Level and content may be more closely correlated than we think. There comes a certain tipping point wherein the outrageous (read: hilarious to the 4Chan crowd)

Level and content may be more closely correlated than we think. There comes a certain tipping point wherein the outrageous (read: hilarious to the 4Chan crowd) content of a smear campaign inspires a bandwagon, and so the campaign both intensifies and scales up. Call it a not-so-virtuous cycle.