Digital Social Media and Aggression: Memetic Rhetoric in 4chan’s Collective Identity

Abstract

Abstract This article examines online aggression in digital social media. Using threads from 4chan’s /b/ board (an anonymous imageboard known for trolling and other aggressive behaviors) as a case study, the author illustrates how some aggressive behaviors online are memetic; that is, they are uncritical recapitulations of previous behaviors or of the way users believe they are “supposed” to behave. First, the author examines /b/’s technical design, ethos, and collective identity to understand the nature of the offensive content posted to the board. Then, she analyzes two threads wherein transwomen (the most vehemently denigrated identity on /b/) self-identified and how the collective identity employed its memetic responses; the first transwoman incited /b/’s memetic wrath, while the second employed identity rhetoric that ruptured the collective identity, thus effectively deterring /b/’s memetic behaviors and opening constructive dialog. This case study emphasizes the pressing need for more teacher-scholars to perform research and develop pedagogy centered on anonymous and pseudonymous social media spaces. It is imperative to disrupt negative memetic behaviors so that we can find, create, and seize more opportunities to open the kinds of productive, democratic discourses that online aggression tends to silence.