Why did I stop ranking things for a few years?
Laziness?
Okay, yes.
But also I was simply running out of ideas. I’ve ranked a
LOT of things and every time I thought of something, I looked back and said, “ah,
I did that in 2017.”
One thing I most certainly have NOT done before? Rank a
historical figure based on their hypothetical social media preferences.
So here we go!
Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, aka “Caligula,” was the
third Roman Emperor, ruling from 37 AD to 41 AD. Though some contemporary sources
point to him being fairly normal, or at least starting out normal, many sources
also him as a man who became increasingly self-indulgent, cruel, sadistic,
extravagant, and sexually perverted.” The term “insane tyrant” is also thrown
around a lot, and he also apparently demanded to be worshipped as a god. Oh
yeah, and he tried to make his horse a consul (a chief magistrate of the Roman
state, which by the time of emperors served in an administrative role to the ruler). His eventual cause of death? Assassination.
Which I suppose is the way that batshit insane sexual deviant rulers typically do
go out.
He, of course, predated Social Media by 2000 years. But,
like, what if he hadn’t? If Caligula was on social media – what would his jam be? Let’s rank the options!
10. LinkedIn
First thing first, LinkedIn is barely even a “social media”
page today, although it tries to be. I’m not saying that Caligula wouldn’t have
a LinkedIn page for his official “administrative” or “work” purposes. But there
is no way that he’d be the one updating it or looking at it. One of his consuls
(maybe even his horse) would be assigned that task. This dude most likely spent
his days gorging on grapes that slave girls hand-fed him while watching what
must have been the equivalent of snuff films, so he’s not going to be paying
much attention to his boring LinkedIn. Which is a shame. He could be using his
professional connections to forge alliances, recruit advisors, and be more
politically influential. But since he didn’t… so… you know… assassination.
9. X, Formerly Known as Twitter
Twitter famously had a 140-character limit, which made it
good for short announcements or thoughts. Caligula would have probably had a
guy in charge of this for him. Little quick announcements. Then that doubled to
280, which allowed for some longer statements, given that everyone was already
misusing what the site was designed for and doing long-forming replies. That is
probably when it would have jumped the shark for Caligula. And now? With the 4000-word
limit for people who pay for whatever TwitterBlue is called these days? No way
would Caligula be interested in this dumpster fire of a site. I know you can think
he’d maybe be Trump-like and love Twitter, but he wouldn’t. No way would this man
allow someone like a Musk to do all this crazy shit. He’d kill Musk and take
the site for himself. And then forget about it.
8. Pinterest
Caligula might get around to half-paying attention to a
collection of boards where he pins some of his favorite fashion trends (I mean
it’s mostly different togas, right?), chariot designs, and architecture. But the C-Dawg is more of a hedonistic, narcissistic
sociopath and “pinning” other people’s content on some boards of things he
likes for future reference and inspiration doesn’t seem much like his personality
type. He wants to show off his stuff, not pin other people’s stuff.
7. MySpace
They had music back in ancient Rome. I know it’s a lie that Nero
played the fiddle while Rome burned, since the fiddle wasn’t invented yet, but
surely there were lutes and trumpets and shit, right? I’m sure there were cool
imperial marching songs that Caligula might have put up on his MySpace. But what
types of music do you think he’d be into? Is Caligula a glam rock guy? An emo
guy? A techno music guy? I guess we’ll never know.
6. SnapChat
I don’t even know why SnapChat was a thing in the modern
age, so I’m struggling to understand why Caligula would bother with it. I
suppose the big innovation of SnapChat was the disappearing messages for secrecy.
Which is why 15 year olds liked it so their parents couldn’t see who they were talking
to. I don’t imagine Caligula cared or bothered much with the concept of “privacy.”
He could basically do whatever he wanted. You know. Emperor and everything.
Speaking of which…
5. Tinder
Sure, it would be fun to think of Caligula swiping right for
hotties (boys, girls, horses, whatever) he was interested in, and swiping left
to people he would relegate to the fighting pits. Yeah, he was a sexual
deviant, so at first thought, a “hookup app” might sound like it’s right up his
alley. But let’s be honest here, Caligula wouldn’t waste his time with a dating
app to figure out who he was going to have sex with. He was the Emperor. He
would just see someone on the street that he liked and would send in his
imperial guards and… you know… that was that. He would probably have an account
and everything, but on a day-to-day basis of hedonism he’d probably just have
ladies (and again… boys… horses) brought to the imperial court before him so he
could decide whether he’d have a go.
4. YouTube
I don’t really think of YouTube as “social media” per se
like some of the other sites try to be, but it’s certainly full of “influencers”
who have sites and try to get a following, so I suppose it is. I could
certainly see Caligula having a brief stint as a “vlogger,” using the video
format to show off his ostentatious wealth like an episode of Cribs. Show live
videos of his insane banquets where he’s eating stuffed goose at a giant table
and vomiting it all out after (yeah, yeah, I know the whole ‘vomitorium’ thing
about Roman Emperors gorging and purging is a myth).
Maybe showing off any imperial conquests. Caligula would be all about “showing
off,” but I just don’t know if he’d keep up with the vlogging. So time
intensive to make and edit those long-form videos. He’d get tired of it and
move on to other options.
3. Facebook
I don’t think that Caligula would be that into Twitter,
because I definitely get Facebook vibes from him. He wants to blast his decrees
and rambling thoughts to the masses, and he’s not going to be stopped by any
character limit. He’d be super political (you know, obviously promoting his own
rule and policies) and would be always telling tedious, lengthy, unhinged
stories (since he was batshit crazy). What I’m saying is that Caligula would
essentially be using Facebook the exact same way your crazy uncle would be. Only
if Caligula has ranting conspiracy theories about people wanting to assassinate
him… well… he’s right.
2. TikTok / Vine
While YouTube would, in the end, be way too much work for
Caligula – short form video would be fine with him. No, he wouldn’t be trying
to “pioneer” (e.g. steal from Black people) any new dance moves or anything
like today’s TikTok. But bite-sized clips are an easy way for Caligula to make imperial
decrees and show off his extravagant wealth and power. Long form video tends to show too much of the
man behind the curtain, Wizard of Oz style. The quick TikToks or Vines allow
him to show off his larger-than-life rule as the emperor and avoid additional context
or a need to edit anything into a cohesive story. Caligula, like modern
sociopaths, love TikTok.
1. Instagram
Even easier than doing videos is doing photos, and Intstragram
allows the ability to do videos as well, so it’s sort of the best of both
worlds. But the photos can be edited and manipulated. Maybe take a few pounds
off any selfies, you know? Caligula is definitely gonna be a visual media guy. He
doesn’t need video to flaunt his opulent lifestyle. His lavish marble palaces,
banquets of food pouring out of literal cornucopias, his selfies at the chariot
races and standing over the bodies of slaughtered gladiators… all of it is
perfect for the Insta. And in addition to posting his own stuff, I can see him
scrolling through the feed of any hot Roman girls (or boys… or horses) and
hitting that “double tap” for “like.” And if he likes something you put up, you
basically know you have to respond and/or show up to his palace door naked and
ready.
So there you have it, folks. I’m CLEARLY not running out of
ideas for things to rank.
Clearly.