Introduction: The garbage fire eternal -- Part I: Counterculture and the screen. Countering counterculture ; The two Sprouls ; It came from something awful -- Part II: 4chan. Moot in raspberry heaven ; Memes, trolls, and chan girls ; 2008: Anonymous accidentally starts a worldwide revolution ; 2008-2011: from hope to despair to change ; Anon peeks into the Palantir -- Part III: The pivot to the right. From gentlemen to robots ; From robots to nazis ; Gamergate : 4chan's depression quest ; Trump the Frog ; Steve Bannon : nerd out of time ; #War on the Sea Owl ; Tumblr and the mosaic of identity ; Politics steps through the looking glass ; Tumblr goes to college ; 2016 : ejecta assemble ; 2017 : the alt-right implodes ; 2018 : what a time to be alive.
Summary:
"The internet has transformed the ways we think and act, and by consequence, our politics. Strangely, today's radical left and right can both trace their movements' origins to massive collectives of teenagers gathering on an anime image board called 4chan.org. This book] explains how a single website has had such a powerful effect on American politics, even as its users experienced a fundamental shift in their worldviews. Author Dale Beran has observed 4chan's fluctuating activities and interests since the beginning. The site is a microcosm of the internet itself--simultaneously at the vanguard of contemporary culture, politics, comedy and language, and a new low for all of the above. It is the original meme machine, mostly frequented by socially awkward and disenfranchised young men in search of a place to be alone together. During the recession of the late 2000s, the memes became political. The online hub of a leftist hacker collective known as Anonymous, 4chan was also a prominent supporter of the Occupy Wall Street movement. But within a few short years, the site's ideology spun on its axis; it became the birthplace and breeding ground of the alt-right. Using his insider's knowledge and natural storytelling ability Beran has written the definitive history of 'the website at the end of the world,' chronicling 4chan's strange journey from creating rage-comics to attacking Scientology to spreading white supremacy and inciting domestic terrorism."--Dust jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.