>>26660
here in my country we always had some considerable japanese influence in our childhood, a lot of oldschool shows were being translated and airing in prime time during the 90s, the word ''otaku'' was used often to label people for the lack of a better term, we even had a magazine called that way but things changed with time, nowadays as we all know tv is less popular and we have everything at hand regardless of our location thanks to the internet.

l think the word neet or hikki are more accurate for people like us, specially neet, liking japanese media usually goes hand in hand with this sort of lifestyle but it's not always the case, l never labeled myself as an otaku.

>Did you notice everyone seems afraid to act like nerds on the internet compared to mid-2000's culture?

Yes, but that is to be expected, with all the new mainstream websites and the so called social networks people have less privacy even on the internet now than back then, you can tell a lot of young people try to ''fit in'' these days, but that comes off as natural since their lives even on the internet are exposed 24/7 now and they have to uphold a reputation (which is nothing more than a fake internet persona most of the time).

I don't really care about labels though, that's why I never worried about such things, but you can notice huge changes comparing the average user from the 2000s to the normal people around the internet these days, so yeah, you're right.

I like how 'otaku' doesn't really have a negative connotation in English unlike 'weeaboo' which was meant as an insult to begin with. And of course then there's the 'if you watch anime you're a weeaboo' logic even though weeaboo was used to describe people who claimed Japan is superior to every other country on planet Earth and who wish - secretely or not - they were Japanese.

Anyway, I can't actually say I noticed this trend. Frankly seeing self-described 'otaku' always made me cringe a wee bit. That's probably just a tumblr SJW thing where saying 'colored people' is enough to get you stoned but at the same time 'people of color' is perfectly acceptable. I don't really plan to tell you what you should do with your free time but tumblr is probably not a good place to spend it.

>Did you notice everyone seems afraid to act like nerds on the internet compared to mid-2000's culture?

If anything I feel the opposite way. Pic kinda related. Nowadays 'nerd' is a cool label. Back in the day people didn't actually go out of their way to act 'nerdy'. They were just nerds and you could tell that through their posts.

I have some sort of fantasy in which people has begun treating the word "otaku" with more respect seeing how it has been abused by people labeling themselves otaku, when clearly they weren't. In the fantasy, people don't mind the word itself, but their knowledge of "what an otaku is" stems from anime like durarara, HNK and OreImo:
OreImo: Otaku is a person with max focus on a single aspect of a thing. For Kirino it's little sisters, and she both buys and is interested in everything related to it, which is something that can't be said about most self proclaimed otaku who places "amount of shows" over "dedication to a show".
Durarara: The otaku couple doesn't go out of their way to act otaku, they are otaku. They don't intentionally try to stand out by cosplaying or saying "nyaa", it's like they simply do what they want to.
NHK: Both Satou and Yamazaki are hypocrites when it comes to their, especially Yamazaki's, love for 2D.

By denouncing people who were self-proclaimed otaku to being weeaboos (people who think Japan is the best, but has no real knowledge about any aspect of it), two extremes were created: True otaku, or just otaku, and fake otaku, weeaboos. The people who identify with neither has nothing to call themselves.

So when people say they're otaku, it's cringey because "otaku" is something you don't say you are, it's something you are and something you show, and most importantly it's something you can't achieve by watching x amount of series.
When people say they're weebs, it's because they, hopefully, realize how inferior they are to the otaku. (Or they realize they're not otaku with otaku being superior).
When people don't say they're anything, it's because they don't think they're experienced enough to call themselves otaku, or because they simply aren't.

People used to use more words like wapanese, someone pretending to be Japanese even though they are not, and japanophile, someone who thinks very high of Japan without knowing much. I see those as valid insults. Weeaboo, as I understand it, means, "someone who likes something even remotely Japanese". I don't see anything wrong with that, so I call myself a weeaboo (since '09, I'm not being trendy).

Just my opinion, I also don't mind people calling themselves otaku if it seems like they genuinely feel something consumes their life. It only disgusts me when it looks like they're trying to gain social capital. I don't see why it's important if other people consider something an insult. People can say, "you like anime," to assert that you're inferior because you like anime (or "you're gay" in another perspective). Does that mean people shouldn't consider themselves to like anime?

Now that I think about it, Niwaka was used in a short period as well. I think most people discarded it because it sounded too much like a weeabooish word for weeaboo. Kyousuke used it a some point I believe. I still use it.

>>26664
Pretty sure weeaboo was originally a wordfilter used to demonstrate how retarded it is to complain about how wapanese an anime imageboard is.

>>26668
Well, it is a pretty retarded thing to do.

For clarification here is how bad tumblr has gotten with this dead word.

>>26670
I don't care

>>26670

you forgot the trigger warning for using that word man.

I don't really care. More and more poeple are getting into hobbies traditionally associated with 'nerds'. Correspondingly, being a nerd no longer means that you are also a social retard. You can see this change in cultural standards even in Genshiken: Madarame was a social retard, Ogiue hated her otaku side and saw it as shameful, but the new generation are hip and socially competent.

I think thats why the old guard is irritated by this: they feel like the newcomers haven't earned it. But that sort of elitist thinking is just silly, just like its silly for thinking you're superior because you download your manga or because you've been on 4chan for a long time. Its just silly.

>>26674
Why wouldn't they resent it? A lot of these people had to deal with being called these names throughout their childhood, being teased and tormented for being weird. Now they look and see the the same people that bullied them using the words they threw as insults as badges of pride for themselves. Treating the things they were teased for liking as some sort of fashion accessory. In the end a freak is always a freak. It's not that people are more accepting of nerds or otaku or whatever, they've just changed the names the freaks get called.

>>26674
I get pretty buttdevestated when I see these normies rush in and take up our hobbies "that they always liked!" while they were the same fucks shitting on you in school for liking "gay ass shit". Much of it being the same stuff but it's mainstream now so "they always liked itTM".

The people that masturbate to science all day are the worst about it. They're almost never actually able to explain anything scientific other than do the thing atheists love doing where they point out how tiny the earth is like it's some extremely deep new realization.

Of course when you point out how disingenuous and fake they're being they get their feelings hurt because they know it's true. So they label you a bitter neckbeard and laugh at you just like it was highschool again. Ironically enough while talking about "serious issues today" like gentrification, bullying, and cultural appropriation. The projection they do is amazing.

I can't wait until this fad ends. I just want to be left to enjoy my gay ass shit in peace with other people who are legitimately interested in the same gay ass shit.

>>26676
For Haruhi's sake that's one cringeworthy image. I hope he can laugh about himself at this point in time when he comes across it on the internet.

I think it's like the word nerd in the west. I've probably been a nerd my whole life but will never class myself by a stupid label and live by it as people do. I'll do whatever the fuck I want to do even if it's nerdy or not.

So it the exactly the same thing as otaku. I might be an otaku. I don't care. I don't care with some niwaka who watches anime thinks they are an otaku. They can label themselves by any stupid label they want. I'm just going to read, watch, and play whatever I want. It doesn't affect me.

>>26677
>The people that masturbate to science all day
It's the sort of enthusiasm that would be great if they were teachers. Unfortunately they're almost always too ignorant to teach anyone anything.

>>26682
Masturbating to science beats masturbating to football or Kim Kardashian, I guess.

>>26677
>I can't wait until this fad ends. I just want to be left to enjoy my gay ass shit in peace with other people who are legitimately interested in the same gay ass shit.

But anon, we can't let you just be able to do and enjoy whatever you say and like online! That would be dangerous for national security!

this is all because of your own insecurities, judging people who watch slightly different Japanese cartoons. you are the weeaboo.

>>26688

Uhm, the hell does this have to do with the topic at hand? I fail to see the connection.

Hello, this is my first post in this thread. I just wanted to say it is very nice to see a thread like this, an English imageboard thread returning to its cultural roots.

>>26712
Don't make fun of me please

I kind of blame 4chan for this, particularly /b/. 4chan originally started out to be an anime/otaku culture discussion board, but unfortunately it has basically turned into a trendy gathering place for insecure teenagers to vent their cynicism and frustration and pretend that they are cooler than they really are.

I'm in my thirties and stopped worrying about what my life looks like to the outside world a long time ago, and I don't really keep up with what the kids these days are into, but as far as I am able to tell the main difference between the internet now and the internet ~10-15 years ago is that the internet used to be sort of a private, anonymous place where you had an identity that was different from your identity in real life and you were free to discuss interests that maybe you didn't want your IRL friends to know you were into. Now, the internet is more of an extension of real life, and I think younger people tend to be just as self-conscious online as they are IRL.

Being into "nerdy" things like anime has become a lot more trendy and acceptable now than it was when I was first getting into it, but I think there is still sort of a stigma surrounding people who are obsessively into it, ie people like us. The word "otaku" I think is more associated with being a label that seriously obsessive anime fans self-apply, and the word "weeaboo" was coined to slander self-identified otaku.

By calling yourself a "weeaboo" in sort of a joking, self-deprecating manner, you are basically admitting to having a casual interest in something nerdy, while at the same time deflecting the implication that your interest extends to the level of an obsession that could potentially make the other kids stop eating lunch with you. It’s like if a 13 year old fashion-conscious teenybopper girl happened to catch an episode of Star Trek and found herself really enjoying it, then made a facebook post describing how much she liked the episode. Then, she reads over her post and realizes that it makes her look like kind of a nerd, but she still wants to post it, so she affixes something like “OMG I am such a nerd lol” to the end of it, thus making it acceptable. The irony is, you have to laugh and call yourself a weeaboo instead of saying you’re an otaku and meaning it, because if you call yourself an otaku it makes you look like a weeaboo.

>>26777
contd because wall of text

I still pop into /b/ from time to time, and I tend to notice trends in the type of threads that usually get posted. These days, at any given time on the board there is usually a "cringe" thread posted, which basically involves posting pictures of bronies and guys in fedoras and shit like that, and then everyone in the thread makes fun of the people in the pictures. However, the people making the posts are probably not significantly different than the people they are making fun of, the chief difference being that the people in the pictures are at least secure enough about themselves to not care if they look stupid.

Some kid makes some idiotic reply to an idiotic cringe thread, saying something like “lol faggot, look at that fedora, he’s a kissless virgin for sure”, when in all likelihood the only thing separating the kid making fun of the fedora and the kid in the fedora is…the fedora. Really, the kid laughing and calling the other kid a virgin has probably had maybe ten minutes of awkward sex once, if at all. Sure, his willingness to conform, wear the right things and keep his interests low-key may have gotten him laid that one time, but the consequence is that he is insecure as all fuck, and probably deep down is envious of the fedora kid’s confidence to be what he wants to be and not care how he looks.

The whole thing is completely silly, and it's exactly what insecure teenagers do IRL when they feel as if they themselves are "beta" or awkward or socially inept, so they deal with their insecurities by ganging up and shitting all over anyone they perceive as being more beta or socially inept than they are. Since 4chan is relatively anonymous, there is a certain level of comfort in knowing that you can basically present yourself any way you like and no one will likely ever know who the person behind the keyboard really is, so you are able to judge the lives of others without any danger of ever having your own life brought under scrutiny. At the same time, though, you have no criteria to judge the other posters on except for their words, so your own insecurity plays on you and makes you think “well, everyone else in this thread is laughing at what a beta this kid is, they must be alpha as fuck”.

The end result is a bunch of beta nerds laughing at people who are only slightly nerdier and more beta than they are. Seems like kind of a waste of time to me; glad I don’t give a shit if people call me a weeaboo.

>>26676

This is exactly the sort of thing I am talking about.

Post edited on 12th Apr 2015, 5:56pm

>>26777
>>26778

This is odd, because I'm in my 30s as well and I said something a lot like this about a month ago. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like this.

I miss the old internet. Internet 2.0 has turned anyone under the age of 30 or so into absolute narcissists (not that there aren't any in our age group).

>>26787

Yeah, I've been nursing this theory for several years now, and I've more or less drawn the conclusion that the internet can be divided into two types of users: those who grew up before and those who grew up after the advent of social media. In the old internet days there was still a fair amount of narcissism and bitter to be sure, and I think just about any one of us can think back to a time where they flipped out over something stupid and made a complete ass out of themselves in a web community or a chatroom or a chanboard or something. However, it used to be that when you would do shit like that, you would step back, calm down, realize that you made yourself look stupid, and laugh it off, because it's just the internet and who cares. For kids in the social media world who you are on the internet is inextricably tied to who you are in the real world, so they don't quite have the same privilege of using the internet as a place to just goof around and indulge your weirder interests behind a mask of anonymity.

I think that's why a lot of people these days are so fixated on labels like "weeaboo" and "otaku" and the like, because once they express an interest in something like anime in an online setting, it's not just an interest, it's a part of their personality and they need to develop an identity from it, and present that identity to the world somehow in a way that still enables them to interact normally within their peer group.

Or, I could just be babbling incoherently about complete nonsense because I had to get up at the butt crack of dawn today and really should go to bed, even though I know perfectly well I am probably going to stay up until three in the morning playing VNs like I did last night which is why I didn't really sleep.

Anyway, this has a lot to do with why I tend to avoid excessive social media use in the first place. I use Facebook under a pseudonym and only friend people I know personally. Mostly I just use it as a way to keep in touch with friends I have that live in other states. I never post pictures of myself or my stuff, either; I have absolutely no delusions about how cringey my apartment would look to a normal person. As much contempt as I have for /b/'s current trend of pretending to be "alpha" and posting all this "cringe" bullshit, I have to admit that the majority of the kids targeted in those threads basically get targeted because they behave like obnoxious attention whores.

>>26779
I'm not sure how self-aware the person who created that image was, but I think those mistakes were intentional.

>>26796

I feel you.

Something happened around the late 2000s where people slowly yet surely thought that how you are online is the same as how you are in real life. That's bullshit, but knowing how Chris-Chan and the other lolcows are, I can't completely blame them for thinking that way; I guess that there is a grain of truth to it, especially since social media sites do indeed promote a bridge between online and real life, as well as some of the retards who bring MEMES and shit into the real world.

People used to be smarter than this. STRANGER DANGER, and whatnot. The simple fact that the 13 year old boy you are talking to could in fact be a 45 year old man, and you'd be lured into a rape dungeon and end up in separate pieces in a dumpster. That shit still happens, but no one pays attention to it anymore. It is like the internet has made people more stupid. "Oh, well I saw this on wikipedia, so it must be true!", or "All my internet friends support what I'm doing, so I must be right!"

What is weird, though, is that people online are getting so detached from reality while projecting these fantasies into reality, therefore making it real. There is no such thing as a genderqueer or having multiples, but now so many people have adopted it that it is slowly becoming the norm. Ten years ago, you'd at least end up in serious therapy for this shit; now people are all like LISTEN AND BELIEVE and now we have this big mess of artificial shit.

This is no longer the age of internet-enabled fetishes. At least that shit was real; those fetishes would exist even without the internet, it just made them more widespread. Now, it is the age of internet-enabled identities, where people become something that is impossible because they are either too young or too stupid, and they are self-entitled to think that everyone should support them.

Even ten years ago, this wouldn't have happened. Even five years ago, it was relatively rare. I worry about our future, but I guess that it isn't our problem. I'll just stick with my game making, writing and doujinshi.

>>26826

>It is like the internet has made people more stupid.

It's not 'like'. It has actually happened. It has happened on several levels. It's cultural first and foremost but even affects our brains (digital dementia and the like).

>>26826
Those people have always existed. I've always viewed the internet as more of an enabler rather than the root causative agent. People just carry over their social activities online; what you observe is the tangible manifestation of those inherent tendencies. IRL social groups are as much of a hugbox as their internet counterparts.

It's not fair to downplay the internet's sheer informational wealth because of the possibility of misinformation. It's not limited to the internet as a medium of transmission and easily overcome if you posses the most rudimentary navigational or metacognitive abilities. The internet merely acts to facilitate the whole process; its anarchistic nature reinforces this.

A great analogy is contemporary academia - an academic position entails having access to a community that produces and maintains a body of literature, while contributing to that source yourself. Standards are enforced through peer evaluation and comparison to previously acceptable conduct. The internet can act as the community that curates this body - the pool of content that was once esoteric and inaccessible is now something easy found through "recommendation sites" and sites that actually host the content. The internet just means that intellectual content will diffuse more rapidly and people will collectively progress at rates inconceivable at earlier points in history. It is now entirely possible for a 16 year old to be a more compete philosopher than someone with a degree in the subject.

The people who are getting dumber in the veritable fountain of knowledge probably weren't that bright to begin with.

>>26830

You severly underrate the importance of peer pressure here. Those who want to make good use of internet can easily do so, sure - I must've downloaded a dozen or so books today, some of which I'll probably never read. The problem is that the Western culture - as a whole, the mainstream portion of it you want to call it that - encourages stupidity. To give you an example:

>It’s like if a 13 year old fashion-conscious teenybopper girl happened to catch an episode of Star Trek and found herself really enjoying it, then made a facebook post describing how much she liked the episode. Then, she reads over her post and realizes that it makes her look like kind of a nerd, but she still wants to post it, so she affixes something like “OMG I am such a nerd lol” to the end of it, thus making it acceptable.

Change 'Star Trek' to anything related to any scientific knowledge and you're done. Showing off your stupidity it much, much cooler. Saying 'wow I didnt know darwin was from england xD' will net you a whole lot more 'cool kids' points than writing something about your thoughts on darwinism and poisting that online. Thanks to social media people are no longer 'anonymous' in their own private space so kids are under some sort of peer pressure 24/7, more than they've ever been at any point in history arguably.

Yeah, you can say 'well, that's just retards though, the smart ones will go download and read some books anyway'. You'll be right to some extent even. But kids want to hang out with the 'cool kids' and it's a pretty powerful force. Under these circumstances the 'just retards' portion is probably growing with each year.

This whole social media process alone serves to make them dumber. But on top of that the overall intellectucal level of various products of culture - even novels sadly - has gotten a whole lot lower as well I feel. People are getting dumber, they want to show it off and top it off by indulging in media which don't make them any smarter.

Or maybe I'm just talking out of my ass, I don't know. But I do feel the internet in it's current state isn't making 'us' any smarter, especially the youngest of 'us'.

>>26831
>You severly underrate the importance of peer pressure here
Not all internet users are 12.

>The problem is that the Western culture... encourages stupidity
Does it? I can't say I've ever considered myself invested in "big media". I think certain forms of consumer behavior are encouraged but it's hardly reasonable to think some centralized force is causing all people to think it's cool to be dumb.

>to any scientific knowledge
Science isn't highschool chemistry and biology. I got pretty heavily invested in game theory, economics and psychology at about the time I got into competitive multiplayer games. Pretending to be literate in postmodernism and critical theory at 15 seemed to be pretty well received amongst the peers I associated with.

>kids want to hang out with the 'cool kids' and it's a pretty powerful force
The internet offers exposure to a higher volume of people. The "cool kids" stopped being those loud sadistic fucks in highschool since like the 80s.

>social media process alone serves to make them dumber
I completely disagree. Kids were always petty and stupid; you just get to observe more people do it through the internet.

>the overall intellectucal level of various products of culture.. has gotten a whole lot lower
Stop consuming garbage. If the material is commercial it's usually intended to be accessible. Nothing that's commercial in nature will ever be offensive or challenging, as that neither sells nor is completely legal. Art has never been more vibrant, you just need to look in the right places. Unsurprisingly, it's the internet.

Nah. You kinda sound like a resentful old guy in his 30s.

>>26831
Also,

>People are getting dumber
No, but they aren't necessarily getting smarter either. The internet creates environments that can challenge and stimulate growth of the intellect. Hard information that's available has negligible influence over people's intellect, but it can make them more knowledgeable.

>the internet in it's current state isn't making 'us' any smarter
I owe all that I currently am to the internet. Without it, it's entirely possible I'd have become the proud, cultureless, illiterate troglodyte you've been alluding to. Every single thing I've been exposed to that I consider to be intellectually redeeming has been found both through and from the internet. I haven't made more than 5000 over the past half decade and I've been exposed to hundreds of terabytes of substantial media. Any academic or cultural work of even middling value and notoriety can be accessed within seconds for nothing. It's beautiful.

>>26831
western culture is making people stupid but japanese culture is purifying you and making you an intellectual superman am i right?

>>26835

>Not all internet users are 12.

At the same time in 'Western' countries almost every single 12 year old kid has access to internet. All of this is still a follow-up to >>26826's 'It is like the internet has made people more stupid' comment. I think it did and it's getting progressively worse. Some research does prove this, in some way or form (again, cyber dementia).

>Does it? I can't say I've ever considered myself invested in "big media". I think certain forms of consumer behavior are encouraged but it's hardly reasonable to think some centralized force is causing all people to think it's cool to be dumb.

I never claimed such a force exists. Beleving there's somebody out there who's having a blast trying to make people dumber by poisoning various media would be pretty tinfoil. But as is the case with all laws of nature they weren't designed by anybody and they are governed by anybody. They just exist. 'Being dumb is cooler than being smart' is just a trend. And like I openly admitted it might be just my biased perspective.

>Science isn't highschool chemistry and biology.

I like how the imaginary person I quoted admitted to not knowing which country Dawin was born in. I wouldn't clasify this knowledge as 'biology'.
Also amusingly enough game theory is pretty important as far as darwinism is concerned.

>Pretending to be literate in postmodernism and critical theory at 15 seemed to be pretty well received amongst the peers I associated with.

Can't say the same didn't hold true for me but I was never in denial about how many people in my surroundings (so basically at school really) were the exact opposite of that.

>The internet offers exposure to a higher volume of people. The "cool kids" stopped being those loud sadistic fucks in highschool since like the 80s.

The 'cool kids' no longer need to approve you. You can 'hang out' with the 'cool kids' without them knowing you even exist.
The real point here was that (more or less willingly) tearing out the 'private' part of your life (what you'd do at home without anybody ever knowing about it) through increased usage of social media increases the overall conformity. The 'cool kids' group got larger and less exclusive. We might as well call them 'normal kids' nowadays.

>Kids were always petty and stupid; you just get to observe more people do it through the internet.

They were. But never before did they have a chance to show off how stupid they are so often and to such a broad audience. And the type of content the audience gets constantly exposed to will eventually change the very audience as well.

And I don't need to be 30 to be bitter and jaded but I'm slowly getting there, thank you very much.

>>26836

>The internet creates environments that can challenge and stimulate growth of the intellect.

Which of those parts is bigger?

>It's beautiful.

It is, when it's used correctly. I don't trust people enough to believe most of them will use it in such a way, though.

>>26837

'American' culture has nothing on Japanese culture as far as mass media are concerned. If you've ever been exposed to Japanese TV for more than half an hour you know what I mean. To say it fills me with nothing but utter disgust is quite an understatement.
Can't really comment how it affects Japan as a whole, though, since I'm not exposed to that part of it. You'd probably have to live there for years to even try to make a good guess. If anything I'm amazed Japan doesn't seem to be doing awful considering how important televison is as a whole there (and how important it's been for years) and how awful it is. It's a wonder their brains haven't completely melted yet.

>>26840
>'American' culture has nothing on Japanese culture as far as mass media are concerned

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhqly4cL701jWE94N2

>>26842

Definitely not Japan's proudest moment, but that was funny as fuck. I wonder what a person has to do to become a contestant on that show?

>>26830

I'm the guy you originally responded to.

First off, show some class; that picture is disgusting. I've been seeing more and more of that shit being posted on chans, probably by younger try-too-hards; do you think that this makes you look cool? You're on tohno-chan, not /baphomet/ (not that I have a problem with those guys.

To be fair, yes, there have been genderqueers and other such nonsense since the early days; however, those people were laughed at and you'd find yourself in serious therapy if you went down that route. Now, people just accept it, or at least brush it off. We didn't have "safe spaces" or any such bullshit ten years ago; there was no where to go to play with playdough or watch videos of puppies and kittens whenever you encountered a disagreeable lecture or conversation. No one enabled that shit. The internet really did bring it about, because the younger generation just accepted the internet as a sincere part of reality, therefore whatever that was on the internet was automatically valid. Even those who are old enough to know better are starting to forget.

Just because there is information out there, doesn't mean people are reading it. The constant exposure to the internet has conditioned people to read shorter fragments of information; not many people read books any more, especially the younger generation. Hell, I'm 31 and I have read roughly 140 books in the past two years, but before then I barely read at all. I don't know of anyone else who has read that much. Granted, I have all the time in the world to do such a thing.

I will grant you one thing: the internet has indeed exposed people to more than one source of information. Before the internet, people seemed to just soak up whatever was in the papers or on the television news. Now, people seem to be slightly aware that things are not always what they appear to be, and conspiracy theories are far more rampant than they used to be. News of worldly events and affairs is somewhat less biased and colored than it used to be, provided that you are motivated and smart enough to try to figure things out.

HOWEVER, most people still just automatically believe in whatever propaganda piece is being shown to them, either through various media online, blogs, or tumblr of all places. I just saw comments to a video of "ISIS DESTROYING NIMROD" by Channel Four news on Facebook (I hate facebook; I want to delete my account); a handful were smart enough to pick up on the clues that it was a fake ruin, but most people just automatically bought into it and let their emotions take over. And these people were conservatives, not the leftard "LISTEN AND BELIEVE" crowd that is burgeoning like a cancer on the internet and real life.

The scary fact is, is that anyone can potentially produce propaganda now to influence others. Whether you are a rich man with connections or a NEET living in a basement, it hardly makes a difference. I'm willing to bet that I have enough knowledge about social engineering that I could start some minor campaign to mold people's minds towards a particular attitude or subject; it would take months, probably, but I wouldn't be surprised if I at least got several hundred to believe in whatever bullshit I told them. Mostly because people simply believe in what is shown to them online, for the most part. And from those hundreds of people? They could potentially influence hundreds more, thus making it a viral domino effect.

I'm not sociopathic enough to do that (at least not without a good reason), but the fact that I could scares me sometimes.

>>26846
>that was funny as fuck
How? Do you become a giggling retard every time you massage yourself to orgasm?

>>26840

You are pretty much right on all accounts. Younger people like him just don't quite know how things once were before social media or even the internet itself took off, because they were either too young to seriously remember, or they weren't even alive. Both of us remember how it once was, even though we were young ourselves back then.

Perhaps human nature in and of itself hasn't changed. The basic feeling of self-entitlement, the overwhelming force of emotions that would require a decent amount of intellect to curb, and so on. I don't deny that. However, how humans, particularly the younger generation, have manifested is markedly different to notice an immense generation gap.

Younger women treat men like shit now. They see them as potential rapists, they think that they owe them the world while believing that they don't have to give anything back to them, they don't take care of themselves, they are far more asocial and stand-offish; the list goes on. Ten years ago, college-age women were far more friendly to you, at least to your face. And this was during a time when rape was probably more frequent and taken with less seriousness. Now, they don't even pretend to be a certain way unless if they are behind a counter or have a pretext; a year and a half ago I was minding my own business in the commons of the local University, and some young harlot passed me by with an arrogant look and openly said "douche". That shit never happened before; women have become far more self-entitled, hostile and arrogant these days.

I'm not even a misogynist or a red pill. Sort of used to be, but I know that there are still exceptions to the rule and I'm not interested in any real relationship, in any case.

But, seriously. Younger people are just so different, and they can't quite grasp how things once were. I'm not even a nostalgia-fag, because I hated the 90s and the 00s. Those years had their own problems. I just despise how things are now even more, at least to some extent.

I worry about what Internet 3.0 is going to be like. And I worry about our future. Whether we become insanely "liberal" through the SJW cancer or do a complete 180 and become rabid ultra-conservatives, we're fucked.

>>26842
If anyone's interested, here's the whole program, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njh5zIqiatM or just that part https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0SF3GZiFBA

>>26848

Sometimes, if I'm doing it properly. However, I think the idea is more that the guy is giggling under the pressure of being in a surreal situation such as having an attractive girl give him a handjob while he attempts to sing karaoke, not to mention the fact that the whole thing is on TV.