4 ms·

I think that the most remarkable thing about the website is exactly its cultural force, even while being near universally maligned by traditional media and the

I think that the most remarkable thing about the website is exactly its cultural force, even while being near universally maligned by traditional media and the "polite" sides of the internet. No where else can you "get away with" saying something that you couldn't elsewhere, and suffer absolutely 0 consequences for voicing actually controversial opinions. Everything there is anonymous, unverifiable, and yet oftentimes it rings more true than what you might here from a "reputable" source.

simplotek 3y ago
> No where else can you "get away with" saying something that you couldn't elsewhere, and suffer absolutely 0 consequences for voicing actually controversial opinions. I'm not sure you fully understand the issue. 4chan is nothing special, let alone remarkable, with regards to "getting away with" saying something. It's just a popular spot and the only one you know. I assure you that there are a myriad of forums and chatrooms all around the web that have the same sort of contents and even worse, being exchanged. The key difference is that 4chan is the mainstream, generalist forum, and a huge one at that with millions of unique monthly visitors. Claiming that 4chan is unique in it's content reads like claiming that Pepsi is a small unknown soda brand that is almost secret.
- DiscourseFan 3y ago
  There are many, many small forums where people can air the most controversial opinions--I don't disagree. But the fact that there is one MASSIVE one in the public consciousness means that people aren't automatically filtered into these mass, heavily monitored and controlled forums like reddit, facebook, instagram, etc. but instead can easily find a place where nobodies opinion, voice, or resistance to what is considered polite and "acceptable," and speak there. In the old days what you're saying is true, but we're not in the old days, we're in the days where everyone uses the internet and the internet is vastly profitable. Where corporations, the state, the news-media, relentlessly seek to manipulate public opinion to their own aims. In all that, something as remarkable as the continued existence of 4chan stands directly opposed to power and everything in society that seeks to regulate and control behavior and discourse.

simplotek 3y ago

> No where else can you "get away with" saying something that you couldn't elsewhere, and suffer absolutely 0 consequences for voicing actually controversial opinions. I'm not sure you fully understand the issue. 4chan is nothing special, let alone remarkable, with regards to "getting away with" saying something. It's just a popular spot and the only one you know. I assure you that there are a myriad of forums and chatrooms all around the web that have the same sort of contents and even worse, being exchanged. The key difference is that 4chan is the mainstream, generalist forum, and a huge one at that with millions of unique monthly visitors. Claiming that 4chan is unique in it's content reads like claiming that Pepsi is a small unknown soda brand that is almost secret.

DiscourseFan 3y ago
There are many, many small forums where people can air the most controversial opinions--I don't disagree. But the fact that there is one MASSIVE one in the public consciousness means that people aren't automatically filtered into these mass, heavily monitored and controlled forums like reddit, facebook, instagram, etc. but instead can easily find a place where nobodies opinion, voice, or resistance to what is considered polite and "acceptable," and speak there. In the old days what you're saying is true, but we're not in the old days, we're in the days where everyone uses the internet and the internet is vastly profitable. Where corporations, the state, the news-media, relentlessly seek to manipulate public opinion to their own aims. In all that, something as remarkable as the continued existence of 4chan stands directly opposed to power and everything in society that seeks to regulate and control behavior and discourse.