THIS IS NOT A JOKE: Where I want to be
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Hugh Upsher is a recent Michaelis Graduate who lives in the suburbs with his parents, He enjoys walking their dog in the forest.
“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” -Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google)
Earlier this year an unemployed 21 year old who lives with his parents was voted Time magazines most influential person in their online poll (see here). He comfortably beat out Peacekeepers, Presidents, Scientists and even Bono. This person was not me, but a young man who prefers to be referred to as moot. Real name Christopher Poole, he is the founder of 4chan, an uncensored user driven image forum. It is a website often described as the underbelly of the Internet. This is rather old news, especially for the Internet, but I would like to use this point to argue 4chan as a living and breathing artwork. There is no agenda and no rules and any user can post any content, and they do. It is a hotspot for young corrupted minds to illustrate dumb genius in real time and has built up an enormous following of loyal contributors.
Every Internet trend that has made you laugh has most likely had its origins from 4chan but (collectively) their greatest artwork to date was to flood Time magazines online voting stations to place Christopher Poole with top honours. Time magazine respectfully played along by inviting him to the red-carpeted ceremony evening (He is seen interviewed 2:20 seconds into this video). It was the least his followers could do considering the amount of lawsuits the website attracts. Now these type of stunts could be described as virtual vandalism or even terrorism but I’m going to push for Conceptual Art. If you are a detractor who thinks the Internet ‘doesn’t count’ or nothing on the Internet is ‘real’ than you should probably look at what you are doing right now. And that is why Christopher Poole is the most influential man in the world.
posted by Hugh Upsher at 12:08 PM
7 Comments:
I am banned from the 4chan site. Or my I.P. number is. Why aren't you?
yay! penis!
I am more of a passive observer, and less of a filthy minded degenerate.
I dreamed that I was surrounded by a dense forest. In every clearing I came upon a previously proud and dutiful dog owner being savaged, nay devoured by his or her exemplar of man's best friend. There was no way out of there except to join the party, so I ripped the leash from my minder's iron grasp, and took his throat out with a single lunge. My initial revulsion - am I a cannibal, to be hunted like a beast, to be shunned by the civilised and hunted by their enforcers - soon turned to pleasure, the blood was cooler than expected, the flesh less stringy , and dammit I was free, as free as free can be.
I just went to look at 4chan, and it looks like this brilliant conceptual artwork is just wall to wall ordinary porn. What exactly is interesting about it?
oh wait, this is all about 4chan.org not 4chan.com. Thanks to me for making that clear.
apologies
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