Shitposting is just pretending to be stupid/racist/shitty for laughs/attention, right? Pretty low form of humor, if you ask me (no one did), but I’m also guessing a lot of shitposters aren’t just pretending.
The thing is, a lot of them are pretending until they’re not. In contexts where their audience isn’t made of assholes, they’ll just say their racist (or fascist or misogynist or whatever) posts are jokes, they’re making fun of racists and they’re making fun of easily offended liberals.
And because they know they’re going to use the “just a joke” excuse, they’ll post shit that’s even more extreme than what they actually believe - so when they say they’re just posting to offend people and don’t actually believe what they post they’re being honest.
But when they feel comfortable that their audience is full of racists, they’ll post the same racist crap, but they’ll do it absolutely seriously.
I believe the term for that is Schrödinger’s asshole.
The thing is, a lot of them are pretending until they’re not. In contexts where their audience isn’t made of assholes, they’ll just say their racist (or fascist or misogynist or whatever) posts are jokes, they’re making fun of racists and they’re making fun of easily offended liberals.
And because they know they’re going to use the “just a joke” excuse, they’ll post shit that’s even more extreme than what they actually believe - so when they say they’re just posting to offend people and don’t actually believe what they post they’re being honest.
But when they feel comfortable that their audience is full of racists, they’ll post the same racist crap, but they’ll do it absolutely seriously.
I believe the term for that is Schrödinger’s asshole.