The Work of Bits (w/ Pericles Abbasi)

In true The Twitter of Dorian Gray style, Pericles “Perry” Abbasi’s vast size dwindled as his online following grew. Here is a link to a video of him appearing on television when he was a far more substantial personage.

In this free-to-all episode of my “The Work of…” series, I talked to beloved Poaster Pericles “Perry” Abbasi, who is not a “true anon” but is in fact a) a big-time fan of the Red Scare podcast, b) a real person¹ who works as an attorney in Chicago, and c) a candidate standing for election in Chicago’s 25th police district.

Perry, a former law school classmate of another popular Poaster known as the “Lindyman,”² enjoyed a meteoric rise on Twitter from 2020 to 2022 and has recently become embroiled in an election controversy related to his Poasting. We discussed Perry’s twin careers — Poaster and lawyer — with an eye toward learning how his existence straddles the “IRL/URL border.” You’ll also hear his thoughts on weight loss, nicotine lozenges, IQ tests, the purpose of the elected office he’s seeking, his participation in removing Kanye West from the Illinois ballot in 2020, why he’s no longer retweeting all replies in the order received, and much more.

The audio for this episode had some drops, so if you’d like a crummy, auto-generated transcript, email me.

Perry Abbasi, considered by some to be the “dril of Red Scare,” received the coveted endorsement of RS co-host Dasha.

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1. He posts under his “government name,” and his face is not only visible but used in most of the memes he retweets.

2. They renewed their friendship via Twitter a few years later.