The Meme is the Message 4chan Culture and Incels Francesco Imbimbo 14th May 2020 Contents Birth of ‘Meme’ . 1 4chan Meme Identity . 1 Duality of Identity Memetics . 1 Political Pepe . 1 Wistful Wojak . 2 TFWNOGF................................................ 3 Inceldom . 3 Conclusion . 4 Bibliography 5 Author Biography 6 Birth of ‘Meme’ As human culture and technology evolve, as does the expression of comedy, mirroring the society along with it. Within the post-PC era (D.D.Clark 1999 ) comedy is accelerating at an incredible pace, prominately with memes taking its form. Meme, first introduced by Richard Dawkins (1976 ), describes the flow and flux of culture by copying or imitation from person to person. Its realisation can vary from popular tunes, catch phrases, fashion trends, architectural styles, ways of doing things, and so on. While this term was conceived long before the post dot com burst, since 2005 it was reterritorialised (Deleuze & Guattari 1980 ) by Internet users, who invoke it to describe their mundane cultural activities. In addition to Dawkin’s definition, I like to add Hito Steyerl’s poor image (2018 ) which compliments the memes of today, being mutable from constant uploading, downloading, editing, and then reuploading, ad infinitum. Furthermore, online users are in a position to participate, providing the largest catalyst for a new type of meme: customisable memes. Important to note: a meme is not a meme until someone replicates it by passing it on to someone else, not posted randomly, but addressing a specific group directly tied to the values, beliefs and practices of that group (Nissenbaum & Shifman 2015 ). In this essay I shall explore how the 4chan tribe use memes to contribute to its hivemind ideology, birthing a new stereotype of digital and physical self-harm. 4chan Meme Identity Recently, Internet memes have been added to the long list of visual media that we consume on a daily basis. Recognising this, a growing body of academic research (e.g. Burgess, 2008; Knobel and Lankshear, 2007; Milner, 2012; Miltner, 2014; Shifman, 2014 ) consequently strives to decipher the unique qualities, as well as the social and cultural implications, of Internet memes. Though to my disappointment, they fail to distinguish 4chan as a founding father to be delved into on its own. Controversially, all the aforementioned academics are boomers, entirely disconnected from ever understanding this phenomena, them being a digital immigrant (Marc Prensky 2001 ). I as, a digital native (ibid), must of been 7 or 8 when I first clicked on 4chan in 2007, the most influential hub for memes and their reproduction. An anonymous imageboard site, where Internet memes constitute an important facet of 4chan, serving as an integral part of many discussions since 2003. Thankfully, at that age I was lawful to immediately exit as the warning pop up tells to cease 1 Figure 1: Trump Pepe and not continue if under the age of 18. But admittedly ignored when it came to being 14, returning to witness meme history in the making till present day. Behind the site’s gore, pornography, genocide, racism, self-hatred, suicide, and violence, is a post modern art exhibit (Kenneth Brown 2020 ), currently increasing in ‘normie’-isation of the site’s visibility in mainstream culture. Duality of Identity Memetics Political Pepe 4chan’s peak existed roughly between 2006 and 2016, with the climax of 2016 when their meme idol, Pepe The Frog, gained major media attention for having triggered, then presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, who branded it as a signature image of the alt-right and white supremacist movements. Earlier that year Trump himself had retweeted a ‘Pepe portrait’ of himself, reinforcing a critical change of memes; from simply being strands of populist discourse (Milner 2012 ), to now being stitched together into a calcified, weaponised political ideology (McLeod & Zimdars 2020 ). It’s at this point, no one can deny, that fringe Internet culture and communities have the potential for producing actual significant repercussions in real life. Another iconic moment of Pepe history is in Hong Kong 2019, where Pepe is used as a symbol of resistance against an authoritarian state, highlighting the way memes can have a different meaning for certain people and even at a particular time. 4chan users find themselves feeling the same dumbfoundedness as the creator, Matt Furie, back in 2005, when his comic book character Pepe suddenly became the Internet’s in 2008. Internet cynicism is nothing new with ‘Pepe posting.’ It holds the same content (Mcluhan 1964 ) as the Trollface before it, which furthermore has the content of Rickrolling before that, all three holding the same trickster/cynical essence that has permeated the Internet for decades and will continue. Trolling increased the moment the Internet became populated with non-technologically-minded people. .[i.e. *Digital Immigrants (Marc Prensky 2001)] . Trolls work to remind the masses that have lapped onto the shores of the Internet that there is a class of geek who, as their name suggests, will cause Internet grief, hell, misery( Angela Negal 2017). It’s about winning the space for themselves, the truly deserved. They have a hatred of a “clueless girl with mainstream tastes trying to infiltrate a geeky subculture . who fails to use the correct markers of belonging, such as correct slang and depth of elite knowledge. [i.e. its memes.] (ibid) .”* This hatred of the clueless girl is a point to comeback to when explaining incels. As of 2020, Pepe, unlike most memes, continues to live and be 2 Figure 2: The NPC Wojak memed on through mutations, yet still retaining the meme’s smugful essence. However, the 4chan identity is no longer represented by the prideful Pepe alone; a duality is introduced. Wistful Wojak First created in 2010, Wojak, is a symbolically striking contrast from Pepe The Frog, with similar accessible ease of mutations of its image. On the other hand, Wojak has kept within the 4chan community perhaps due to its sensitive portrayal of the community. Only an off shoot mutated sub-wojak known as ‘The NPC’ became viral, as it was graffitied onto a billboard of a Hollywood real time TV host Bill Maher in 2019. This sub-wojak is another right-wing symbol to criticise and dehumanise the left ‘SJWs’. Amounting them to non-player characters from video games with no internality, agency, or capacity for critical thought, adopting the same worldview automatically, a robot essentially. The NPC further reflects the lack of empathy for everyone outside of the 4chan community and winning the space for themselves (Angela Negal 2017 ). Whereas Pepe was commonly seen with the stock caption “feels good man”; a connotation of boasting, Wojak is “that feels man”; used generally to express loneliness. Recently in April 2020, this new 4chan representative has seeped into mainstream attention with a documentary based entirely on Wojak titled TFW NO GF. To summarise the dichotomy Kantbot, a pseudo-intellectual in the aforementioned documentary above, says: “The Pepe is like your troll self, your public persona, you being cocky, saying all this crazy shit, being smug, ironic, getting under people’s skin and being cool about it. But on the other half we all have a Wojak which is like our private self who isn’t like that at all, he is very depressed, feeling inadequate, can’t fulfill his own goals, who has all these feelings he can’t manage. This is what Social Media is helping to create, a fragmentation of our personalities. So when you’re online trolling, being a Pepe, but really inside you are the Wojak no one really knows about.” TFW NO GF The caption “TFW NO GF” is used online to describe a lack of romantic companionship: that feel when no girlfriend (notice its mutation from the ‘that feel man’ caption). Since then, it has evolved to symbolize a greater state of existence defined by isolation, rejection and alienation. Wojak serves as a mascot to a vast online community consisting of self-described “hyper-anonymous twenty somethings” and “guys who slipped between the cracks”, stereotyped as incels. From the first 5 minute introduction it was clear how misunderstood this documentary was going to be. Janet Pierson, the “Director of Film” at SXSW gives a brief introduction at the beginning of the film, and after talking about how deeply she relates to it she concludes by saying “enjoy TWF no GF.” That mixup is emblematic of the problems with this film. With potential to explore the sociology of isolated people that grow up on the Internet feels instead, incredibly 3 Figure 3: Wojak Pepe Duality superficial, failing to mention the toxicity and violence that legitimately come from these communities. But rather, Alex Lee Moyer the director, upholds a bias in her portrayal of these incels in the documentary. Whereas Angela Negela, author of Kill all Normies, dismissed 4chan culture as purely transgressive, devoid of any deeper reflection of trends in youth values. As I write this a News story hit on 19th May 2020 bringing to my attention the media as another perspective that sheds light on how others perceive 4chan users, specifically the incels that come out of it. Inceldom Incel is a portmanteau of involuntary celibate. This subculture is primarily exemplified by the disaffected young white men on these imageboards. Many of them are ‘neets’: not in education or employment (to my conjecture the reason for the NPC to have mutated into existence), live with their parents and are extremely misogynistic. They’re angry at feminism and think it leads to the decline of civilization since women should be here to serve men: women will either trick them into raising children that aren’t theirs, get pregnant intentionally in order to trap them, or falsely accuse them of rape (Angela Negal 2017 ).