably one of the most disturbing creations on the internet and genuinely made me fear my own mortality. For those unaware, it’s a set of albums that, together, represent the corrosion of the mind in someone with alzheimer’s. knowing the long history of alzheimer’s in my family and the sentimentality that i have for music, it is incredibly horrifying.

The game Cruelty Squad is an interesting case study of this phenomenon. It’s very unpleasant to look at and play, but it’s a relatively high-profile game getting mainstream attention. It speaks to the popularity of this type of unnerving content.

I love video essay type of content like this and it's so refreshing to see with how over saturated the iceberg tier videos, since some of them are littered with misinformation and they aren't organized in a way that makes a ton of sense. Also, I love the inclusion of some of the retro Internet gems since it's strangely nostalgic and just shows me how old I am as far as being on here goes. If you want a forgotten classic, consider looking into An Internet Story, centering on a guy documenting his efforts to solve a puzzle with the promise of a cash reward by an unknown web host. No Thorough Road is also a great one as well for those into the found footage genre. There's also Smile, a 2005 Israeli animated short I'd recommend to anyone who is into psychological horror since it nails what you're talking about perfectly. It's gotten more popular in the last few years, which is fantastic. For me, I think I'm drawn more to the psychological horrors of the unknown and the us vs them conflict - that even those who exist within our community are a looming threat. Director John Carpenter talked about the human psyche in the documentary An American Nightmare and how one of our primal fears from the days of our ancient ancestors is that of the dark because the unknown of what could be out there can be harmful to you. While this still spells true, sometimes the metaphorical darkness isn't the woods, bad side of town, the rural communities, or the forbidden backrooms of society. Sometimes the darkness is in your own backyard or home. A good example of this is the 2019 film Greener Grass, a sort of Adult Swim absurdist film about the horror of white picket fence suburbia that gets progressively disjointed as it goes on. I'm reminded of a chart I made centering around lost media, much of it being NSFW/NSFL related; including a movie an amateur filmmaker attempted to produce where he strangled a woman in his suburban neighborhood. I saw that the one KZfaq tier video mentioned Happy Anniversary, which is another classic that sums this fear up as well.

Traversal into the unknown is a pretty standard trope. Whether it is a dark forest, abandoned building, secret facility, space, the ocean, a distant land, it facilitates the suspension of disbelief making the story more engaging. Psychologically, it is the journey into the subconscious where we confront our existential dangers.

Your videos keep getting better JJ. And they were already great to begin with. Great work!

I get where you're coming from with this but the underlying implication that lower class people can' be scared of this sort of thing because they're different is a bit silly.

I'm increasingly disturbed by the decreasing prominence of that EarthBound box over the years.

Great video! Keep up the good work jj!

Excellent. I found all the talk of despair and horror oddly uplifting. JJ's offhand manor makes all these things that freak us out seem so obviously trivial. How amazing. JJ, you have convinced me you are a treasure that deserves to share some of my treasure. I'll see you on Patreon!

Honestly, I must say that, even if I myself don't consume, let alone enjoy these uncanny horror "products", I can understand the genius behind it. It poses an interesting, twisted perception of the modern human society's psichology, by breaking the so-called "comfort zone" of any human being

We, the middle class, cant have nice things without artists tryting to "shock" us, can't we?

Lots of good ideas to ponder. Thanks, JJ!

Parallel pipes is so cool! I saw your comment on one of his videos and thought you would make a video on icebergs or some other kind of video on the "disturbing". I love the middle class videos and so to see these two together is great.

Finaly someone brings up the weird double standard when it comes to non neurotypical people As a Neurodivergent myself I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been told I “don’t look like XYZ” just because i don’t show the stereotypical traits.

Internet and horror can't really have one without the other...

Brilliant as always!

This is probably one of my most favourite videos of yours, because it's just so, out there. It raises a lot of interesting ideas and I'm gonna have to watch it a few times to process everything :)

These videos on distinctly middle class views of the world and how they shape it are really interesting. I really liked your Nostalgia art video as well! It's interesting to see how the nuanced the mind can be - even if it is centered around things like video games and internet memes.

When speaking of disturbing art, The Caretaker's Everywhere At the End of Time came to mind.

Another excellent video JJ!

I think the universal horror from it is because a lot of people these days see the internet as a familiar place, or at least a safe retreat, so finding out about these unknown horrors can make someone feel like there's a ghost in their home.

"It was not award winning" oh JJ, it should be

it’s funny to think of how much social class actually affects our fears and anxieties, whether they’re rational or not. love the self aware content!

very good and out of character new topic for you jay well researched and well presented

Great video as usual JJ.

This video should be called: “Why you like ricky berwick”

I look forward to when art scholars are looking back on this 'Nostalgic Movement' in 50 or 100 or more years

Really interesting analysis, keep it up!

Man this makes so much sense, never thought of this perspective before

2 words, JJ. Local 58. It's by the guy who made Candle Cove, and it actually has a bit of lore in the whole series. Really great video lineup, and I seriously recommend it!

J.J., when you were talking about subversive artists and musicians, my first thought was Eric Andre. Eric Andre made an album which is almost unlistenable and his show is so disruptive and is designed to go against convention. Have you ever seen anything from him; if so what do you think of him?

Great video! I actually got sent one of those despair codes by someone in a Discord server. I was too freaked out to read the whole list, but it included things like suicide and murder and stuff. Creepy!

Thank You for all of your videos that you did. I am enjoying all of them

Nowadays, it seems that anything that is old, like over 100 years old is considered haunted. Old house? For sure it must be haunted. The RSM Queen Mary? Haunted!

This had very early vsauce-esque tone...loved it

Loved your video as always JJ!

this video is really sick and intuitive. thanks for bringing new ideas to topics i already know about, it's really refreshing!

OMG JJ Did you just curse us all???

the story of Chris-Chan is the horror of what the internet can do to one person

Loved this episode. Very insightful. Gives one pause so to speak. Well done.

Great thoughtful commentary. Love it!

Goodness JJ !! Are u an arts major? I watched so many of ur videos, these r post graduate level essays material. How I wish i could write material like u..very well done! Particularly ur US politics stuff. And today's video is a breath of fresh air also from u...

this reminds me of the twitter page "the sun has vanished" it is a very interesting horror twitter page with lore and all that

You never disappoint in topic and delivery.

Not sure how Blank Room Soup is supposed to only be unnerving to middle class people. My family was very poor when I first found out about it and it was still pretty unnerving knowing that people still never figured out what's going on there.

No! It can't be saturday already!!! Aaaah time flies! 🙈😂 Looking forward to this video.

I don't see how any of this relates to the middle class.

This video made me anxious af. It’s nighttime here, and your video has a vignette type of filter on it which it never does, and the topics you mention kind of freak me out-even though I’m a super rational person-and now I’m in freak out mode.

Growing up as a middle class American, I've always been afraid of nostalgic things being turned evil. Like you mentioned creepy pastas of haunted video games like Pokemon and Zelda, both of which I grew up with. As a kid, I was terrified of Ben Drowned because it exploited that fear, as well as being just a tragic story that possibly could have happened. Well, the drowning part could happen at least. Anyway, I wouldn't mind a follow up to this. It was interesting to look back on what scared me, and maybe still does.

i like how in every video the disclaimer that J.J.'s videos aren't actually award-winning gets shorter and shorter

I like the book you mentioned! House of Leaves is a really cool book, and the subversive style actually makes sense in the context of the book -- the main plot revolves around people living in a house that is impossibly bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, and its labyrinthine passageways keep growing bigger day by day. They go on an expedition into the descending stairwell and branching hallways, and some get lost along the way.. meanwhile, they hear noises that sounds like something is hunting them in the darkness. It's a very cool book and well worth checking out.

This is incredibly insightful and makes me question just how centrist you are instead of a comrade! Great video my friend.

JJ you make the most well written videos on this website. You genuinely put your all in each video and we can tell! Keep up the great vids, love from Nebraska USA!

This type of content on your channel is awesome. I obv come here for the political stuff, but I am Gen X and you always teach me something new when you dive into current culture. Thanks for that!

I'm in love with these middle class videos, these explanations about how we as a society are shaped by the routines and expectation from our economic standing

Great video!

I really love zombies and I think it's because of how they relate to the topic of this video, an everyday facet of life turning against you (people). I especially like this genre when it takes place in an urban or suburban area, context turns normal objects sinister or depressing. For example, in a bit of zombie media I consumed recently, a house in a small suburb of survivors still has this big flat screen television hung on the wall, this for some reason stuck with me, this object of entertainment and joy turned depressing with the knowledge that it will never again be used, never again have a purpose, never again fulfill its function, and yet it remains on the wall as a reminder of normal life to everyone simply trying to survive around it.

I must be an oddball then since I'm part of the American middle class, yet I'm pretty impervious to this kind of horror, or horror in general really

There are a whole load of examples I can think of now. The current memes going around for the past 5 months have become more and more unnerving. Examples: 1. Memes about feeding the skinwalkers 2. Memes about being schizophrenic and killing other people while you’re off your meds 3. Mr Incredible becoming uncanny meme 4. Memes about waking up in the back rooms and getting chased by a terrifying entity The Mr Incredible becomes uncanny is a great example as he is a well known nostalgic character. Seeing him deteriorate while “Everywhere At The End Of Time” plays. You’d have to check out the meme yourself to understand the feeling. As unsettling as it is I love seeing horror satire memes come up in my feed all the time.

Love your videos brother! Much respect ✊🏻 & ❤️!!!

I can’t help but feel that you’re extrapolating quite a lot from this framing of ‘normie’ media consumer expectations/culture as a “middle class” thing. Like I can see it as an angle- especially when a lot of mass media consumption was done by the middle class because they can afford it…but I feel like it’s just sort of ‘bloated’, per se, in the current context of the internet, when now pretty much everyone can experience these things. Also middle-class aren’t the only ones that vale stability