Je Suis Joe Blumenthal: How a Troll Social Media Account Sparked a Year of Student Outrage and Left-Wing Activism at UC Santa Cruz
This is the story of how two University of California-Santa Cruz students used fake Facebook and Tinder accounts bearing the UCSC chancellor’s face and surname to stoke outrage among the student body and ultimately organize left-wing activists.
The two trolls effectively dominated the Official UCSC Student Facebook page, drowned out administration emails, matched with hundreds of girls on Tinder, organized social justice demonstrations, and fomented enthusiasm towards select incidents of unrest on campus, some of which gained national press.
From George to Joe
In 2006, UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice Denton jumped to her death off the edge of a San Francisco high-rise apartment building. The University replaced Denton with Dr. George Blumenthal, an Astrophysicist in his early 60’s known primarily for his work on dark matter. Before his promotion, Blumenthal served one year stints as vice chair and chair of the University of California Academic Senate.
Now in his early 70’s, George “Blumie” Blumenthal still serves as school chancellor. Blumenthal is a tall man (about 6"4), with blue eyes, and a brown bushy mustache. The chancellor speaks in a slow, deliberate manner using hand gestures to emphasize his points.
Today, many of Blumenthal’s tasks involve fundraising, and publicly representing the school. While most on-campus duties are delegated to his underlings, Blumenthal remains the face of the Administration, officially overseeing all major decisions, and signing off on campus wide emails.
In October 2016, two UC Santa Cruz students, Will and Michael (not their real names) created a troll Facebook account using photoshopped pictures of Chancellor George Blumenthal. The pair used the name Joe Blumenthal on the account.
Michael describes the “Joe Blumenthal” alter-ego as a harsher version of the real life George Blumenthal. “Joe is more militant and against student activism,” Michael tells me, “Joe says explicit things about how much he wants to screw students over,” he continues. Michael also describes the Joe persona as a reflection of the “incompetence,” and the detached nature of the administration.
The two friends collaborated on the project throughout the school year, posting content on the account from their apartments, on campus coffee shops, and even from inside ongoing social protests.
The Activist
Each member of the duo brings a different skill set to the table. Michael, the son of a San Diego sheriff’s deputy, describes himself as an “anti-capitalist” who considers himself friends with radical activists. Michael uses the Joe Blumenthal account to stoke leftist activism. “When Joe Blumenthal is at his best, he’s not just posting on social media, he’s turning out students,” Michael tells me.
Michael has several key disagreements with the way the administration runs. “There is an inequity between the way the school treats the sciences and the social sciences. The university puts too much money into research, and this comes at the expense of the humanities,” he says. Michael also objects to funding cuts for programs like “Productions of Color,” a theater group comprised of ethnic minorities performing non-Eurocentric themed productions. Michael also believes students of color are marginalized at UCSC when the school deemphasizes programs like community studies and ethnographic studies. Will agrees with this sentiment, “I think there should be more internship opportunities for humanities students,” he says. “I don’t know what an internship for philosophy majors would look like, but I think the school should try to find out.
Michael also believes the administration excludes students from important decision making processes. “Students are very often not even brought to the table,” Michael explains, “they are only there as consultants. “Students aren’t really considered to be stakeholders. We need a seat at the table. Admins are not willing to give us this,” he adds, “I don’t want people to be afraid of power, I want them to understand power.”
The Shitposter
Will, a 20-year-old in his 4th year, also from San Diego, brings a more technical skill set to the table. He uses his digital and Photoshop skills combined with his nerdy pop culture interests and a background as a former shitposter. Will also considers himself a left-wing ally of radical student organizations. However, this was not always the case.“ I grew up in a white, upper-middle-class family in an affluent section of San Diego. I fell in with a bad crowd online when I was in high school,” Will says, “they painted liberal issues such as feminism in a bad light. Becoming an RA and having to live and deal with people from different backgrounds changed my opinions on Social Justice movements.”
Will sees the Joe Blumenthal account as a vessel to hold the administration responsible. He believes that “disclosure,” and “holding the administration to account,” are key.
Both Michael and Will say they have no personal animosity towards Chancellor Blumenthal. Michael acknowledges that if the Chancellor saw the social media profile bearing his pictures and last name, “he would likely feel disrespected.” “I think he is a good guy who went into the job as a student ally,” says Michael, “at this point, he is more of the symbolic face of the administration. However, the school is making decisions which aren’t in the best interests of the students, and he should be accountable for all of these policies.”
The Evolution of Blumie Part I: Joe the Troll
“I originally made the Joe Blumenthal account to make one joke,” says Michael, “but people started friending the profile, and it grew from there.” Within the first few months, the Facebook profile began gaining traction, amassing over 1,500 friends.
The first Joe Blumenthal posts are mostly memes and funny photoshopped distortions featuring Blumenthal’s head superimposed onto other people. Will added some Star Wars themed posts sprinkled in with a little shitposting. Michael posted a few stock photos of the chancellor with witty captions. “There wasn’t really a political message,” says Michael. The account galvanized the campus through humor.
The Evolution of Blumie Part II: Joe the Sounding Board
As the page gained friends and followers, the account’s Facebook page became a de facto sounding board for student complaints. UCSC students began tagging Joe Blumenthal and posting their complaints about parking, dining hall food, and tuition on the page. It was at that point, combined with the U.S. election results in November that Michael and Will began seeing their pet project as a potential platform for both campus and political issues.
“Our first political messages were niche campus issues,” says Michael, “We talked about funding and renovations in the library. In line with Will’s goal of disclosure, the page publicized Chancellor Blumenthal’s salary. The account created a series of memes portraying the Chancellor as a money grubbing entity who was trying to squeeze every last dime out of students. “I think the chancellor’s $383,000 salary is outrageous,” says Michael, “I honestly think the proposed $100,000 to hire a new diversity officer should come directly from his salary. If it hurts him, maybe he should sell one of his homes.”
Another controversial Joe Blumenthal Facebook post that garnered attention on campus was a post about UC Santa Cruz College Republicans. “Okay, but seriously, what does College Republicans do besides providing a front for white supremacy,” the submission reads. The post garnered a lot of traffic, and was eventually flooded with memes from the UCSC College Republicans. Both Will and Michael agree the post against the student organization was harsh, but don’t regret the sentiment they expressed. “We posted this in the context of what is going on politically. There is a normalization of things that shouldn’t be normalized like taking away health care, cruel criminal justice policies and voter suppression,” Will says, “I find it concerning that groups of young people support the GOP.” Will says he probably wouldn’t have posted the quote again because it gave the College Republicans a public platform for their memes. “I have seen them be rude at tabling events. I don’t think it was an unfair assessment,” Michael adds.
The Evolution of Blumie Part III: Fueling the Outrage Machine
The 2016–17 school year was full of social unrest on the UC Santa Cruz campus. On election night, thousands of students streamed out of their dorms and spontaneously erupted into protest. During spring quarter, a workers rights march on May Day blocked traffic, and a week later the Afrikan/Black Student Association (A/BSA) occupied an administrative building.
Both Will and Michael downplay the roll they had in the unrest. They remind me over and over again, “that the student organizations deserve most of the credit.” Shortly before I published this story, Will once again reiterated that he was worried, “this article would give them too much for the success of social protests on campus.” However, the role the Joe Blumenthal account played in publicizing these events within the general, non-activist student body shouldn’t be understated.
Most importantly, Will and Michael shrewdly controlled the narrative on campus by countering every major administrative email release with a simultaneous dissenting release on social media. Many students read the Joe Blumenthal satirical renditions of administration emails on Facebook before they saw the original UCSC emails. Much in the same fashion that the Russians are accused of strategically releasing information on social media to distort the Clinton narrative, Joe Blumenthal effectively re-branded the UCSC administration’s messages to students.
Will and Michael also used the Joe Blumenthal profile from inside social protests to reach otherwise uninterested non activist students.
On May 1, International Worker’s Day, a radical leftist group, the March Collective, blocked traffic on campus for more than 10 hours. Michael stood with the protester’s as they impeded vehicles, even engaging in a hostile interaction with a motorcycle rider. The Joe Blumenthal profile posted supportive messages through their Facebook account.
Less than 24 hours after the Worker’s day protest, the UCSC Afrikan/Black Student Association (A/BSA) occupied an Administration Building (including the chancellor’s office) as part of “reclamation project.” The group demanded that the school adhere to a list of demands including a housing guarantee for black identified students, the repainting of a student lounge to pan-African colors, and mandatory diversity training.
A/BSA remained inside the administration building for 52 hours until the school met their demands and promised not to pursue criminal trespassing charges against them. Michael participated in the occupation. He spent more than two days inside the building in solidarity with protesters, posting updates through the Joe Blumenthal account, raising money for food through a Venmo account, smoking weed (which he concedes was against the rules of the protest), and nervously hoping that the police wouldn’t storm the building. “I actually saw Chancellor Blumenthal leave the building,” Michael tells me, “I looked at him and screamed, ‘GEORGE DO YOU ENDORSE THIS?’”
While Michael, joined the social justice protests, Will stayed away. “While, I am committed to Social Justice, I am still trying to figure out my role as a white ally,” he says. “I feel privileged because of my background, and I want to be careful not to whitesplain. I don’t have the appropriate life experiences, and I want to leave some issues that are better spoken about by other people.”
In response, to the Mayday and A/BSA protest, UCSC released an email from Chancellor Blumenthal to all students stating the appropriate perimeters of student protest. “While I support First Amendment rights, I do not endorse efforts to halt the normal work of the university, such as blocking campus entrances or taking over a building,” the email reads. The statement continued that such actions are not “constitutionally protected speech,” and those who engage in such actions may be subject to “disciplinary measures” such as “warnings, suspensions, expulsion, or dismissal.”
Within hours, Joe Blumenthal struck back with a satirical email responding to the administration. “I’m a supporter of activism when it is for things that I support and doesn’t inconvenience me,” the response reads, “actions to block traffic, and take over buildings….. keep us from doing the important work of exploiting workers, denying basic needs to marginalized communities, and raising tuition.” The message continues, “If the ongoing housing crisis, food crisis, and mental health crisis are any indication, then it’s obvious to me that we have done a fantastic job of protecting students!”
Circulation of the satirical email flowed on school social media, overshadowing the implications of the original administration announcement. Many students read the satirical response on social media before they even came across the real chancellor’s email in their school inbox.
The Evolution of Blumie Part IV: Joe the organizer
Michael, whose passion rests in organizing concedes that he fears the outrage culture that the Joe Blumenthal account helps foster. “There are a lot of things that worry me about outrage. We enter social media and nothing happens with that outrage. Sort of an emotional outlet where people release their anger, sadness, and frustration. People are unable to change their material conditions,” he says.
Michael is most proud of the account’s contributions to campus activism. “The main thing we do is invite people to Facebook events. We set up and post. Sometimes we will have a funny message,” he says. “We have already created and promoted activism concerning student housing, deforestation, and construction on campus.”
When the university introduced new Vice-Chancellor Marlene Tromp with a public “welcoming ceremony”, the Joe Blumenthal account helped promote the little-known event among student activists. In response to Joe Blumenthal’s post, activists flooded Tromp’s welcome reception demanding increased funding for students of color.
Michael supports activist communities but concedes that there are problems with current structures, “we are not really here to critique activism. I have been a member of a lot of anarchist groups, and I have seen how hard it is to build campaign without a decision maker,” he says.
Being Joe Blumenthal
The Social benefits of the Joe Blumenthal account have been numerous for Will and Michael. “We get messages from students telling us they appreciate our work and get invited to parties over Facebook,” says Michael, “I think people are curious to see who we are.”
The Joe Blumenthal Tinder account has hundreds of matches. “Some girls have sent us some pretty forward messages,” Will says. The account and its upkeep and rapid responses have become a big part of our lives,” says Michael. On campus, Michael has been relatively open about his identity on the account, “most of my friends know,” he says. Will on the other hand fiercely guards his anonymity.
The Joe Blumenthal brand has become so recognizable among students, that the account is planning to start selling Blumie themed merchandise. The account recently posted a survey and the pair was “encouraged” about how many students responded about buying Joe Blumenthal gear. Michael and Will intend to “sell the merchandise at cost,” and do not intend to make a profit of the endeavor.
The two trolls have also vowed to fight any cease and desist order that may come from the administration, and are willing to use any legal maneuvers at their disposal to keep their social media accounts and future merchandise operation running.
Find “Joe Blumenthal” on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joe.blumenthal.5
To find “Joe Blumenthal” on Tinder: swipe within 50 miles of Santa Cruz, CA and have a vagina.
edited by Loretta Segura
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