“Silly stuff from a socialist perspective”
An interview with the curator behind Big Dawg Socialism
Welcome to Human Pursuits, the column that features need-to-know names and stories in media and other creative spaces. Today, an interview with the curator behind the popular political meme account, Big Dawg Socialism.
Nothing is better than a good group chat. X.com might have more hot takes and lunatics, and TikTok may have more personalities and fake podcast mics.
But pound-for-pound, I’d wager the chats that most of us have with friends and family are funnier, partly because they contain a level of human-to-human interactivity that no algorithm can currently replicate.
Sure, forums and threads promise something similar. But making stupid jokes with friends who get you, who both understand and share in your comedic sensibilities, is one of life’s great pleasures.
There are a few reasons for this, but a big one is aggregation. Within the sacred confines of the chat, you and your funniest friends can form a comedic brain trust, riffing on the day’s events like a Hollywood writers’ room.
But while it’s hard to imagine anyone making me “tee-hee” more than my friends, occasionally, a meme page comes close to simulating the experience.
Such was the case with Big Dawg Socialism.
Self-described as “silly stuff from a socialist perspective,” the Instagram account digests the best (see: worst) that Western politics and culture has to offer and regurgitates it in a dog’s breakfast of dissonant-but-weirdly-delicious memes and screenshots.
In 2024, the page became a fixture of many people’s algorithms. To date, it has amassed more than 80,000 followers. But while the politics are clear, I wanted to know more about the person running it. So I messaged them for an interview.
While their identity is not necessarily a secret, I agreed to keep it confidential for the purposes of today’s post, as it felt respectful of the page’s vibe.
Our edited and condensed conversation, which took place via text shortly after Christmas, touched on Big Dawg’s days as a young pup in Toronto, how they source their material, whether memes are to blame for “black pilling” people on politics, and more.
As my fellow group chat member put it: "Big Dawg saves people the pain/horror of needing to actually visit twitter.”
Need I say more?
Ethan: I normally have some idea of who I’m chatting with, so I suppose my first question is: is there an avatar or meme that you feel represents you at the moment?
Big Dawg Socialism: Laughs. Not really. Maybe that one of the little mouse in that cozy, dug-out tree. It’s aspirational.
Ethan: I feel like there’s some symbolism there, given that, before our chat, you mentioned you're in the process of moving.
Big Dawg Socialism: Oh, no, I’m not moving house. I work as a mover on the side.
Ethan: Crazy, I worked as a mover for a while in high school. The company I worked for would sometimes move military folks. These families would get deployed and you’d have to go to their house and box up their whole life. It felt really voyeuristic; you’d be going through every corner of their life.
I keep remembering more and more people who help the page. I hope they read this and recognize themselves in it.
Big Dawg Socialism: For sure. I used to work for a previous company that dealt with evictions and business closures. You’d be moving stuff from these people’s lives, or throwing it away. It was very sad.
Ethan: Even thinking about it now gives me the creeps. Do any of your coworkers know your alter ego?
Big Dawg Socialism: Lots of people know. Family, friends, some of my cooler coworkers. It’s mostly people who I think are down with politics or sympathetic to the cause. Sometimes I use the page as a way to talk politics on a deeper level with coworkers because I want to move people politically.
The people I do political work with usually know, too. The truth is I couldn’t manage the account without these people. Friends of all kinds send me tons of stuff that I like and repost. Sometimes I just screenshot the funny things they post on their own accounts and share it.
In this sense, Big Dawg Socialism is a reflection of all the great people I know and their perspectives on the world. Electricians, teachers, childcare workers, university students, labour organizers, moms, dads, scientists, laborers, repentant business guys, nurses, postal workers, personal support workers, and engineers. Oh and social workers, tattooers, artists... I don’t want to forget them. My custodian sends me good stuff. I keep remembering more and more people who help the page. I hope they read this and recognize themselves in it. I want them to feel a part of this.
Ethan: That’s beautiful. You run the account but Big Dawg has a whole community behind it.
Big Dawg Socialism: 100%.
Ethan: What was the moment that “radicalized” you, or got you thinking about politics?
Big Dawg Socialism: I was always thinking about certain things. Growing up, most of my friends lived in Toronto community housing. That made me think about inequality.
I also had questions about gender, and how I felt about my own gender expression, and how the world saw it, so that was always in my head, too. I was also drawn to punk music... All this to say, I was always thinking about the world and it felt like it wasn’t quite right. I’ve been on a permanent quest to do something about it.
Ethan: What punk bands are we talking?
Big Dawg Socialism: One of my formative memories is checking out Agnostic Front’s Cause for Alarm from the library over and over. Laughs.
Ethan: What was it about that record?
Big Dawg Socialism: It was very extreme to my ears and the artwork was amazing. I would stare at it for ages. Some of the politics on it aren’t great. The song “Public Assistance” is quite reprehensible. But it did have me thinking. And I was a little kid so it was nice to have free access to something that seemed so cool.
Ethan: Who are your comedy influences?
Big Dawg Socialism: Being from Canada, I have to shout out Kids in the Hall. That was in syndication all the time growing up. Also: 30 Rock, Broad City, Arrested Development. Those shows were formative for me. I also love the absurdity of stuff like Vanderpump Rules and those kinds of shows too.
Also, my family is the type that only jokes around. Everyone is sarcastic and everything is material.
Ethan: I’m surprised there’s no political comedy on that list.
Big Dawg Socialism: I definitely watched The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Doing left-wing political activism for so long, you and your comrades need to have a good sense of humor to keep going, because there is a lot of hard work and a lot of sadness in it too. There are a lot of defeats.
Ethan: Do you think that the ability to laugh things off has contributed to the “black pilling” we see at the moment, especially from younger people? Or is it more of an effect rather than a cause?
Big Dawg Socialism: BDS started as a way to blow off steam from the serious politics we were doing. As it’s grown it takes on a new life, but at its core that's what it is: a fun, light-hearted outlet from the other stuff we do.
In terms of cause and effect, I haven't really thought about it, but I would guess more of an effect. How do you deal with all this nasty stuff, especially at a time when our movements have never felt weaker and the influence of the far left and the working class is so weak?
People don’t have the political vehicles that they once did. It makes sense to get a few laughs as a coping mechanism, but it can’t end there. We must fight back. I always think about the quote from Jakob Moneta: “Those who were not murdered in the camps, not killed in the gas chambers, who did not fall in imperialist wars, have no right to abandon the struggle for socialism."
Ethan: There was a lot of talk in November about the left needing its own Joe Rogan or other manosphere-style influencer. What do you think of that? Will you be submitting a resume?
Big Dawg Socialism: Laughs. I’m not qualified or interested in that job, but I think the sentiment reflects a weakness on the left of our politics and organizing. It’s great to be fun and do fun stuff, but we need more people with socialist politics taking those ideas into their workplace, and helping to organize the frustration of their coworkers to fight back…
I always hope that, despite the hard politics of Big Dawg, the heart and kindness at the center shine through, because we as revolutionaries are guided by love when it gets down to it
I might sound like a "vulgar Marxist" here, but if I could snap my fingers and wish for anything it would be thousands more socialists with clear politics and the ability to influence their coworkers in working-class jobs.
It's not entirely our fault that the left is so weak. We have been really up against it for the last century, the Cold War and its consequences loom large for all of us, but regardless we have to be clear that the road to emancipation is through working-class self-activity and combativeness.
I'm self-conscious about how serious this all sounds… Not very Big Dawg.
Ethan: We can talk about something lighter. I’m wondering what you’ve learned about cultivating an online community in the past year, and how maybe it differs from connecting with people IRL.
Big Dawg Socialism: All I try to do is express a set of broad left-wing politics that I find funny and that can appeal to people outside of the far left. Basically, I post for me.
However, what I post is meant to only be mean to people in power and is hopefully enjoyable to those struggling under capitalism, and hopefully give people heart in a sometimes heartless world…
To answer your question more directly: I feel like as our audience has grown, we have attracted mostly people who are kind and want better for all. I love seeing comments from people who show so much heart despite all the nastiness of the world… I always hope that, despite the hard politics of Big Dawg, the heart and kindness at the center shine through, because we as revolutionaries are guided by love when it gets down to it. Which feels funny to say when we are posting stuff like cat memes and "don't you hate it when your man does xyz" memes but still. Laughs.
Ethan: I know you’re a political meme page but I wasn’t expecting this convo to be so… thoughtful?
Big Dawg Socialism: Thank you.
Ethan: Given that it feels like you’re carrying a heavy weight on your shoulders, I wonder what a day of rest looks like for you? Like, when this Dawg is done barking and rolling around with the other pups, what are you doing to unwind?
Big Dawg Socialism: I have a hard time sitting still. A day of rest usually looks like some exercise in the morning, chores while listening to an audiobook, or something, and a moment where I can chill with my partner drinking some coffee and eating a cookie…
The absolute best-case scenario though would be some kind of vacation where I can unplug a bit. But I’d still post memes if there was WiFi.
Ethan: What kind of cookie are we talking about?
Big Dawg Socialism: Any sort of chocolate chip cookie. The bigger the better.
Big Dawg Socialism is a content creator and meme-based revolutionary. They live in Toronto (I think).