"4chan: The Skeleton Key to the Rise of Trump"
"Trump’s younger supporters know he’s an incompetent joke; in fact, that’s why they support him."
This article was far more interesting than I initially thought it would be before I started reading it. Despite the headline, Trump isn't the main subject of the article. It's mostly about the history of 4chan and how it gave rise to Gamergate, which in turn gave rise to the "alt-right" (which isn't really part of "the right," in the traditional sense, even if they ostensibly and temporarily share the same "goals," and also isn't made up just of assholes from 4chan) and its support for Trump. It is, as far as I'm concerned, pretty much the be-all-end-all article on the topic. I would recommend to everyone to read it. Not just skim it. Actually read the whole thing.
To put it succinctly, Donald John Trump, and in particular the concept of Donald John Trump as President of the United States, is little more than a living, breathing 4chan meme. Donald John Trump, and especially Donald John Trump as he ran for President and after he was elected as President and after he was sworn in and began the job of being President, is little more than Gamergate, writ large.
As seen through the eyes of someone who has obviously spent far more time in the trenches of 4chan than I ever have, ever will, and ever want to, this article shows that it makes perfect sense why these people would support Trump: they don't, not really. Trump was and is a prank on the system that left them, in their minds and perhaps in truth, utterly emasculated. They voted for the con-man, knowing full well that he was a con-man, because he was the con that they were playing on everyone, including themselves. Trump is the end (hopefully) result of a decades long, full-scale temper tantrum being thrown by so many of these American hikikomori. Trump is the manifestation of these people voting, willingly and knowingly rather than ignorantly, against their own self-interests, because they already believe that the system is busted and can do nothing to help them, so why not burn it to the ground? They take morbid pride in their failures. And any attempts by "the left" or "feminists" or the like (who they see as "social justice warriors," i.e. the enemy) to try to correct the misconceptions held by these people are largely ineffective and even counterproductive, driving them even further into their exclusivities.
For the first time ever, this article has led to me feeling the very briefest inklings of pity for these people, rather than the derision and disgust and dismissiveness that I ordinarily feel for them... that is, until I looked at the comments under the article and saw some of the very ones being described in the article making their rancid opinions known. Ugh.
And here is another, similar article. Not quite as interesting as the first, to me at least, and far more combative (justifiably so), but still worth reading, I think.
Found these via articles via Twitter.
Another day, another guy who used to post racist stuff *ironically* now posting it in earnest
- Mara Wilson (@MaraWilson) February 28, 2017
@MaraWilson This is a long, but relevant read: https://t.co/pCjDAbiqhk
- Wil Wheaton (@wilw) February 28, 2017
@wilw @MaraWilson And this: https://t.co/F8ebgTgOGp
- ❄️ Ashley Lynch ❄️ (@ashleylynch) February 28, 2017
This article was far more interesting than I initially thought it would be before I started reading it. Despite the headline, Trump isn't the main subject of the article. It's mostly about the history of 4chan and how it gave rise to Gamergate, which in turn gave rise to the "alt-right" (which isn't really part of "the right," in the traditional sense, even if they ostensibly and temporarily share the same "goals," and also isn't made up just of assholes from 4chan) and its support for Trump. It is, as far as I'm concerned, pretty much the be-all-end-all article on the topic. I would recommend to everyone to read it. Not just skim it. Actually read the whole thing.
To put it succinctly, Donald John Trump, and in particular the concept of Donald John Trump as President of the United States, is little more than a living, breathing 4chan meme. Donald John Trump, and especially Donald John Trump as he ran for President and after he was elected as President and after he was sworn in and began the job of being President, is little more than Gamergate, writ large.
As seen through the eyes of someone who has obviously spent far more time in the trenches of 4chan than I ever have, ever will, and ever want to, this article shows that it makes perfect sense why these people would support Trump: they don't, not really. Trump was and is a prank on the system that left them, in their minds and perhaps in truth, utterly emasculated. They voted for the con-man, knowing full well that he was a con-man, because he was the con that they were playing on everyone, including themselves. Trump is the end (hopefully) result of a decades long, full-scale temper tantrum being thrown by so many of these American hikikomori. Trump is the manifestation of these people voting, willingly and knowingly rather than ignorantly, against their own self-interests, because they already believe that the system is busted and can do nothing to help them, so why not burn it to the ground? They take morbid pride in their failures. And any attempts by "the left" or "feminists" or the like (who they see as "social justice warriors," i.e. the enemy) to try to correct the misconceptions held by these people are largely ineffective and even counterproductive, driving them even further into their exclusivities.
For the first time ever, this article has led to me feeling the very briefest inklings of pity for these people, rather than the derision and disgust and dismissiveness that I ordinarily feel for them... that is, until I looked at the comments under the article and saw some of the very ones being described in the article making their rancid opinions known. Ugh.
And here is another, similar article. Not quite as interesting as the first, to me at least, and far more combative (justifiably so), but still worth reading, I think.
Found these via articles via Twitter.
Another day, another guy who used to post racist stuff *ironically* now posting it in earnest
- Mara Wilson (@MaraWilson) February 28, 2017
@MaraWilson This is a long, but relevant read: https://t.co/pCjDAbiqhk
- Wil Wheaton (@wilw) February 28, 2017
@wilw @MaraWilson And this: https://t.co/F8ebgTgOGp
- ❄️ Ashley Lynch ❄️ (@ashleylynch) February 28, 2017