AC = Domestic Terrorists?

Miang writes "A video from a recent FOX 11 (Los Angeles) newscast has surfaced on YouTube. In the segment, reporter Phil Shuman investigates so-called "Hacker Gangs" comprised entirely of anonymous users. The segment, which focuses mainly on users at 4chan, 7chan, and 420chan, seems to confuse /b/ raids and motivational poster templates with a genuine threat to the American public. For added FUD, the FOX team inserted an unrelated video of a van blowing up — twice! Presumably, one is intended to equate anonymous posting with domestic terror. The story and video can be found on the local FOX website, so it does not appear to be simply a clever parody." Cringe as you watch this video explain terms like 'LULZ' and show inspirational poster parodies as evidence of the evils of this terrifying "Group".

Comments

Re:What's the Background?

[skrolle2]

There is a place on the internet called 4chan. It is an imageboard, where you can post pictures of.. stuff. There is a lot of porn on it. There is a lot of very weird porn on it. There is a lot of funny pictures, and people modifying them to become even funnier. It's home to a lot of anonymous posters that enjoy poking fun at idiots on the internet.

You might learn more here:

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/B
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:B_summa ry.jpg
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/4chan
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:4chan-v enn-diagram.png

If you think tubgirl, lemonparty and goatse is funny, this is where they came from. If you think lolcats and ORLY is funny, this is where it came from.

Also, the biggest crime you can commit is to ask for information, just like you did. You clearly need to lurk moar.

Re:Yellow journalism at its finest

[brass1]

An affiliate, like an individual franchise, isn't owned by the overall corporation. Actually this affiliate, in the #2 TV and radio market, is owned by Fox Television Stations, Inc. Fox owns (pdf, sorry) 30 affiliates including affiliates in 9 of the top 10 markets. You'll find that NBC, ABC and CBS have very similar station ownership stats.

Re:/b/ is mainstream

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

/b/ is a cesspit. A conglomeration of all that is disturbing, perverted, juvenile, inane, humorous, annoying, offensive, shocking and vile. The site is much worse than the sum of its parts.

And yet..... I'm glad it's there. I'm glad that there still exists a place where people can be offensive, racist and rude in all manner of ways. Frankly, the place warms my heart because of its simple honesty. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than the asshole of the internet. It even revels in it. I can respect that kind of honesty.

Ultimately, the /b/tards are more human than the legions of Politically Correct hypocrites that plague our modern society. Humanity isn't always in the images of angels or gods. Sometimes we're altogether more earthly beings, and places like /b/ should serve to remind us of that. If /b/ did not exist, it would be necessary for someone to create it, because /b/ is a part of what humanity is.

To finish off, anytime I have browsed /b/, despite the form of the post and their extreme vulgarity, I never get the vibe that the place is filled with genuinely evil individuals spewing hate and bile. It seems to me that the /b/tards are rather more akin to jesters, or cynics than to Nazi's or the KKK. /b/tards are more likely to laugh and deride such people than side with them. The site seems to be more playful than malicious.

I can see the hypocritical legions of politicians, reporters and busybodies rallying to condemn /b/ as hell on earth, and I can see the /b/tards laughing and mocking them as they do so. But the possibility of the /b/tards being cowed and broken by such a crusade frightens me, because I think it's entirely possible that they will be sought out and persecuted by our modern witch hunters. To me, /b/, ugly as it is, represents our freedoms, and if it falls, I can't see how anything else truly worthwhile in our society can resist being torn down as well.

Sites like /b/ are proof that our society still free. Perversely, its continuing existence akin to an eternal flame of liberty (A flame which no doubt /b/ would collectively attempt to fart on). If it gets snuffed out, I for one won't sleep soundly at night.