this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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What does aura farming mean? Where did it come from? Everyone is saying it all of a sudden.

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[–] vegeta1@hexbear.net 6 points 12 hours ago

All I'll say is that musk is the richest guy on around but has generational aura debt

[–] WhyEssEff@hexbear.net 12 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

consciously trying to look cool, usually while trying to portray a disaffected manner

[–] la_tasalana_intissari_mata@hexbear.net 49 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

You ever watched dragon ball? it's what Piccolo does all the time.

It's acting in a way in a situation that makes you appear like you don't care about how awesome you are even when you're in a life death situation, another example was Yahia Sinwar, dude was martyred while farming aura.

[–] Orcocracy@hexbear.net 14 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

Oh so it's like Evola, the Italian fascist who glorified war and violence so much that he went on contemplative walks during air raids. Unfortunately he wasn't killed by this nonsense, only wounded. Now fascists on the internet share this picture to fucking honour this vile man:

I wonder if this also ties in with the origin of the Hollywood trope about the hero walking away from the explosion while not looking at it. There's definitely a lot to be said about aesthetics of fascism with respect to Hollywood, especially in its love of militaristic heroic 'justice'.

It's also quite depressing how much contemporary slang in the English language can be traced back to the fascist parts of the internet (eg chad, alpha, based, incel, looks-maxing, possibly aura farming too). This doesn't bode well for the future if that is what is influencing the way we speak to one another.

[–] abc@hexbear.net 20 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

what

i don't think 'aura farming' can really be tied to fascism quite like you're saying lol. I'm sure if you posted that pic of Evola on X and said 'aura farming' it probably would get a bunch of nazis gooning to it, but the actual slang itself was not borne out of someone posting Evola or anything like that. Literally one of the oldest usages of it as far as I could find was this tiktok of some kid doing the water bottle flip and hitting a strike at bowling lmao

edit: i wanna add that, in most uses, saying someone is 'aura farming' is not usually meant to be a compliment. Piccolo aura farming is the most common meme and the reason is because he always gets his ass clapped 5 nanoseconds afterwards. Someone like Ichigo or like, Lae'zel aura-farming is usually like "come on why are you aura farming right now" lol. (realizing all my aura farming knowledge is from anime & video game discussions and locking myself in the chamber until i've gotten it out of my system)

[–] Orcocracy@hexbear.net 6 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Yes, and the Hollywood directors who depicted white-military-hero-man walking away from an explosion without looking at it weren't card-carrying members of the Nazi party either. But that doesn't mean that reading this stuff as having some relationship with the aesthetics of fascism is incorrect.

If it's often used in the form of an ironic critique to undermine the proud macho posturing of the 'aura farmer' then that is promising, but so often that layer of critique is quickly lost (for example in the online hero-worshipping of Patrick Bateman and Don Draper).

[–] abc@hexbear.net 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I mean yeah, aura farming is not 100% one thing because the nature of 'aura' as a meme is usually complimentary. I'd actually say that the Evola pic would probably resonate more with fascists (or young men who don't know better) with just an 'aura' caption rather than 'aura farming' because like I said - aura farming is usually derogatory.

'Yes bro we see the fit' and aura farming go hand-in-hand. It is not usually meant to be complimentary. Imagine you have a friend who out of the blue posts a pic of themselves at some popular/trendy spot clearly framed so their entire outfit you've never seen them wearing before is in the picture - that's aura-farming and most people would be like "yes bro we see the fit" in what would not exactly be a complimentary tone lmao. Now, if you complimented 'aura' on that post, you'd be a good friend in a way but i digress

[–] Orcocracy@hexbear.net 4 points 14 hours ago

Just for fun I'm going to attempt to combine this with Walter Benjamin's concept of the aura (probably not my best work): It's not the act of farming or being called a 'farmer' that that dispels the aura, but the act of creating something that is designed to be posted. Nothing on social media truly has any aura to it in Benjamin's sense, given the way social media is massively commodified by the corporations that run it, the influencers and advertisers that populate it, and by capitalist society in general. There is only the appeal to the concept of a nonexistent non-commodified authenticity, the "false spell of the commodity". Calls of 'aura' on social media crave for that impossible authenticity that social media can't possibly provide, and calls of 'aura farming' merely point out the posts that stray too far from the "false spell".

2 types of internet slang: stolen from fascists, and stolen from black people

[–] EndMilkInCrisps@hexbear.net 12 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Oh makes sense now. Thank you.

[–] corvidenjoyer@hexbear.net 9 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Db is basically the prime example. Not only do characters aura farm sometimes the character in question will literally have an aura while aura farming. I would be shocked if the meme didn't start from these two in some way:

Aura farming the form vs Aura farming the character.

Edit: lmao someone made a video about how aura farmey dragon ball characters are.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 16 hours ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] vegeta1@hexbear.net 2 points 12 hours ago

This one speaks the truth. Although piccolo got trying to beat me at it. Not gonna happen.

[–] XxFemboy_Stalin_420_69xX@hexbear.net 20 points 17 hours ago (4 children)

meaningless internet jargon

[–] MizuTama@hexbear.net 32 points 16 hours ago

Auraless comment

[–] abc@hexbear.net 25 points 16 hours ago

farquaad-point THIS USER IS ATTEMPTING TO AURA FARM

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 14 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

You mean words that move the masses? Is this how you plan to preach the gospel of tomorrow to the faithful? How are we to win the hearts and minds of the youth if we do not speak their language?

[–] MizuTama@hexbear.net 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I swore this comment ended with a /s

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 5 points 16 hours ago

Did it now /s

[–] Adkml@hexbear.net 1 points 13 hours ago

Well yea but that's like 90% of the internet.

[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 32 points 18 hours ago

It's when you stand around trying to look cool

jotaro-walk

[–] LaughingLion@hexbear.net 4 points 12 hours ago

-2 aura, brother

[–] LangleyDominos@hexbear.net 6 points 14 hours ago

It's just a new version of "literally me"

It's adapting a cool persona from a movie, TV, or game character. Ryan Gosling in Drive is literally me, you would watch Drive to aura farm.

[–] Euergetes@hexbear.net 20 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

wouodn't you like to know, old-ass fellow-kids

[–] EndMilkInCrisps@hexbear.net 15 points 18 hours ago

I need to hip and with it for the cool kids online.

[–] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 3 points 13 hours ago

i'll tell you what it's not- this post dean-smile

[–] Meltyheartlove@hexbear.net 12 points 18 hours ago

Autofishing in Aura kingdom doggirl-smart