I know it brings you comfort to think they're just doing it for the lolz but unfortunately the reality is that a good chunk of them actually believe those things.
Though maybe there's some that actually are, because of: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1012082
Ask yourself why an actual racist without any intention to cause chaos would engage in this behavior though.
It's clearly intended to offend and get a reaction - that's the main goal. Whether it's done by actual racists is secondary.
No, you're completely off the mark here. It's done because they feel these things deep down and can't talk about them with people in real life to avoid being ostracized by what few friends they have left (or maybe they're super popular, I don't know). Yes, perhaps the _absolute_ most extreme things that are said there are not serious. However, the least extreme sentiments there (which would be considered extremely offensive in polite society) are 100% genuine.
Don't you think doing it for a joke would have gotten old by now? No one really talks about 4chan and no one goes there that doesn't already know what to expect. Ergo, no one is really shocked by any of these things anymore.
Again, I know this is a hard pill to swallow and I can see that you're trying really hard to avoid it but most of the racist sentiments on 4chan are genuine.
It would if it didn't keep getting results, like we see with the above news article.
He who fucks goats, either as part of a performance or to troll those he deems has overly delicate sensibilities is simply, a goatfucker.
Because being racist as a hobby isn't really something non-racists tend to do.
In the end some will think it's satire, some won't but will still laugh because it's stupid, and some will get mad.
Actual racists lost, 4chan got a laugh, and outrage culture got played again.
doubt it.
won't change the beliefs of anyone looking at it one way or another.
the people participating in it, though, after years of spewing out racist garbage risk without any self-reflection risk going down the spiral of "hey, this one actually makes a valid point".
and i suspect that most of them are just flat out racist and not just memeing for the lulz.
And then fucking a goat ironically looks an awful lot like fucking a goat.
In general I find myself agreeing with your comments in this thread but here I disagree.
It's tempting to find the overall societal benefit from those actions but I don't think there is one. Or it's much more subtle than this.
I also think that it's mainly done to create chaos and get a reaction and not so much to spread x opinions. But just randomly throwing shit into the world *mostly* makes everyone get used to the smell of shit while they hate you for it. But in my experience it *usually* leads to more shit and not less shit.
They're obviously not. You may have the same moral judgement about these people, and that's fine, but that's not the same as reality.
And it ABSOLUTELY matters, because if you want to do something about this then you need to actually understand the problem on a meaningful level, which includes people's motivations. You're never going to solve anything you don't understand (except, maybe, by accident).
A prime minister who fucks a goat because he's being blackmailed to do so is not the same as someone who does so for pleasure (who is different still from someone who does it for sadistic reasons). To describe all these as "simply a goatfucker" would be silly, even idiotic.
It's one of those nice-sounding one-liners that falls over with even the most superficial and casual of scrutiny.
It’s certainly impossible that people hurt by, say, racism might have legitimate concerns about the virulent spread of more racism by actual, literal racists on 4chan. No, it’s actually black people, for instance, who dislike racism, or Jews who think anti-demotion is bad, who are to blame.
Brilliant.
I'm sure that a good chunk of people who hang out on Facebook and Reddit also believe in those things, but that somehow never leads to blanket accusations targeting everyone with a Facebook of Reddit account.