Rage Farming from Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com has some great articles on words and usage.
I had never really heard this term before, but it’s not hard to imagine what it means. Here’s Dictionary.com’s explanation with an attribution to Molly Jong-Fast in The Atlantic and some examples.
SLANG DICTIONARY
rage farming
[ reyj fahr-ming ]
Published May 13, 2022
WHAT IS RAGE FARMING?
Rage farming is a slang term for the political tactic of intentionally provoking political opponents to create or increase exposure for one’s group or cause. The tactic is primarily associated with conservative and far-right political groups.
The term rage farming is always used critically. It is typically applied to the act of posting intentionally inflammatory content or otherwise trolling political opponents online to elicit a large number of angry responses, thus leading to widespread exposure for the original poster. However, the term may be applied to practices other than online posts, such as making inflammatory comments in interviews or speeches that will be widely covered by the media.
RELATED WORDS
political spectrum, brigading, bold-faced lie, shadow docket, shadow banning
WHERE DOES RAGE FARMING COME FROM?
The original use of the verb phrase rage farm to refer to a political tactic is often credited to researcher John Scott-Railton, who used it (in the form rage farmed) in a January 2022 Twitter post in reference to inflammatory online posts like those that had been recently made by the Texas GOP Twitter account.
The term was popularized by a January 2022 article in The Atlantic by Molly Jang-Fast titled “Owning the Libs Is the Only GOP Platform.” The term is thought to have gained popularity in part due to giving a name to a practice recognized as increasingly common by political observers, especially in the context of social media.
In rage framing, the term farming is used in a figurative way that’s similar to how it’s used in terms for other practices, such as data farming.
WHO USES RAGE FARMING?
The term rage farming is used by critics of the political tactic, which is closely associated with conservative and far-right political groups.
JUST ADDED
rage farming, hermano, food coma, National Medal of Arts, Talk Like a Pirate Day
NOTE
This is not meant to be a formal definition of rage farming like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of rage farming that will help our users expand their word mastery.