peacefulprotestorslighter:crtter:beggars-opera:The internet was never just a fun place. While politi
peacefulprotestorslighter:crtter:beggars-opera:The internet was never just a fun place. While politics were often out of it, there was a time when internet humor culture was heavily based on bait-and-switch shock joke links leading to images of diseased genitalia and women eating feces. That screws people up and alters their sense of what’s normal online, especially when it’s a formative experience. “I lived through it and turned out fine, you’re just sensitive, snowflake” - the people who thought that seeing goatse at age 11 made them stronger and saw that as a personality trait are probably in the alt right now. Also, as someone who grew up in that era and barely escaped the “people are too sensitive nowadays!” sentiment because I learned about social justice during my late teens and developed some empathy… politics WERE talked about, but it was all seen as a big joke. During most of my childhood and teen years, my biggest contact with politics was through jokes and memes, before I could really understand what things really entailed, which I suspect is still how most “4chan types” and older people relate to it. Congrats on being brainwashed OK Pepe the Frog avatar -- source link