So...

[xp_cypher]

I just looked back and realized the worst part of the whole "I thought I was sixteen for a couple days" thing.

Sixteen-year-old me discovered the /b/ board on 4chan. I spent hours there, apparently.

GUYS, SIXTEEN YEAR OLD ME WAS A B-TARD.

(I don't even think I have an image macro serious enough to express my facepalming)

Comments

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

I am sorry, could you explain this for those of us not fluent in internet?

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

I second that request.

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4chan

Specifically the following paragraph:

4chan users have been responsible for the formation or popularization of Internet memes such as lolcats, Rickrolling, "Chocolate Rain", Pedobear, and many others. The site's "Random" board is by far its most popular and notorious feature. Known as "/b/", there are minimal rules on posted content. Gawker once jokingly claimed that "reading /b/ will melt your brain"

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

You spent hours and hours on a internet website that creates memes and you are surprised?

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

Sadly, not really. It's just that...well, /b/ has a well-deserved reputation as kind of "the asshole of the Internets".

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

Are you more upset that you lost several hours there without realizing it, or that your idealized version of who you were at sixteen is not so innocent as you might like?

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

Mostly the first? I mean, I don't really have an idealized version of myself at sixteen, and I probably should have expected it.

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

My left toe you do not have an idealized version of yourself at sixteen. Everyone does.

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

Eh. I was girl-crazy, awkward, and extremely conflict avoidant. How is that idealized?

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

You seem surprised that the sixteen year old you remembered you were went to this board that is the asshole of the internet. Which I might add is a ridiculous phrase and I feel silly just saying it.

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

Not really surprised. Like I said, if I'd been thinking, I should have probably expected it. Maybe a little bit disappointed in my sixteen year old self, but not so much with the surprise.

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

That is what I am trying to say. You were you at sixteen, if you are disappointed in yourself, then perhaps you are recalling the person you were at sixteen in too favourable light compared to the person you are at twenty-three.

Are you a b-tard (I am sorry, is this referencing bastard or retard? I am confused) now?

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

I think that you can be disappointed in your past self while still being honest about who and what they were.

(it's referencing retard)

No, I'm not really a b-tard anymore. I mean, I like memes and funny things of that nature, but I can't really stomach the casual homophobia, misogyny, and general trollishness of that type of crowd anymore.

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

anymore? Are you implying that at some point in the past you were one, and have simply kept it quiet this entire time?

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

Finding out that I'm a mutant, and coming to Xavier's (and then working with Mark) has expanded my worldview considerably, especially where casual bigotry towards any minority is involved. So even sixteen year-old me seems to have kind of shied away from the worst offenders on /b/ while still reveling in the ridiculous humor parts.

Plus the bigotry wasn't as prevalent back then? It's kind of the result of a positive feedback loop "race to the bottom" in finding bigger and flashier ways to be offensive as time has gone on. So as 4chan has gotten bigger and more popular recently, the content has gotten worse and worse on average.

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

I think I understand, although I am not one hundred percent certain I do.