You probably remember the "Explore" page circa 2017. It was a mess of slime videos, stolen memes, and, if you fell down the right rabbit hole, some of the most incomprehensible political imagery ever created. This was the peak of Politigram. It wasn't just "politics on Instagram." It was a sprawling, decentralized, and often toxic ecosystem where teenagers LARPed as 19th-century monarchs or radical Maoists while hiding behind ten layers of irony.
Then things shifted.
The aesthetic changed. The "post-left" started gaining traction, moving away from the rigid dogma of traditional Marxism-Leninism and toward something much harder to pin down—and much more cynical. It’s a strange world. To understand how we got to the current state of digital discourse, you have to look at how these two forces collided, mutated, and eventually fractured into the modern "counter-culture" we see on X and Substack today.
The Rise and Fall of the Politigram Bubble
Politigram was built on the back of the "political compass" meme. It started simple. You had your four quadrants: Authoritarian Left, Authoritarian Right, Liberal Left, Liberal Right. But teenagers are bored. They started inventing "off-compass" ideologies. We’re talking about "Anarcho-Primitivism with Transhumanist characteristics" or "Esoteric Hitlerism."
It was a game.
Most of these users were between 14 and 19 years old. They spent their days in "group chats"—the real engine of Politigram—where they would coordinate "raids" on opposing accounts or debate the finer points of Hegelian dialectics while simultaneously posting "deep-fried" memes of Wojaks. It sounds ridiculous because it was. But it also had real-world consequences. This was the pipeline. You start with a funny meme about a funny hat, and six months later, you're unironically reading Julius Evola or Ted Kaczynski.
The platform eventually caught on. Around 2019, Instagram began a massive "purge" of these accounts. Terms like "Edge-posting" became grounds for immediate deletion. Thousands of accounts, some with over 100k followers, vanished overnight. The community didn't die, though; it just migrated. Some went to Telegram. Others went to Discord. But the most intellectually "serious" (or perhaps just the most cynical) members evolved into what we now call the post-left.
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Defining the Post-Left: It’s Not Just "Leftism" Anymore
So, what is the post-left? Honestly, it depends on who you ask, and they’ll probably give you a three-hour podcast episode as an answer.
At its core, the post-left is a rejection of the "Progressive" lifestyle brand. It’s a critique of the modern American left from a position that claims to be further left, or perhaps entirely outside the traditional spectrum. Think of figures like Aimee Terese or the various "Red Scare" adjacent circles. They aren't interested in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). In fact, they usually hate them more than they hate the right.
They argue that modern leftism has become a tool of "The Cathedral" or "Globalism"—terms that often overlap with "New Right" rhetoric. The post-left focuses on:
- A total rejection of "identity politics" (Wokeism).
- A deep suspicion of NGOs, mainstream media, and "The Current Thing."
- An emphasis on "materialism" that often looks like traditionalism.
- A weirdly cozy relationship with "Dissident Right" thinkers.
It’s a bizarre horseshoe. You have people who started as Bernie Sanders supporters in 2016 who, by 2024, were arguing that the only way to save the working class is through a return to strict social conservatism and protectionism. It’s a reaction to the perceived failure of the 2010-era "activist" culture. They saw the protests, the hashtags, and the infographics, and they decided it was all a scam.
The Aesthetic of Disillusionment
If Politigram was colorful, loud, and messy, the post-left is "liminal." It’s grainy photos of brutalist architecture. It’s "vaporwave" for people who have given up on the future.
The transition from Politigram to the post-left represented a move from expression to critique. On Politigram, you posted your beliefs. You wanted people to know you were a "National Bolshevik" or whatever. In the post-left, you hide your beliefs behind layers of "meta-irony." You mock everyone. You "blackpill" your audience. The "blackpill" is a crucial concept here—the idea that the system is so fundamentally broken that any attempt at reform is just another form of cope.
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This nihilism is a direct result of the platform dynamics. When your community gets deleted every three months by a Silicon Valley algorithm, you stop believing in the power of digital organizing. You start believing in "exit."
Why This Matters Beyond the Internet
It's easy to dismiss this as "online drama." That’s a mistake. The post-left and the remnants of Politigram have provided the intellectual framework for what some call the "New Right" or "National Conservatism."
JD Vance, for example, has been linked to the "Tech-Peter Thiel" wing of these movements. The ideas being refined in obscure Instagram group chats in 2018—ideas about "Regime Change" within the United States or the failure of the "Liberal International Order"—are now being discussed on primetime news.
The pipeline is real.
- The Hook: A meme that mocks a mainstream politician.
- The Rabbit Hole: Following an account that posts "theory" snippets.
- The Community: Joining a chat where "taboo" ideas are normalized.
- The Pivot: Moving from "Radical Left" to "Post-Left" to "Dissident Right."
We are seeing a massive realignment. The old labels of "Democrat" and "Republican" don't mean much to the people who grew up in the Politigram trenches. They care about "The Elite" versus "The People," or "The Virtual" versus "The Physical."
Misconceptions and the "Grifter" Allegations
One of the biggest misconceptions is that the post-left is a unified movement. It’s not. It’s a circular firing squad.
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Half the community spends their time accusing the other half of being "controlled opposition" or "federal agents." There is a deep, pervasive paranoia that defines these spaces. If a creator gets too big, they're a "grifter." If they take a sponsorship, they're "sold out to the capital."
There’s also the question of whether this is all just a performance. For some, it definitely is. There is a lot of money to be made in being a "contrarian" on Substack. If you can build a loyal audience of 5,000 people willing to pay $5 a month to hear you "tell the truth about the regime," you’ve got a career. This financial incentive has arguably done more to shape the post-left than any actual political theory.
Where Does It Go From Here?
The era of Politigram as a specific "scene" on Instagram is mostly over. The platform's AI-driven moderation is too aggressive now. But the spirit of it—the hyper-niche, irony-poisoned, radicalizing discourse—has just moved.
It’s on X (formerly Twitter) now, where the "Community Notes" and "Grok" have created a new playground. It’s on "Loro" and other fringe platforms. It’s in the "Trad" movement on TikTok.
The post-left serves as the bridge. It’s the "off-ramp" for people who are tired of mainstream progressivism but aren't quite ready to buy a MAGA hat. It provides a "sophisticated" way to be reactionary. It allows people to maintain their "intellectual" street cred while essentially adopting the same positions as their conservative grandparents.
Actionable Insights for Navigating Digital Subcultures
If you're trying to make sense of these spaces, keep these points in mind:
- Audit Your Feed: If you find yourself seeing "Political Compass" memes or grainy "Theory" quotes, you are being targeted by an algorithm that favors engagement through conflict. Use the "Not Interested" button to break the cycle.
- Verify the Sources: Many post-left "intellectuals" quote 19th-century philosophers out of context. If a quote sounds too perfect for a specific modern grievance, look up the original text. You'll often find it meant something entirely different.
- Recognize the "Aesthetic" Trap: Don't mistake a cool, lo-fi aesthetic for a sound political argument. The post-left relies heavily on "vibes" to bypass the rational parts of your brain.
- Understand the Vocabulary: Terms like "The Cathedral," "The Long March through the Institutions," or "Hyper-Reality" are markers. When you see them, you aren't just reading a post; you're entering a specific ideological funnel.
- Log Off: The most effective way to "counter" the blackpill nihilism of the post-left is to engage in local, physical community work. The digital world is designed to make you feel powerless; the physical world is where actual change happens.
The story of Politigram and the post-left isn't over. It’s just getting weirder. As the lines between "online" and "offline" continue to blur, these fringe ideas will keep bubbling up into the mainstream, disguised as common sense or "bold" truth-telling. Staying informed means looking past the memes and seeing the power structures they're trying to build.