Words become political when you start injecting politics in them. It originally meant "cool" and had no political connotations to it. It originated on 4chan. And just because some group happens to use a word more frequently doesn't suddenly turn you into a NAZI if you happen to like using the same word.

I’m not sure why people are still talking about it as some insular 4chan slang. Like much of 4chan culture, it’s spread to most of the rest of the internet by now. Hell I’ve seen “based” comments on HN.

I shun most of the internet these days. HN and (German) reddit are the only "socials" I use. I have no clue what is happening on the wider Anglo speaking internet, especially Twitter and such is completely alien to me.

The thing about language is that it isn't static, it changes over time. Sometimes a previously dominant usage will become eclipsed by a new one that emerges.

There's nuance to the etymology of any word of course. In fact I sometimes see the extremely online left try to (ironically?) appropriate "based." But I think in the context we can all figure out which connotation Elon was using.

Yes I get that. My argument is, when some group you don't like starts adopting a word, your reaction should not be to politicize the word and shun it and pretend they stole it. Just keep using the word as you intend it and who cares about what some other dumbfucks think.

Because the primary purpose of language is communication and if you aren't accomplishing that then you have some other reason for using it. Slang changes all the time -- no one says 'true dat' anymore.

lil b started it, not 4chan

That's just not true. I've been in many very online leftist communities and they also freely use it.

it's just general internet speak at this point

I view its etymology like this,

              Lil B
    (based ≈ doing your own thing (in a good way)
             not swayed by critics)
             ↙           ↘
       Gen Z             4chan
   (based ≈ cool)        ("based and redpilled"
                          ≈"unswayed by pop rhetoric"
                           and "sees the world beyond the 'illusion'", resp.)

You may be ignoring context in this specific instance: the picture in Musk's tweet has "Woke AI" and "Closed AI" being chased off by Based AI.

> "Based" is a catchphrase of the extremely online right. It basically means "cool" but with a subtext of "is annoying to libs/normies who just don't get it."

It is also a catchphrase of the extremely online left with exactly the same in-group vs. out-group implication (and, amusingly—because of the different meanings of “liberal” and “lib” favored by the two sides—usually identical meaning with regard to “libs/normies”.)

I don't know of anyone who is trying to be political when using those terms. It's just general internet slang younger people use at this point

For many years it was just a term in gamer culture, I guess it has been repurposed a bit in the last few years.