Low internet IQ is real, and the Internet Karen keeps proving it
Every so often, an Internet Karen wanders into your online world and proves they have no idea what they are looking at.
Last week, it was the guy who somehow decided I was a Ducks fan after reading an article about possible trade packages between Detroit and Vegas. The article centered on the Red Wings, and the entire setup had Detroit and Vegas written all over it.
Somehow, this “genius” looked at the evidence and saw everything landing in Anaheim’s favor.
Then he blocked me after I explicitly told him I profit on haters.
That alone would have made a decent case study in low internet IQ. But the internet loves sequels, and this week brought an even better one.
I posted a 10-second AI video of Yote and Jett from The Arcane Prophecy
That was it. A short visual teaser, and a micro-piece of creative marketing. One more asset in an author ecosystem full of books, blogs, emails, characters, lore, articles, images, sales pages, and serialized fiction. Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff.
Naturally, an Internet Karen on my mailing list showed up and concluded that I must use AI to generate all of my work. Wow. I never once in my life thought anyone could be this stupid. I mean, we’re talking borderline retard.
A 10-second video exists, therefore all 20+ novels, 1,000+ essays, stories, worldbuilding, character arcs, Substack posts, blog articles, sales emails, and years of creative output must’ve come from a machine — even if I’ve been crafting a lot of this since 2020.
“Brilliant” detective work from Internet Karen
This is what I mean by low internet IQ. I’m talking about the inability to read the room, context, evidence, and pause before slamming the outrage button. It has little to do with raw intelligence and everything to do with digital literacy. Some people can technically use the internet, but they process it like a toddler grabbing random objects off a shelf.
They skim, react, categorize, then attack the category they invented.
God, I hope this woman doesn’t have a husband and kids. But then again, maybe she bats for the other team, and my badass couple who flips off Pride parades would drive her further up a fucking wall.
The Ducks guy was so stupid that he saw something in his head that was never in the article. To put icing on the cake, he was a Red Wings fan. You seriously cannot make up this brand of idiotic.
The AI Karen saw a single video that lasted 10 measly seconds and built an entire accusation around it. Neither of these idiots dealt with the thing in front of them, but with the cartoon version their own content-fried brain created.
That’s the modern internet in miniature
Dumbasses like these two don’t read. They scan for triggers, try to troll, and then TC spins their bullshit into a profit-generating machine. I mean, these two are more stupid than the man who rage-blocked me for an accusation similar to AI-hating Karen and called me toxic.
I responded with a sale at The Rebel Lore Vault for all readers who use the code TCISTOXIC50 at the checkout. Go grab some of my books and punch in that code — you’ll end up loving me for it.
>>>> Load up on them books right now
They see “AI” and think they’ve found a bigger fraud than Aaron Parnas, a hockey article and decide they know your team that they also claim to root for, a character image and assume they understand your entire creative process, and a creator building an ecosystem, only to treat it like cheating because they still think the internet runs on permission slips.
And I guaran-damn-tee you AI-hating Karen never bucked CGI or those cool new LED sets I wrote about on a Star Wars fan site about a half-decade ago.
The AI outrage crowd has become especially ridiculous because so much of it comes from people who have no clue how actual creative work functions. They think an image generator can hand someone a full author brand, a distinct voice, body of work, fictional universe, publishing strategy, mailing list, launch calendar, and a paying readership. Newsflash, Karen: It doesn’t.
AI’s a supplement, not a wholefood
Or an incomplete protein, not a complete protein. AI can generate an image, help produce a teaser when it feels like it, mock up a concept, accelerate a workflow, and turn a character description into something readers can immediately visualize.
It won’t live inside your fictional world for years, nor will it know Yote Diamonback’s story the second I ask it to recall the plot. Seriously, the other day it fucked up so bad that it “impressed me” with just how much cyber dementia it has at times. It also kept calling Jett “the girl,” or “the threat.” At this point, it should know Jett like the back of its mechanical hand.
It also can’t build the emotional history behind Yui Kikuchi, Eirwyn Starweaver, Sion Zona, Kaija Jokiharju, Quinn Cozens, Liza Fury, or anyone else I’ve written into existence. Trust me, I’ve read all of my books many times over, sometimes even as a refresher because I don’t trust AI to give me an accurate reading half the time.
Hell, that part will always belong with me, and I don’t care about how powerful it gets.
But the low-internet-IQ crowd never reaches that layer because outrage offers an easier dopamine hit
These Karens and Kens have to evaluate the actual work, and that takes time. They don’t have to notice the difference between a tool and a creator, ask if the story has a spine, the characters hold their own weight, if the message has teeth, or if the audience responds.
They shout “AI” and expect the empty room to clap. Except the room did something better: it laughed.
A couple of readers saw the response and immediately started making sarcastic remarks. They understood the assignment, saw the comedy, and recognized the type: the self-appointed hall monitor who thinks the rest of the internet requested her inspection. And then I made money.
That’s when outrage loses power. A critic can hurt you when the criticism lands, but who cares? Bait them, because they’re always gonna respond. Then their meltdown gets useful when everyone can see the ridiculousness.
This is where creators need to get smarter
The worst move you can make is treating every bad-faith complainer like a serious moral authority. That gives them status they never earned, turns a drive-by tantrum into a courtroom drama, and lets someone with no context, curiosity, or stake in your work put you on defense.
No fucking thanks. I’d rather turn the meltdown into content. Something I’ve done several times today across a few different niches.
That’s the advantage independent creators have now. We don’t need permission from some stale wannabe gatekeeping class. We also don’t need to beg for approval from people who confuse suspicion with intelligence, or stop building because some lowlife with a bob haircut and a grievance decides that using a modern tool violates her (or its?) sacred code of internet purity.
We can build and sell the thing, then mock the tantrum
Then we can package the whole episode into an email, a blog post, a banner image, a Substack thread, and a sale. Or a few sales.
That’s the part these hall monitors hate most: they want their outrage to create shame. They want you to shrink, and to explain yourself for 900 words while they sit there pretending they’re defending art, culture, literature, or whatever noble costume they decided to wear that day.
But when you have an actual audience, their tantrum’s your best marketing asset. That doesn’t mean every critic deserves mockery. Real criticism has value. A serious reader can challenge a weak scene, a lazy argument, broken plot point, muddy theme, or a marketing choice that misses. I’ll listen to that, especially if it comes from someone with skin in the game.
But the people who leap from “he posted an AI video” to “he generates all of his work” aren’t critics. They’re content clowns and cash cows.
And the people who glance at my Red Wings content, read about Detroit and Vegas, then walk away thinking “Ducks fan” aren’t sharp observers. They’re idiots.
Low internet IQ and the Internet Karen is real
It shows up whenever people react faster than they comprehend, when they mistake their first emotional impulse for insight, and when they enter someone else’s ecosystem and ignore every visible clue.
So let them laugh-block, point, scold, and perform their outrage for the cheap seats.
The rest of us will punch ’em in their cyber mouths, then keep creating, building, publishing, selling, and turning their meltdowns into fuel.
>>>> Remember that 50% off deal at the checkout — TCISTOXIC50
