/pol/

About

Politically Incorrect, abbreviated as /pol/, is a board dedicated to current events and political discussion on the imageboard 4chan. It is one of the most popular boards on the internet dedicated to politics, and has gained a reputation as a hotbed for fringe beliefs.

History

The board was originally created in 2011 as a replacement for /new/, which was 4chan's primary board for the distribution and discussion of news. The reasoning behind this decision was primarily based on moderator Moot's belief that /new/ had strayed from its intended purpose and become a gathering place for racists.^[1]

Board Culture

The reputation of the board across the internet is typically linked to the endorsement of extremist politics, and the board is thus often cited as one of the defining aspects of 4chan's reputation, alongside /b/.^[2] Frequent users of the board are typically referred to as /pol/acks. Due to 4chan's nature as an imageboard, /pol/ has spawned several image-based memes.

Political Influence

/pol/ became a surprising source of political influence during the 2016 United States Presidential Election, as many memes created and popularized there entered mainstream discourse. This was particularly the case with Pepe the Frog, as /pol/ and /r9k/ users created multiple Pepe memes with fringe and Nazi imagery as a means to "de-normify" the meme. Pepe was co-opted by conservatives in the election after Donald Trump retweeted a Pepe image and became a regular part of conservative memes in the years since the election.

Meme Magic

Meme Magic is a slang term used to describe the hypothetical power of sorcery and voodoo supposedly derived from certain internet memes that can transcend the realm of cyberspace and result in real life consequences. Since its coinage on the imageboard 8chan, the fictitious concept has gained popularity on 4chan's /pol/ (politically incorrect) board and been heavily associated with several in-jokes and shitposting fads on the site, including Ebola-chan, Baneposting and Donald Trump. Some have compared it to the occult concept of the egregore, an autonomous psychic entity that influences the thoughts of a group of people.

From June 2015 onwards, the term has been heavily associated with the businessman and 2016 United States elected President Donald Trump, with /pol/ users using the "meme magic" to make Trump win the elections and transform the country under a similar ideology. Several notable events include the posting of a Trump Pepe picture on Trump's Twitter (shown below, right) or the use of a Yiddish curse word to talk about Hillary Clinton, being consequently reported on an opinion editorial featuring the word "Oy vey".

Related Memes

Happy Merchant

Happy Merchant refers to a cartoon caricature of a Jewish man that is popular as an exploitable and reaction image, particularly on /pol/, where it is frequently used to insulting imply the relevancy of Jews to a particular discussion, or to criticize or dismiss others as being scheming, untrustworthy, or greedy.

Doom Paul

Doom Paul refers to images of the American politician and physician Ron Paul photoshopped into alarming or even apocalyptic settings, usually with the accompanying phrase "It's Happening".

Into The Trash It Goes

Into The Trash It Goes, also known as Opinion Discarded, is a popular remark on /pol/ used to dismiss people who are perceived to have said or done something grievously damaging to their credibility. It is typically paired with images of Penn Jillette with a disdainful look on his face.

Ben Garrison

Ben Garrison is a libertarian political cartoon artist known for creating illustrations commenting on United States political corruption, who has been the subject of a troll campaign by users of 4chan’s /pol/ (politics) board who have attempted to frame him as a radical anti-semite.

Sarah Scribbles Raid

On December 23rd, 2016 a thread was created on 4chan's /pol/ (politically incorrect) board requesting its posters to create edits of Sarah Andersen's comics that would depict her as a white supremacist and antisemitic in a style similar to the board's troll campaign towards political cartoon artist Ben Garrison. Although initial reactions rejected the idea, board posters eventually started sharing edits in the thread; the first version edited in a way to make Anderson appear negative towards the IQ of black people.

As board posters also showed the edits to Andersen on her Twitter, that same day she replied through a tweet notifying her followers of the edits and requesting to block and report them (shown below). This tweet was also shared by /pol/ posters in the original thread, further motivating them to continue creating and sharing edits on both /pol/ and Andersen's Twitter. Other replies to the edits varied, with some calling them unnecessary due to the absence of political themes in Andersen's comics unlike Garrison's, while others claimed her reaction to the campaign was an example of the Streisand Effect. On December 28th, Andersen's Encyclopedia Dramatica page was edited to depict her as a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite. The following day, a thread about the edits was also created on 4chan's /co/ (comics & cartoons) board.

/pol/ Was Right Again

"/pol/ Was Right Again" is a catchphrase associated with the conspiracy theories on /pol/, used both ironically and unironically

/pol/ Harbor / 2014 Exodus

On December 7th, 2014, the administration of 4chan trolled the /pol/ board by altering its settings and directing the users of other boards to raid it under the guise of testing new features.^[3] Among the notable occurrences was the disabling of the board's CAPTCHA system and the filtering of several popular words and phrases, such as the replacement of "free" with "hot pockets". The board was also renamed ''The 8 steps of cuckolding'', and each post was marked with horizontally scrolling text reading [trigger warning]. Although 4chan's /pol/ was soon restored to its original state, the event triggered a mass exodus of users to the /pol/ board of 8chan, a popular alternative to 4chan.

WE WUZ KINGZ

WE WUZ KINGZ, also iterated as "KANGZ N SHIET", is an expression primarily used by users of 4chan's /pol/ (politically incorrect) board to poke fun at those who adhere to the Black Egyptian Hypothesis, an often disputed theory which postulates that Ancient Egypt was a black civilization and that some of the most notable royal figures from the Dynastic era were of Sub-Saharan African ethnicity, including Tutankhamen, Cleopatra and Pharaoh Khafra, who is generally believed to be the face depicted on The Great Sphinx of Giza. In addition to its widespread usage on /pol/, the phrase has been also adopted by detractors of Pan-Africanism on other discussion forums, including white supremacist and nationalist websites.

The phrase is believed to have been coined on 4chan's /pol/ (politically incorrect) board sometime around late 2015 by users who began assuming an increasingly skeptical and critical stance towards the new wave of African American civil rights protests surrounding a series of racially charged police brutality controversies, most notably the #blacklivesmatter movement and civil unrest in Baltimore.

Racial Caricature Memes

The board has popularized several memes that feature drawings of people of various races with negative features emphasized. These include Amerimutt, Norf F.C., Sheeeit and others.

Search Interest

External References