Hack the Planet: I Can Has Rezearch Papar?

I Can Has Rezearch Papar? by Cyle Gage

Where do the lulz come from? There are varying histories and an array of websites dedicated to them, but I will largely cover the following places: 4chan, You’re The Man Now Dog (YTMND), and Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED). There are dozens of other sites I will reference, but none are as central as those main three. 4chan and YTMND serve as not only aggregators of internet culture, but creation points.

In a more semantic sense, the lulz found on 4chan and YTMND is a perfect example of pure simulacrum. There is nothing real about the lulz: it is entirely fake, yet original. It uses representations of things like pop culture icons in a totally virtual space. The map of 4chan precedes the territory it covers. The proponents of the lulz – specifically Anonymous – also embody the collective hive mind that the internet presents.

Now-common internet jargon like “lol” and “brb” were once words confined to a nerdy few. Suddenly YTMND and LOLCats are known and popular on the internet at large, having started from the obscure lower-levels of the internet like 4chan. Furthermore, these obscure artifacts, once popular, rarely change form or content in the process.

— via Hack the Planet

If you don’t yet understand the lulz, this will clue you in.