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Influence on Western Culture? Why don't you go read the news, the Patterson break-up has had more of an effect on Western culture then 4Chan could ever hope to

Influence on Western Culture? Why don't you go read the news, the Patterson break-up has had more of an effect on Western culture then 4Chan could ever hope to succeed. Some people spend way too much time on the internet; I can guarantee you that 99% of America, has no clue what 4Chan, Rage Comics, lolcats is. Anonymous and the 1% movement (but you may have to say Occupy Wall Street to the 3 million remaining people) may be the exceptions because of the media coverage. And meme's are far from profound, humor, yes you could argue to be considered profound, but meme's? A silly time-waster at best but generally worse then a joke told among friends. You can't find a meme and share it with friends with the same impact (whether online or in person) as: One day little girl comes home from school, "Mom, today some boy showed me his penis." Mother exclaims "What?!" Little girl says "Yea, and it sort of reminded me of a peanut." Trying not to laugh, mother asks "Is that because it was so small?" Little girl laughs says "No. Because it tasted so salty."

Swizec 14y ago
Monty Python was a silly joke, something friends would communicate amongst each other. It was a meme inside the UK, eventually sort of going global. 40 years since The Holy Grail was filmed, it is still often selected as the funniest film of all times. There is an impact. But it is a young people's thing, give it some time and it will become part of the cultural heritage of the early 2000's and 2010's.
cantankerous 14y ago
While I get your point, I think much more than 1% of America is aware of the entity that is rage comics/lolcats/image macros. Pretty much every kid on the Internet these days knows what those things are or has seen them and is thus aware of them. The number will only increase.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
enko 14y ago
I can't believe I'm saying this but it's almost offensive to me that you're comparing 4chan to celebrity news. 4chan is friggin' high art compared to that shit. Celebrity news is the lowest of the low; nothing but easy-to-read brain candy for bored, boring housewives. And I think 4chan has a huge influence. It is a very powerful site in tech culture, which is pretty large I think. Tech culture might be smaller by numbers than the so-called mainstream but it's plenty large enough to be self-sustaining and have its own sense of identity.
- illuminate 14y ago
  TBH, much of 4chan IS "nothing but easy-to-read brain candy for bored, boring" nerds. There's more to it, but there's a ton of boring people and boring memesploitation in lieu of actual thought or humor.
- jmduke 14y ago
  The argument isn't that 4chan doesn't have its own identity, its refuting this: And come on, it's where all the memes are born. That's profound. What other startup can claim to be such a big influence on western society? I think 4chan definitely has a huge influence on the tech sector, but in terms of straight-up 'influence' vastly more people follow celebrity gossip than memes. That might change (it probably won't -- we're prone to hero-worship, whether or not its movie stars or tech icons). Celebrity news is the lowest of the low; nothing but easy-to-read brain candy for bored, boring housewives. I don't really read celebrity news, but I have read rage comics and memes back when Reddit had them frontpaged, and if you think they're more than easy-to-read brain candy, I think you're mistaken.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    I'm sure more people read celebrity news than read Shakespeare, but which has a bigger influence on culture?
    - jmduke 14y ago
      That's a pretty brash claim. Shakespeare's been around for centuries, and has most likely been read or seen by more people in the sum of that time than celebrity news.
      - ktizo 14y ago
        You forget, more people have lived since the end of the second world war, than lived between then and Shakespeare's time. If you also take into account the rise in global literacy, far more people will have read celebrity news than Shakespeare.
binxbolling 14y ago
Assuming, like you, that by "the 1% movement" we're talking about Occupy, then it should be pointed out that it was birthed by Adbusters. 4Chan had nothing to do with it, except in a very peripheral sense that could also be claimed by hundreds of other sites/groups/organizations.
kevinpet 14y ago
Who's Patterson? The personal lives of celebrities tend to not make it into history. 4chan is at the very least the other guy who invented the telephone (or am I thinking light bulb) but got beat to the patent office.
JonnieCache 14y ago
The thing is though, basically everyone worldwide who has been to university in the last few years has seen them and knows about them, and has laughed at them. When those people grow up, and achieve control over the popular media, suddenly we'll start seeing references to this period of culture in the new media of the day. It'll be seen as much more important than it is now as well, as the educated middle classes exert their control over cultural memory. Also at some point the children of todays students will likely decide that memes and early internet culture in general is retro, and it'll all be vogue again, and we can complain that it's not as good when its holographic or something. This can be seen in music. Jazz used to be a scary sound that would cause your daughters to start having sex with black people, now it's the height of sophistication. At some point in the last 15 years hip-hop became an art form in the eyes of the media elite. The current resurgence in commercial rave music is partly to do with the veterans of the 90s scene being in a position to start large businesses. At some point in the future the extreme, venetian snares end of electronica will likely be looked upon as jazz/classical is now.
- iSnow 14y ago
  >suddenly we'll start seeing references to this period of culture in the new media of the day It is already starting, just look at this job offer (it's German, but you'll understand the reference to rage comics at once): http://www.sixt.de/php-entwickler http://www.sixt.de/php-entwickler
skyhook_mockups 14y ago
I can guarantee you that 99% of America, has no clue what 4Chan, Rage Comics, lolcats is I'm a high school teacher. I can guarantee you that 99% of kids 13-18 know what Rage Comics & lolcats are. The youth of today are the first Internet generation. They have spent their entire lives immersed in Internet culture. The true impact of this generation will start to be felt in 10-15 years.

Swizec 14y ago

Monty Python was a silly joke, something friends would communicate amongst each other. It was a meme inside the UK, eventually sort of going global. 40 years since The Holy Grail was filmed, it is still often selected as the funniest film of all times. There is an impact. But it is a young people's thing, give it some time and it will become part of the cultural heritage of the early 2000's and 2010's.

cantankerous 14y ago

While I get your point, I think much more than 1% of America is aware of the entity that is rage comics/lolcats/image macros. Pretty much every kid on the Internet these days knows what those things are or has seen them and is thus aware of them. The number will only increase.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

enko 14y ago

I can't believe I'm saying this but it's almost offensive to me that you're comparing 4chan to celebrity news. 4chan is friggin' high art compared to that shit. Celebrity news is the lowest of the low; nothing but easy-to-read brain candy for bored, boring housewives. And I think 4chan has a huge influence. It is a very powerful site in tech culture, which is pretty large I think. Tech culture might be smaller by numbers than the so-called mainstream but it's plenty large enough to be self-sustaining and have its own sense of identity.

illuminate 14y ago
TBH, much of 4chan IS "nothing but easy-to-read brain candy for bored, boring" nerds. There's more to it, but there's a ton of boring people and boring memesploitation in lieu of actual thought or humor.
jmduke 14y ago
The argument isn't that 4chan doesn't have its own identity, its refuting this: And come on, it's where all the memes are born. That's profound. What other startup can claim to be such a big influence on western society? I think 4chan definitely has a huge influence on the tech sector, but in terms of straight-up 'influence' vastly more people follow celebrity gossip than memes. That might change (it probably won't -- we're prone to hero-worship, whether or not its movie stars or tech icons). Celebrity news is the lowest of the low; nothing but easy-to-read brain candy for bored, boring housewives. I don't really read celebrity news, but I have read rage comics and memes back when Reddit had them frontpaged, and if you think they're more than easy-to-read brain candy, I think you're mistaken.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  I'm sure more people read celebrity news than read Shakespeare, but which has a bigger influence on culture?
  - jmduke 14y ago
    That's a pretty brash claim. Shakespeare's been around for centuries, and has most likely been read or seen by more people in the sum of that time than celebrity news.
    - ktizo 14y ago
      You forget, more people have lived since the end of the second world war, than lived between then and Shakespeare's time. If you also take into account the rise in global literacy, far more people will have read celebrity news than Shakespeare.

binxbolling 14y ago

Assuming, like you, that by "the 1% movement" we're talking about Occupy, then it should be pointed out that it was birthed by Adbusters. 4Chan had nothing to do with it, except in a very peripheral sense that could also be claimed by hundreds of other sites/groups/organizations.

kevinpet 14y ago

Who's Patterson? The personal lives of celebrities tend to not make it into history. 4chan is at the very least the other guy who invented the telephone (or am I thinking light bulb) but got beat to the patent office.

JonnieCache 14y ago

The thing is though, basically everyone worldwide who has been to university in the last few years has seen them and knows about them, and has laughed at them. When those people grow up, and achieve control over the popular media, suddenly we'll start seeing references to this period of culture in the new media of the day. It'll be seen as much more important than it is now as well, as the educated middle classes exert their control over cultural memory. Also at some point the children of todays students will likely decide that memes and early internet culture in general is retro, and it'll all be vogue again, and we can complain that it's not as good when its holographic or something. This can be seen in music. Jazz used to be a scary sound that would cause your daughters to start having sex with black people, now it's the height of sophistication. At some point in the last 15 years hip-hop became an art form in the eyes of the media elite. The current resurgence in commercial rave music is partly to do with the veterans of the 90s scene being in a position to start large businesses. At some point in the future the extreme, venetian snares end of electronica will likely be looked upon as jazz/classical is now.

iSnow 14y ago
>suddenly we'll start seeing references to this period of culture in the new media of the day It is already starting, just look at this job offer (it's German, but you'll understand the reference to rage comics at once): http://www.sixt.de/php-entwickler http://www.sixt.de/php-entwickler

skyhook_mockups 14y ago

I can guarantee you that 99% of America, has no clue what 4Chan, Rage Comics, lolcats is I'm a high school teacher. I can guarantee you that 99% of kids 13-18 know what Rage Comics & lolcats are. The youth of today are the first Internet generation. They have spent their entire lives immersed in Internet culture. The true impact of this generation will start to be felt in 10-15 years.